Winchester Miroku 1886 45/70 Short Rifle

[jstanfield103]

I just received my new Winchester 1886 Short Rifle. It is just as great as my other Miroku Winchesters all though they are in the 92 action (45 Colt and 44 Mag). Just untouchable quality. I know a lot of people do not like the safety's but I don't mind it because the first thing I do is get rid of the rebounding hammer and although these do have the half cock it can still be fired in the half cock position with some good effort on the trigger. So the safety does come in handy on these new Winchesters. Just in case.



Anyway only took me three shots to get her on target. She does let you know she means business with that steel but plate. I have already made the modifications that I intended to make to her. Same a I have done on both my Miroku Winchester 92's.



1. Removed the rebounding leg off the hammer strut. No more rebounding hammer. (It was not a problem, but I also never want it to be so it's gone)

2. Wrapped the lever in leather and oiled the leather to prevent rusting (I have never had I rusting problem on a lever with leather)

3. Added sling swivels and a leather sling (as I do with all my lever rifles)

Love this rifle

[veeman]

Nice. How long is the barrel? Doesn't look all that short.

[jstanfield103]

24" barrel, I believe when they are talking about a short rifle they are talking about the LOP. This is my third Short rifle and all are under 14" LOP. This one is 13.25" LOP my others are even shorter than that I believe.

[square butte]

Most sources show original 1886's LOP is 13 1/8 inches. The current ones like yours are spec'd at 13 1/4 inches. The "short rifle" refers to a sub 26 inch barrel. The full length 26" guns are also spec'd at 13 1/4 LOP

[pworley1]

Nice rifle.

[35 Rem]

Yes, the Miroku Winchesters are well made guns. I have a Model 94 Short rifle in 32 Win Special that I got a couple years ago. I don't like seeing "Made in Japan" on the barrel but other than that, the rifle is very well made. From what I understand the Short Rifle name refers to a shorter barrel than the full-length rifle and it has a forend with a metal cap and no carbine style barrel bands. Did you happen to take a picture of how much you shortened the hammer strut when disabling the rebounding hammer? I'd like to do the same to mine but am cautious about taking off metal because you can't put it back easily! Looking at the design it seems as if it would be possible to shorten that fork of the strut too much so that it be possible to fall off the back of the hammer in use. One fork or the other maintains contact with the hammer depending on hammer position. If one is shortened too much it looks as if the strut could fall out of position. If you could easily buy new parts I'd not hesitate to experiment but haven't seen them for sale anywhere yet.

[pietro]

.

Good choice - My High-Grade Winchester/Miroku 1886 Extra Light .45-70's the bomb !

I put a Marble's tang sight on it.

.

[GL49]

I just received my new Winchester 1886 Short Rifle. It is just as great as my other Miroku Winchesters all though they are in the 92 action (45 Colt and 44 Mag). Just untouchable quality. I know a lot of people do not like the safety's but I don't mind it because the first thing I do is get rid of the rebounding hammer and although these do have the half cock it can still be fired in the half cock position with some good effort on the trigger. So the safety does come in handy on these new Winchesters. Just in case.

Does anyone know if the notch on the hammer when it's in the half-cock position be re-cut so it will not fire from that position? I purchased a modified rifle like yours, someone had cut the barrel to 18" and removed the safety. Like yours, with effort, it can be forced to fire from half-cock. I'm not liking that "feature" of the rifle so it has been just sitting in my safe.

[Bowdrie]

It's not just barrel length; the taper of the barrels is different between carbine and short rifle.
The carbine barrels are thicker at the chamber and thinner at the muzzle than the rifles.
Sights are also different, along with the buttstock profile.
The CG/balance point is further forward on the rifles, they don't "swing" as fast as the carbines, but the short rifles hold a little steadier on target.

[Noah Zark]

I just received my new Winchester 1886 Short Rifle . . .

Congratulations! Those are wonderful guns, from a workmanship and functionality/accuracy standpoint, in my experience.

I currently have two Browning / Miroku 1886s, one is a 26" rifle and the other a 22" Saddle Ring Carbine. Both are very stable offhand and group very well with my handloads.

Noah

[gc45]

An 1886 nut here! Happy to see your new toy, they are great rifles for sure! Like others, I have a few, 6 original winchesters rifle length and one carbine length. Also two Browning rifles both without the safety, one carbine no safety but rebarreled to 40-65 with Kreiger match barrel.

[35 Rem]

It's not just barrel length; the taper of the barrels is different between carbine and short rifle.
The carbine barrels are thicker at the chamber and thinner at the muzzle than the rifles.
Sights are also different, along with the buttstock profile.
The CG/balance point is further forward on the rifles, they don't "swing" as fast as the carbines, but the short rifles hold a little steadier on target.

Right, I forgot about the buttstock. I much prefer the flat short rifle stock. I did not know about the barrel profile difference.

[almar]

congratulations! I have that same one in 45-90, i thought i would regret the purchase because it isn't cheap. But it's in my top 3 favorites firearms from a long list.

[Bad Ass Wallace]

They are very nice rifles even if made in Japan. When I retired my wife bought a Pedersoli 1886 Sporting rifle (26" octagonal barrel) in 45/70.

To hell with the price, it is truly a magnificent piece.

[jstanfield103]

Guy's thanks so much on clearing up the Short rifle versions for me. It was interesting reading about it. I really do think these Miroku are probably build as well if not better than the pre 64 Winchesters. Won't say better but as well.

35Rem,
The rebounding hammer strut has two legs. Mine was the left leg that causes it to rebound. I pretty much took the left leg off when looking from butt to barrel on mine. I did this on my other two Miroku model 92's also. Lot easier on the 92's action more to take apart on the 86 action. But YouTube is always a big help on that part.

Here is where I found some good information on how to do it. This is for a 92 action, but same concept and almost except disassembly. Easy to do.
https://castboolits.gunloads.com/sho...r-Fix-Tutorial

[Baltimoreed]

I have always thought that lever action full length ‘rifles’ had 24+ inch octagon barrels while ‘short barreled rifles’ are sub 24 inch octagon barrels around 20 inches and ‘carbine’ length were sub 20 inch round barrels. Butts were usually shotgun or crescent on rifles and carbines had shorter buttstocks with a carbine style buttplates. And then there were trapper models that had 12-14 inch barrels. Of course nowadays unless you sbr your lever rifle you can only have 16 inch barrels because those old west gang bangers robbing stagecoaches with their cut down 1892s.

[Noah Zark]

Just a point on the 1892 vs the 1886 - the 1892 is not just a scaled down 1886. The 1892 is similar in that it has two rear locking lugs, but the guts of the action is quite different in detail compared to the earlier 1886, and the '92 can be considered an improvement. Reassembly of a '92 is far easier than an '86, and requires a maximum of only two hands. Reassembly of an '86 requires a minimum of three hands, or two hands and one of a couple of special "tools" and some viscous grease to hold a couple of the '86's parts in place during assembly.

Noah

[jstanfield103]

Yes Noah,
92's are definitely an easier process, found this out when cutting the rebounding hammer leg off. Lot different than the 92 for getting that put back together.

Guy's I have two Winchester 92's in the short rifle style and their LOP I never needed to cut down with the steel butt plate. I had no problem with the felt recoil (45 Colt and 44 Mag/44 Special). This new Winchester 45/70 kicks a lot harder with that steel butt plate (even more than my much light Rossi Rio Grande in 45/70), plus LOP was just a tad long. So I ended up doing what I usually have to do to every rifle and cut the LOP down 1". It now has a LOP of 12.25" with a Butt Pad instead of a Butt Pate. More pictures to come when I have time, maybe this weekend. I at least enjoyed shooting it yesterday after I made the conversion.

Another thing I will say about this 1886 action, you hear everyone say how smooth the action's are. Mine not so much, I don't know if they over spring these to help with the rebounding hammer to prevent light strikes or not. Mine is really not smooth at all, going to give it some break in time and if she does not loosen up and smooth out I will be looking into some lighter springs. I'm assuming Wolff makes a spring kit for them. I have not checked as of yet, but I do Love this rifle especially after changing the LOP.

[indian joe]

Yes Noah,
92's are definitely an easier process, found this out when cutting the rebounding hammer leg off. Lot different than the 92 for getting that put back together.

Guy's I have two Winchester 92's in the short rifle style and their LOP I never needed to cut down with the steel butt plate. I had no problem with the felt recoil (45 Colt and 44 Mag/44 Special). This new Winchester 45/70 kicks a lot harder with that steel butt plate (even more than my much light Rossi Rio Grande in 45/70), plus LOP was just a tad long. So I ended up doing what I usually have to do to every rifle and cut the LOP down 1". It now has a LOP of 12.25" with a Butt Pad instead of a Butt Pate. More pictures to come when I have time, maybe this weekend. I at least enjoyed shooting it yesterday after I made the conversion.

Another thing I will say about this 1886 action, you here everyone say how smooth the action's are. Mine not so much, I don't know if they over spring these to help with the rebounding hammer to prevent light strikes or not. Mine is really not smooth at all, going to give it some break in time and if she does not loosen up and smooth out I will be looking into some lighter springs. I'm assuming Wolff makes a spring kit for them. I have not checked as of yet, but I do Love this rifle especially after changing the LOP.

I have a Chiappa '86 and a Miroku/Browning '71 ----wouldnt call either of em smooth

They were both oversprung from the box - magazine cutoff spring is a big part of the glitchiness - looks like something that belongs on a truck axle - the 92 was much improved in that department

Also have a Uberti '76 ----its a big heavy gun but slicker, quicker and much easier to maniplate than the other two big levers
Canadian mounties ran their '76 rifles well into the twentieth century I believe - and I reckon it was because they liked them not because they couldnt fund more modern replacements.

[jstanfield103]

indian joe,
Thanks, what I thought.