That’s a tough one.  They all have different characters that I like.

Sentimental:  I represented a man in Idaho against the USFS, pro-bono.  He found out I liked 86’s; said he had one laying around that he’d give me.  I didn’t argue.  Turns out it was a full nickel 66 SRC, 4th gen (not an 86).  A childhood friend had given it to him.  The childhood friend’s dad had bought it NIB for him when he was a kid living somewhere around SLC.  So, two owners before me.  It was made in 83 but sat in the warehouse until 98.  Must have sat in the hardware store for another 30 years before the kids got a hold of it.  Nice bore, good nickel on frame, rest is kid-rough.

Looks.  I have a dark 86 that was made in 92, left the plant as a 38-56 but someone changed the barrel to 40-82.  Since it had lost collector value, I had it bored out to 45-70 and put a tang site on it.  It has sling swivels on it.  I’ve killed a lot of deer with it.  It’s pretty damn dark, wood and metal.  It’s my user.

I have others I like for different reasons: a grey 86 in 45-90 that’s 2″ over; an 86 with a story (lie?) behind it.  It’s all original though, and dark.

 I guess my centre piece rifles would be my two almost mint Winchester 64 Deer Rifles.

I don’t have a lot of Winchesters, but I did inherit M1873 I guess it came from my great grandfather, has a 30 inch barrel with a set trigger that still works, in 38\40 cal. Got the letter on it, went in and out of the wharehouse on the same date. And is still configured exactly as the letter says.    terry

One rifle that I really like is my Winchester Sniper Rifle Type 2 that dates back to 1922. It is a deluxe hybrid of sorts in that it is built on a refinished 1903 Springfield bolt action receiver chambered in .30 Gov’t. – 06. It is fitted with what I call an extra heavy barrel, in that its diameter at the receiver measures 1 and 1/4 inch vice the 1 and 1/8 inch of the standard heavy barrel.

The Type 2 version of the rifle is ultra rare, and existing references support this description since only about five of them are known to exist. Type 1’s are rare as well, but are likely much more plentiful. All of the Type 2 rifles were hand made to customer specifications and each one that I have researched have proved to be different in one way or another. Both types had to be ordered through Winchester’s Shooting Promotion Division.

The Winchester Sniper Rifles had a short production run, for quite obvious reasons, but it did last from 1922 to 1926 and possibly a bit longer. Perhaps, the most interesting things about these incredible rifles is that their roots are tied to World War I and the development of a better sniper rifle for our military, to include, Winchester’s strong desire to successfully market a high powered bolt action rifle as quickly as possibly, which came near the end of this time. Although, the interest of building a better sniper rifle for the short term quickly came to an end with that of World War I, these heavy barreled rifles in the hands of military and civilian master marksmen left their winning marks in the annals of long range shooting in America, plus the eventual development of heavy barreled Winchester rifles that were used for sniping on the fields of battle. In this respect, the Winchester Sniper Rifles were and always will be a success.

James