Two 1885, Soliciting Opinions |Winchester Rifles|Forum|Winchester Collector

I couldn’t live with the sanded HW stock, even if the metal was in much better cond.  But neither have been handled with kid-gloves.  I’m surprised the LW stock is in such nice cond, considering the wear to which the metal has been subjected.  If you’re serious about shooting it, the gun needs a tang sight, which will hide the idiot’s name on the upper tang.  .32 Ideal had a fine rep as a target cartridge, & cases can still be found.  The #5 Lyman is a nice bonus.  I’m not current on values, but considering the chamberings, neither price seems a terrific deal.   I’d try offering $1400 for the LW; worst seller can do is refuse. 

I would get one in a standard not to hard to find brass caliber.  Like what Bert said.  Maybe a 45-70 but it really can be harsh to shoot a lot. Anyone of the 1873/1892 calibers.

Ron-

I’d wait for one that leaps into your arms and whispers sweet nothings in your ear. Maybe it will be in a cartridge that won’t require reloading room investment or heroics. In my experience a new cartridge for casting/reloading is $500, sometimes more if the first mould doesn’t work out. 

Mike

rwsem said
Thanks all for the inputs.  I have no issue with setting up for a new cartridge, I’ve done it about 40 times or so….  But, I do like to get the firearms at a price point that I will at least break even if I sell it and they just wouldn’t come down on either; so….  I’ll wait.   

Seller proved himself a fool–he was lucky to find a potential buyer unafraid of the challenge of loading for such unpopular cartridges.  He’ll own those guns a long time, unless he finds a greater fool to buy them at his unreasonable prices.

rwsem said
Thanks all for the inputs.  I have no issue with setting up for a new cartridge, I’ve done it about 40 times or so….  But, I do like to get the firearms at a price point that I will at least break even if I sell it and they just wouldn’t come down on either; so….  I’ll wait.  Besides, my Uncle gifted me my grandpa’s 6.5  Swede by Carl Gustaf, so I have that work through this fall/ winter anyway.

  

For the kind of money they want for those sell-for-parts grade junkers, you can buy a brand new Winchester 1885 High Grade Low Wall falling block, grade 3-4 Walnut, 24″ full octagon barrel, in your choice of .22 Hornet, .223 Remington, .243 WCF, or 6.5mm Creedmore. Faithful design, strong and tough modern steels, and faultless workmanship. Factory list is $1789 USD plus tax but you can probably find one for a little less and with free shipping. At 7.5 pounds plus scope, it looks like a serious walking-around pest/deer rifle. I have a weakness for the Hornet but you couldn’t go wrong with the Creedmore. 

What a fine gift! There are no flies on a Carl Gustoff and the 6.5 Swede is one of the best real-World game cartridges ever designed. Fortunately, the brass is not too hard to find and there’s lots of good .264 bullets around, which wasn’t always the case. The Norwegians and the Swedes are still laughing at us over our “new” 6.5 Creedmore.  They’ve been killing Moose and unwary Germans with the Swede for a Century. 

Winchester has made various runs of its post-63 Model 70 Featherweight chambered for the Swede, including some very nice ones that featured the 1992 CRF action. The current Featherweight is offered in a long list of chamberings but the Creedmore has been substituted for the Swede. I’d prefer the Swede because it can handle the heavy bullet loadings. It’s not a rate of twist problem but rather an OAL problem for the Creed. 

During the Pandemic I became delirious from cabin fever and tried to find a nice Featherweight in 6.5 Swede online. Never happened but a small gunshop in the wilds of Minnesota had grown tired of singing happy birthday to a new 6.5 Swede no plainsman would buy. But I did and at a pleasing price. Won’t mention the brand but its late proprietor’s middle name was Batterman. 

Can’t go wrong buying your kid a Swede for a first deer rifle. Recoil and blast of a 6mm Remington and, within 250 yards or so, lays game down like a .270 WCF.  With 150 grain bullets it will penetrate both gristle plates of a mature boar hog and gather him to his ancestors. 

Good idea.  I had an 1896 in 7×57 that I wish I hadn’t sold. It wore the crest of a South American country,  I think Argentina, but its straight bolt handle had been turned down and was within the manufacturing range of those shipments intercepted and sent to Africa for the Boer War. 

“With ‘is Mauser for amusement an’ ‘is pony for retreat;”

“I’ve seen a lot of fellers shoot a damned sight worse than Piet.”

Good rifle. After reading all that bushwa about the inferior strength of the 1896, somebody (Terry Weiland?) set out to test one to destruction with an increasing series of overloads. He.eventually splintered the forestock and set the bolt back and froze it in place– but the bolt never let go. He called BS on the accusation.

Any of them can be a small game cartridge for a handloader. The Creedmore, the 243, the 223, and particularly the Hornet, can all be easily loaded down to replicate 25/20 ballistics. 

As you know, hunting wild turkeys with a rifle is legal in Texas and I’ve taken several with a slightly downloaded Hornet and FMJ Hornady 45 grain bullets, many more with a 250 Savage and 87 grain FMJ bullets loaded to 1800 fs. 

My big mistake was, in 1986,  on my very first turkey hunt, borrowing a friend’s 243 and some “turkey loads” he’d put together using 80 grain Hornady FMJs. He didn’t tell me they were loaded to full velocity with IMR 4350!  As luck would have it,  after I’d shut the woods down with my box call, a retarded 24 pound gobbler stepped out of the brush and began strutting no more than 20 yards away. I smacked him in the big middle with one of those screaming 80 grainers and he was instantly dead and field dressed, missing his offside leg and thigh and most everything South of his crop. Fortunately, the breast meat was untouched. I went home, bought a 250 Savage and a can of 4759.