My Winchester 1886 45-70 Miroku and lots of photos!

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lionking

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On vacation this week been shooting a lot, and this baby came in Tuesday got it off gunbroker and Wednesday tested it out. The previous owner installed a Beaches folding front sight and a Marbles rear aperature so there was a few different sights to test.

Let me say if you wear glasses beware cause I scratched my lense when the aperature was folded down. Also busted my lip and a bang on my cheek ha ha! I learned to back my head away some from that rear sight cause the rifle has some umph recoil even though it is a heavy rifle.

I only tested the sights with HSM 405gr. Normally I do 5 shots or more to test but in this case staying with three shots to see groupings. The aperature is shooting WAY high , top target with circle front sight and aperature was at edge of the top of the target and rear aperature with the blade front shooting at bottom target hit the upper target. Using the blade front and stock buckhorn sight the elevation seems on but the windage is on the edge of the paper left side.

Next time I will start to sight it in, and got some testing to do with ammo but I managed a 2 1/2 inch group at 100 yds with the circle front and rear aperature. How accurate I am with this rifle really is a question until I try it more.

But the craftmanship of Japan made in Miroku is just beautiful. Great action too the loading gate and the action of the lever loading and ejecting is just smooth as silk.

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Very nice if you don't reload start. The 45-70 is the most fun gun i gave from blinkers with trailboss to pain in 3031.
 
Gorgeous, only wish Winchester still made them in the U.S. because of its heritage. Sad that seminal American firearms come from Japan, Brazil, and Italy.
 
Great looking rifle-though I imagine the beautiful crescent-shaped butt stock brings a little extra hurt along with its good looks. I have Miroku's rendition of Winchester's Model 1886 in the "Extra Light Weight" variant and like it a lot. It does come with the more plebeian-looking but less painful shotgun-style butt stock.
 
Troy F., I ordered the Hartford model in 45-70 and most of the gingerbread that I could afford at the time. Wait time was just shy of two years - that was 15 years ago - (I do not know what wait time is today). My rifle is perfect in detail, fit and finish - really, really nice rifle. I don’t shoot it anymore as once it is sighted, nothing moves - I find it boring to shoot these days because it repeats it’s accuracy without fail - a very solid and stout design.
 
Troy F., I ordered the Hartford model in 45-70 and most of the gingerbread that I could afford at the time. Wait time was just shy of two years - that was 15 years ago - (I do not know what wait time is today). My rifle is perfect in detail, fit and finish - really, really nice rifle. I don’t shoot it anymore as once it is sighted, nothing moves - I find it boring to shoot these days because it repeats it’s accuracy without fail - a very solid and stout design.
If i ever get the money i always wanted the 1874 quigley same as the movie but the options are so tempting. they are a rifle this is worth the wait.
 
Wow! that is a work of art....a beautiful rifle. I'll wager that crescent butt plate has a bite with the heavier loads, and the 86 action can handle them! You gotta reload for a 45-70, it expands the cartridge into a whole new universe. Everything from round balls at rabbit velocity to the heavier bullet loads that will shoot entirely through an American Bison from any angle.

Enjoy....enjoy....enjoy...and I'll sit here green with envy...
 
That is a great looking rifle! I really enjoy my Browning SRC, but I have always liked the '86 rifles with the crescent butt on the stock. That should bring you years and years of enjoyment...congrats!
 
These are great rifles and you're sure to get attached to it!


Gorgeous, only wish Winchester still made them in the U.S. because of its heritage. Sad that seminal American firearms come from Japan, Brazil, and Italy.
I don't. The Miroku-made leverguns are head and shoulders above any domestic levergun in 100yrs. I'm glad they were smart enough to contract with them even before New Haven shut down.
 
Thanks everybody, yeah I know I gotta get into reloading, otherwise it won't be a rifle I can shoot too often. My problem is time, I am gone 11 hours a day working, then I work at guitar at night and weekends to sometimes, after getting home from work I just don't have much time to get into loading. That and I gotta tell you the recent thread on that rifle k-boom and also seeing it happen at my range makes me a bit scared to reload. Any damage to my hands or fingers and my other passion guitar would be over. I'm smart and careful enough that I could reload so maybe one day though even though I'm leary of it..

Recoil, seems similar or slightly less to my 7mm magnum with a synthetic stock, the recoil doesn't bother me much it is that rear peep sight like I said I have to be careful otherwise it nails my face and glasses. I gotta say though that sight and that Beaches front sight gives a better sighting picture that I ever had on a lever action with normal buckhorn and blade. It is like having a Garand or M1903A3 sight on a lever action. Kinda thinking of putting one on a 30-30 now especially since recoil wouldn't be as much and less worry about it hitting my face.

Made in Japan, yeah when I first heard they were my pride got struck back a bit but it is what it is and they are incredible craftmanship. Our military has a bunch of weapons made overseas now also like FN. Kind of messed up that people in Japan can't own a gun but make very nice ones.

Winchester still makes the 1886 but the design has changed some now , this one was made in the early 2000's and I am wondering just how many were made of this series back then can't find a answer on the net so far. BTW it normally had a tang safety but the previous owner took it off and put that Marbles peep sight on which I'm glad.
 
Thanks everybody, yeah I know I gotta get into reloading, otherwise it won't be a rifle I can shoot too often. My problem is time, I am gone 11 hours a day working, then I work at guitar at night and weekends to sometimes, after getting home from work I just don't have much time to get into loading. That and I gotta tell you the recent thread on that rifle k-boom and also seeing it happen at my range makes me a bit scared to reload. Any damage to my hands or fingers and my other passion guitar would be over. I'm smart and careful enough that I could reload so maybe one day though even though I'm leary of it..

Recoil, seems similar or slightly less to my 7mm magnum with a synthetic stock, the recoil doesn't bother me much it is that rear peep sight like I said I have to be careful otherwise it nails my face and glasses. I gotta say though that sight and that Beaches front sight gives a better sighting picture that I ever had on a lever action with normal buckhorn and blade. It is like having a Garand or M1903A3 sight on a lever action. Kinda thinking of putting one on a 30-30 now especially since recoil wouldn't be as much and less worry about it hitting my face.

Made in Japan, yeah when I first heard they were my pride got struck back a bit but it is what it is and they are incredible craftmanship. Our military has a bunch of weapons made overseas now also like FN. Kind of messed up that people in Japan can't own a gun but make very nice ones.

Winchester still makes the 1886 but the design has changed some now , this one was made in the early 2000's and I am wondering just how many were made of this series back then can't find a answer on the net so far. BTW it normally had a tang safety but the previous owner took it off and put that Marbles peep sight on which I'm glad.

The FN AR's are made in S.C. U.S., pretty much condition of doing business with Uncle Sam.
U.S. Firearm companies apart from some small ones are largely uninterested in the repro market.
 
Nice rifle!

I have what is essentially the non special edition version of your rifle in the same caliber. Mine has a round barrel instead of the octagon barrel that your special editon has. Is your barrel a 24 or 26 inch? Mine is a 24 inch, but they labeled it a short rifle which may only pertain to 1886.
I also got it on gun-broker about 5 years back. It was listed as pre-owned, but still new in box and never fired, so I got it at a decent price.

I have found that a crescent butt stock can be punishing with a 45-70 shot from a bench rest compared to shooting the same rifle off hand. Shooting off hand allows one to position the shouldering arm horizontally allowing one to correctly move the butt plate out onto the upper arm, which can absorb the recoil without the sharp points digging into one's shoulder. Unfortunately, shooting from a bench rest forces the butt plate more onto the chest side of the armpit because one tends to also rest their elbows on the table surface. I solved this issue for bench rest shooting with a slip on rubber recoil pad that had several foam thickness inserts--one of which I cut up to perfectly conform to the crescent.

Unlike the original Winchester company, which kept most rifles produced of a particular model in numerical sequence regardless of configuration for the entire life of the model---Miroku uses a totally new alphanumeric system with the prefix letters denoting the series and the numbers denoting the gun's position in that series. They rarely run more than 2000 guns in a particular series, and much less for the special editions like your--- then simply change a letter or two and drop back to serial number 0001 in the next series. However, I was able to call the customer service number listed at Winchester/Browning online site, give the service rep my particular alpha numeric number and he was able to quickly give me both a production date and a total produced for that particular model. (try 1-800-322-4626). I'm assuming they will do this for anybody who calls. It can't hurt to try.

I also recently acquired a Marbles rear tang sight for mine. However, it doesn't require me to remove the tang safety slide to mount. At some point Marbles came out with a modified sight base that is only about 1.5 inches long, so it can be mounted behind the slide without any other modification. They make a similar short base for the model 92. I haven't mounted mine yet because it still requires having a hole drilled and tapped for the front screw. My local gunsmith quoted me like $90 to do this, but it just proved that his reputation as a thief is justified. I can buy the drill bit and tap on-line for only $12 delivered and I already own a tap handle. Of course yours looks more authentic since it covers the empty slot left by taking the slide out.

I looked into having the whole safety system removed and returning the gun to how John M. Browning originally designed it with only a half cock. Turnbull quoted me about $800, which included restoring the half cock by putting in an original style hammer plus the matching one piece trigger system, then welding up the hole, and refinishing the receiver with their special case hardening process, but that was more than I wanted to spend at the time having just dropped just over $1000 for the rifle.

Cheers
 
forward observer mine is a 26 inch barrel. Seems now all they offer is 24 inch for the newer ones.
 
forward observer mine is a 26 inch barrel. Seems now all they offer is 24 inch for the newer ones.

I think originally that the Winchester of old considered a 26 inch barrel for the models 1876 and 1886
as the standard length since they were larger caliber express type repeaters essentially made to compete with the big bore single shots of the day. I also have a Winchester 1876 Italian replica in 45-60 cal. I had a choice of a 24, 26, or 28 inch barrel, and I chose the 24, which they also referred on the box as a short rifle.

Cheers
 
Beautiful, although I wouldn't want to plink 405 grain slugs with that buttplate.

But, seriously, that is a magnificent piece. Have fun with it! ...and, do start handloading.
 
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