Win 88 243 Win 20” barrel

[ExAgoradzo]

So I did the obligatory Wikipedia search on this. Seems like a fairly common rifle. Nothing out of the ordinary.

The 88 doesn’t have a hammer. Lever guns are supposed to have a hammer. OK Savage lovers hate me now, and the Ruger guys as well...I love Ruger too, but lever guns have don’t have hammers: so... This is almost enough to make me hard pass.

But I don’t own a .243. It seems like a great caliber. Would be a good when-my-daughter-gets-old-enough-to-hunt-gun...

What do you all think? $600 seems steep, but prices are artificially high at the moment. A little time and... It has the vintage scope. Looks clean and sound. iDK what year it is, should have paid attention to the serial number. Might be pre64 which would add value, but that isn’t crucial to me because it would never be a defense against dangerous game gun...

I will likely pass, but if enough of you think it great, then perhaps...

Thanks,
Greg

 

[troy fairweather]

There's a lot of nice 243s for $600 and you get what you want, could maybe find a used blr in 243 .did the 88 have cut checkkering or pressed.

 

[Dustbowl]

I’m actually refinishing an 88 stock in a .308 at the moment. They are decent guns. $600 isn’t too much as long as it’s in good condition. Box mag and rotating locking lugs on a lever gun is a good feature. The owner tells me his is moa at 100 yards with hand loads. The pre-64’s are definitely cut because the one I’m working on has small cutting imperfections in the checkering.

I like Savage 99’s but I’d buy an 88 just as fast. Just like Savages’ the odd ball calibers bring big bucks.

 

[horsemen61]

I say buy it because you won’t see another most likely

 

[DocRock]

Until recently you would have had no chance of course, but, unfortunately, in the near future, there are going to be a lot of guns on the market. Wait. Find a Savage 99 in 250-3000. Your life will be complete. Your daughter will love you more. Really.

 

[CharliesHammer]

I have a pre 64 in .308, a favorite brush gun. If it's a pre 64 in solid condition $600 is great. Have both the Savage and the Winchester and personally prefer the Winchester. Really clean pre 64's can fetch some $.

 

[earlthegoat2]

Aren’t these the guns that would just fire for no reason even with the safety on?

No I’m not mistaking this with Rem 700 Walker triggers.

 

[jmr40]

I'm pretty sure the semi-auto version had a safety recall. I'm not sure about the lever action. I guess that if you just want to have something unique it would certainly fill that role. But they didn't last long for good reasons. For about 1/2 that price you can get a much more accurate and reliable 243.

 

[Skylerbone]

This lever is to you what the Colt All American 2000 is to me, a thankless purchase. I mean that in the nicest possible way as both are whimsical departures for their respective makers and worth owning for that novelty alone. Odd ball and ahead of their time in some ways and both eclipsed by modern firearms.

Beyond that you’re already speaking the truth of what you know, it isn’t the advised route to take, just as I will never likely buy that Colt. For $600 you can cowboy up in better fashion; .243 from a lightweight with plastic butt plate rifle doesn’t spell “happy kid”.

If, however, the urge to own it spells “happy Greg” then I’d stamp my approval in the book for what it’s worth and despite my above assessment.

 

[RainDodger]

I've never seen an 88 in .243. I had a 4-digit serial number .308 with cut checkering... and I sold it to a buddy because it didn't shoot particularly well. That was just my experience. There are a lot of guys out there that swear by Winchester 88s. It always felt like it had a really long lever throw to me. Likely my imagination though. Looking back, I probably should have kept it and experimented with different loads, but I'd still be surprised if it was anywhere near 1 MOA.

 

[SwampWolf]

Winchester Model 88 rifles (and Savage Model 99 rifles too, for that matter) have hammers, they're just not exposed. Model 88 rifles (introduced in 1955) had 22" long barrels and were chambered in .243, .308, .284 and .358 calibers. There were only 28,000 Model 88 carbines (introduced in 1968) with 19" long barrels made and they were not offered in the .358 caliber. Stocks came with cut checkering until 1964, after which time they came only with pressed basket weave "checkering". Both rifle and carbines were discontinued in 1973 with a total of about 283,000 being sold.
To my knowledge, only the Model 100 semi-automatic sibling had a recall notice issued regarding a firing pin problem.