Winchester Model 71

[Strange Bob]

I have inherited from my dad a Winchester model 71 .348 lever action. Its in fairly good shape, has an older peep installed but may have come with it from Winchester.

This is a field grade 24" rifle that's heavy but feels good and balanced to shoulder. It has plenty of use marks on the furniture but the bluing is batter than 90%). I got around 100 rounds of ammo, some bullets (100) and some brass (50 pcs). It has a 4 digit serial #, 6XXX.

I've shot it a few times, I like it. How hard is it to find ammo? (I don't reload ... yet). Pretty cool old rifle. My dad had told me it had belonged to his grandfather in Tenn. but had done a 25 year stint in Alaska with him.

What's THR think of this older lever action?

 

[rcmodel]

Excellent big game rifle, if you can manage the recoil.

They are worth a lot of money anymore.

rc

 

[Malamute]

I have a slightly rough, unpampered one. It shoots quite well with Hornady 200's (2"-ish @ 100 yards off the hood of the truck w/ receiver sight) and slightly off top end loads of 4350. Its also a lot of fun to hunt grouse with or just shoot with round ball loads and 4 grs Red Dot. Its about like a 22 in noise level and thumps a bit better on small game.

Factory ammo is stupid expensive and only run periodically. Save the money youd throw away on factory loads and start reloading, even if just with the cheapest gear you can get.

I carry mine quite often, my neighborhood fauna includs G type bears. It may not be "needed" in other areas, but they are truly classy, very well made rifles, and a lot of fun and satisfaction in using them. Yours, with the family history, would add quite a lot to that as well. It should make a dandy deer rifle, with little doubt as to being enough gun.

Guy on another forum uses one a fair bit, he said he had about 3 feet of penetration on an angle shot on a cow elk with the Hornady 200's.

If you keep loads a bit under max, the brass lasts longer. Not maximun sizing the brass helps too. Just enough to reliably re-enter the chamber.

 

[Float Pilot]

I saw a few while growing-up here in Alaska, but even back 50 years ago they belong to folks who we considered well-off. ( i grew up in a homestead area )

I bought my first real model 71 in Petersburg AK back in 1984 when I was Law dawging down there. An older guy who had been a brown bear guide for many years heard that I was into Winchesters and he sold me the gun and 300 rounds of old factory ammo for a very reasonable price. It had an old Lyman side mount peep sight and metal butt plate. Oddly enough it was pretty accurate out to 200 yards.
It was perfect for the tall dense rain forest of South-East Alaska where most shots would be close and quick.
I nailed a bunch of bears with that rifle later later a few moose when I moved back into the central part of our state. The 348 Winchester packs plenty of punch. You could hear the bullets impact on game critters. Like smacking a pile of wet blankets with a canoe paddle.

The original rifles are worth quite a bit of cash these days. While ammo it hard to find, it can be found.
Hand-Loading is the answer, even if it means you need to befriend a hand-loader who has the gear and wants to teach you how to do it.

Resist the temptation to re-chamber it. That will only cut the value by a huge percentage. As it stands now it is worth more than $2,200 on the open market. Even more if it had a bolt mounted peep. Mine was in nice shape when I was forced to sell it for more than $3,000.

 

[200Apples]

.
Very good article on the Model 71, of which the following quote is but a very small portion...

The Model 71 was a high-end rifle introduced at the nadir of the Depression, using bullets for which no one had molds and requiring a new casing. It goes against reason that this unusual rifle and cartridge survived at all, but it remained in production from 1935 to 1957, with just over 47,000 being built. The 71 was most popular in Canada and Alaska, where the .348 could take a moose—and then the brown bear that showed up to help with the field dressing.

A carbine version was offered with a 20-inch barrel, and an extremely small number of 71s were sold in .33 WCF.

Today, few Model 71 owners take these extremely collectable rifles to the field, and most live on in fine collections.

http://www.shootingtimes.com/long-guns/the-shootist-winchester-model-71/#ixzz3WyZXQpOd