I picked up a Win 88 Carbine the other day cause I have always liked their looks. It only cost me $650 and it was in really excellant shape. I'm sure it would have cost me a lot more if the previous owner had not inscribed his name and social on the receiver. Other than that it is in pristine condition with orginal sling.

I must say I suprised as to how slick the action is and how well the darn thing shoots. The trigger has some creep, but not terrible.

I've only put 168 gr. Winchesters through it so far, but looks like it wants to shoot in the 1.25" range. Is this consistent with the breed? Why has it taken me this long to buy one of these I'll never know.

I'd post a pic, but I'm having some difficulty with my photobucket account.

They're not bad guns.

Nice looking rifle. Custom Stock? Looks like you have an old weaver K scope on it, is that correct?

It belonged to my father in-law, now it belongs to my wife. The original stock cracked within a year after he bought it. I owed him money so I paid him off by restocking it for him. You’re right; its topped with a Weaver K. It’s a 308 Win, and it’s killed a number of deer and elk in its life time.

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I paid him off by restocking it for him.

Nice work.!!

Thank you. He was the winner on the deal. I lost my butt in labor for no more than i owed him. But I would do it again just to see the look on his face went I gave it back to him. I loved that old man.

How long is the barrel on the carbine?

When was it made?

I always wanted a M88 Winchester but they were never easy to find. It was easier, back in the early 60's, to find a M99 so that's what I made my woods rifle.

Finally a 88 was in a shop and I got it just so I could work the action. You know how us gun guys are!

Sorry it's taken so long to get back to you, computer crashed. U have a nice rifle glad you were able to scratch your itch.

The carbines have nineteen inch barrels and I think all were made in the early 70s. Got it's first kill Monday.

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but looks like it wants to shoot in the 1.25" range

Nothing wrong with that that min of deer out to 400 yards easy.

For hunting big game a sub one inch rifle is not needed 99 percent of the time.

A lot of shooters think that they need a .5 rifle to shoot large targets at normal hunting ranges.

It doesn't take a .5 rifle to hit a 12 inch kill zone at 300 yards or under.

Its one thing to shoot a Pdog at 300 but the same isn't needed to kill deer ,bear, elk ect.

You're absoutely correct. Inch and a quarter is plenty good for what I have in mind. I'm just supprised that this little carbine does so well. I had it figured for a woods rifle, but it'll do okay in the fields as well, if I do my part.

One of the many perks of the Model 88 is that the one piece stock can be bedded and free floated like a bolt action and will usualy benefit from it. If you want better accuracy you might give that a try.

Good rifle and good caliber, congratulations.

Watch the end of the bolt on A Win 88 and in the last of the travel you will see the tip twists into place locking like a bilt action. In his book The Hunting Rifle, Jack O'Connor did say they were amongst the strongest action lever gun more akin to a bolt action. I had a pre 64 in .308 that I gave to my grandson. Has a Leupold 2x-7x compact scope, Pachmayr decellerator recoil pad, extra magazine with a leather pouch it fits in on the sling. My grandson loves it and has taken a bunch of whitetails and a bobcat and a couple axis deer with it. I was with him when he took a nice ten pointer.

My Dad has one in .284 Winchester and I have always coveted that rifle. I grew up watching him hunt with it... of all the guns he has that one is the one that means the most because of the memories it evokes!

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Originally posted by carpetman1:
Watch the end of the bolt on A Win 88 and in the last of the travel you will see the tip twists into place locking like a bilt action. In his book The Hunting Rifle, Jack O'Connor did say they were amongst the strongest action lever gun more akin to a bolt action.

That is correct. Also, the m88 has 3 recoil lugs.

It has been said that the m88 design is akin to a straight pull bolt action that is operated by a lever. It is a very strong action that lends itself to "bolt action" type accuracy.

The two drawbacks to a m88 are the trigger and the fact that the stock does not handle recoil well. Hard to believe, but the stock geometry(and factory buttplate) can make the normally mild 308 unpleasant to shoot.

My dad passed when I was very young and his m88/308win is one of my most important possessions.

JBrown--The Pachmayr Decellerator tames em down, .308 is very comfortable shooting with it.

I recently aquired one in 308, havent shot it yet, but I plan on starting with some 300 savage data and a leather lace up pad over the plastic buttplate and working up to something acceptable. Got a 4X scope mounted nice and low.

With Rlr 15 I was getting 2650 fs from 165 grainers in a M-99 300 Savage with a 20" tube and the recoil is practicaly non existant. So Im sure a happy medium can be struck in an M-88 308, even with the drop @ the comb.

I built a rancher neighbor of mine a Custom mod. 88 to his specs..He wanted a saddle gun, so we cut the barrel to 20 inches, re-shaped the stock a tad, used a schnable forend, Talley grip cap, slimmed it down quite a bit and mounted a 3X Leupold..I did some chronograph work and load work and the 20 inch barrel would produce the same velocity as my 22 inch .308 with some careful loading...It was a sure enough nice little rifle, always intended to build myself one just like it..

Used the same loads in a Ruger Int. ,308 with an 18 inch barrel and almost duplicated the 22 inch barrel Savage I have..The .308 is a versitile caliber, make that an awesome caliber.