Had one of these in carbine form some years ago and let a friend talk me out of it and only recently bought a rifle version. That long 26" hexagonal barrel is a natural for shooting off hand and the extra weight does absorb recoil with stout 45-70 loads. Gave a lot of thought to the recent Winchester versions, both from Japan, but did not care for the tang safety set up. Not ragging on the Winchesters for ones I have seen/handled are fine looking rifles and of quality. If you are in the market for a big bore lever gun and you can find one of the Brownings they are worth the price. This one is not going to go away!!

I agree the Browning is nice because it is original design. Turnbull is now 'retrofitting' the winchester version. So, if you have to have that configuration it can be available. I bought the new winchester because it has the deluxe wood, is a 26 inch octogon barrel and is a takedown. I'm now fighting the urge to send it to Turnbull for 50-110 conversion.

buckeyeshooter

How does that Gov't '06 Carbine shoot?

The carbine shoots great. The best part is that it has the fold up long range sight graduated to 1200 yards. Now I have not shot at anything that far-- but the sight works nice up to 300 yards. The only downside to the carbine is that the steel buttplate makes a 180 grain 30-06 'feel' like a 250 grain .338 in recoil-- not unbearable, but you know the gun fired.

I came across a Browning SRC 1886 in 45-70 a couple of months ago, and don't particularly care for it. I like my Marlin 1895 Cowboy in 45-70 a lot better. Maybe it's the shorter, barrel, I don't know. I have been thinking about moving the 1886 on down the road, frankly.

quote:

Originally posted by sharpsguy:
I came across a Browning SRC 1886 in 45-70 a couple of months ago, and don't particularly care for it. I like my Marlin 1895 Cowboy in 45-70 a lot better. Maybe it's the shorter, barrel, I don't know. I have been thinking about moving the 1886 on down the road, frankly.

Great rifle, you'll have no problems selling it. I have an earlier Borwning 1886 rifle, shoots great! I have often thought I wanted a carbin to hunt w/. I also bought the 1895G for a hunter. Very slick little rifle & sub 2" accuracy @ 100yds w/ the 2x EER scope.