My intrepid brother in law has once again found something to do with my spare time. As such a worn but solid M88 has appeared upon my bench. I have removed the metal from the stock, but wish to go deeper into the works. So the question is:
When disassembling the rifle are there any little tricks which might prevent inadvertant disasters? I want to remove a bolt to polish some rust stains and basically inspect the workings.

On the Win. 88 you will need to make a couple of special length pins to replace the ones holding all the parts together in the gun. If you don;t have the pins to the correct length you will not be able to assembly the unit back into the receiver. The take down pins need to be just short enough to remove the assemble from the receiver when driving out the Win. pins. Hope this helps. Les

Yes Les it does. I will attempt re-assembly tomorrow as the parts are soaking in solvent for the night. I can see why this rifle didn't last long for Winchester, too many parts and too nice a rifle!

The 88 was a winner, sure wish they would do a reduex on that one.

308..I purchased one of the first 88's ( .243 )in 1960 or so .. thought it needed a good cleaning, so I took it apart the night before deer season .. needless to say, didn't get it back together until 2:30 AM .. it's a real bear to assemble .. haven't taken it apart since .. shoots as good as my bolts.. .. good luck.. mpb

Thanks to Les, the re-assembly was less trying than a bi-pass... he rifle ws shot yesterday in our heat and humidity, and is about a 1 MOA performer with old R-P factory 180 grain Pointed Soft points. I intend to shoot an assorment of loads tomorrow and see if any preferences show up. PS: It will not be coming apart again...

I picked up a pre 64 M88 in 308 last winter to check them out. Mine will not group better than 1.5 to 2 inches at 100 yds.

Comparing it to a 99 Savage I would take the 99 for any purpose. The 99's action is much easier to work. When one is opening the 88 it seems to cock itself at the end of the out stroke when you have very little leverage. The 99 cocks at the final closing and it's far easier.

There are many other features that make the 88 second to other rifles. Another is that the 88's are kind of heavy as compared to other guns.

This is all just my opinion and if you like 88's then fine.

Another thing to watch for in the Win 88 was the early models had firing pins that broke easy. It has been so many years ago that I can't remember the correct shape for the replacement firing pins. Most of the Win 88's would group under 1 inch. I worked as a warranty gunsmith for Win. until 1988. Stay away from the Win. 100's. Bolt face ware in the extractor slot will cause the extractor to fail. A new bolt was the repair. A gage was available to check the slot and the lips that held the extractor in place. The Win. 88 used the same gage, but I don't remember having the extractor problems on them.