Who is making the best 1885 repro? I want quality and accuracy. I am leaning toward Ballard. Any experience out there? Thanks.

No actual "experience" with them but in addition to Ballard I've heard good things about Highwall's by Meacham Tool and C. Sharps Arms. Both have been discussed/evaluated (and also advertised) extensively in the "Single Shot Exchange" magazine. I believe the Sharp's is the least expensive (about $1600 for a basic rifle) with the Ballard and Meacham going for well over $2.5K+ with DST, PG stock, high grade wood, etc.

Jon

I believe the Meacham's go for over $3000, but do check their site to verify this.

Also, note that Meacham's are not faithful replicas of the Winchester. The Meacham has several worthy modifactions. One is an inertia firing pin, allowing a relatively safe carry with the hammer down on a live round. I feel this is safer than stalking with the hammer down in the safety notch.

The Meacham is a coil spring action, not the original flat spring of the 1885. The Ballard does use the flat spring. For what it's worth, I find the coil spring jobs cycle more smoothly, but others here have disagreed with this.

Ballard

To be clear about it, original 1885 Wins were made with both flat and coil main springs. When the takedown action was introduced the coil spring was necessary and later solid frames were also made with it - altho no doubt Winchester simultaneously used up the flat spring frames that were still in stock.

Tanker, The C. Sharps come with Badger barrels which is a plus for BP shooters. Rbump