Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Winchester Collectors Who Can Tell Me About 88's?

I'd like to add a model 88 to my collection. Can anyone tell me a little bit about them? Years of manufacture to look for or avoid? Commonly broken parts to look for? Stuff like that. Thanks.

Early guns, 1955 - 1956 (around serial number 80,000) are more collectible but are not quite as smooth. The shell guide on the bolt lug, stepped magazine, and rounded recoil lug came in at that time to address some early issues (hardness in feeding, stock cracking at the clover leaf recoil lug, and adding an extra round to the magazine). Find the Douglas Murray book for more info - only book ever published on the M88 that I know of. I am down to one, but have owned several over the years - my .308 WIN is still my favorite deer hunting rifle. Carbines sell for more than rifles and .358 WIN and .284 WIN cost more than .243 WIN and .308 WIN versions. There is a very good condition .358 WIN at Cabela's Gun Room in Raleigh NC - been there at least six months, I think they have about $5K on the price tag!

A M88 in 284 WIN I used to own (4 MOA gun!) I sold it to a collector.



The M88 in 308 WIN I've hunted with for years - not as pretty but a MOA rifle.

I owned a pre-64 88 for a wile. A real tack driver

Brother had a post '63 in .243. He asked me to clean it for him. I totally disassembled the contraption. Assembly proved futile. That was the only gun that I ever took apart and could not reassemble from memory. I finally had to beg a schematic from a LGS. Over engineered, complex inner workings, but it is accurate. Brother's grandson still hunts with it and has hunted a lot. Mostly deer, pigs, and varmints.

I killed my biggest buck with a pre-64 M/88 in .308, they're great woods hunting rifles. I purchased the first on in the early 70's, the .308 that I killed the big buck with. Over the years I have owned several .308's and one of the coveted .358's, recoil due to the stock design is kind of brisk but not unmanageable under hunting conditions. I always wished that Winchester had chambered the 88 in .257 Roberts, that would be the ideal deer rifle in my opinion.

The 88's are known to be heavy kickers... Is anyone going to mention the differences between pre 64 and post 64 rifles? Differences in checkering, build quality etc...

Early model....cloverleaf tang hand checkered I think first 3 or 4 years. Pre 64 until 64 hand checkered. Post 64 oak stamped checkering. The post 64s have perhaps better built innards. I personally hunt with a hybrid. Clover leaf Tanger hand checkered with post 64 innards. All 88s have model 70 barrels. Magazines can be the Achilles heel in the action. Carbines are only post 64 s. They seem heavier than the rifle. They are a nice,nice,winchesterm

Did the quality take a dive in 64?

No

They are considered to be crap amongst pre 64 collectors.

Definitely not. the post 64 versions are known to be solid, reliable rifles. I'm not a fan due to the stamped oak leaf checkering, but I'd own one at the right price. My clover tang pre-64 went down the road because I'm a shooter/hunter not a collector and that rifle wouldn't do better than 2+ MOA.

Nobody mentioned that they generally all have mushy triggers, with not much that can be done to rectify it. That is what I think hurts the gun the most for shooters. Crappy trigger usually means crappy groups. I have a nice pre-64 88 in 308. My friend Odessa sold me on it. I didnt regret it. Mine shoots very well. 1.5-2 MOA with factory ammo.

Wifey shoots a late 50's vintage 88 in .308. She loves it. Mushy trigger and all! LOL! Shoots it well too! She's always been a lever rifle person. Her childhood hero was Chuck Conners. I doubt she ever missed an episode.

I posted a pic of her cull Oryx up in the Win kill thread she took several weeks ago with her 88. Btw, that beast is delicious!

I have a post '64 in 308 that is plenty accurate. The trigger isn't a problem for me. I really like the 88 as a hunting rifle.

Lucked upon a post 64, 243 Win. with a 3x9 Redfield for $350.00. It came home with me....

Great little rifle and due to superior handling I would rate it above Sako Finnwolf. The recoil in .308 is noticeable due to rifles light weight. The rarely seen .243 would be cats meaw.

I have 5 of them and they all shoot great...the post 64 models are really nicer rifles but don't seem to be as valuable..my 243 and 284 are both post 64 and will shoot with most factory bolt fund....actions seem better on these 2 than the pre 64s

I found one in 308 with a serial number 76xxx.

Price is 700. Gun has seen use, but overall in decent shape for its age.

Is that a good deal? Or should I keep searching?

If it's all original (no pad, original wood and metal finish) with factory swivels, front sight hood and magazine, $700.00 is not a bad price. Might find one a little cheaper, but then again, might not. Market is really down on 88's in the last five years, remember when it was hard to find one for less than $1,000.00....

88's were not how Winchester built it's name. As a matter of fact, when those came out, people realized that the other pre 64 models were way more desirable. And the 100's? ugh.

They are cheap around here. A buddy bought one a while back for $350.00 and it came with a leupold 3-9x40 on it.. Personally, I think they are neat rifles. However, I also thought my Win 100 was pretty cool, until I owned it for a while... Not saying the 88 isn't a great rifle, just that I'm pretty picky. I'll send a rifle packing if I don't like the safety lever, how it feeds, magazine capacity, hopeless trigger, inaccuracy, etc. etc. If I was more of a collector (than a shooter/hunter), I'd have every type of Winchester rifle ever made. 88's and 100's included..

I'm wanting one for sentimental reasons. My grandfather hunted elk with one for years, but he was a 1 gun guy, and after it froze up on him once, he traded it off for a 7mm Rem Mag. He later bought a 99 because he liked lever 308's the best, but always talked about how the 88 was his favorite. Now that he's passed on I'd like to buy one and pack it around every now and then.

I never had a problem shooting good groups with my M/88, but then I didn't expect a target rifle trigger on a hunting rifle. Given the prices most M/88's are bringing I don't believe collectors exactly consider them to be "crap".

The M88 308 I have has cut checkering and no recoil pad.

It shoots ok however 88's don't have CRF and 99's do!

The early M/88 stocks had a lot of drop, felt recoil from my .308 was more than was the case with my .308 M/70.

At last count, I've owned over a dozen 88's, mostly pre-64 guns in .308, with one in .284, and one in .243. Here's a few observations:

- Accuracy was generally acceptable for most hunting, but none of those rifles were tack drivers - nothing even close to MOA, even with handloads.

- Quality seems pretty consistent between pre and post-64 versions.

- The stocks are prone to cracking right behind the trigger.

- The factory trigger is miserable, but can be satisfactorily adjusted by someone who knows what they're doing. Finding such a person is problematic.

- The drop in the stock can be compensated for somewhat by installing a 1/2" pad (without cutting the stock).

My grandfather used an 88 for years, hunting in Michigan's UP, so I have a lot of sentimental attachment for the rifle. I sold my last one several years ago, however, and probably won't buy another. Fun rifles to hunt with, but the accuracy can be finicky and inconsistent, and I just don't have time for it.

Better hope you don't break a firing pin... If you do, obtain a loan first...

I have 2 pre 64 308 s and 2 post 64 one in243 and 284---I think the post 64s are much better...nicer wood smother actions...
The pre 64 checkering is horrible....the pressed checkering is kinda cool if you look at the detail....
Pre 64s will always bring more money tho....

To the gunsmiths, I have an 88 in 7 mm/08 with a Douglas stainless barrel, it shoots great. I found out that working the lever with your finger on the trigger will cause the firing pin to fall. My 88 in .308 does not. Is this a costly fix and is their a recommended smith for this?

I had the same problem with one of mine. It was not an expensive repair.

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