Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Single Shots Talk me out of a B78

Friend has what he says is an unfired Browning B78 in 45-70. His father bought it new in 1975. Not a mark on the gun. I have an original Winchester 1885 in 45-70 that is a blast to shoot. How would this beautiful Browning compare to my old beat up 120 year old Winchester?

T

Having owned and currently owning various new and old iterations of the High Wall single shot, the ergonomics are similar and net results are the same amongst them all. Downside to the Browning/Miroku B-78: lousy trigger (since corrected in later Miroku-built versions), garish wood finish and glossy bluing that is loved by some hated by others, barrels that are generally lighter weight than original HW's (a benefit for hunters, less so for purely target shooters). Advantages: every one I've ever owned was stunningly accurate, YMMV. Fit and finish is superb, as is the bank vault feel to the action. Stronger than hell.

In short, the B-78 is a pretty dammed good rifle. I would snag it! Just don't directly compare it to a vintage Winchester HW, apples&oranges. There's just something about a 120 year old HW that a B-78 won't have for another 70 years!

If it wasnt a 45-70 I probably wouldnt consider it. The 24” octagon barrel makes it quite attractive. Can you still get bases & rings for the older version Browning single shots? Is $1200 fair?

T4

Can't speak to scope mount availability but would assume the stuff can be had. Anymore I turn directly to external adjustment target scopes (Unertl for example) for everything I acquire since target shooting not hunting is my main occupation these days. The couple Miroku single shots I deem hunting rifles retain their factory mounts.

24" barrel? I thought B-78's were all 26", but my memory could be deceiving me. $1200 strikes me as very fair, given condition.

The 45-70 of that era was the only B78 to come with a 24” barrel. Strait not tapered.

T

Having bought 2 recently a 25-06 and a 6MM thats VERY undervalued IMHO at $1200. I'm not a fan of the finish and both of mine will get the polyurathane stock finish removed and the metal will also be redone to a matt finish. The 6MM has decent wood but the 25-06 is plain. It might just get the full Monty redo treatment

gnoahhh is spot on. I paid $300 for a B-78 .45/70 in 1976 and I put more pounds of game in the freezer using it than any other rifle I have! About 2018, I decided it was too heavy for this old man to carry through the woods, so I sold it to a friend for $1200. The .45/70 is a fantastic round for deer and elk, and I hear for moose and buffalo too.

I once traded a Garcia Sako .223 for a .45/70 B78, and have regretted it for nearly 40 years. Both were finely made rifles, but while the Vixen was a joy to shoot and hunt with, the rounded crescent buttplate on the B78 made it truly brutal to shoot, from the bench anyway; worst I ever shot, even worse than light 12ga slug guns because of the shape.

I really like the Brownings, but if I ever acquire another .45/70, it’ll have a shotgun butt. They’re out there, 1885s not the earlier models. Another one I wouldn’t hate is the .454 Casull version.

Does the rifle in question have a crescent butt plate? I owned that version and it was very accurate with great wood figure. Not comfortable to shoot with modern +P loads and horrible at the bench but not bad at the original velocities. The trigger was a weak point compared to my Browning 1885.

It does.

Don't buy it. You're welcome.

PapaG appears to have had a bad one. What’s the story?

T4

That the one. Kind of wish I still had it now.

Bear in mind we moderns have forgotten how the ancients employed crescent butt plates. They're intended to be placed on the top of one's bicep outboard of the shoulder joint. Requires the elbow to be at least somewhat elevated toward horizontal. Try it, it works. If a shooter puts this butt plate in the inboard pocket of the shoulder joint it'll hurt with romping stomping .45-70 loads.

Of course, those old cats didn't spend hours and hours shooting off of benches so there is that. What one fella I know does is he had made butt stocks with recoil pads on them for when he bench shoots a couple heavy kickers, saving the crescent butt plated stocks for offhand work and looking cool.

Of course, there's nothing saying that one has to shoot nothing but full snort .45-70 loads in his crescent plated rifle. Trust me when I say that shoulder friendly light loads will still smack steel at respectable distances and reliably punch round holes in paper too. Save the buffalo killer loads for, well, buffalo.

I have one but mine is a 30-06. Trigger took a little getting used to but once I did that the rifle isn't all that bad regarding accuracy. I use it mostly for cast bullet shooting with the Lyman # 311284 or a plain based Lyman #311282. When I bought the mold at a gin how it had two cavities, one in 284 and the other in 282 but them mold was marked #11284. The 284 give good accuracy but I've yet to see something decent from the plain based bullet. The 284 makes a 222 gr. bullet and the plain based 282 a 227 gr. bullet.
PJ

My experience with a B-78 .30-06 mirrors yours. Several cast bullets ranging from 150-220 grains performed beautifully. Killed a few deer with a custom Saeco 180 grain FN bullet cast soft and driven with SR-4759 powder for .32-40-level performance (but most of my kills with it were with 165 Sierra HPBT's). It delivered MOA and sub-MOA accuracy with most every thing I fed it. It was at the top of the rotation in my go-to deer rifles for a couple decades, and then I sold it along with a few others when scrounging together the funds for a healthy down payment on a house.

It was the first rifle on which I tackled the factory wood finish early on. Stripped it (what a chore!), refinished it, and removed recoil pad and replaced it with a Model 70 butt plate. Left the high comb cheek piece as it worked quite well for scope use. If one of y'all happens to own that rifle now.....

I have that same buttplate on my High Grade 1886 Brownings. I bought a full coverage leather buttpad cover. I cut out some high density foam to fill in the curve of the buttplate and put the leather cover over it. Transforms them into shotgun butt and no alterations to the rifle. I shoot 45-70's mild anyway but this setup makes it very comfortable.
Good Luck, and I would buy that rifle if you haven't already!
Rick

Understood, it's crescent butt plates and torn rotator cuffs that are the issue for me.

Sample of one 7mag that my dad had. Shot good, bagged awkwardly and trigger was heavy. Still a neat gun and if you like it you better get it. Sounds like a fun to shoot rifle with light loads.

I did notice that the crescent butt plate on my Browning 45/70 1885 Traditional Hunter was a less severe curvature and may have been a bit wider as well compared to the B78.