Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Single Shots Winchester 1885 "Traditional Hunter"..?

These days I have been moving back to more traditional arms and ammunition, i.e. lever guns, single shots, and home-cast boolits.. the other day, I spied a Winchester 1885 "Traditional Hunter" chambered in 38-55 for a good price, and I am thinking about picking it up. I have been wanting one in 32-40, but they are about as rare as hen's teeth, and frankly a 38-55 has always been on my "want" list.

Anyone have any input? Are these good guns, or would I be better off with an Italian copy, i.e. Cimmarron or Uberti?? I would be using it for recreational shooting and hunting with cast boolits. The rifle comes equipped with a Marbles tang sight.

In my humble opinion, a replica is never better than the true deal.

It's a Winny 1885 in good condition at a good price in a clambering you said is on your hit list....whats the question?!?

The tang sight is just gravy.

Go buy it then take some pictures of it and show it off.

Then take it out and shoot the old girl. Maybe even whack a critter or two with it...

Just my .02

Todd

They're very good rifles and I don't think you'd be disappointed in either the quality or accuracy.
I have three of the Traditional Hunters (30-30, 32-40 and 38-55) and they are all great guns. The Marbles sights are OK for plinking and hunting, but not precise enough for any serious target/silhouette shooting if that is an interest.

I also have a Cimarron 1885 Deluxe Highwall in 38-55. It is also a nice rifle and very accurate with the Soule type tang sight that is on it, but it's a lot heavier than the Winchesters and has a single set-only trigger, so they're not really comparable.

I bought one several years ago and really like it. The action, etc. just feels solid and preecise.

I bought a Traditional Hunter in .38-55 not long after they were introduced about twenty years ago. Bought a .32-40 and a .405 (not sure if the .405 is called a Traditional Hunter) about six or eight years ago. I shoot nothing but cast bullets in the three guns. The .405 shoots well, but it is probably the least accurate.

These are great, well-built rifles. I did have difficulty finding .32-40 brass and used re-formed .30-30 cases until Winchester made a run of .32-40, apparently something that doesn't occur but every few years.

You'll never find a more stylish rifle than an 1885. Whether it's Browning, Winchester, Cimmaron or Uberti, they all have their individual flair. A better single shot does not exist.

I don't think this version will take a tang sight.

I owned one for several years and won some informal cast bullet matches with it using a Shaver soule sight. Mine was a 38-55 and was extremely accurate with cast or jacketed bullets. When we stopped having the matches and my eyes got to the point that I couldn't handle the open sights any more, I let a friend have it. Probably should have just scoped it and kept it.

I have the Uberti, Winchester, and Browning.
I like them all.
I have got deer and/or antelope with the Uberti and the Browning.

They're fine rifles, though in general the wood on the Winchester-branded ones isn't as good as the older Brownings. Both of mine are Low Walls, but the actions are slicker than snot on a doorknob. I'd love a .38/55, but I have all the rifles I need.😜

Well, that settles it, I'm gonna throw out a bid.

You guys are terrible enablers! Thanks for the help. If I get it, I'll post some photos. Shame I won't have a chance to bust a deer with it this season, but I'll live. There's always next season.

I believe they made a run of trapper models in 30-40 Krag a few years ago.

They did, and those and the same model in .45/70 and .38/55 are/were discounted heavily on the CDNN site. I just can't see the point in a 161/2" High Wall. At 22", I'd be all in.

I know how you feel. After reading this thread I am starting to regret selling mine.

J23 there is a 32-40 at the Gun Room in Lakewood ,CO I think they wanted $1900.00 bucks for it.

That is exactly the rifle I have been looking for; Traditional Hunter 1885 in the 32/40! It's a little out of my price range though, unfortunately. Thanks for the heads up though!

I also don't see the point of the "Winchester" (really Miroku) 1885 carbines in the calibers they offered them and with the Hi-Wall action. Winchester did offer a "standard carbine" with a short barrel (usually 15"!) in the nineteenth century but they were on Lo-Wall actions with appropriate chamberings for a saddle gun: mostly .44-40,some .38-40 and a few .32-20. Cheaper, lighter, and even handier than a '92 or '73 "Trapper".

But the Miroku-made recent carbines are to my mind just expensive toys. I can BARELY imagine shooting a full-power .30-40 in that format, and I can imagine a dedicated handloader coming up with appropriate .30-40 subloads that wouldn't break your shoulder (these guns had "rifle" style crescent buttplates, didn't they?). I would bet that the .45-70s got shot about six times each with full power loads and then sat in a safe or were reloaded with subloads in the .45 Colt range of power.

Why didn't Browning/Winchester/Miroku just reproduce the original "standard carbine" in the original calibers, maybe adding .45 Colt and .44 Magnum, and 1 1/2" to the barrel to make it legal?

BTW, if you want an actual Winchester 1885 in the Winchester design, you can get one from C. Sharps in Montana. All of the others on the market now are slightly different designs from the last "coil spring" variation of the 1885--good guns but not Winchesters.

I have both a C. Sharps Hi-Wall .30-40 and a Miroku "Traditional Hunter" Lo-Wall .22 WRM and love 'em both. Retired my gen-you-wine Winchester 1885s when they became "collector's items". Before that in the 1950s they were just obsolete old guns that nobody wanted....