Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Single Shots Tell me about the Winchester Traditional Hunter in 38-55

You probably know this, but just in case.....

Before you try to drift that sight, lift the leaf and carefully take out the elevator. Then put a piece of thin plastic, or Tyvek, or even oiled paper under the leaf to protect the barrel's finish. Also, use a proper brass drift and hammer to avoid whoopsies. Drift left to right, looking from the rear.

Did all that and done! It took some time but the BreakFree helped a lot.


Ran out to the range this afternoon for a quick session to shoot 20 rounds. I had worked up a drop chart with an on line calculator based on a guesstimated SD and MV which turned out to be close. Fired several rounds at 25 yards to get on target, then two shots at 50 to verify and then moved a new bullseye out to 100 yards. Three sighters on the right below to bracket final elevation, some windage adjustment and then the last eight shots in the box to see what it and I could do together. Those high ones make me wonder about that wiggly peep sight but overall I am not unhappy for a brand new to me rifle with ammo of unknown quality.

At 100 yards my elevation was within 5 clicks of being maxed out to hit center with a 6 o'clock hold, going to get the taller stem if I expect to take this to 200 yards and beyond. The stock drop was pretty much on, with the sight lower I had to scrunch my face against the comb but at max elevation I had a good head position and even a taller front sight will still leave a very good cheek weld.

As far as recoil and blast this thing is like a maiden's caress as some writer used to put it. Recoil is less than a .22-250 in a Ruger American and with that low pressure in a long barrel, muzzle blast was little more than a moderate crack.



Wind was kind of gusty and snappy, 15-20 mph from 4-5 o'clock according to the range wind station. Those eight shots went into 1.86" which ain't bad for my 65 year old eyes and a peep sight. I imagine with some load development this thing just might shoot pretty good.

Glad to hear you had success with your search for the 1885. That is beautiful wood on the rifle!
The cowboy loads are pretty low velocity. I forget the published number but your hand loads will probably be considerably faster. If your 38-55 is anything like mine, there will be a many inches of elevation difference between the different loads.
Will you be putting a scope on the rifle at any point? Next trip to the range, I'll be taking the scope off mine to see if the tang sight can be sighted in over the Talley scope base.
Please let us know the recipe if you find a load that works exceptionally well.
Enjoy!

That's good advice on waiting to see what the final trajectory looks like with faster loads before going to a taller stem. One cartridge out of the box I bought had a bad crimp that bulged the case so it woouldn't chamber, I pulled it and the charge was 21.4 grs. of a light gray short stick powder I didn't recognize; definitely not Reloder 7 or IMR 4198, with a 245 grain plain base bullet sized .279". With any appropriate powder it's definitely a light load.

Probably going to get Leupold scope bases (the much maligned STD with windage adjustable base) mount and put my old standby M8 12X on it for load workup. Those are the only ones I can find except the Talley and I don't want to get too fancy with the scope mounts since this was bought specifically for peep sight shooting. I'd get plain old Weaver bases but don't see any reference to an 1885 in the base chart on Weaver's website. If anyone can point me toward a decent base set at the lower end of the financial spectrum that would be great. They aren't for show, just temporary for load workup.

My .44 LW puts 240gr blooper loads using Trail Boss about a foot higher that full-power hunting loads, at 50 yards. Once I use up those swaged Hornadys, I'm switching to Laser Cast at a faster clip. I'll need to cut a bit off the Skinner blade I installed, like half!

Weaver lists scope bases for the Browning 1885. I put those on a heavy barrel, half octagon, half round Winchester 1885 low wall .22 lr. The hole spacing and fit on the low wall was perfect but the front base was a little low and needed some shimming. I think those bases might be a good fit on the Winchester high wall.

Thanks - I was looking under Winchester, since, after all, it's a Winchester. I guess Weaver doesn't see it that way...

Already placed two orders with Midway and Grafs for needed supplies, neither has all of what I need. Ordered the Leupold mounts from Midway. They will let me exchange items on my order since it hasn't been pulled, but they are completely out of both Weaver #11 and 29 bases. Graf's has plenty of 11 and 29 bases but they won't let me add those to my order. Maybe I can call them tomorrow before the order is placed. If all fails then I'm only out an additional $15.

Why go with a scope for load workup at all?

Seriously, if you are going to set the gun up for peep sight shooting anyway, put a decent tang sight on it along with a Lyman 17A Globe front.

With a globe aperture matched to a round bull that just fits inside it 100, you cannot help but shoot very tight groups. Save the glass for the rifls you own that have crappy or no irons.

I hear what you’re saying and know for a fact that one can shoot very decent groups with a globe sight and a round bullseye. A friend of mine once shot a 1.5” group at 100 yards from a .308 using nothing but scope rings – no scope, just the rings making two concentric circles and a round bullseye centered in those.

This rifle will mostly be used for steel whanging at 200 yards and sometimes longer, standard target will be a 12” square at 200 yards, the “longer” will be various sized pieces of round, square and rectangular steel out to 500 meters. Based on peep sight shooting with milsurps, lever actions and a couple of modern bolt actions so far, for square and rectangular targets a nice square blade lets the target sit right on top of it for a 6 o’clock hold.

Have lots of experience loading and playing with scope sighted hot shot centerfires but this is my first big punkin’ chunker (okay, medium punkin’ chunker ) so I’m easing in gradually and not wanting to drop a lot more bucks right away. If the existing wiggly Marbles peep serves okay then it will stay a while, and judging by initial results it should be “okay” for 200 yards.

However, last night I was researching what’s out there for target grade tang sights – it can be real easy to spend $350-$400 and up on a rear sight alone - and it seems Lee Shaver makes a nice “Economy Soule type” sight which gets good reviews on various forums. If/when I do upgrade that looks to be a good way to go without breaking the bank.

Do you still want a set of Weaver bases for the 1885? I found a set here that I have no use for. I won't be able to mail them until Thursday, but if you can use them, I'll send them out priority mail. You can send me a check for the postage after the bases arrive.
I'm not sure how the messaging system here works so please let me know the best way for you to get me your address if you do want the bases.

That’s a very kind offer and I do appreciate it, but the order for Leupold bases has already shipped. This is just a quick plug and play solution to get a scope mounted, from what I’ve read they fit well without any shimming. Also, they’d be available for my next 1885.

Ok. Good luck.