Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Single Shots Browning B-78 calibers ?

Was that a Winchester?

Think it was theres a pic of it I posted in Savage collector. Looked like one of the ones CDNN had recently. At 2K I passed!

I wish Winchester and Browning would bring back some classic models. Like the B-78, 1895...

I don't blame you.

Seems like the .22-250 is the most common. I’ve seen a lot of them for sale lately .

Do you know who was selling that rifle and for how much? I've been searching for one in that caliber for years. I've seen one at a local gun show and they wanted 5K for it.

I've got an 1885 in 7 mag topped with a Leupold 3.5-10 in Conetrol mounts. It's a real shooter with 145 grain Speer Grand Slams and a max load of IMR 4831. I'm not a fan of the trigger though and am planning on sending it to my GS for a little work after Christmas.

Winchester has 1885s and 1895s listed right now, as well as '73s and others. Browning offered new B78s (really 1885s) recently, might again. Lots of past-production examples are for sale on and off on GB and other sites, at what I consider fair or sometimes really good prices, even NIB.

Some models have tang safeties, at the insistence of the parent company apparently, not Miroku the manufacturer. Older specimens often don't, so if that is a problem for you, shop carefully. None of the single-shots or '66-'73s have them even now.

I have this same one in 300 H&H. I am a sucker for highly figured wood.

Dub

Look at my post under Savage Collector there is a contact and a pic talk to Hugh about it. PM me if you need help. Kurt

I sent you a PM.

Did they correct the mushy trigger as found on the early 78's? I had a couple back in the day (.30-06 and .22-250) that sported the what were possibly the worst triggers I ever dealt with. The main reason I've avoided them for a loooong time. (That and the Rube Goldberg double mainsprings that were an unholy terror to re-assemble if one were crazy enough to detail strip the gun.)

When my son got the rifle from his granddad, the first thing he did was tear it down and give it a good cleaning. The rifle had started giving his granddad some type of trouble, but he didn't remember what (he hadn't shot the gun in 15 years). Anyway, putting that thing back together was a pain in the wazoo, but I did it. Turned out there is a small pin that had broken and the ejector would not work, with the rifle in the upright horizontal position. Turn it upside down and the ejector worked.

After a month of hunting this small pin, I was directed to a gentleman in Ca. that shot BPCR and worked on the 1885's for his friends. He had some pins and makes a tool to make reassembly of the B78 easy. I bought a pin and the tool. Took maybe 5 minutes to put the rifle back together. Did I mention the tool makes it easy.

Adjusting the trigger is a pain, but with the patience of Job and a little luck, you can get the trigger to break crisp and we set this one at about 2.5 lbs.

Good to know! I spent three solid evenings getting one back together the first time. It started me down the road to nicotine addiction and alcohol abuse. (Or maybe that's why it took me three evenings to do it!) I figured the nimble-fingered Japanese girls who assembled them at the factory were my superiors!

Beautiful Rifle !!!!

I had a B78 in 25/06 about 20 (?) years ago. One range trip: 1/2” 3 shot group w/ factory Winchester 90 gr Power Point ammo out of it’s long 28” (?) octagon barrel. Don’t remember why it was sold off. Anyway the itch was not scratched well enough and I’m picking up a Browning/Miroku 1885 in 30/30 today. I like ‘neat stuff’ and although I have a Ruger No.1A in 30/30 already, I’m anxious to play with this 28” octagon barrel 30/30. It must be an uncommon chambering so anyone else out there with knowledge or experience with a 30/30 1885 please offer up anything you know! Thanks!
I hope to find a good cast load for it. Unertl 12X coming on it, my first Unertl to own.
NFS

Lets here it for nimble fingered Japanese girls

I have a B78 in .30-06 from 1978, and recently saw one in a local shop in .22-250....if it had been 6mm, I would have bought it. My B78 has never been fired, and I can't bring myself to actually mount a scope, much less hunt with it!