Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Winchester Collectors 88 Winchester 308

Picked up a real nice 88 today at the gunshow. SN dates it 1956 has cloverleaf tang. Been looking for one for awhile, I got it for what I thought was a good price.

Nice looking rifle that has obviously been well cared for!

I'm just a year older and don't look to have been nearly as well cared for.

I got brass in the tumbler couple lbs of 4064 and a [bleep] of 180gr bullet give them a go.

😂🤣😂



Nice rifle, best of luck with it!

Nice looking rifle. The stock looks to be completely refinished. Either way it’s a beautiful rifle.

I’ve got a nice 4 digit 88.

Nice rifle, I've got the carbine version of that. 👍

Had cloverleaf tang in 308 Tang had xtra screw holes in it. Bought a like new tang from the late Dean Hooper he had everything, a very nice man.

If you say so.. I’m going with it hasn’t been refinished, but if it has they did a super job redoing it..

It’s hard to say from the pictures. But really nice looking

Clover leaf tang model 88 carbine?

Pictures please!

Nice gun but, Wood looks refinished. Original finish is more reddish - brown.

Nice 88!

One suggestion with the factory stock though... you may want to minimize the launching of full-power 180 pills from it. That early stock design isn't friendly to the shoulder (or the wood). You may enjoy 150 gr. bullets more.

I actually have an 88 that was restocked and rebarreled to 7mm-08, and with 140 gr. Barnes it is very gentle, accurate, and deadly!

I believe that factrory built 88 carbines were only cataloged post-'64. There are probably more than a few cut-down 88 rifles out there that were done for guys who wanted a shorter, handier, lever gun.

Sorry, got a little ahead of myself. Mine is a 1971/72 year.
It is a true carbine model, not cut down.

How do you like the carbine?

Owned a 243 100 but it jammed, so I traded it 4 an 88 rifle.

always wanted to shoot/own an 88 carbine!

Well, actually I have not shot it yet. It's on my to do list along with a few others.

A fella at the gunshow yesterday had an 88 carbine in a 308, $1500 was the asking price.

I have an 88 made in 58. Love it.

Do we dare ask what you paid for this one?🤔

$2500…. Deal of the day..

Beautiful rifle, sir. I'm a fan of the Winchester Model 88.

The Model 88 Carbine intro'ed in 1968 and discontinued as the entire Model in '73. The Carbine featured a plain, as in 'unadorned' stock, which by then, ultimately better than the 'new & improved' "impress checkering", oh my! A unique styled barrel band held in place by a sling swivel fastener piercing the band into the stock. My singular complaint and that 'picky', is that the factory swivel, looking "tacked on". The barrel length was 19". Essentially unless an 'intruder' with all those attributes, likely just a cut down barrel without 'further intent'. Mine, pix below, by serial number on cusp of intro 1968 and yet not with the new GCA '68 mandated serial range Alfa-prefix designator.

Best & Happy Holidays!
John

Nice!!! My granddaughter received her grandmother’s 88 in .308 and she has proceeded to take a bunch of deer with it! She loves ir!

Good catch 79!!!!

79S, absolutely beautiful example of the Model 88.

For the record I didn’t pay $2500 for it 😁. Looks like I won’t be shooting it until next week. It’s to darn cold right now -3 lol.

Congrats on a beautiful 88! I have a carbine model in .243, trigger sure isn't match grade but it shoots great!

One on Freije & Freije auction Jan. 1. 88 in 308 1966 looks nice in Indiana. Nice guns

What a great looking rifle! Congrats.

Does a serial number starting with an A means what?

I read some where it usually meant it was a 358 rebarreled to a 308 as the 358 wasn’t well received.

Thanks

Have read that the S/N with A suffix appears on a few earlier M88’s and that it possibly indicates a duplicate gun or more likely a factory replaced receiver/barrel assembly.

To my knowledge the A suffix was added after an improved firing pin was introduced, early ones had a reputation for breaking. There are also rifles with an H suffix which represents another improvement though I don't know what was changed. I killed my first and biggest whitetail buck with a pre'64 M/88 .308.

Granddaughters firing pin broke while at the range one day. Her dad ordered a new one and I put a new mfg one in it for her.

Whats the name of that company in Rheinlander Mo that handles a lot of Winchester warrenty stuff? We used to order a bunch of stuff from them when I was at the shop. That’s where I told old son to order FP from.

Interesting, one learns something new every day. I’ve never read anywhere that the A suffix on a M88 was indicative of the improved firing pin, can you point me to a reference?

The A suffix on the M52 and M54 were indicative of improvements on these models.

The H suffix was added to the S/N as a result of the Gun Control Act of 1968.

Wisner?

Went and shot it today show’s potential.

I have 6 model 88's, all pre 64 in all calibers and have never broken a firing pin. So, they weren't that prone to breaking firing pins. Granted the post 64 guns did have some improvements made, but I still like the older guns better. Now the Sako Finnwolfs were very prone to firing pins breaking and find a firing pin for them is difficult.

Pre-64, 64k serial number , in action today

I settled on a load of 43.6gr 2460 with a 165gr hornady btsp. Shoots very well.

One at auction SAT. sold for 1600.00. Great guns. You did good. Happy hunting.

Nice rifle 79S. Always wanted one of those 88’s. You done good!

This was my father in-law's 88 in 308 Win. Back in the early 80s I owed him money and this rifle had a broken stock in the wrist area so to pay him back, I restocked it for him. After he past away my wife inherited it. She took her first elk with it. They are nice little hunting rifles.

It's been on a few hunts since I restocked it but that's what it was designed for. So it's a little beat up.

Mine shot 3/4 moa after a trigger job. They do recoil pretty stoutly. But that is because the stock is designed for off hand shooting. I sold mine years ago

I have a 308 that's in 98% original condition that my dad bought used for me in 1968. Serial# 3950 which makes it a 1955 model. I have the checkered stock but what's odd is that there is no cloverleaf. Is it possible that the previous owner sent it back to the factory for stock replacement due to damage or breakage and the cloverleaf insert was replaced with the newer style when the stock was replaced?

Mine started life as a 308 in 1966. Read a good article about making an 88 into a 338/308. Sounded fun so I sent it in for the rebore. Came back just about perfect, bought a new stock for it because I really need a much long LOP. Found it loved my reload, took both mule deer and whitetail.
Then Federal came out with their 338 Federal, gun shot them fine but not with the accuracy my reloads game me.
Love the looks of an 88, here it is next to my 358 Savage 99.

Got a really good load worked up for my model 88.

Varget, and 155 Scenars.

Nice .6" cloverleafs, at 2880mv.

My clover

Just posted this picture in another thread, might as well add it here too. This is my most frequently hunted deer rifle, a 1963 M88 that I bought used from Shuler’s in PA in 1995. Shoots MOA with a 165 grain Interlock using IMR4064, it has taken plenty of deer for me. The scope is a Leopold Century Limited 3-9x40 they sold in the MCX during their anniversary year (came with a knife in a tin box).

Great thread I picked up a pre 64 m88 in 308 serial 39xxx. Can't see that it's ever wore a scope. Think I'll pick up bases for it if I get the urge or find a correct rec sight for it. 79s and Odessa thanks for the load hints. I was thinking of a post soliciting what 150 gr loads work well in 88's. ?...mb

As Dr Frankenstein proclaiming of his Monster... "It's alive!" So too, proclaiming, this Thread!

Couple of comments. First some several months later, but I'd like to address the question above of "nimblehunter" from 04 April last. The low four digit serial number is neat! Quite early. The fact of the lack of the cloverleaf receiver configuration, suggests almost surely a major modification of some sort, factory or otherwise. Experienced members here & other forums can probably assist in terms of "repair markings" IF factory work. Considering your gun is in its sixties years of age, a lot of 'stuff' could have been done; factory and much more otherwise! AS presumed "not original", the value become condition, appearance & how it shoots!

More widely, addressing the Model 88 demise. These were nice rifles and they gave Winchester an 'era' break as the Model 70 was pricing itself out of the contemporary arms market in terms of production costs. My belief that the Model 88, as nifty as it was, also competed with the Winchester image in its classic lines. The popularity in terms of "a Winchester as competing with its traditional self! The fact of a really nice rifle in modern "bolt rifle" chambering territory, yet not to overcome the classic perspective. As can be seen from JMBI member's thread above, the Savage was already occupying that arena. In the classic arena, Winchester ruled the waves. Marlin's great rifles, were the honourable competition. Savage with its own chamberings; together a steady state universe. The Models 88 and 100, were disrupters! All the signs of the latter half of the twentieth century, increasingly that bolt rifles 'ruled'. Levers, other than the Win classics, increasingly marginalized. Their following, definitely. Just not in the buyer/market numbers.
We still have those Winchester/Browning spin off classics. Most of the others increasingly marfinalized to finally, quietly slipping away.
Just my take!
Best!
JOhn

I never had any luck in my rifle with the 150 grain bullets (2" - 3" MOA). My just happened to really like that 165 grain Hornady Interlock bullet. I picked the IMR4064 powder because I had some and couldn't find any Re15 at the time - ended up the combination just really worked in the rifle, and I was lucky to have fallen into that load. I've never experimented with any other loads for my rifle since finding this one.

My load for my .308 M/88 was 41.5gr. IMR 4895 with a Hornady 180 RN bullet. If I were loading for it today I'd use a 165gr. Sierra Game King bullet with IMR 4064 or IMR 4350.

The accuracy will surprise you

Ive got the same gun, same year. 12 twist gun. I had better luck with 150s. Killed a few deer and a couple bears with it.

I used 49.5 gr of IMR 4350 and a 165 grain NP for many, many years in a BLR. It never let me down.

If I didn't have a good supply of 4350, I'd have been using 4064

I shot the 88 with barrel sights awhile back 2 3 shot groups of 150 gr horn sp loaded with TAC both groups were under a inch at 50 yards. Today I mounted a weaver #53 and medium height weaver rings on it. Put a 3x9 Sightron in the rings I had laying around. I am betting on it to be a good shooter....mb

After reading more I'm sticking with 165's in my 88. That 165 plenty for everything up here in Alaska. Caribou season kicks off next month might just take the ol 88 with me.