Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Winchester 100

I bet there is a bunch here that have a lot of knowledge of Winchester 100s
I am not that familiar with them and I was in a local shop and there was one in 308. To me it felt light and felt good when I pulled it up. Are the dependable? Accurate?
I am just curious I would sure like to shoot one

Thanks Hank

My dad has had one since the late 60s. He doesn't use it much anymore and I haven't shot it a lot. It does feel good to me also. I never remember him cleaning it and I also never remember it not going bang. I bought a BAR several months ago and like it a lot, but I can't help but think I should have just dug out Dads old Winchester.

Never a mistake to pull Dads rifle and use it. The Gods look favorably on that sorta stuff.

I think that there was a problem with them that Winchester addressed. I don’t think it was a big deal…..but, can’t remember the details. Other than that, I think they were good firearms. memtb

Firing pin recall, was the main one.. Not all of them have been fixed, so it's something to check out when you first buy one..

Had one in .284. Loved the way it looked/felt but it was the most inaccurate rifle I have ever fired. Would not keep three on a paper plate at 100. I think you'd have had a hard time trying to commit suicide with it.

I've owned several of them, still have 3, a cut-down rifle and a carbine in 308 and a rifle in 243. They are reliable if kept clean and you shoot factory ammo. The only problem that I had with any of them were all 284s that were picky about magazines, in that some would work in some rifles, but not in others. It was a problem that I was never able to overcome, so it soured me on Model 100s in 284. The triggers aren't crisp, but for hunting within a couple hundred yards they will do the job.

They are, IMO, heads and shoulders better than the Remington 740/742 series 'cause they don't have a design flaw, the shallow guide rails, that makes them unreliable once the rails are damaged.

I have one that was passed down to me from my father. I'll have to agree with you, they feel nice in your hands and when you are sighting it.

JOC wrote briefly on the model 100. I think he liked it. However they are not without their weaknesses. Like some have said, poor accuracy and crappy triggers. I'll attest to that. Now, the accuracy/precision can be tweaked to somewhat acceptable levels. I have seen some go from solid 2" shooters to sub moa 3 shot group shooters with some simple bedding tricks. I liked mine, but after an extractor blew off and then the bolt handle did the same thing I said to hell with this POS. It just was not for me. I traded it in to a local shop for a better rifle. Yeah, the charging handle is a 2 piece unit and can come apart. Trust me on that.. As with anything, you just got to shoot/use them to find their weaknesses. I can honestly say I found them with the model 100..

I know about the firing pin issue
sounds like when its an issue you dump 5 very quickly

I would still like to put some rounds through one for the experience
or if you found one cheap maybe be interesting
but there is better equipment for the hunt

Hank

Winchester will still fix the pin for you. Mine (243) works well as long as it's clean. I think a lot of the old jamming reports were from folks treating them like bolt guns and letting the inside get filthy.

The only one I worked with required small base sizing dies be used for reloads. Otherwise it worked OK.
They are good looking firearms but I wouldn't fool with one.

I use my Winchester 100s in 308 for still hunting in tight cover where jump shots at running deer are more common. The feature of having multiple shots available without having to manually cycle the action can be the difference between a tag being punched or not. I use the 243 when calling coyotes.

None of the 3 produce precision accuracy and wouldn't be an optinal choice for a hunter who shoots game at longer ranges, but in tight cover where your shots are often at running deer, having 5 shots that you can send down range as fast as you can put signts on target and squeeze the trigger is a good option to have. Niche rifles, but useful niche rifles if that niche happens to be your primary hunting scenario. As I downsize toward full retirement, I'm selling my Remington 760s and keeping the 100s in 308 and a Ruger 44 carbine to cover my still hunting rifle needs.

As with many things YMMV

I had a 308, can't remember but I think I only kept 3 in the mag for good feeding.

It was a pre-64 with kuharsky scope mount and B&L Balvar scope

My first deer rifle I bought in 1966 and it was chambered in .284, a pre '64 model which never presented any kind of problem to me. Killed my first buck with it in 1967, which is the longest range shot I've ever made on a deer of 315 long paces, in a soy bean field. The handload I'd developed was a 130 grain Speer bullet and 55 grains of IMR-4350 which grouped an inch and a half or less and performed great on deer. I guess that rifle is what put me on the road to preferring 7mm rifles for most of my hunting.

I've had several, and still have one (that my son has laid claim to).

All were reliable when kept reasonably clean (no failures to report), and accuracy was 1.5-2".

Winchester will know if the firing pin recall has been done, and send you one (and some $ for installation as I recall) if it has not. You can di it yourself if you are mechanically inclined.

Removing the stock to clean it is a bit tricky. You have to remove the two screws (trigger guard and forend) and then pull the bolt fully open while tilting the barrel upward. If you don't pull the action fully open, the operating rods will crack the forend barrel channel (they will not be clear of the wood). After that, you can easily clean the gas piston that operates the action. Reinstallation of the barreled action is the same.

Ond the common things that I see in reviews of the Model 100 is that people actually own and shoot them generally like them for what they are, hunting rifles that shoot in the 1.5 to 2 MOA range and are reliable if kept reasonably clean. People who have never owned one often dismiss them based on what they read on the 'net, parroting the reports of others who may or may not be reliable reporters or who got a bad example. Are there some bad Model 100s out there? Sure, but for the most part they do what they were desinged to do and they do it pretty well.

One of my favorite rifles. As a kid I had a 1968 Shooters Bible and along with the sears and JC Penny catalogs would spend hours drooling over the guns in there. I was drawn to the basketweave pressed checkering. When I got older, I would buy almost every one I came across. I don't know how many I've owned. I currently have 4 A pre 64 243, Post 64 308 Rifle, Post 64 284 and a post 64 308 carbine. I think that's all I currently have, maybe another one hiding around here somewhere. I've found them to all be minute of deer accurate. If I want to shoot tiny holes, I have other guns for that. I've replaced the firing pin in all of mine as well as probably a dozen others for friends and ones I've since sold off. Winchester will send you the new firing pin when you send them the old one with the serial number. They then send you a check for $35 I think for replacement cost. The gun is a very nice feeling gun and very light compared to a Remington 742 or Browning BAR. I also like model 88s since to me they are liter mates.

Let that one go... Trust me.

I agree. You have probably worked on many of them and have seen all the issues I've listed in a previous post. If one were just wanting to collect one and maybe shoot it every once in a while, just to say they have, it wouldn't be bad. However, I would not buy one for more than $350 (and yes, I have seen them at that price last year: A member of my club had a nice pair of them at our clubs gunshow) and that would also be one made from '61-63. I'm thinking guys that have never had issues with one, just don't shoot much. That seems to be coming out more and more lately. Just how I see it. YMMV..