Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Winchester Collectors Pre vs Post 88/100

I understand the quality issues/concerns of pre and post Winchesters.
My question is specific to the 88s and 100s; if you accept the difference between the cut and pressed checkering as being "skin deep," are the internals, barrels, etc. all that much different?
Thanks in advance.

According the 1964 Winchester Catalog, the 88 and 100 were still sporting cut-checkered stocks and didn't transition to the basketweave style until 1965. No additional changes were ever listed by Winchester until the Carbine models were introduced. The Murray book didn't indicate any fundamental changes to the best of my knowledge. I don't know how helpful this is.

i have 5 win 88s 3 308s a 243 and a 284 all the 308 are all pre 64 with cut checkering and the 284 and 243 are pressed oak leaf , really much nicer guns than the pre 64s. it is my belief that the internals were made the same or better. the best shooter of the bunch is the 243. i have shot some groups less tha 1/4 but the triggers are horribly stiff and hard to manage. one 308 has a little better trigger than the others and i suspicion it may be more accurate but i bought it equipped with a peep and when i test fired it with ammo i had loaded for another gun i shot a 2 inch 5 shot group off the hood of my truck. i never bothered tinkering further and use it as is. makes a light fast handling little rifle.. as for the 100 i have never had any interest in them as i love the 88s.

I have a 100 in 308 and love the gun for river bottoms and close work, I had other friends that liked mine so well they to bought one and wanted me to set up and tune them, long story short I must have been very lucky for their triggers were pure 'GRUNTERS' I pulled one gun down to see it I could give the triggers some help,but decided the trigger groups were WAY above my pay grade. I own and shoot a mod 490 same way, beautiful gun,fantastic barrel but with a grunter trigger group that I just cannot see my way thru helping out.Otherwise it would shoot around any 10-22 I have ever shot... very best

I have an 88 in .308 that I bought in the fall of 64.It has pressed checkering.

I think the metal stampings in the pre 64 were a little less rough. I know I had to take mine apart and smooth the edges up of some of the parts.

Quite a few years ago I had a gunsmith attempt a trigger job on 2 of my 88s. A pre64 .243 and a post 64 .284. He commented that one or the other was much more difficult to work on, but I can't remember which.

Then I had a stock for the pre-64 that I wanted to put on the post 64. This was done by Dennis Erhardt in Helena, MT. Like everyone else, including me, he thought it would be a snap to do. Afterwards he said there were more differences then he realized as the stock took more work then he had thought. It had previously been inletted to the pre-64.