A little reverence for the Model 71 in 348 Winchester
- Thread starter Jay
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Falconflyer
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
the spank
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Planet Earth Wearing My Tinfoil Hat
I inherited this one from my Grandfather in 2002. Last year production. He fitted it with a side mount weaver scope around 1969 and later put a Bushnell Scopechief fixed 4x on it. He hunted with it until he quit hunting and he could remember having killed 12 of the 72 moose he had taken in his lifetime with it and no less that a dozen or so whitetails in Ontario and about 18 blacktails after retiring to Vancouver Island in 1980. He had all but quit hunting by the late 80's though he hung onto his rifles just in case he drew an Elk tag so his rifles just sat collecting dust until one day he decided he was finished hunting around 2002 and that is when I received the rifle in the mail.
It sat unused at my place until 2009 when my buddy fellow CGN'r Deerdr started in on me that I owed it to my Grandfather to kill something with his rifle. I had never had any interest in big game hunting but I reckoned Deerdr was right and accepted an invitation to try to get a deer from one of the stands on his property.
So one morning I find myself 30 feet up a tree in a stand that is nothing more than a platform attached to three trees and it is old enough and rough looking enough to be of questionable support for my then severely overweight frame and I keep imagining that stand collapsing at the recoil of that big to me rifle if a shot presents itself....and it eventually did.
So with little experience behind a rifle I lean the rifle on the railing to get a solid rest thinking the deer is about 250 yds. I settle the crosshairs on it's chest and find they are covering ALOT of deer so it's further than I think but how much further and in my head I am trying to recall as fast as possible the amount of drop I had read on the ballistics chart of the Winchester 200 gr silvertips I am about to let fly with having been zero'd to dead on at only 100 yards.
So I resettle the crosshairs with the horizontal on top of the deer's back, then decide to raise it a tad more and put the bottom of the hair flat on top of the back, vertical aligned with the line of the rear of the front leg and I squeeze off a round...and I hear the sound for the first time ever of a bullet echo when it impacts flesh cutting the echo off completely and making a funny return thwack oomph sound. The deer kicks its hind legs skyward, bounds straight ahead 25 yards and collapses. My first deer and with Gramps Model 71 .348.
I pick up my cel phone and call Deerdr and tell him I have a deer down and where and out he comes with his Kubota to pick it up only it's gone by the time I walk over to it and he arrives a few minutes later as I am searching for it in long grass. I had seen it try to sneak off when I got there, standing about 50 yds from where I shot it head down and then I looked away for a brief second and it was gone and my rifle is back at the tree stand. Well we found it a few minutes later right where I had last seen it having expired and fallen in it's tracks.
As was later explained to me, after Deerdr in a state of utter shock kept repeating emphatically "you shot that deer at close to 400 yards!", unbeknownst to me was a side mount scope also produces bullet movement across the horizontal plane as the scope being alongside the bore now means you have a point where the bullet crosses the horizontal and vertical planes where your zero meets and continues travelling the direction of travel from left to right past the zero point. . My shot had passed through behind the ribs taking out the liver. The 200 silvertips turned it into nanoparticles to say the least and the deer must have bled out 3 gallons of blood which came rushing out when we opened it up. It was not a well placed shot but the height I had calculated perfectly. Had I understood the other side angle that came into play I would have held the crosshair at the height I had but placed the vertical aligned with the front of the chest.
As for the rifle. It is a wonderful piece of craftsmanship but that steel butt plate the standard grade came with is like getting hit with a swinging excavator(which I have personally experienced so I know what that feels like) when that big gun goes BOOM!
So fast forward to 2013, the rifle sat unused again for four years, I am moved to the prairies where open country shooting is the norm and I can hear my Grandfather's repeated words 'If I was ever going to buy myself a new hunting rifle again I'd buy one in a 270 Win" so I take my now deceased Grandfathers advice and buy a bolt action rifle in 270 and I sell the Model 71 to a fellow CGN'r along with 11 boxes of factory ammo, a couple boxes of once fired brass and two boxes of Hornady 200 grain soft point bullets for reloading.
Do I miss the rifle? At times yes but I have no regrets having sold it as it would just be sitting unused anyways as I became very recoil "aware" after losing 200lbs. I like something much softer but I have the memories of seeing that big gun slung over Gramps shoulder as we wound our way through old trappers trails at the cottage in Northern Ontario when I was a kid and later when I was old enough to hunt and carry my own firearm traipsing the mountains on Vancouver Island and I killed my first deer with it. That is good enough for me, no need to keep it as an unused momento. Hopefully whoever has it now is using it and it's not just another safe queen.
Oh and to add, when we returned to Deerdrs house that morning with the deer his buddy pulled up google earth and on it you could see the tree stand I shot from and the rock pile the deer was standing next to and he dropped a measure on it....347 metres(374 yds). Deerdr renamed that stand afterward to Frank's stand and says to this day nobody believes him when he tells them I dropped a whitetail at 374 yards with a fixed 4x side mounted scope on a Model 71 .348 Win....but him and I know and a few youtubers! LOL
It sat unused at my place until 2009 when my buddy fellow CGN'r Deerdr started in on me that I owed it to my Grandfather to kill something with his rifle. I had never had any interest in big game hunting but I reckoned Deerdr was right and accepted an invitation to try to get a deer from one of the stands on his property.
So one morning I find myself 30 feet up a tree in a stand that is nothing more than a platform attached to three trees and it is old enough and rough looking enough to be of questionable support for my then severely overweight frame and I keep imagining that stand collapsing at the recoil of that big to me rifle if a shot presents itself....and it eventually did.
So with little experience behind a rifle I lean the rifle on the railing to get a solid rest thinking the deer is about 250 yds. I settle the crosshairs on it's chest and find they are covering ALOT of deer so it's further than I think but how much further and in my head I am trying to recall as fast as possible the amount of drop I had read on the ballistics chart of the Winchester 200 gr silvertips I am about to let fly with having been zero'd to dead on at only 100 yards.
So I resettle the crosshairs with the horizontal on top of the deer's back, then decide to raise it a tad more and put the bottom of the hair flat on top of the back, vertical aligned with the line of the rear of the front leg and I squeeze off a round...and I hear the sound for the first time ever of a bullet echo when it impacts flesh cutting the echo off completely and making a funny return thwack oomph sound. The deer kicks its hind legs skyward, bounds straight ahead 25 yards and collapses. My first deer and with Gramps Model 71 .348.
I pick up my cel phone and call Deerdr and tell him I have a deer down and where and out he comes with his Kubota to pick it up only it's gone by the time I walk over to it and he arrives a few minutes later as I am searching for it in long grass. I had seen it try to sneak off when I got there, standing about 50 yds from where I shot it head down and then I looked away for a brief second and it was gone and my rifle is back at the tree stand. Well we found it a few minutes later right where I had last seen it having expired and fallen in it's tracks.
As was later explained to me, after Deerdr in a state of utter shock kept repeating emphatically "you shot that deer at close to 400 yards!", unbeknownst to me was a side mount scope also produces bullet movement across the horizontal plane as the scope being alongside the bore now means you have a point where the bullet crosses the horizontal and vertical planes where your zero meets and continues travelling the direction of travel from left to right past the zero point. . My shot had passed through behind the ribs taking out the liver. The 200 silvertips turned it into nanoparticles to say the least and the deer must have bled out 3 gallons of blood which came rushing out when we opened it up. It was not a well placed shot but the height I had calculated perfectly. Had I understood the other side angle that came into play I would have held the crosshair at the height I had but placed the vertical aligned with the front of the chest.
As for the rifle. It is a wonderful piece of craftsmanship but that steel butt plate the standard grade came with is like getting hit with a swinging excavator(which I have personally experienced so I know what that feels like) when that big gun goes BOOM!
So fast forward to 2013, the rifle sat unused again for four years, I am moved to the prairies where open country shooting is the norm and I can hear my Grandfather's repeated words 'If I was ever going to buy myself a new hunting rifle again I'd buy one in a 270 Win" so I take my now deceased Grandfathers advice and buy a bolt action rifle in 270 and I sell the Model 71 to a fellow CGN'r along with 11 boxes of factory ammo, a couple boxes of once fired brass and two boxes of Hornady 200 grain soft point bullets for reloading.
Do I miss the rifle? At times yes but I have no regrets having sold it as it would just be sitting unused anyways as I became very recoil "aware" after losing 200lbs. I like something much softer but I have the memories of seeing that big gun slung over Gramps shoulder as we wound our way through old trappers trails at the cottage in Northern Ontario when I was a kid and later when I was old enough to hunt and carry my own firearm traipsing the mountains on Vancouver Island and I killed my first deer with it. That is good enough for me, no need to keep it as an unused momento. Hopefully whoever has it now is using it and it's not just another safe queen.
Oh and to add, when we returned to Deerdrs house that morning with the deer his buddy pulled up google earth and on it you could see the tree stand I shot from and the rock pile the deer was standing next to and he dropped a measure on it....347 metres(374 yds). Deerdr renamed that stand afterward to Frank's stand and says to this day nobody believes him when he tells them I dropped a whitetail at 374 yards with a fixed 4x side mounted scope on a Model 71 .348 Win....but him and I know and a few youtubers! LOL
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- Location
- Southern Vancouver Island
Pity Winchester didn't make the '71 in .375 cal based on the same case back in the day. I reckon they would have sold a pile more of 'em fer sure.
About 4-5 years prior to the end of the 71 production rifle scopes had improved greatly and rifle manufactures were D&T everything that would accept mounts. Angle eject never occurred to Winchester till the 90's, and probably not feasible for the 71 or 86's. People were able now with scoped rifle improvements to shoot 300 yds instead of using stealth to get close.
I know how you feel about your Browning Jay!
I know how you feel about your Browning Jay!
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Sask Bearman
Member
- Location
- Saskatchewan
As a fellow lever lover and proud owner of a Browning 71 Carbine, I sure enjoyed this thread! Thank you!
^That's what mine looked like when I opened the original box, it was all wrapped in factory plastic... I see yours has the peep installed & rear sight removed... I was thinking of doing the same but after shooting it, I may just leave it with the semi-buckhorn rear sight...
If I remember our trade correctly, your eyes are quite a bit younger than mine!!!
My brother bought 2 with consecutive serial numbers from WS in Calgary about 25 years ago with the thought of making one a .450 Alaskan. That never came about and he decided to sell both and gave me my choice, this one had the nicer wood and that was 20 yrs ago for $750 (not today!). I picked up the receiver sight and fired half a box shortly after and that is the last time its been out.
My brother bought 2 with consecutive serial numbers from WS in Calgary about 25 years ago with the thought of making one a .450 Alaskan. That never came about and he decided to sell both and gave me my choice, this one had the nicer wood and that was 20 yrs ago for $750 (not today!). I picked up the receiver sight and fired half a box shortly after and that is the last time its been out.
No real surprise the model 71/ 348 didn't set the world on fire in the 1930's and 40's. By 1930 the ship had already sailed for larger bore lever guns achieving large commercial success. Following WW1 younger hunters had become enamored of high velocity smaller bores. And by the 1950's telescopic sights mounted on smaller bore high velocity rifles. Plus the fact the 71 which was basically an upgraded 1886 Winchester was very expensive to manufacture, requiring more intricate machining and hand fitting than contemporary bolt rifles. Personally I really like the 71. Had a very solid feel, action is slick and keeps getting smoother the longer it's used. Hangs very nice offhand and well stocked for fast handling. Plus the 348 round has really good wallop on heavy animal within reasonable range which are the ranges that 90 percent of game is killed. Killed not just fired at.
Just because sales weren't crazy doesn't mean it isn't an awesome rifle. A lot of fine rifles had the same fate, expensive to make, declining sales, changing tastes.
Just because sales weren't crazy doesn't mean it isn't an awesome rifle. A lot of fine rifles had the same fate, expensive to make, declining sales, changing tastes.
BigUglyMan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- New Scotland
They really were a victim of their time. They came along when interest in large bore lever rifles was waning. Fortunately, those rifles have had a bit of a resurgence in popularity. The 348 hasn't reappeared in modern manufacturing (that I am aware of) which has held it back as compared to the 45-70 and 444. Honestly, the 348 is a better hunting cartridge than either of the other two, but that doesn't help you sell rifles when ammo doesn't exist.
Johnn Peterson
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Chemainus B.C.
I have had sold all my Winchester levers, as I wasn't using them, focusing my shooting collection on high end rimfires. I couldn't stop getting back into levers, there just nalstogic to carry hunting. I ended up with a well loved Win deluxe 348 with factory peep! I gathered all the reloading components, but yet to shoot it after 4 years of ownership
I think I'll bring it to the range this weekend! Great seeing all variants of a quality firearm from Winchester and Japanese Brownings
I think I'll bring it to the range this weekend! Great seeing all variants of a quality firearm from Winchester and Japanese Brownings
I would argue it replaced the 1886, supplanting heavy slow bulllets with an intermediate high velocity projectile for guys looking for a flatter shooting 86.
If it was replaced by anything in the Winchester lineup, I’d say maybe the Winchester 100 in the trend toward si-auto, ambidextrous short rifles shooting higher velocity rounds.
Or you could argue the model 94 AE in 307 Winchester.
In any event, newer does not mean better and the 71 is a winner if you can live with irons.
I’m short better with glass, but still hunt occasionally with old Winchester and irons because it’s nostalgic.
browning525
Member
- Location
- Brooks, AB
I remember reading an article in Petersen's Hunting magazine about the iconic Model 71 and the Miroku copies that browning was putting out. My interest was peaked and I had to have one.
Luckily, within a year of haunting local gun shows, I was able to find a browning model in the rifle version. That boomstick was my constant truck-gun for many years to follow. I fitted it with a Williams peep site and never found myself lacking at any targets within 200 yards. I ended up taking my first three bull elk, and a handful of deer with that rifle. The only downside I recall was that reloads were a bit finicky in it. I always had to make sure to cycle them through the rifle two or three times to get the final sizing where it wouldn't slow down a necessary follow-up shot.
The .348 speaks with real authority and makes a superb bush gun. Why I ever sold it, I'll never know
Luckily, within a year of haunting local gun shows, I was able to find a browning model in the rifle version. That boomstick was my constant truck-gun for many years to follow. I fitted it with a Williams peep site and never found myself lacking at any targets within 200 yards. I ended up taking my first three bull elk, and a handful of deer with that rifle. The only downside I recall was that reloads were a bit finicky in it. I always had to make sure to cycle them through the rifle two or three times to get the final sizing where it wouldn't slow down a necessary follow-up shot.
The .348 speaks with real authority and makes a superb bush gun. Why I ever sold it, I'll never know
