Winchester 100 mags question

[Freyr_255]

Have a winchester 100 in 308 sitting here minus a mag. Are there any new manufature of winchester 100 magazines or are they all old stock or originals that exist for these firearms? Second question, does anyone have a source. I'm not seeing much available online.

 

[maple_leaf_eh]

Since the Model 100 is long out of production and was never extremely popular, I sincerely doubt any manufacturers will put any effort into making new magazines. Whatever you find will be old stock or found-in-a-box examples.

The complication if you find one in the US, is convincing Customs that it isn't a dangerous high capacity magazine. Seriously! Those jokers aren't paid to have a sense of humour, and are just as likely to seize and destroy a 4-round mag' as they are to demand you do something ridiculous like pin it to one-round for import.

 

[Freyr_255]

Thanks for the info. Honestly don't know much about these guns specifically as it's a friends gun and he just asked if I could track a mag down for it. Good to know that this is going to be a fun hunt lol!

 

[kamlooky]

They do show up.
WTB in the EE?
Wild Bill Hicock should have inventory of such beestohhleezs.

 

[gunrunner100]

Twin Pines used to produce aftermarket mags for the 88 and 100. There are generally a few used originals for sale in the EE. I might even have one.

 

[smoji]

Numrich Gun Parts has a good quality reproduction, Part#1270140A.
No issues importing.

 

[TimberPig]

There’s one on the first page of the hunting and sporting arms parts for $150 with no caliber listed and a NIB .284 Win for $275 a few pages down. Also a WTB for a .308 mag.

 

[LawrenceN]

Originals are hard to find. Also, if you find one, make sure it's the proper one for your rifle. There were 3 variants of the magazine. I stubbed my toe on this fact years ago when I bought a Mod.100 mag and it didn't work. Fortunately, I found a chap who had one of the very early production rifles who needed a spare mag so I sold it for what I paid for it and found the proper mag for my rifle. Expect to pay at least $100. if you're lucky. I personally love the Mod.100's. I think they're one of the most elegant of all the semi auto's but you have to have good mechanical skills to take them apart to clean the gas system which is critical to good function. Also, I found them finicky as to ammunition. I went through a lot of bullets, powder, and factory ammo until I hit on a good and accurate deer load. Good luck in your hunt. Let us know how you make out.

 

[maple_leaf_eh]

I had to fact check myself on the production history: From Wikipedia, "It was first introduced in 1961, and was manufactured until 1973. A total of approximately 262,838 were manufactured." Chamberings are .308, .243 and .284.

 

[struff55]

Not very popular now that’s funny . ��

 

[Freyr_255]

Thanks for all the replies guys. Good to know there's 3 different mag versions. I'll have to look into this and see where the splits are. Kinda wishing I'd grabbed a serial number now lol!


*edit*

Found a good breakdown on the differences of these guns between year and 88/100 models if anyone is interested.

https://www.leeroysramblings.com/Gun Articles/winchester_model_88_100_info.html

 

[maple_leaf_eh]

Not very popular now that’s funny . ��

Yes a quarter of a million guns isn't popular, but they quit making them 12 years after introduction. Must have been a reason. And, I can't hardly say that I've seen one in any hunting camps I've visited.

 

[LawrenceN]

Yes a quarter of a million guns isn't popular, but they quit making them 12 years after introduction. Must have been a reason. And, I can't hardly say that I've seen one in any hunting camps I've visited.

They are beautiful rifles IMHO and I personally love my keeper, having had about 4 of them pass through my hands. Proper maintenance requires a fair degree of mechanical competence since, as with any semi auto, an ignored gas system will eventually fail. If what I've heard is correct, they became too expensive to produce at a price that could compete with the Remington and Browning semi's. Not to hijack the thread, but here's a picture of mine. I've tweaked it to suit me personally. I removed the nice oak motif basket weave stock and replaced it with the beefier checkered stock. I installed a recoil pad for these old bones of mine and it shoots about 1-1/8" groups at 100 yds. with my handloads.

 

[Freyr_255]

Numrich Gun Parts has a good quality reproduction, Part#1270140A.
No issues importing.

I went this route. Shipped the other day. US$75 to the door for new manufacture so can't really complain. Thanks for the tip on this, it's greatly appreciated.

Regarding the different mag versions, it looks like the first couple years of production they went through 3 iterations of them and settled on a 4th for all the rest of the production. So as long as you have a later production these new ones should work I assume. If you have an early one...well....might have fun with this hunt.

Magazine Lock : Early on, the magazine went through slight design changes and it appears at about the time the type 4 magazines were introduced (somewhere between s/n 14,000 to s/n 20,000 being a realistic number), the magazine lock was also changed. It is not sure if this was a full blown recall or not, but in any case any gun sent back to the factory for magazine problems, it was returned with a new magazine lock installed and a replacement magazine.

This new lock was about .015 longer, to match the newer magazines. Therefore a early magazine will not usually lock up in a newer firearm. And of course if you try to use a new style magazine in a old gun it will be looser on the front and won't feed ammo properly.