H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619 Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 Okay, I have always assumed that it was not safe to use even light smokeless loads in orginal Winchester 1887 lever action shotguns. Since I am not really personally interested in black powder, and since it seems that all of the '87 reproductions have short barrells, I had resigned myself to never having one of these things as a shooter. But... At a recent shoot, I saw a fellow shooting an orignal '87 and I got to talking to him, and he told me that his was from the last year of production, and that it was safe to shoot smokeless loads in it. He was shooting black, but has told me he's run smokeless in on occasion with no problems. This got me to thinking. I did some checking on gunbroker and while earlier production '87s had 2-1/2" chambers, later production specimens had chamber lengths of 2-5/8". This go me curious. I got to wondering if these later production ones with the 2-5/8" chambers were indeed safe for light smokeless loads. In the end, I decided, "I don't know, but I bet somebody on the Wire might." So, I am now asking. Any one here have any opinions on the matter? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Boy Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winchester_Model_1887/1901 Shotgun shells at the time used black powder as a propellant, and so the Model 1887 shotgun was designed and chambered for black powder 12-gauge shotshells, with a 10-gauge chambering being offered soon afterwards. It was soon realized that the action on the M1887 was not strong enough to handle early smokeless powder shotshells, and so a redesign resulted in the stronger Winchester Model 1901 10-gauge only. No 12-gauge chambering was offered, as Winchester did not want the Model 1901 to compete with their successful 12-gauge Model 1897 pump-action shotgun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Silverfinger, SASS#3444 Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 Howdy, HK - ('Hope you shot well at Danvers....) As to the '87 - I have an original, but rather than rechamber the barrel to 2 3/4" I had a shorter '97 barrel put on to replace the 30" "monster" it had - I kept the original barrel though. If you keep your '87 12 gauge loads to the velocities and pressures of the Winchester AA Featherlites, or the 1 oz. "Xtra-Lites" you should have no problem ] Regards, Doc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fireball #7709 Life Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 If the gun is in good shape, i.e. no cracks in the receiver, no places where the receiver has been welded. Have the chambered lengthened by a local gunsmith, shouldn't cost more than $50. Ask for a long forcing cone, most reamers these days will cut it long anyway, but long FC's help reduce pressure. Keep your loads to AA Featherlight equivalent level. Shoot it. In my years of working on them, I've never seen a barrel blown up, the barrels are very thick on originals. Lengthening the chamber will not effect resale value on a shooter grade gun. Unless your gun rates 90% or better condition wise it's value is as a shooter anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wild Ben Raymond, SASS 23108, Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 Take it for what it's worth, I have an original 87' made in 1887 (first year production) and had been shooting Low noise low recoil (Featherlites) for 10 years with no problem before the reproduction ever showed up. I did buy a copy and have sence retired my original though. WBR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
royal barnes sass #5792 Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 I had the chamber lengthened in my original but I still won't shoot anything but BP loads. To each his own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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