87 shotguns

[St. Louis Suomi SASS #31905]

Howdy:

 

I was in the gun store the other day (please do not tell my wife) and they had a Chinese made 87 Shotgun - looked really nice - DEEP blue and finished quite nicely. However, I have sme qualms about purchasing Chinese made firearms (mostly irrational) but surely one company will stnd out as better than the rest - Price was $389 - NIB). I didn't catch the name (probably Wing Wang Noodle company and Machine works) - Sorry - I couldn't resist.

 

Any recommendations? (Oh - please - no politically correct lectures - 80% of my family is Chinese - if that matters - we can laugh at ourselves)

 

STL Suomi

[Outrider, SASS #72622]

I've had three, 2 Chinese and 1 original Win.

I would not get a Chinese one unless it had been worked over by one of the good smiths out there or I was going to send it to Lassiter or Coyote Cap.

Prepare to practice A LOT!

[Charlie T Waite]

I had picked up one @ HOW from Run-N-Iron. Used it for 2 years & it worked great, not sure if it was worked on or not. Only reason it is gone now is I got an original take down and could not see having 2 at the present time..

 

Charlie

[Gawd Awful]

I have a chin-Chester 87. Honestly when I first got it, it sucked. However I sent it to Lassiter, gave him a little gold dust, and got back a gun that runs great. I still can't run it worth a darn, but the gun works just fine :-)

[Augustus Goodnight]

I bought a Chinese '87 about 8 years ago and it is a tank of a firearm. If you've got big paws you'll like it. It's too bulky for my likes and smaller hands. I keep it around for a back-up.

 

For exposed hammer SxS I favor the TTN '78, once you get rid of the Hell Horns on the top of the hammers. I think the ergonomics are better and the hammers are set close together so it's easy to cock both with a sweep of your palm.

 

Bottom line, would I purchase another Chinese '87? No. Another TTN ''78? In a flash.

 

My $0.02.

Edited January 13, 2014 by Augustus Goodnight

[royal barnes sass #5792]

I had picked up one @ HOW from Run-N-Iron. Used it for 2 years & it worked great, not sure if it was worked on or not. Only reason it is gone now is I got an original take down and could not see having 2 at the present time..

 

Charlie

I have never seen a takedown '87.

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

I think we have a couple of posters who are thinking '97 pump action when the OP said '87 which is a lever action.

 

I have a "Chinese" '87 worked over by Coyote Cap. Steep learning curve, lots of style points.

[Warden Callaway]

Not to hijack this topic to bad but my son makes a tour of the gunshops in his area fairly often. He says an old curmudgeon has a gunshop that is only open a couple of days a week. Son says he has a lot of old guns he buys here and there. Last time he was there the guy had a Winchester 1887 in 10 gauge that looked to be in good shape. We talked about it and he's going to make it past there sometime soon to take a better look.

 

I don't know a lot about them but I understand the 1901 is an improvement model approved for smokeless powder. Would the 1901 be better than the 1887?

[RickB]

I bought a 87 a few months ago. It's one of the Chinese models with the company name etched across the receiver of the gun on both sides. While that is a terrible thing to do, the gun actually functions very smoothly and is very dependable. I read a lot of bad things about them from this site and others, but I just had to buy one for myself and work out what bugs it had. To my luck, mine had none. It was stiff at first, but after playing with it and cycling dummy shells through it over and over it has smoothed up and is very nice. In fact, I don't really feel that I have to lever it hard to get it to feed and eject like it should. I did at first, but it's butter smooth to me now. I'm very glad I took a risk and added it to my collection. I paid $370 or so for it. I never sent it to anyone for any work. Mine is just as it is from the box.

 

I guess I would recommend it.

[Jackson Rose, SASS #45478]

Years ago I had a chinese 87. Had it worked on by Lassiter. Made a world of difference. Last year I bought a race ready Chiappa from Lassiter. The Chiappa is so much better and smoother, and better looking. Well worth the money.

[Warden Callaway]

Are any of the reproduction models available in 10 guage?

[Steeldust Dan, SASS #2631Life]

No reproductions in 10 gauge that I've ever seen or heard.

[Tom Bullweed]

Warden, the 1901 was made to shoot smokeless loads that were becoming more popular 'in the day'.

The original 87 should only be shot with BP or subs. I had one that I occasionally shot for three years. Fun gun, lots of style points, but I was slow as molasses running uphill in January with it. I opted to sell it and buy another original Winchester 1873.

[Augustus Goodnight]

Sorry if I misunderstood which 1887 you were talking about. I thought you might be talking about the IAC Billerica Model 99 1887 SxS Coach Gun which is also made in China.

[The Original Lumpy Gritz]

Not to hijack this topic to bad but my son makes a tour of the gunshops in his area fairly often. He says an old curmudgeon has a gunshop that is only open a couple of days a week. Son says he has a lot of old guns he buys here and there. Last time he was there the guy had a Winchester 1887 in 10 gauge that looked to be in good shape. We talked about it and he's going to make it past there sometime soon to take a better look.

 

I don't know a lot about them but I understand the 1901 is an improvement model approved for smokeless powder. Would the 1901 be better than the 1887?

The IAC '87s you see are based on the 1901(pivot lever and dual extractors).

OP-Need to know the prefix of the serial #.

Avoid any prefix of 03 or lower.

We run Coyote Cap's race 87's, and love'em.

LG

[Warden Callaway]

I apologize. I was exchanging text messages with my son today on 1887 Winchester lever guns or copies of and jumped in here thinking that's what we're talking about. I forgot about there being SxS 87s.

[Lone Dog, SASS #20401]

Are any of the reproduction models available in 10 guage?

 

None. No takedowns either.

 

It is unfortunate that IAC hung the 1887 moniker on that dog of double sometimes also known as the 99. Kinda like the way Ruger muddied the waters when of all possible names they went with New Vaquero.