Editor James takes a turn behind the trigger
By Joe W Gorman
John Moses Browning’s 1886 Winchester Rifle design seems to be as strong as ever. Take a look at Winchester’s website and you’ll notice a handful of different flavors of this rifle. Among the variations of the 1886 Winchester currently offered for sale is the 1886 Saddle Ring Carbine (SRC). Chambered in .45-70 and sporting a 22” barrel, the beautifully blued and walnut stocked SRC weighs in at a svelte 8 pounds empty. Compared to my Winchester 1886 Short Rifle, the SRC’s shorter barrel makes the center of gravity shift more to the receiver and adds to the handiness of this rifle. (Yes I know it’s officially called a carbine but with a 22” barrel, it’s a rifle in my book). Fit and finish on the Winchester SRC is first rate and typical of every Winchester (Miroku) rifle I own.
And, I MAY own more than 5.
Maybe.
The front sight on the carbine isn’t a dovetail fit like what is typically found on other 1886 models, rather, it’s a plain steel blade front sight sans brass dot. During my informal range shooting that the stock ladder sight somehow managed, when folded down, to be exactly 6” high at 100 yards with the 325gr FTX Hornady ammo which meant it is more or less on the money at 200 yards. Coincidence or Providence?! I’ll let you, the gentle reader, decide. The trigger seemed a bit stiff, out of the box, when compared to my other Winchesters. I should also mention I have thousands of rounds through each of the Winchesters I own. Eventually the trigger settled into a very workable 4 lbs.
I reached out to Andy at Skinner Sights and asked for one of his ladder sights after the first trip to the range with the ’86 Carbine. The Skinner ladder sight is machined from bar stock steel and fits 3/8” dovetails. The rugged Skinner ladder sight features 10 markings on the ladder that will correspond to some range depending on the ammunition used. (This is a long way to say the graduations are there for your reference and otherwise have no specific meaning) The stock ladder sight elevation bar slid down after a shot or two of .45-70. Not a big deal if you have presence of mind to double check before your next shot but, knowing me, I would find myself with a perfect opportunity to tag out and, my luck, the elevation bar would slide down causing me to miss the second deer. At least I would blame the elevation bar moving for missing the second shot. After drifting the stock sight out and swapping in the Skinner ladder sight, I noted that the Skinner elevation bar no longer slid down under the recoil of .45-70, even when shooting the stout 325gr FTX Hornady ammo.
Crafted from durable bar-stock steel, the Skinner Ladder Sight is built to last and and features a locking bar that won’t slip under the shock of .45-70 recoil.
Off for some serious range testing, I loaded up some light loads with 405gr coated bullets from Missouri Bullets and 30gr of IMR 4198 powder over CCI magnum primers and headed to the range. Along for the ride, I had several boxes of 325gr and 250gr Hornady Leverevolution ammunition and with the help of the Skinner ladder sight, I stretched my shots out to 200 yards. With the Hornady 325gr and 250gr Leverevolution ammunition, I managed to maintain 6” groups at 200 yards, using the Skinner ladder sight and the elevation bar stayed right where I put it. That’s about as far as I ever shoot a deer in Iowa so this rifle/sight/ammo combination works well for me. Honestly, if you want to assess the accuracy of your .45-70 rifle, I suggest trying the Hornady FTX ammunition. I never met a .45-70 rifle that didn’t group well with it!
The Winchester 1886 SRC acquitted itself well on the test range. The real limitation with these rifles is the guy pulling the trigger. My Short Rifle can typically throw 1.5” groups at 100 yards with my 405gr cast reloads with the Skinner Ladder sight installed. The carbine is relatively light for the caliber, beautiful to look at and runs like the rest of my Miroku-made Winchesters: flawlessly.
Hornady’s 250gr MonoFlex and 325gr FTX ammunition have both dropped deer beyond 200 yards for the author. Hornady’s .45-70 ammunition is the benchmark for factory ammunition accuracy.
Manufacturer Contact Info:
Accurate, Deadly, Dependable – Hornady Manufacturing, Inc
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