For me, the original Winchester re-design of JB's single shot is still the best of the many "1885s". Several reasons, but mainly the speed of loading the second shot. I don't like the later coil-spring version as well as the original because the hammer doesn't stay at full cock on reloading, which requires a separate motion that I find awkward--single shot rifles are slow enough without this kind of "safety" feature. I also don't like the "crunchy" feel of the coil spring compressing. (I have one coil spring Hi-wall, but for hunting use removed the "fly" that drops the hammer to half-cock. Still has the "crunch"). I do understand the coil-spring version was easier/cheaper to manufacture, just as the flat-spring Winchester was easier/cheaper to manufacture than the Browning Bros. hand-made rifles.
Original Hi-walls are now VERY expensive if they are in any kind of shape at all. For a "using gun", I'd pay the money for a Ballard Hi-wall or a C. Sharps Hi-wall in .30-40 (Assuming, that is, that I had the money, which I don't). My original Winchester 1885s were purchased when nobody cared about them except a few wierd collectors and they were really cheap (1950s and 1960s), or I put them together from wrecks and spare parts after the decent ones became collectors items (1970s and 1980s). I found my best one one in a collapsed line shack on BLM land in Nevada (1955--the price, as they say, was right....). Now even "brown dogs" and "parts guns" are at collector prices.
The Miroku-manufactured single shots that began this thread are nice enough rifles if you can get one without bowling ball stock finish, and in a caliber that fits your use. Winchesters they ain't, nor are they really Brownings, any more than a tarted-up Stevens is a Fox or a plain-Jane Ithaca a Lefever. The Uberti "1885" is also a nice rifle and well-finished, but not a Winchester either (take a look under the forearm at what that "flat spring" actually DOES...wierd). These modern versions were all designed to be manufactured to a price point with modern machinery. They were NOT designed to be repaired by a hunter out in the baldies or a rancher with a few tools and maybe a spare parts kit. As a certified old fart, I hate that--just as I hate not being able to repair my car without a computer to diagnose what's wrong. Progress? Maybe.
All that said, if I didn't have a few real Winchester made-in-New Haven 1885s, I'd buy one of these foriegn "relatives" and shoot the hell out of it. Whatever their cosmetic, functional, or economic flaws, they have a lot of the feel and function of JB's first genius design in them.
Has anyone seen the "Winchester" (really Miroku) "Limited Edition 1885 Trapper" in .45-70? What did YOU think? (Do you suppose there was a reason Winchester never made any like it?).
