doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Winchester 1887 lever gun

Yesterday afternoon I became interested when a good friend of mine told me that the had an old lever action shotgun in his safe, and offered to get it out for me to see. I had no idea he had a Winchester 1887 12 ga. We looked it over for awhile, then I fed it a couple of 2 3/4" loads via the magazine. What I found, when I worked the action lever, was nothing short of amazing to me. When the lever was/is worked smartly it brings a shell out of the tubular magazine and feeds it perfectly into the chamber. Then, if worked more slowly, the unfired shell can be retracted from the chamber by working the lever again, at which point it drops down again and, when the lever is operated fully, it returns the shell to the magazine! I have never seen anything like this. Knowing nothing about the gun I commented that Jonathan Browning had to have designed it, based upon the brilliant design and execution.

Today I read up on it and learned that, indeed, it is a Browning design. The drop is excessive for wing shooting but the gun wasn't really designed for that, as I understand the history of it. It was a coach/law enforcement gun, mostly. What a cool piece! I mentioned to the owner today that he can obtain a Cody letter on it and, though it's a long shot, may find out something interesting about the original consignee. I'm going to clean it up for him, but not mess with the patina.

Live and learn.

There is a really nice Model 1901 version of the lever action Winchester shotgun in the upcoming RIA May auction --

https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/85/11/winchester-model-1901-lever-action-10-gauge-shotgun

When I was a teenager, I enjoyed the books about folks a generation earlier opening up the wilderness in northwest British Columbia -- Grass Beyond the Mountains, Nothing Too Good for a Cowboy & Rancher Takes a Wife by Richmond P. Hobson and Three Against the Wilderness by Eric Collier. Eric Collier also wrote some articles for Outdoor Life. His shotgun was a Winchester Model 1901. In the 1916 Winchester catalog the big W states the Model 1901 is "particularly well adapted to duck and wildfowl shooting." The standard barrel was 32-inch full choke.

Thanks, Dave. My comment on the 1887 not being suited to wing shooting was based on the extreme drop, and I mean extreme. That, and I had read a brief history on it that stated the gun was used a great deal for enforcement/protection purposes. I can see how formidable it would be in the hands of a man riding shotgun on a stagecoach. Six rounds of buckshot at the ready should have given would be robbers pause.

One of the most interesting things about the mechanism, besides the way it will feed an unfired shell back into the magazine, is how well the big leaf spring opens the action. You pull the lever down about 1/4" and you feel it ride over a detent, then you can turn it loose and it will fling itself open, ejecting the empty shell. It's a true self-opener/ejector.

I'm going back to see him soon and clean it up a bit. When I do I will attempt to video the shell feeding, and reversal into the chamber, and see if I can figure out how to post it. It is just amazing to watch.

Interesting shotguns. I handled one once & what I most remember was the extremely small spur on the hammer which made cocking & uncocking very difficult.

I always wondered if they were designed to be carried on an empty chamber & the lever worked to get into action but the instructions posted above on the 1901 on how to load 6 rounds would indicate otherwise. I did note in reading about the differences in the 1897 & 1901 that the 1901 had a "trigger block" to prevent accidental discharges so there must have been some issues w/ the 1887.

they are cool looking old guns...and are a mechanical marval, designed by a genius...

from the images i have seen, 87's were quite popular with waterfowl hunters, circa 1900...especially the 10 gauge, i would think...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winchester_Model_1887/1901

Gus Becker did fine with his at the traps



All one needs to do is "crawl the stock" like the ol' guys

I remeber reading Hemingways discussion of his father's use of the lever action 10 gauge and what an excellent shot he was with it.

doc drew...re crawlin the stock..pls expoundicate...

is there any doublegon application here...

My biggest wish is that no one, NO ONE, would answer him when he "talks" with his feeble sharecropper dialect.

stan, hits mostly nyc dia lec tic...couse you wood not no dat...