Model 71 Deluxe Carbine .348 Winchester

 

The Model 71 Winchester is a legend among those who know it.

It was chambered in the powerful .348 Winchester cartridge, which is equally legendary, and only found alongside this marvelous rifle.

One rifle, one cartridge. Both out of production, and relegated to history.

 

It is the pinnacle of lever rifle evolution. There have been newer rifles, with more updated designs, but this one was made the old fashioned way. Machined steel and carved wood.

Craftsmanship.

Rear peep sight of the "Deluxe" Model 71, missing the actual screw in "peep".

I'm still searching for a replacement. If you have one, sell it to me. Dearly.

 

Shown here elevated to display the range incrementation.

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"Thus ends the technical history of the .348 Winchester. Please pardon us when we say all of that really has little to do with the "real" history. You see, the story of the .348 WCF can never truly be told due to its unique purpose. Designed solely as a powerful hunting cartridge for the finest big bore lever gun that has ever been, its history was played out in dim woods and along forested streams of the cold country. Dark spruce, black water, and white snow have felt its concussion in places where weather was bad and ranges short. Elk, moose, and big bears knew its report, too, but the only witness was the north wind.

"Those who brought this rifle and cartridge into being were some of the last men to know what relying on a rifle really meant. Not head hunting, not killing, but slipping as through a curtain, alone, into a land that is big, beautiful, and totally unforgiving. A good canoe, a favorite pack frame, a big Winchester with receiver turned dull silver from wear by countless pairs of mittens are all part of this history.

"Then the sudden violent shaking of the brush. A blood chilling half-growl, half-roar paralyzes mind and senses. Quick flashes of brown transform into a slobbering face of teeth and gray guard hairs standing erect, accented by eyes turned red with hate for reasons know only to itself. As death closes the final few feet, there comes, somehow, the crashing thunder of a Model 71 - again and again.

"Yes, the .348 Winchester truly belongs to another era. It was created for a place that is part fiction, part reality, part memory. Unfortunately, we have never been allowed to glimpse very much of it."
  -Gil Sengel, "Handloader" magazine #177, October-November 1995, (with thanks to Rev. J. Kevin Fox, who's wonderful article on www.leverguns.com brought it to my attention)

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A handsome rifle, mine was produced in 1935, and has weathered the years well since then.

 

I am quite fond of it.

 

 

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