Winchester Model 88

About the Winchester Model 88

The Winchester Model 88 is a hammerless lever-action sporting rifle produced from 1955 to 1973, designed by W. D. Butler. Unlike traditional lever guns, it uses a front-locking rotary bolt with three locking lugs and feeds from a detachable box magazine, allowing it to chamber high-pressure, spitzer-bulleted modern cartridges led by the .308 Winchester. Its one-piece walnut stock, side ejection, and solid drilled-and-tapped receiver made it scope-friendly and accurate, earning it the tagline 'the bolt-action rifle with a lever.' Roughly 284,000 were made across .243, .284, .308, and .358 Winchester chamberings before discontinuation.

The Model 88 was a lever-action that fed from a detachable box magazine rather than a tube, meaning it could safely chamber aerodynamic pointed (spitzer) bullets that tube-fed lever guns cannot. Combined with a Mauser-style three-lug front-locking rotary bolt and a scope-friendly receiver, Winchester marketed it as bolt-action accuracy with lever-action handling speed.

Winchester Model 88 specifications

The action uses an enclosed internal hammer rather than a striker. The trigger assembly travels with the lever as a single unit during the cycle. The .284 Winchester variant used a 3-round magazine.