I am taking my GF Elk hunting this fall and she borrowed a Model 88 308 from her dad and we went out to shoot it this weekend and the thing is Sweet, when we got back I looked it uo and the SN (74xx) says it was built in 1955. Now I have never heard of the gun and was wondering if any of you nuts could tell me about.

google it my good fellow, there is some great info on it in the first page that came up. sounds like a great gun.

The 88 was first introduced in 1955 so it looks like it is one of the first on the market. They were incredibly strong rifles due in part to their rotary-locking lug bolts and were actually ahead of their time. Many people consider the Winchester Model 88 as "the lever gun that thinks it's a bolt action" as a result of its strength and accuracy potential. That is not meant to encourage overloading however!

If there is a negative, it is that because of the trigger design it is impossible to get as crisp and clean a let-off as with bolt guns. Still, this is usually considered to be a minor trade off for 88 lovers who like the handling characteristics and accuracy in a lever action package.

Good luck on your hunt!

Craig Boddington did a write up on it I don't know if that is still out there somewhere or not, I agree with him about 85% of the time which is more then most and the rest of the time I'm probably just wrong.

Yep it is I just checked search "Craig Boddington Winchester 88"

yip thats the 1st option when googleing it. eg doing a google search.

Chuck Hawks did a nice write-up on it. The link is below so you won't have to search for it.

www.chuckhawks.com/win...ter_88.htm

My friend has a Mod 88 in .308, the action is smooth, but he does not like to shoot it, the recoil is rather sharp even with 150 gr. loads. I have fired it a few times and I think it too has more felt recoil than I expected it to have (must be the stock design. Other than that it cycles smoothly, is reliable, powerful and looks good.