I love nostalgia! I'm 22 and refuse to buy a new lever [even though I still haven't found a vintage that's perfect yet]. Eyery time I'm at the used gun rack, I'm always scouring to find an old 94 or 71. I've only seen one Model 71 but it was soo 'right' when I picked it up! Couldn't afford her and didn't know how hard it would be to find ammo so back down she went.
BTW, didn't Patterson win 2 heavyweight championships??

.384 in that little rifle?! wow, get a good recoil pad!

The model 71 was doomed from the start. It came right when O'Connor and Page were teaching everybody about the virtues of scoped rifles and long range cartridges. As for the .348, it would be interesting to think of what the .348 Win would be if Hornady loaded it with its pointy nosed lever action bullets; probably in the .358, .35 Whelen, and .350 Rem category. Great!

Except that the .358, .35 Whelen, and .350 Rem have been on life support since the day they were born. Back in the early '70s a hardware store near my house used to sell guns, and there was a model 660 Rem in .350 that I (anybody!) could have taken off the hardware guy's hands for loose change... the gun sat unsold for so long that he couldn't stand the sight of it. Nobody wanted it. Neither did I.

Now take a great load nobody wants, put it in an expensive rifle you can't scope, and try to sell it back when guns were tools, not playthings... sound like a good bet to you?

I used to see Mr. Patterson as well as his son when I lived in Highland, NY. He lived in New Paltz, not even 5 miles away. Never would have guessed he was a boxing legend. His modesty bordered on shyness. Ridiculously kind person. He really was a bit shy, but if you wanted to talk about hunting, he would gladly.

This defines him as a fighter and a person to me -

During the title match between the two aforementioned fighters, Patterson's famous left hook clobbered Ingemar so bad that he was out before he hit the canvas. When he did he was lying there twitching. Then Patterson helped him back to his corner.

That's so classy and classic that classy or classic aren't words enough for it.

I wish I could have been around when he clobbered something with that M71.

WA Hunter,
I never understood the metal 'pads' either, nor the hard plastic butt pads that Marlin put on their guns, which I changed out for my .35.
During the heyday of boxing (in my opinion), Floyd Patterson was considered the best trained boxer of his time. And he was. The real problem was he was a light-heavyweight at best. I remember when Cassius Clay broke into professional boxing a couple years after the Olympics. When he fought Sonny Liston my dad, brother and I had to sit out in the car to listen since its' radio was the only one capable of picking it up. I felt sorry for Clay before the fight, little did I know it was fixed. JMO

I let my M71 go a couple years back to help keep the business going (sob). Shot 250gr Barnes Originals to 4" groups at 100 yards. Loved that gun. It is the only model that I would have accepted that kind of accuracy from. Still have a few hundred cases. Will someday get another one, but it will spend time in the field where it belongs rather in in a display case.

At the range all the old guys, like DEP, would wander over to admire it. Their eyes would brighten if I let them handle and cycle the action. No one took me up on the offer to shot it. Must have been that unforgiving steel recoil pad. Maybe it was just reverence for one of the greatest guns ever made.

Would like to find one with a shot out barrel and a bit of rust - wouldn't feel guilty converting it to .450 Alaskan. But I feel sad whenever I see one drilled for a side-mounted scope.

My M94 .356 Win Big Bore hit just as hard, shot 1" groups, and was fun to shoot, but it just never drew me in. The M71 is special.

I do believe that the very best guns were the ones made in the past, when they were meticulously machined and the wood meticulously checkered. They cared about wood-to-metal fit back then, and you didn't get investment cast receivers or MIM parts. Today we get things like hammer-forged barrels, which warp when heated and open up groups. And we get plastic. Everywhere. The cheapening of the manufacturing process didn't give us better guns. It simply gave the manufacturers more profitable guns.

well i still got mine.348 and handload it also still got my two winchester model 88 levers 243 284

Dr. Petzal; did you buy the rifle or is that a picture of the one you set free in the 80's?

Just before I left Alaska there were two for sale at Great Northern Guns in Anchorage. One had been cut shorter and a decent recoil pad (Decelerator) had been installed and it was $650 (yes, I'm still kicking myself). The other was original except for sling swivels added and it was more than $1200 if I recall. Both were a little rusty and showed the wear of being working rifles, I would've loved to have either one.
AKX

That might make a good self-defense gun,it's compact,powerful,and could punch a nice hole in any bear,cougar,or sasquatch that gets too close for comfort.I'd carry one while hunting,fishing or hiking in Alaska or Canada,just in case.A good vintage gun like that doesn't deserve to be in a glass case forever,so use it!

For coho310:

It is against the law to shoot sasquatch in both Oregon and Washington...

Carney-It's also hard to get sasquatch tags here in Idaho.

I forgot to add: FYI - Bushmaster has a round, the 450 Bushmaster, that shoots very nicely from their AR type rifles. The round was developed from and is based on the .348 Win.

mazzman

Where did you get the idea that the .450 Bushmaster was developed from a .358 Winchester, anyway?

According to Bushmaster's website, I quote, "The inspiration for the .450 Bushmaster is the .45 Professional, a wildcat cartridge formed by cutting a .284 Win. case off at the neck to accommodate a .45-caliber bullet."

The fact that a .348 Win is a tapered bottleneck rimmed case leads one to believe it bears absolutely no resemblance to a straight walled rimless cartridge.

Someone has pulled your leg, or you just made that one up....

If you cannot find the dollars for an original Mod. 71, the Japanese-made 71's are pretty good rifles. They have rebounding hammers and spring-loaded firing pins but are o.k. otherwise. Available in standard or deluxe, rifle or carbine lengths, they are bargains compared to the originals.

Come on Mr. Petzal tell us you bought it.

I apologize up front for the length of this rambling.
About 3 years ago I interview a fellow that I later hired. In a conversation 6 months post hiring he asked if I knew anything about firearms as he had inherited some of his fathers “old guns”. I told him I may be able to help him place a monetary value on them but the most valuable ones in my collection were my Dad’s. He made a list of the few he had and brought it by. He mentioned anything in there I was interested in would be for sale except for the old Colt Peacemaker he was going to hang on to that one. My eyes bugged out to see a model 71 as they are a little hard to find. The last one I tried to buy was from the Owner “Cye” of Cyes sporting goods in Kodiak Alaska he quoted me a price of $40,000 but told me it came with the assortment of lesser Lever guns hanging on the center wall of his store, if you have been there you know exactly what I’m talking about.
Any way I asked him what he wanted for it and he responded he would have to have at least $300 in cash, I swallowed hard. I meet him later to look at it and was glad to see it was a deluxe with checkering and sling swivels all original but no peep sight. The condition was about 80% with minor scratches and rust and some carry wear on the bottom of the receiver. Fighting with my conscience I logged on the internet at his house and went to Guns America, we found one in similar condition listed for $2,200. His eyes bugged out! We spent the remainder of the evening looking at the rest of his collection and listing there approximate value from what was for sale on the web. I left without the gun. In February this year he came by to see me and ask if I was still interested in the 71. He had joined a local gun club and was in the market for a 45 ACP and needed to sell the 71. This time he came to my house I rigged him up with my old series 70 gold cup, some speed leather, half a dozen Wilson magazines and 2,000 pieces of twice fired brass. I own the 71 now and just ordered 100 pieces of brass and a box of Barnes original 220 gr. and a box of 250’s. If any one has a pet load I’d be interested in hearing what it is. I plan on carrying the old piece of history as a back up gun on bear hunts, Its amazing how many people show up to hunt bears with a scoped rifle. Most of our bears are killed at 10 yards and one shot needs to do the trick I make them leave the scoped guns in the case. Currently I’m using a WW Guns 457 Alaskan, Its just a lengthened 45-70 in a modified Guide gun. It does the trick but just like someone stated in an earlier post “Stuff was build better way back when” I am honored to be able to put the old iron back into action…..