If it bothers you, why not remove that Merit insert and get a regular Lyman insert or not use an insert at all?

The 86's are almost as strong as the Marlins and Ackley has said they will lock up the action before they would let go. They are not as strong as thr Ruger # 1's and 3's. They have no problem with Keith's old load of 53 gr. IMR 3031 with either 350's or 400's. At least my two '86's like that load. V...

I've owned several pre '64s and still own a couple. To the best of my knowledge no non-magnum caliber pre '64s were ever made with a rubber recoil pad (except, perhaps in the custom shop). The earlier guns had an inletted metal plates and the newer versions sported a hard plastic butt plate. There ...

I have two '86's (one Browning and one Winchester [USRA]) and neither will chamber loads with Hornady or Speer or Remington bullets. The loads are up to spec., OAL etc. but heavily engrave when forced into the chamber. Aparently these guns have no leade or free bore. Have any of you had this problem...

The Sears "clones" (Marlin and Winchester) usually had plain (non walnut) wood and often weren't polished as well to meet a price point. They are just as reliable though.

That explains it, I had the spring installed , duhh

Thanks for the info and the lead to the part.

I'm new here so hope this is acceptable. I have modified my Win 1886 LW to eliminate the rebounding hammer per instructions found here. (Boy I wish some one had mentioned how difficult it is to get the hammer screw back in, a 30 minute job turned into almost 3 hours.) I have been trying to locate a ...