Читать книгу Gun Digest 2011 онлайн

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As is apparent, this complexity made the Rifle very expensive to produce. This flaw was exasperated by the high cost of American labor. Worse yet, the Winchester factory had developed around the rise of the traditional lever-action repeater, which hardly required modern production technology: the competing Winchester 94 and Marlin 336 were much simpler to produce. Even the Savage 99 had significantly fewer and larger, easier-to-manufacturer parts and thus offered a much higher profit margin, which, after all, was and is the name of the game.

Perhaps the biggest reason for the cessation of production of the 88 was a matter of demand. Apparently the generation that had just witnessed the development of the jet plane and the atomic bomb was not ready for a truly advanced design but rather preferred the nostalgia of the classic lever-action Rifle. These, based on the traditional Browning-derived styling with external hammers and lesser degrees of technical sophistication, continue to sell well. For example, the Winchester Models 1892, 1895, and 1886 have been reintroduced; the Model 1894 lasted until 2006; and sales of the Marlin Model 336 continue unabated. The ultramodern Browning lever action Rifle and Savage 99, regrettably discontinued, sell somewhere in between. The Model 88 has nevertheless achieved a cult status amongst enthusiasts, which keeps interest in it at a high level. As with Parker shotguns and pre-Model 70 Winchester Rifles, the Model 88 is in constant demand by collectors and, hence, gun dealers.