Regarding the Model 88 (and I apologize to the op for this brief excursion from the topic of the thread
), I owned one chambered in .358 Winchester for about five minutes in 1963. At the time, I was stationed @ Anderson AFB on Guam and had ordered one from the Base Exchange (BX). After about a month or so and much anticipation, I was notified that the rifle had arrived from the states-but my euphoria was short-lived. Upon opening the box, I was crushed to see that the stock of the Model 88 was broken clean through! Even worse, I was informed by the BX personnel that their policy (and I've never understood the rationale for same) was that the identical firearm could not be re-ordered. So I ended up ordering a Winchester Model 100, chambered in .308.
Upon my return to the states, I was stationed @ Wurtsmith AFB in Oscoda, Michigan, where I used the Model 100 to take my first whitetail. However, before my discharge in 1966, I foolishly traded the Winchester auto for a beat-up, oil-burning '57 Chevy wagon. Sometime in the early seventies, I bought a new Savage Model 99, chambered in .358; a rifle I still have and is my "go-to" rifle now for most of my deer hunting.
Maybe the biggest regret I have concerning firearm acquisition decisions also happened on Guam. One afternoon, I was in a small hardware store in Agana (the capitol city of this U.S. Territory) for some long forgotten reason when I spotted a brand new Winchester Model 71, replete with the yellow and red hang tag, selling for under a hundred bucks. I have no idea why a rifle chambered in .348 was in the rack of a store situated on an island that had a population of deer that are no bigger than a collie but there it was. And I didn't buy it
. Now, it's true that $100.00 was worth a lot more back then than what it is now but still...have you noticed what Model 71s are going for now?
By the way, that's a very nice Model 64. What kind of receiver sight is on it?