I use a 40-65 made in 1887. It's a year newer than the 40-82 in my avatar picture. Both have killed a lot of deer and coyotes. Twice, the 40-65 has been with me down rivers that took me to the Arctic coast in Alaska where I spent a fair amount of time paddling toward Barter Island. I tend to trust the old numbers a little more, although in later years I've modernized a bit. If I'm in big bear country, I carry an '86 45-70 made in '92, but for things that go bleat I still prefer the 40 calibers.
Any of them will shoot a ragged hole at fifty yards in good light, which is about the limit of my fading eyesight.
The important thing with the old Winchesters is that they point. Three times in the moment of excitement, I forgot that I didn't have a shotgun in my hand, and I plucked a wild turkey out of the air. This isn't smart. Once when a turkey flew straight at me but overhead, I blotted it out with a .'95 35 Winchester made in '06 and spined it. The twenty-five pound bird dropped like a rock a foot from my feet. I could of had the hell knocked out of me. The two hundred and sixty one grain cast bullet did no damage other than the .357 diameter hole.
