History

The Winchester Model 1887 and Winchester Model 1901 were lever-action shotguns originally designed by famed American gun designer John Browning and produced by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The Model 1887 was the first truly successful repeating shotgun. Its lever-action design was chosen at the behest of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, best known at the time as manufacturers of lever-action firearms such as the Winchester model 1873. Designer John Browning suggested that a pump-action would be much more appropriate for a repeating shotgun, but Winchester was a lever-action company and felt that their new shotgun must also be a lever-action for reasons of brand recognition. Browning responded by designing a breech-loading, rolling block lever-action. To Winchester's credit, however, they later introduced Browning's pump-action shotgun design as the Model 1893 (an early production version of the model 1897), after the introduction of smokeless powder.
 
Shotgun shells at the time used black powder as a propellant, and so the Model 1887 shotgun was designed and chambered for black powder 12-gauge shotshells, with a 10-gauge chambering being offered soon afterwards. It was soon realized that the action on the M1887 was not strong enough to handle early smokeless powder shotshells, and so a redesign resulted in the stronger Winchester Model 1901 10-gauge only. No 12-gauge chambering was offered, as Winchester did not want the Model 1901 to compete with their successful 12-gauge Model 1897 pump-action shotgun.
 
Although a technically sound gun design, the market for lever-action shotguns waned considerably after the introduction of the Winchester 1897 and other contemporary pump-action shotguns; Model 1887 production totaled 64,855 units between 1887 and 1901, with 79,455 Model 1901 shotguns being manufactured before it was discontinued in 1920.
 
 
Over the years, a number of gun companies tried to produce Model 1887/1901 shotguns that could chamber modern, smokeless shotgun shells—largely for the cowboy action shooting discipline—but with little commercial success. Recently however, three firearm companies have successfully produced viable models for the commercial firearms market:
 ADI Limited of Australia, produced a small trial run of modern Model 1887/1901 shotguns, chambered for modern smokeless 12-gauge shotshells. This was ostensibly to exploit a loophole in newer tighter gun laws in Australia which prohibited semi automatic rifles and pump action shotguns, amongst others, but still allowed bolt and lever action long arms. Commercial production on this firearm by ADI was anticipated for 2007, following several years of delays due to distribution issues, but this has not yet happened.
 Chinese arms manufacturer Norinco currently produces the Model 1887 shotgun chambered for modern smokeless 12-gauge shells, a version of which (featuring a 20" barrel) is manufactured for American firearms firm, Interstate Arms Corporation (IAC) and exported for sale in the United States, Canada and Australia. As the only legal repeating shotgun (besides Mossberg bolt-action shotguns) for non-Primary Producer firearms owners in Australia, it has proven very popular with hunters and sporting shooters alike. U.S. and Canadian sales, however, have been largely focused on cowboy action shooting participants, owing to the ready availability of affordable pump-action and semi-automatic shotguns in most parts of the U.S. and Canada.
 The Italian firm Chiappa Firearms manufactures modern reproductions of the Winchester Model 1887 series shotguns. The shotguns appeared on the Australian and the European firearms markets in late 2008.

Singleplayer/Spec-Ops

The Model 1887 is the first gun to be dropped by enemies on the first few survival maps. It can be useful at earlier rounds, but should be traded later, as its rate of fire and power becomes a problem.

Multiplayer

The Model 1887 is the last unlocked shotgun, available at level 62. The Model 1887 has decent damage at range for a shotgun, but it features the slowest rate of fire for a shotgun. This can cause problems when encountering more than one enemy at once, or if a single shot fails to kill the enemy. When in a head-on gunfight, it's advised to fire from cover to get ready for the next shot, if more than one is needed. The Damage Proficiency is highly recommended, as with all shotguns. The Range Proficiency is arguably more useful on the 1887 than any other shotgun, due to the damage drop at long range being relatively low.
 
Unlike its Modern Warfare 2 conterpart, the Model 1887 has no available attachments for unlock. Despite this, the Attachments proficiency is available, but it cannot be selected (as it is greyed out).

Proficiencies

Proficiency	Description	Icon
Kick	Kick Reduces recoil by 20%, allowing for steadier full-auto and faster recovery from shots.
Focus	Reduces visual recoil by 50% when you are hit. Focus is very effective for SMGs and Shotguns. It is also helpful for ARs, as it can keep your shots on target when you enter a heads-up one-on-one firefight.
Attachment	The Model 1887 does not have any attachments, so this Proficiency is not available.
Melee	Grants 35% faster melee recovery. Melee can be useful if you are stalking targets with a stealth Shotgun build. With the Riot Shield, it allows you to take down targets much more quickly at close range.
Range	Offers a 25% boosted effective range. This is very useful on Shotguns, particularly the automatic variants. Some SMGs can benefit from this upgrade, as well, especially if you are intent on using medium-range optics.
Damage	Provides a significant 40% Damage boost. Damage is strong on the Shotguns that already have solid range, and very important for pump-action Shotguns that may not get a second shot.

Challenges