Steppin back in time

[Pat C]

One of my favorite .22 rifles is J.M. Brownings patent slide action rifle ,made by Winchester Repeating Arms.
This one the model of 1890 made in 1910 in 22 WRF

Little retro picture beside an old hickory tree .

[Ray]

Deleted.

[Pat C]

I suspect standard .22 LR would key hole out of the WRF as the bore is larger by .004 inch .
Good news is CCI WRF .35 cents a round.

WRF bore new is .220" ,groove .226" 1-14 twist
LR. Bore new is .217" ,groove is .222" 1-16 twist

[Bill in Oregon]

Need a like button. I've got a 1906, which hasn't near the charm of the 1890.

[Pat C]

Group shot. ,,, 62A , 1906,1890 ,and Rossi 62

[Ray]

Deleted.

[Pat C]

CCI makes it currently , $17 .99 per 50 .buy right from there web store.

[Pat C]

Never knew anyone that tried .22LR in a WRF .In a as new bore might be fine .My rifle however the bore is worn and has some patches of scattered pitting.
Still has rifling and shootable but not close to perfect.

CCI page.

[Mike Armstrong]

Got one of these from a neighbor for cleaning out their chicken house (about 1953). It was brown patina mostly but with no pitting or active rust, but the bad news was that the bore was almost blocked with stuff. Took it to my favorite gunsmith (I'm sure kids weren't his favorite customers....) and he showed me how to get all that LEAD out of the bore, at which point it was almost perfect! Turns out the neighbors' grown son had been shooting sparrows and linnets with it using .22 LR shot ctgs. He had no idea it wasn't a .22 LR, just wondered why it wouldn't feed LRs. To "fix" that, he removed the inner magazine tube....and lost it. I fixed THAT by buying a new one from Numrich's and used that little rifle for many years until ".22 Specials," as we called .22 WRF, got scarce and expensive and I found a Winchester lover who wanted it more than I did.

Once upon a time just about every rancher around where we lived had a slide-action Winchester .22. But mine and yours are Specials!

(If you shoot .22 LRs in a .22 Special, abut half the time the case ruptures and won't eject).

[Pat C]

Got one of these from a neighbor for cleaning out their chicken house (about 1953). It was brown patina mostly but with no pitting or active rust, but the bad news was that the bore was almost blocked with stuff. Took it to my favorite gunsmith (I'm sure kids weren't his favorite customers....) and he showed me how to get all that LEAD out of the bore, at which point it was almost perfect! Turns out the neighbors' grown son had been shooting sparrows and linnets with it using .22 LR shot ctgs. He had no idea it wasn't a .22 LR, just wondered why it wouldn't feed LRs. To "fix" that, he removed the inner magazine tube....and lost it. I fixed THAT by buying a new one from Numrich's and used that little rifle for many years until ".22 Specials," as we called .22 WRF, got scarce and expensive and I found a Winchester lover who wanted it more than I did.

Once upon a time just about every rancher around where we lived had a slide-action Winchester .22. But mine and yours are Specials!

(If you shoot .22 LRs in a .22 Special, abut half the time the case ruptures and won't eject).

Wonderful story !! Thanks for sharing that.

[Pat C]

You know if I recall Remington's high speed WRF was called .22 WRF Remington special with 1500 fps

[Ray]

Deleted.

[Oldncrusty]

CCI makes it currently , $17 .99 per 50 .buy right from there web store.

Thank you sir for the heads up. Been needing some for quite a while for my Rem. 12CS. Love those 1890's too.

[rossim92]

One of my favorite .22 rifles is J.M. Brownings patent slide action rifle ,made by Winchester Repeating Arms.
This one the model of 1890 made in 1910 in 22 WRF

Little retro picture beside an old hickory tree .

I saw one at my local gunshop when i went to pick up my 1911. tagged as having a cloudy bore and rated at 60% they wanted 1500.00 bucks for it.

[Birchsmoke]

My Grandfather had one that went to my Uncle and I'm sure its on the move down the family tree. It shot 22 long and I was tasked with finding some and boy what a task that was.

[AJMD429]

(If you shoot .22 LRs in a .22 Special, abut half the time the case ruptures and won't eject).

... I found out the same thing happens if you shoot a 444 Marlin in a 45-70...

[Mike Armstrong]

Speaking of "heads up," there's a late-model 1890 WRF for sale on Joe Salter's website today. It is item #41723 on the "Arrived Today" list. What caught my eye was the alleged great bore condition. Salter is expensive but honest as far as I know, at least the couple of deals I've done with him were square.

Just sayin'!

[Sixgun]

I have probably 20K out of this one.....1890's are caliber specific but my late 1890 in 22 l.r. will feed them all...

[Pat C]

Purdy!! ,

[Pat C]

Fired 10 rounds of Winchester vintage ammo from it 25 yards kneeling . Still suitable for small game ,given the bore is probably 6 of 10 I'm happy.
Cold today near zero wind chill.

[Pat C]

Original front sight was broke off too low ,so I found and original installed .Shoots dead on 25 yrds with this new CCI WRF ammo kneeling . Pretty happy 112 year old 1890 bore no better than 6 out of 10 and still off a bench would easily pass inspection at WRA .Nice hard strikes on case too.

The CCI ammo is .030 shorter than WRA case to allow for the exposed band of bullet. Overall length is longer by .020 too. Which since throat is eroded and worn this is perfect.

The CCI WRF is designed for these older barrels ,I think that nailed it.

[Pat C]

Had the 1890 back out this morning , not used to the really deep V notch rear sight .Hard for me to get a consistent sight picture.Considering the condition of the bore I think it can still easily take game or walk a can around.10 round 25 yard group CCI WRF current production.
Just goes to show how bore condition doesn't mean death sentence. Muzzle on the rifle is .232" and swallows butter down to case mouth.

[Walt]

Beautiful rifle, Pat. Thanks for the pictures.

[Pat C]

Thanks, this one is pretty clean just honest wear for 112 gear old rifle. Wished the bore was better .But Im pretty happy if I can get some more trigger time and keep em in the 10 ring.
The 1890 and 1906 slights are very hard to be consistent as the rear V notch is too large.
Late model sights had a shallow notch which improves accuracy.

Thankfully CCI is keeping these old WRF rifles in the field.