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Winchester 1890 22 short v 22 long rifle

2K views 4 replies 4 participants last post by  SOUTHERN S/PAW  
#1 ·
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I recently got an 1890 that is in rough shape. The barrel needs to be relined.
it is marked 22 short. However it will not feed 22 short.
I inserted a long rifle and it easily entered fully into the chamber. (photo below).
Below is a photo of the carrier with a long rifle and one with a short inserted.
Should the long rifle go fully into the carrier if it is set for shorts?
For reference a photo of a model 62 with a long rifle inserted Is below.
This seems like it was converted to long rifle.
when I chamber the new liner seems like it should be 22 long rifle.
Comments and suggestions welcome.
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#2 ·
Sounds like a good question for Seewin, 3dub, or Bert. I think you are on the right track, since .22 long rifle ammo is far easier to find and cheaper, but if you wanted to keep it in .22 short, you can likely find a .22 short carrier for it. The M1906 and M62 could handle all three, and I think a carrier for either might work also.
Best of luck with it.
 
#4 ·
#3 ·
It appears that a previous owner has put a chamber reamer into the chamber to lengthen it so a 22 Long Rifle cartridge will chamber in the rifle. Similarly, the carrier has either been altered or replaced so that the rifle will function with 22 LR ammunition. I have seen many rifles altered like this. However, those alterations do nothing to the twist rate of the barrel, which is intended for the lighter 22 Short bullet. This means that even if a 22 LR will fit, it seldom gives acceptable accuracy in a 22 Short barrel. Functional? Yes. Optimal? Not really.

Were the rifle mine, I would buy a 22 Short carrier, and install it on the rifle. They are almost always there to be found on eBay. Decent accuracy can often be had even with a pitted bore, as long as there is decent rifling.

All the best---

BRP
 
#5 ·
The carrier you have looks to me that it was designed for 22 Long . the history of many of these rifles were gallery rifles and many have mismatched parts this could be one of those. I have spare 22 short carrier in my parts bin I''ll look for it and check dimensions. the ideal carrier IMO is the adjustable one takes three sizes of .22s