Totally new poster here, so my apologies in advance to not being aware of the protocol in my thread.
I was given my grandmothers old Winchester .22 which I thought was a model 90 because the 'replacement' barrel says Model 90 Long.
I brought it to the gunsmith to have it looked at and repaired for shooting, and he mentioned it might be a Model 6 with a Model 90 replacement barrel.
To me, after searching online, they look to be very similar rifles. Can anyone tell me if there are any key differences between the two models that I can use to help identify which one it is.
Here are some details:
My dad replaced the barrel many years (decade?) ago and had the stocks refinished. ......collector value I'm sure is near zero
There is no blueing on the reciever
The round replacement barrel is intensly blue and says Model 90 Long
I have easily fed in and shot .22 long rifles without any apparent damage or marking on the long rifle lead bullets
It doesn't feed in shells ~50% of the time and has trouble ejecting ~20%
THe serial number is 608643 (I think makes it ~1918 if model 90 or ~1923 if model 6). Both dates are plausible for the family history of ownership
No serial numbers on the barrel
No model number anywhere except the barrel
The gunsmith noted the forearm stock appeared to fit fine with the round barrel and noted this would be odd if it was fitted with an octagonal barrel of the model 90
The first couple are 'fuzzy' because of the lens being fogged over, but the others should be good to look at. You'll clearly see that the barrel is a replacement. Even though it says .22 long, the gunsmith tells me its been reamed out to accept .22 long rifle. He wasn't sure how well it would accept and cycle through shorts.
He tells me its fixed and gave me the little part that was rounded off due to wear or misuse. I'm looking forward to shooting it this weekend.
I too have a non-collectable Winchester pump. It is so because the barrel is a factory replacement and I would guess the stock has been refinished (but done well). I always wanted one but with pricing today in the $500 to $1000 range for a collectable, it was out of my league.
A friend who needed some motorcycle work done (putting together a Rickman Montesa out of all new old stock parts) died days before I finished the work. His widow offered me one of his guns as a payment for the work done (I had asked for no payment originally or as I delivered it to her). Among his guns was this re-barreled Winchester pump. So I took it. What amazes me is how well it shoots. It is a 1926 octagonal re-barreled (shortened to 19 inches) Model 90. I love this little gun and I care not that it is not collectable. It is extremely shootable!!
I'm not entirely pleased with how it shot this last weekend. With the rear sight at its lowest position, it was 3.5 inches too high at 50 yds. At 75 yards it was more accurate, but the precision is not so great. At 75 yds, I was all over a 8X11 sheet of paper. I need to think about how to deal with this.
It did cylce fairly well though. I had one round in twenty that didn't load properly
Checkout the condition of the bore. It may be all leaded up or rusted and pitted. A thorough cleaning may reveal the bore problem.
Next get a magnifying glass and check the muzzle end of the barrel at the juction of the end of the bore and the crown. The actual shape of the crown matters not. It is only the chamfer at the end of bore that counts. It should start at the top of the lands and extend to just below the bottom of the groves. It should be pristine with no dings or marks and relatively smooth as if it was ground not machined. If at all bad then you need to re-crown it or re-chamfer the end of the bore. When I do them I put the barrel in my lathe, make a recessed straight 90 degree cut at the end of the bore then use a Brownells spherical crowning tool and grinding paste to make the chamfer. A bad crown can make a gun shoot all over the place.
Finally take a look at the exact way the bullets feed into the barrel's chamber. If the feeding is such that the bullet nose hits the edge of the chamber then that mar may make the bullet not shoot accurately.
These gun in general shoot very well but they can be, after all, nearly a hundred years old and through many owners, some of whom did not take good care of the guns. Mine was rebarrel at some point (many decades ago by some unknown former owner) and shoots more accurately than I ever expected. Your high shooting may be a wrong front sight as well. At 50 feet the rear sight should be all the way down, in my experience, if it is the right rear sight (??).
In addition to possible (likely) rust and pitting, the bad news is that the barrel for the .22 Long has a different rifling twist than is needed for the longer and heavier bullet of the .22 Long Rifle. It may be impossible to ever get that gun to shoot well.
Jim
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