Thread: Classics corner and vintage rifle reviews

I just thought I would kick this off with a couple of oldies I have been firing this afternoon

I asked a friend for a couple of .25 RF aka Stevens long.
Wanted to look at the firing pin fall location on my new old 1885 takedown because I will probably line the barrel for .22 WMR
And want to see if i need to modify the breech block.

Anyway friend sends a complete new 80s box of ammo and a very tidy Marlin model 27-S pump action rifle.
He's owned it for years and never fired it.
Told me to fire the whole box through them both.



Marlin is a good collectors grade rifle with a lovely tang sight
Lots of bluing
Very tight action
And most importantly a very good bore



1885 has a very rough badly pitted bore that is beyond saving.
But it's awesome to shoot it as a proof of concept.


.25 RF Stevens Long
Canadian manufacturer
65 grain



They both shot as well as I would expect

1885 with 6x Malcolm scope shot about 100mm plus at 60m.
Remember this has a very poor bore



Marlin with tang sight shot about 50mm at 60m
And I'm not a great shot with tang sights



What a joy to get these out and put a few rounds through each of them.

Sadly the Marlin will go back
But the 1885 should have a sex change to 22 WMR very soon

Cheers

cool write up cant wait for the 22mag test and write up

Originally Posted by muzza

You need to be a bit careful with bigger rimfire ammo - especially the .225 Long as shown.

I had a Marlin pump same as the one in the pic for many years - used pretty much only that same CIL ammo from the 1960s . More than half of the cases would rupture at the case head. I know we dont keep the brass to reload , but it wasnt uncommon to have debris from the ignition work its way back through the breech block and hit you in the face .

Always wear safety glasses when shooting bigger rimfire rounds . I still have a piece of mettallic stuff floating round in my eye fro the first time this happened :-(

Point taken

It was certainly a lot less painful than all the 500 express testing I have done recently

But those .25 65 grainers did move the rifle back more than a 22 LR

The 25 Stevens was the first rifle I ever fired. It was 55 years ago. I shot a 'possum with it.

The old chap who owned the rifle had a nice mounted red deer that he shot with it in the Tokomaru river (Sth of Palm Nth). I remember him saying that the projectile was resting under the skin in the opposite shoulder. He must have been quite close.

He kept the rifle in a cupboard with a peacock feather slipped into the muzzle.

Interestingly, after all of this time out of the blue I met his grandson not long ago (I recognised his surname), and he has the rifle and the head over in the Wairarapa.

It hooked me into hunting.

http://www.trademe.co.nz/sports/hunt...ef4ee610d8-002

Interesting and relevant.

Originally Posted by Mauser308

No MRI's for you then? I had to go through a set of xray's, eyeball inspections and a finger test just cause I was in engineering when I got MRI's done...

Spooky coincidence !
I have xrays monday in CHCH instead of MRI because of surgical inserts in shoulder

But I guess its pretty easy to have metal particles in the eye

Same here, I told them it would be Brass, Copper or Lead & wouldn't get sucked out, also it went in with no damage so might come out Ok & she says might come out different way/direction, I went ow yes Xray please !!

I got lucky thanks to a forum member putting someone in touch with me with another classic single shot wreck that is worth rescuing.

Its the baby sister for my Stevens 44 1/2
A Stevens 044 1/2 ( this is a model number not a caliber ) aka British model aka Ladies model.

In profile its exactly the same as the 44 1/2.
Left is 044 1/2 and the 44 1/2 on the right has its block, lever and bottom tang off because I made some replacement firing pins recently.



But the action and breech block widths are 1/8" ( 3.0mm ) narrower.
They were usually chambered for .22 .25 and .32 rimfire
This one is a .32 rimfire and the barrel is maybe 5/10.



The barrel shanks are also scaled down for the reduced action width and really cant be opened up much



The 044 1/2 has a #2 parallel octagonal barrel that transitions to a rapid taper round barrel and its only 22" long, factory original.
So it's a nice little rifle.

I have stripped and cleaned and made a few new screws and lapped in a few rough bits and its all going pretty well.
All the parts inside are unique to the model so can't mix and match any of my parts on hand.

Plan is to re chamber to .32-20
Convert the rimfire breech block to center fire.
Make a new fore end as it has none.
Find a nice period correct tang sight.
Nice smaller rifle to pair with the 44 1/2 which is .22 hornet and switch barrel to 25-35

A 'his and hers' that is way cool. Does your Mrs shoot ?

Originally Posted by Moa Hunter

A 'his and hers' that is way cool. Does your Mrs shoot ?

no

The Stevens Ideal 044 1/2 is back together.
Restored butt stock as someone had carved kills on one side if it.
New fore end because it was missing in action



It's light and simple because it's a small plain rifle
All the metal work has been stripped and draw filed and fairly heavily prepped for future slow rust bluing because it has a lot of heavy vice marks on the barrel and a few on the action.
But I have been able to get the flats flat and the rounds round



Now i need to re chamber from 32 RF to 32-20
Modify the block to center fire
Find a beech front sight and tang rear sight that fits
Slow rust blue it all
And there is another real classic saved.



It's such a nice little gun and with the original 22" barrel it will be a joy to hunt small game with

This weekends classic project is sorting out a Winchester 1894 patent 25-35 reloading tool brought from a forum member.

It was in reasonable condition.
First trial re size showed some rust in the body which i polished out with steel wool on a stick.
First bullet seating on a dummy round showed rust in the neck area which i reamed out perfectly with a 7mm chucking reamer.

It was missing a de capping rod which is a seperate loose part.
Made a new one. Seated a spent primer and tested the de capping punch. All good.

So now i have a fully functional ols school 25-35 reloading tool.
Also have modern dies, cases, projectiles and a chamber reamer .
But don't yet own a 25-35 rifle !
Need to do something about that

I think This tool would turn out an ok reload.
Slow and steady
But this was pre radio, TV and the internet so what else was there to do in the evenings and wet days !

Oh yeh and pre contraception so that wasn't an option either

Originally Posted by akaroa1

This weekends classic project is sorting out a Winchester 1894 patent 25-35 reloading tool brought from a forum member.

It was in reasonable condition.
First trial re size showed some rust in the body which i polished out with steel wool on a stick.
First bullet seating on a dummy round showed rust in the neck area which i reamed out perfectly with a 7mm chucking reamer.

It was missing a de capping rod which is a seperate loose part.
Made a new one. Seated a spent primer and tested the de capping punch. All good.

So now i have a fully functional ols school 25-35 reloading tool.
Also have modern dies, cases, projectiles and a chamber reamer .
But don't yet own a 25-35 rifle !
Need to do something about that

Refurbished a reloading tool for a calibre you don't own! You are truly a far gone handloader. Something for we lesser mortals to aspire to.
Respectively Yours,
Grandpamac.