Thread: 1885 rustoration

I got this very rough Winchester 1885 high wall action sent to me a few months ago.
Someone had taken to it with a gas torch and vice grips while holding it in an engineers vice without jaw protection.
Bite Mark's and garks every where.
They clearly wanted to turn a 1889 production straight grip into a pistol grip.
Worst bit of gunsmithing ever seen.


Any way I put out the word for parts as its an empty shell really.
And finally between other gun jobs I got it this morning
Made some unobtainium bottom tang screws first


Then i carefully heated and straightened both the tangs as best I could considering the state they were in.

And welded up all the extra holes and cut outs that had been added over the years.

Draw filed and straightened and filed and fiddled it to look ok for now.







So i put it all back together with a barrel i have thats bore you can't see through and all the parts i have and it gives an idea where it's heading.



I have a few more original 1885 parts coming for it that might get it closer to being functional.

But still looking for any 1885 and Stevens 44 1/2 parts to get them closer to going bang again.

Was "Rustoration" a deliberate choice of wording in the title?

Looks like it's starting to come together!

Originally Posted by canross

Was "Rustoration" a deliberate choice of wording in the title?

Looks like it's starting to come together!

Absolutely

It will never be "as new from the factory"
And anyway that would be boring and too good to be used

I'm only into what I can use.
Once its functional then I have to decide what caliber I want to make it into.
Looking at the bore size holes in my vintage rifle collection and the bore size holes my barrel maker can make me

Go 45/120


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Originally Posted by MSL

Go 45/120


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@MSL yeh sure !
Barrel Easy
Reamer Very hard !!

@MSL and anyway
I think you meant .45-125-300 Express

.45-120 wasn't a factory chambering

.45 Sharps 3 1/4" would be pretty impressive and was a factory available option

Make a reamer you big girl


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Originally Posted by MSL

Make a reamer you big girl


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@MSL and next you will tell me to make the brass and the reloading dies and the bullet mold and the black powder ?

My mate with a 45/120 sharps makes his own black powder from the trees at my place


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Originally Posted by akaroa1

Absolutely

It will never be "as new from the factory"
And anyway that would be boring and too good to be used

I'm only into what I can use.
Once its functional then I have to decide what caliber I want to make it into.
Looking at the bore size holes in my vintage rifle collection and the bore size holes my barrel maker can make me

reboreing an option?
Be an awesome thing to have in little ol NZ
JES reboreing do it in usa but thats little to no use here

Originally Posted by Bill999

reboreing an option?
Be an awesome thing to have in little ol NZ
JES reboreing do it in usa but thats little to no use here

@Bill999
Well re boring is doable
I know a guy in nz that can do it but he is very hard to pin down on whats involved and if its theory or practice.
He's much keener on sleeving the barrels
Easy for him to make the button rifled barrels and turn to the over bored size

Pick an easy calibre and chamber it in a lathe with a small boring bar. I did a 45-70 chamber for a mate. Shoots good.

I received a few more key parts in the post from a forum member yesterday
Sear and seat spring
Link and 1 link pin

Screwed my old #3 barrel on properly
Pulled the main spring from my original low wall and fitted that to the high wall

Apart from the trigger knock off spring missing and the trigger not re setting.
The whole thing works reasonably properly and locks up tightly despite all the parts being a pick and mix.

Trigger pull is 10 pounds.
But that's better than the hammer not holding on the sear

All the pins are loose so i need to ream up all the parts and make custom pins for the block, link and lever pivot.
Firing pin diameter and function is next to be looked at.
What i do there depends on what I decide to chamber this into.
And the old barrel needs to be bored, sleeved and chambered.
Unfortunately the .25 barrel has a .22 liner in it.
So I'm expecting it to be a bit of a challenge to drill out !

I'm still looking for a knock off spring like this because my low wall has a different trigger and i can't use that


And a flat main spring like this so i can still use my low wall


And any kind of old 1885 extractor that I can use like this. Original caliber doesn't matter

More decent progress today
Got given a length of spring steel and a 101 on making flat springs
Made 2 new main springs and 2 new knock off springs.
Tested for full function carefully and now they go back to my tutor to be cooked.

With a bit of luck I will get a fully functional set and the ones I burgled can go back in to the low wall where they belong