100+ year old rifles

BigBlue 94 said:

Savage 1899 in 22 SHP. Pre WWI. Brass round counter and all.

Gewher 98 made at the JP Sauer and Sohn "arsenal" in Suhl, 1916. Sporterized over 50 years ago. No import marks. Need to confirm it is a 30-06 still.

This one cant be shot without a liner in the barrel... Hopkins and Allen No.922 takedown 22 single shot. H&A burned down for the final time in 1915, IIRC.

This one shoots wonderfully. A Winchester '73 in 32-20. Mfg 1890. Special order 30" full octagon barrel with full mag tube and crescent buttplate. One family owned it until I bought it about 2012.

I have a trio of winchester 1897s that fit the bill. As well as a few pistols, both semi-auto and revolvers.

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How many rounds does an 1873 Winchester with 30" full mag tube hold?

Ugly Sauce said:

Man that's nice. I've been planning to shoot some cast bullets in mine...but something I never "get around to". ! I love en-bloc clip loading. Interesting looking cartridges. Do you use 7.62X54R brass? I have the "kit" or dies to do that, but have never used it. I put in a pretty good supply of ball ammo back when it was cheap and available.

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I just love wacking that stiff bolt back and forth smartly for some reason -- nice tactile feeling!

My handloads start with PPU 8x56R Hungarian brass, annealed and run into a Lee 8x50R Lebel sizing die ('cause I'm cheap and haven't bought a proper die set) to form the shoulder, which I then cut and finish-trim to length. I'll then turn the neck if necessary, but it's usually not. I have a few reformed 7.62x54R cases (plus some I made 20 years ago using 45-70 brass), but I prefer the PPUs because they're easy to form and don't bulge at the head.

For bullets, my preference is realtively blunt .323" flat based jacketeds at least 200 grains, preferably more. I've had pretty decent open sight accuracy out to about 75 yards, but haven't tried longer ranges. The actual bore diameter on the M95 is .330", so boattails won't upset to properly fill the bore.

This video talks about the challenges of getting excellent accuracy from the M95 at long range using coated cast bullets. It's a little light on handloading detail thanks to the stupid YouTube restrictions:

I have several rifles that are well past 100 years old that I use regularly:
Marlin 1892 chambered in 32 Colt dates from between 1910-1915:


Winchester Model 94 chambered in 30/30 dates from 1898:

Winchester Model 92 chambered in 32/20 dates from 1912:


Marlin 1893 chambered in 30/30 dates from 1909:


Winchester Model 95 SRC chambered in 30/40 Krag dates from 1920:


They are all fine shooters for their age and are probably just as accurate today as they were when they were brand new.

Speedo66 said:

How many rounds does an 1873 Winchester with 30" full mag tube hold?

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In 32-20 I think 17 or 18. But i cant recall for sure. High Capacity, thats for sure!

BigBlue 94 said:

In 32-20 I think 17 or 18. But i cant recall for sure. High Capacity, thats for sure!

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That's a high capacity ammunition thing clip magazine assault weapon right there.

35 Whelen said:

135 year old (1886) '73 Winchester in 38 WCF. This rifle was a hot mess when I got it, and still is in some respects.

At some point somebody stripped the rifle and cold blued it. The magazine tube is dented and dinged the entire use. If you look carefully at the forearm just ahead of the receiver, you can see that it's been carried so much, that the wood there is very worn from a hand being wrapped around it. The bore was completely trashed and required a lining.

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1894 Winchester 30 WCF- I just recently received this rifle from my father-in-law, having belonged to his father and made in 1915, it has seen some seriously heavy use and neglect. It was covered in rust from SE Texas humidity and the bore is somewhat rough. I haven't done much shooting at all yet, but what little I did shows it'll still shoot great.

View attachment 974961

35W

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I believe, I think, as far as I know, I've been told, when the wood is worn like that on a rifle, it usually indicates "saddle bow wear", meaning it was carried for years on horse back, the rifle resting on the front, or "bow" of the saddle. As far as I know, that also indicates ownership by a Native American, (or "Native American Use" in some collector circles) as a white man usually used a saddle scabbard. ? Now there's a rifle for ApacheCoTodd to weave a tale about.

ATCDoktor said:

I have several rifles that are well past 100 years old that I use regularly:
Marlin 1892 chambered in 32 Colt dates from between 1910-1915:


They are all fine shooters for their age and are probably just as accurate today as they were when they were brand new.

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Frikken GIT SOME!

Great photo, the subject, composition and location - but - I have a question.

Did you get those super-cool targets from Jules Vern? I'd have one of those sitting in my yard just to rust. let plants grow onto and look at of an afternoon.

Todd.

Dave DeLaurant said:

I just love wacking that stiff bolt back and forth smartly for some reason -- nice tactile feeling!

My handloads start with PPU 8x56R Hungarian brass, annealed and run into a Lee 8x50R Lebel sizing die ('cause I'm cheap and haven't bought a proper die set) to form the shoulder, which I then cut and finish-trim to length. I'll then turn the neck if necessary, but it's usually not. I have a few reformed 7.62x54R cases (plus some I made 20 years ago using 45-70 brass), but I prefer the PPUs because they're easy to form and don't bulge at the head.

For bullets, my preference is realtively blunt .323" flat based jacketeds at least 200 grains, preferably more. I've had pretty decent open sight accuracy out to about 75 yards, but haven't tried longer ranges. The actual bore diameter on the M95 is .330", so boattails won't upset to properly fill the bore.

This video talks about the challenges of getting excellent accuracy from the M95 at long range using coated cast bullets. It's a little light on handloading detail thanks to the stupid YouTube restrictions:

Click to expand...

There is just "something about" a M95. I didn't realize that a jacketed .323" would bump up or spin in a .330" bore. I have a mold for a cast .338" somewhere, and a sizing die made to size them down to .330". But again, haven't got around to it. I did try sizing jacketed .338" bullets down, but just busted a press in the process.

Ugly Sauce said:

I did try sizing jacketed .338" bullets down, but just busted a press in the process.

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Whoops! Lol. Sometimes we learn the hard way. Were you going straight from .338 to .330? Might work with a two or three step process?

Speedo66 said:

That's a high capacity ammunition thing clip magazine assault weapon right there.

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I just went to see how many would fit. I have NO 32-20!?!? Guess I forgot to order some after loosing what i had in a fire. It will be 6 years ago on Thursday and im still finding things i forgot to replace.

Speaking of old rifles, just got done shooting one now. Yeah, I guessed wrong as to what the date today is. ! Found the load she likes at last, but I was limited to what the original powder measure holds. I have both the horn, and measure that are original to the rifle. So it was ball size, patch thickness, and lube. and she likes a pure bee's wax wad over the powder.

This came into my wife's family in 1845-1846, they traded an ox for it. It has a lot of history, was involved in a lot of "stuff". Yes, that's an Oak stock and ram rod. !!!

It had a much longer barrel, but it was cut shorter, back in the day, for use on horseback, which is well documented. Her family kept some fantastic diaries. This rifle has "seen some things".

The maker of the die told me it would reduce .338" to .330", and that's what is stamped on the die. I was dubious of that for sure, and yeah that was too much of a reduction. Pretty sure it will do okay on a cast bullet, if I ever get around to it. Perhaps it would have worked on some type of monster press, I tried it on a pretty lightweight LEE press. I suppose what kind of lube one uses make a difference also. I never had/used a lube that was designed for that specific purpose.

Marlin 1881 in .45-70, mfd 1886.
Winchester 94 in .32 WS, mfd 1906.
Winchester 1890 in .22 WRF, mfd 1915.
Carcano M91 TS in 6.5, mfd 1915.

Also have a couple of shotguns and at least one handgun old enough to qualify. My brothers ended up with the real antiques, a couple of mid-1800's muzzleloaders.

Ugly Sauce said:

View attachment 975056
There is just "something about" a M95. I didn't realize that a jacketed .323" would bump up or spin in a .330" bore. I have a mold for a cast .338" somewhere, and a sizing die made to size them down to .330". But again, haven't got around to it. I did try sizing jacketed .338" bullets down, but just busted a press in the process.

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I can believe it! My usual bullet downsize is .311 to .309, which I do in a Lee bullet sizing die and an Orange Crusher press -- even a .02" resize takes a bit of muscle.

Lee makes or made a cheap .330" mold for the 8x50/56 cartridge family:
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1010217897

BTW, I'm fond of the 123 gr plated bullets Berry sells for the 7.62x39 in bulk; they work well for light loads in my .303 and Russian rifles as-is, and once resized can also serve in a bunch of 7.5 and 7.62 military cartridges.

96 Mauser from 1914. Sporterized 25 years ago and restocked for my daughter last fall. This thing is accurate and fun to shoot. Got a problem though, daughter doesn’t want to give it back.

Barnfixer said:

96 Mauser from 1914. Sporterized 25 years ago and restocked for my daughter last fall. This thing is accurate and fun to shoot. Got a problem though, daughter doesn’t want to give it back.View attachment 975204

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Is that step in the barrel standard... The one forward of the tip of the stock?

I dig your daughter not lettin' go of it.

Todd.

ApacheCoTodd said:

Is that step in the barrel standard... The one forward of the tip of the stock?

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Hah!! That caught my eye, too. And what really irritates me is that I had mine apart over the weekend and I can't remember!!

wiscoaster said:

Hah!! That caught my eye, too. And what really irritates me is that I had mine apart over the weekend and I can't remember!!

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It's really a rather pretty touch in the photograph of the sporter.

I guess it is standard, looking at another sporter and some GI rifles on the internets. Just where the barrel-band holds the hand guard on - I guess.

Todd.

Yes the step is standard. Don’t recall how much was cut off. Nice target crown, bolt reforged, reciever machined for scope mounts, Winchester saftey, Timney trigger, blue and polish. I think these mausers were going for $60 back then. Only picked up two, the other I kept original.

Last that I checked, I had 73 long guns that were originally built between 1841 and 1921. Several had been updated at a later date.

Dave DeLaurant said:

I can believe it! My usual bullet downsize is .311 to .309, which I do in a Lee bullet sizing die and an Orange Crusher press -- even a .02" resize takes a bit of muscle.

Lee makes or made a cheap .330" mold for the 8x50/56 cartridge family:
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1010217897

BTW, I'm fond of the 123 gr plated bullets Berry sells for the 7.62x39 in bulk; they work well for light loads in my .303 and Russian rifles as-is, and once resized can also serve in a bunch of 7.5 and 7.62 military cartridges.

Click to expand...

I bought that sizing die before LEE made a mold for that rifle/caliber/size. !!! Long time ago when using 7.62X54R brass and sizing bullets was about the only way to reload for the M95. I should pick one up, as I have some PPU brass for it, and some PPU loaded rounds. Should play around with that a bit.

Berry bullets are good, I've shot bunches of them in 9mm. Usually go PPU for my .303's, the bulk .311"s in 150FMJBT grain work well in my Russian rifles and SMLE's. Every one seems to be out of the Hornady 174 grain FMJBT's lately, which I prefer in my Bogus No.4(T), so I may might start using the 150's in it. Hopefully they will be accurate, the 174's shoot into an inch and a half/1.5", and I did get a 1/2" group out of them once.

I was shooting 123's in my Jungle Carbine for a while, but have since decided to standardize on one load for all my SMLE's. Probably will go with the 150's since they will probably be around longer, and cost less than the 174's.