1903 Winchester question

[bdsnooks]

Hi All,

I have a 1903 Winchester and need the barrel lined.
Can I have it done in 22 LR, or do I need to stay with the 22 Auto?

Can anyone recommend a gunsmith to do the work?

I'm in northeast Texas-----

TIA

 

[Jim K]

They don't make .22 Auto ammo any more, so if you are going to have the barrel relined, of course have it done for .22 LR. There might be some feed or other problems (the .22 LR is longer than the .22 Win. Auto), so maybe it would be a good idea to see if the gun will feed .22 LR before having the work done, or at least make sure the person doing the work knows that lining the barrel is not the only thing that may need to be done.

Jim

 

[Onmilo]

You can't just reline the rifle to .22 LR
The action is pure blowback and the weight of the 1903 bolt assembly along with the longer than needed for .22 lr carrier will cause malfunctions with standard high velocity 22 lr.

You might be able to reline and alter the bolt face for the more common and available .22 Winchester rim fire ammunition but I don't know of anyone who may have tried this yet.

 

[Jim K]

The .22 Win Auto is shorter (.915") than the .22 LR (.975"), so the carrier may need some work, but it is the other way. Another factor would be that the rim diameter of the Win Auto is bigger (.310") than the .22 LR (.275"), so a change might affect feeding as well as extraction/ejection, but I don't think the problem would be unsolvable.

I would see no point in exchanging one obsolete cartridge for another, as .22 WRF is just about as scarce as .22 Win Auto, plus it is longer than either the .22 WRF or the .22 LR, so I think conversion problems would be more complicated. The .22 WRF rim size is .295", between the .22 Win Auto and the .22 LR, so its use might still require bolt face work.

This is the kind of job that I think could be done and work out, but if I were to try it I would want to do a lot of study before going to work.

BTW, the .22 Win Auto fired a 45 grain bullet at 1055 fps, so I think there would be no problem with the .22 LR 40 grain at 1150 or so. If I were to do the job, I would recommed standard velocity .22 LR, though.

Jim

 

[Onmilo]

.22 Auto and .22 WRF are still made albeit in very limited production runs.
Val Forgett Jr. bought Old Western Scrounger from Dangerous Dave a few years back and they keep .22 Auto on hand most of the time.
http://www.ows-ammunition.com
Buffalo Arm also keeps .22 Auto and .22 WRF on hand usually.
http://www.buffaloarms.com
The shop I do gunsmithing for also carries this ammunition but my employer insists I do no internet advertising. Old fuddy duddy! LOL
CCI and Winchester still produce .22 WRF in million round lots and it is available if a shooter looks hard enough.