20-20 winchester rifle

[bangaway]

20-20 winchester rifle

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I have a friend whose dad had a .20-20 single shot bolt action winchester rifle. The dad got into drugs and sold the rifle. My friend was five years old then. He wants a 20-20 now. His mom says it was a centerfire. At a gun show here it took four guys six hours to find this gun in books. It was made in the 1910's in single shot and later a repeater. Most expensive value for the single shot was listed as $2500 . My friend did not notice the model number nor what book the info was in. My Cartridges of the World Book, Flayderman's, or Catalog of Firearms show nothing. I would appreciate any help on the 20-20 rifle. I only have a 5mm rimfire in a .20 cal rifle. Maybe I need a .20-20 rifle. I know I do not have one.

 

[rcmodel]

Somebodys memory is playing tricks on them.
There was never such an animal as a 20-20 rifle made by Winchester, or anyone else.
Nobody ever made .20 cal rifles in the black powder era.

Since it was a single-shot bolt-action, I'm betting it was a simple .22 RF in either .22 Short, .22 Long, .22 LR, or .22 Extra Long.

At any rate, it wasn't a 20-20 I betcha.
And it wouldn't matter if it was, because you sure as heck are not going to find any ammo to shoot it, cause they never ever made any.

rc

 

[ACORN]

Maybe a .32-20 or a .25-20 but I never heard of a .20-20.

 

[rcmodel]

Winchester never made any single-shot bolt actions in any centerfire caliber as far as I and my history of Winchester books can tell.

The closest thing would have been the Model 43 bolt-action repeater, made from 1949 - 1957 in .22 Hornet, .218 Bee, 25-20 WCF, and 32-20 WCF.

rc

 

[k7grc]

This is the only winchester that I know of that comes close.
Winchester 1885, .25-20 Single Shot., Low Wall Rifle

 

[bangaway]

I have not heard of a .20-20 either. Then I never heard of a 32 gauge shotgun in an 1886 winchester. Barnes in Cartridges of the World says so. I keep an open mind. They made .17 cal. black powder smokepoles so a .20 cal cartridge is possible. ...we are always playing with something. The man did say people found it in a book at a gun show just lately. Maybe he is pulling my leg but any help will be appreciated.

 

[bangaway]

There is a























There is a Winchester collector near here and maybe he knows something about .20-20. Keep you posted.

 

[rcmodel]

Lets think about this for a moment.

A .20 caliber cartridge, holding 20 grains of black powder (IE: 20-20) , would have to be about 5 inches long!!!

rc

 

[Jim Watson]

At a gun show here it took four guys six hours to find this gun in books...My friend did not notice the model number nor what book the info was in.

If I had been the benficiary of so much free expert assistance, I would have paid better attention.

But I doubt the very existence of a .20-20 cartridge or rifle.
A faulty memory is more likely than a gun of that hypothetical caliber.

 

[zoom6zoom]

He's probably just misremembering .30-30.

 

[Jim Watson]

Could be. My late uncle made it to age 97 firmly convinced that the Springfield he carried on Corregidor (between the wars) was a .30-30.

 

[rcmodel]

He's probably just misremembering .30-30.

The fact remains that Winchester never ever sold a single-shot bolt-action center-fire rifle.
Let alone one in 30-30 WCF.

In the early 1900's Winchester was making the 1885 High-Wall and Low-wall single-shot rifles in 40+ centerfire calibers.
None of which was a 20-20 WCF.

Making a single-shot bolt-action centerfire to compete with themselves would have been a very bad business decision.

rc

 

[bangaway]

I agree with you remodel that a five inch .20-20 shell does not exist. How about something like a .25-20 necked down? It is beginning to look like a bad memory is true. I bet a .20 cal. mold is not happening either.

 

[rcmodel]

The 25-20 WCF was necked down to make the .218 Bee, which uses .224" bullets.
But not in 1906, and never in .20 caliber.

The black-powder .22 WCF was the parent case for the .22 Hornet, but not until the 1920's.

Again, 1906 was black-powder and semi-smokless powder days.
A sub-.22 bore holding 20 grains of dirty powder would have been badly fouled after just a very few shots.

rc

 

[hirundo82]

The fact remains that Winchester never ever sold a single-shot bolt-action center-fire rifle.
Let alone one in 30-30 WCF.

I think the most likely explanation is that it was some other manufacturer's rifle in .30-30 Winchester (or maybe .32-20 or .25-20), and that got changed in the retelling to a Winchester in ".20-20".

 

[Dr.Rob]

Husqvarna made a number of single shot bolt actions in 32-20 Winchester.

Maybe that's the source of the confusion?

 

[Jim NE]

I think the most likely explanation is that it was some other manufacturer's rifle in .30-30 Winchester (or maybe .32-20 or .25-20), and that got changed in the retelling to a Winchester in ".20-20".

Wow...it's kinda cool to see the actual genesis of an urban myth!