Cottontail Rifle .22 LR/.22 WMR rarest .22 LR ?

[m52a2]

The Cottontail Rifle by Golden Bear Gun Works(aka Cougar Arms). This single shot .22 LR can be converted to .22 WMR by replacing the screw in chamber using a special tool. There was also a handgun version offered. The handgun was reviewed in Petersen's Handguns pages 25 to 29 September 1990 by Garry James, in an article titled: "Golden Bear's Golden Gun".
The maker told me that he had filed the flats in the Octagonal barrel from a round blank completely by hand, I was duly impressed ! I think very few were made.

 

[m52a2]

Cottontail Rifle photos

Cottontail Rifle

 

[m52a2]

Cottontail Rifle more photos

Cottontail rifle photos

 

[m52a2]

Cottontail Rifle more photos

Cottontail Rifle photos

 

[ECVMatt]

Very neat! I would like something like that.

 

[m52a2]

Cottontail Rifle more photos

Cottontail Rifle Photos

 

[RustHunter87]

Thats a vary cool idea, I bet it would be hard to do but some one should build one for the 17's.

 

[MachIVshooter]

I bet it would be hard to do but some one should build one for the 17's.

Not really. Just a pair of chamber blocks that fit into a socket behind the bore, each one reamed to accept a different cartridge. The .17 HM2 would have a bit of freebore in the adapter, just as a .22 LR would, but if the tolerances were correct, it should have no effect on accuracy.

Could even go as far as to make it a triple round set-up with another block adapter for the new Winchester .17 WSM.

 

[PO2Hammer]

That is a neat little rifle. It looks very well made and has nice lines for a small break action.
As a .22 WMR fan, I must confess that I am envious.

 

[chicharrones]

That looks like a gem of a rifle! Congrats!

What is that rod and ball at the leading edge of the forend?

 

[Carl N. Brown]

^I'll take a stab based on the photo only: ¿latch for detaching the forearm? I have seen single barrel guns with a plunger at the end of the forearm for unlatching it from the barrel.

 

[m52a2]

The brass button at the forward end of the forearm when pressed to the rear is to open the gun(fold at hinge point) to allow loading.

 

[PO2Hammer]

Neat.

 

[kBob]

What is that rifle sitting on and against. I feel like I should know yet can not make it out. Not knowing is distracting......TH55?


I like the lay out of the rifle and it looks "tight". I will say the Allen head screws don't seem to go with the feel of the rifle and they seem to be not finished and distract from the polish and finish of the receiver. Even with the Williams peep on a ramp the gun otherwise has a "classic" feel to it and those unfinished Allen head screw heads seem a bit glaringly out of place.

Other wise it seems a neat rifle.

I am at a loss to understand how one might convert it to .17 anything without a whole new barrel but am impressed that someone got the idea of a screw in breech for .22magnum/ .22LR to work. Does the .22LR chamber piece have free bore or was it partially rifled? Does the .22 Magnum have its own lead or does it allow the bullet to seat into a lead area of the fixed barrel?

Please do not let the Chippa whatever folks see this rifle! I do not want to see it in Zinc with a crinkle paint finish and knurled external Allen head screws!

Seriously other than the Allen head screws I really like your rifle.

Thanks for sharing it with us.

-kBob

 

[m52a2]

kBob I am too tired to look at the chambers closely right now, but I do know there is no rifle-ing in the in the screw in chambers. The cottontail rifle is leaning against a tractor that is almost as rare as the cottontail. It is a Factory, Wide-axle high-clearance Farmall f20 made in 1936. It has a factory offered generator that is driven off the governor housing and in turn drives the magneto. It also Has a Heisler overdive between the transmission and clutch housing to double the number of gear speeds, There were very few made and the company literature says they were all shipped to Australia.
Yes, the cottontail would look more "finished with slotted machine screws instead of allen. I consider it added character as it it possibly one of a kind and certainly completely hand made.