Winchester mod. 60 smooth bore?

[tark]

Need some help from you Winchester collectors. Picked up a Model 60 single shot rifle today. Standard boys rifle, no safety, the bolt must be manually cocked for each shot. The gun looks to be unfired, And I mean just that; it looks brand new!

And It has a smooth bore! What is up with that? I know Winchester made a smooth bore 22, but I think it was the model 67. Mine is very clearly marked "Model 60" What have I got here, a factory boo-boo, or something else?

Hoping for answers.

 

[Willie Sutton]

Designed to shoot birdshot, for the old Boy Scout sport of Mo-Skeet-O, which was miniature skeet shooting.

Willie

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[tark]

I knew all of that, Willie. You're kinda missing the point.

And the point is this: Model 60s were not supposed to have a SB barrel. Also, when Winchester put a SB barrel of a gun they hand stamped "smooth bore" on the barrel. That stamp is absent. This is clearly a factory screw up. Considering the condition of the gun, which is near new, this could increase the value of the gun dramatically.....or not.

I am trying to find out how common this may have been and whether or not it affects the value of the gun.

 

[Bushpilot]

It seems far more likely that your gun was altered in the 70 odd years since Winchester stopped making model 60's than the chances of it being a mistake at the factory.

Some guys look for these smooth bore 22s because they double the effective range of 22 shot shells but generally won't blow holes in barn roofs and walls. There are companies out there that specialize in boring out rifled 22 barrels for this purpose. Your rifle would be a logical candidate for this since it is a relatively inexpensive gun to "chop" and as a single shot there wouldn't be function issues from the shot shells.

As far as the value is concerned, factory smooth bore guns usually bring a premium from collectors but your gun might be harder to sell as a smooth bore than an un-altered model 60 would be. Most buyers would probably prefer a rifle to an altered smooth bore unless you find a buyer who is specifically looking for a smooth bore gun to use for this purpose..

 

[RainDodger]

Exactly. I seriously doubt the factory made a mistake in labeling the barrel.

 

[tark]

I had wondered if that might be the case, that the gun was re-done and re finished. But I doubt it, because I know the history of the gun.

The man I got it from was my age (66) and he told me his father bought the gun new, to shoot squirrels and rabbits for the table. This would have been in the middle of the depression years.

Long story short, his dad stopped using the gun because he could "never hit anything with it" and he put it away in the closet and bought another gun. I think the reason he couldn't hit anything with it is obvious, and sitting in a closet for 80 years would also explain it's near new condition.

Whatever I have, I am have no regrets over the $175 I paid for it. It is so damn pretty it's worth that much just to look at.

 

[Willie Sutton]

Pull a rifling button thru the barrel then and enjoy it...


Willie

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[Gordon]

Bottom two guns are real smooth bores and so marked. Rem 1939 and Anshutz with Rutledge system and 9" rifled section . They work well for the purpose, frequently used around my place.

 

[Bushpilot]

Have you ever slugged the barrel to check the bore diameter?

 

[tark]

Bushpilot, as near as I can tell with my calipers, the bore is right on 223. A 22 slug can be pushed through the bore with moderate effort. More research has revealed that the 23" barrel it has was one of two standard lengths for the Mod 60.

But the mod 67 smooth bore had a 27" barrel and 23" was never the right length for any of Winchester's smooth bores. I guess I just have a mystery on my hands, and probably one of no great value.

But I do live in the country, and I have a barn which is well equipped with vermin. Got some 22 shot cartridges yesterday.

Guess i'll put the thing to it's intended use!

 

[CB900F]

Tark;

I'm not so sure that your gun isn't a factory mistake. Here's why: The Great Falls Montana spring and fall gun show has an exhibitor that has, for many years, shown his factory NIB Winchester center fire lever gun that has a smooth barrel. He also has the Winchester factory letter admitting they didn't get it right and more-or-less pleading with him to let them fix it, ie., new barrel. This is a New Haven gun, but what time period I'm not sure.

It did happen, it can happen, and your's may be one of them. However, I'd do a lot more research to verify it, if possible, before flat claiming that it's one of them.

900F

 

[roklok]

Does it have rifle type sights or a bead on the barrel ? Most smoothbore rimfires I am familiar with have a front bead, not sights.

 

[25cschaefer]

I think it is a rebore. If they had forgotten to rifle it at the factory the bore diameter would be .219 or something close too that, .223 is .001 over bore diameter for 22lr. I suppose someone at Winchester could have grabbed a 67 SB barrel blank, cut it down, chambered it, put sights on, and installed it without noticing it wasn't rifled but unless it was their first day on the job, I highly doubt it. This is all assuming the 60 and 67 were in production at the same time.

 

[natman]

Does it have rifle type sights or a bead on the barrel ? Most smoothbore rimfires I am familiar with have a front bead, not sights.

If it had a bead it would be a sure fire tip off that it was smoothbored on purpose, but the opposite isn't true. Some smoothbores came with rifled sights because they were intended for shooting rats in barns, not birds on the wing. Besides it's easier to leave the standard production sights on rather than come up with a special bead for a very limited production item.

I have a BSA Sportsman single shot factory smoothbore with the same rifle sights used on the regular rifles.