doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Winchester Model 54

Winchester made the Model 54 in .30/30 caliber. Not a lot of that caliber were sold, but it was made for a rimmed cartridge. I have a Model 54 with a Sedgley barrel marked .25/35. Do I have the only .25/35 bolt action rifle in existence?

The rifle has a bolt with a gas hole in it. The Model 54 does not have a gas hole in the side of the receiver ring. Is this a Model 70 bolt?

I will not attempt to post pictures because I don't know how, and, secondly, it is not a fancy gun.

NO. SEDGLEY also made his shortened action 1903 Springfield Mannlicher sporters in 25/35. I have one but in a special order CALIBER... 300 Savage [not a catalog/factory offered caliber]. Hope this kelps JERRY

Sedgely cataloged a Krag sporter in .25-35 and G&H made at least one Krag repeater in that calibre, I have one of each. Very likely your Model 54 was originally a .30-30 and it would have been easily rebarreled to .25-35 by Sedgely. No magazine alteration needed. To convert a Krag required magazine work. IMO a very desirable rig, before the onset of the high velocity .22s the .25-35 was a decent varmint calibre handloaded with an 80 grain bullet at about 2800 fs. I believe most .30-30 54s were the early slowlock model, but converting to speedlock was common. You can tell the difference by looking at the firing pin fall. Otteson's book, The Bolt Action, gives the exact measurements, but I don't have it handy. If your firing pin drops about the same distance as a Mauser 98 or a Springfield 03, it is a slowlock, if it is about the same as a pre64M70 it is a speedlock. M70 bolts can be and were put into 54s but I do not know how it was done or what if any mods were required.

Thank you.

Forgive me if you have heard this story before. About twenty five years ago the company I was working for at the time sent me to Foxborough, MA for a two-week school. It was more of paid vacation and I took my wife with me. On our first night in town we got into the car and looking for a place to eat I saw a small little machine and gun shop so the breaks of the car locked up and I ran inside to see if they had anything of interest. Saw nothing but as I turned to leave, hanging over the door was a like new Sedgley-Krag in .25-35 for $300. I told the owner I was in town for two week and would see what else was around, I found nothing of interest and NEVER could find the shop again. Dumb, dumb…Dumb.

Maybe a dream, Michael?
Vivid one at that.
In those days you could have taken it home on your dream airliner as dream baggage! Best,
Steve

The later Model 54s did have a gas hole in the receiver ring and the bolt had two holds drilled in it, instead of one, as the early bolts had.
If it is a Model 70 bolt, it would have the Model 70 bolt handle for scope mounting. The .30-30 bolt had a special flat bolt face. Model 70 bolts were not made with the flat face.
Does you gun have the standard Model 54 bolt handle or the Model 70 handle?

In terms of rarity, the .30-30(1928-1930) is number 7 of the 10 calibers offered, behind (1) 9mm, (2) 7.65mm, (3) .220 Swift. (4) .257 Roberts, (5) 7mm, (6) .250-3000 Sav., (7) .30-30, (8) .22 Hornet, (9) .270 WCF, and (10) .30 Govt 06.

.220 Swift is third place? I have two of them. Lucky me.

It has the Mokel 70 bolt handle but has the flat bottom. How many Model 54s were made, Mine is in the 37000s. The Model 54 is the forgotten Winchester ranking with the Hotchkiss.

52,029