doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Bill's handsome 85 Winchester Varminter

Bill asked me to post pictures of a varmintized 1885 Winchester singleshot. Usually, I am not a big fan of that type of modification, though I consider the 1885 the finest rifle ever made. This conversion, however, is really quite nice, in my opinion. I look forward to hearing all the details including who contributed to making it. Sweet gun, Bill.

Thanks, Brent, for posting these photos. The rifle has two signatures: H Hilton as the engraver and H ( Hurvey ) Lovell on the barrel. There are no other marks as to caliber or maker. Lovell is the well known gunsmith and wildcatter from the 30s and 40s. I haven't been able to find anything about Hilton. His scroll work is OK, but the deer and turkeys have that cartoon quality you see in Victorian era English engraving. The wood and metal work are very well done. I have no idea if Lovell was a stock maker, but whoever made this had access to good European walnut. The caliber is most likely 219 Zipper, not 22 Savage as the auction claimed. I'm glad for them to be wrong here. I've always admired these set triggers and the elongated lever, but they don't appear all that often. Any suggestion or theory would be helpful. I'll answer questions as best I can.

H (Hervey, not Hurvey) Lovell was a "do it all" guy. He did stocks as well as metal work. I wouldn't be surprised if it does turn out to be chambered/bored for Savage .22 HiPower. The cartridge retained a lot of popularity in the era when this fine gun was made. (Heavy/long bullets have always been recognized as advantageous for long(er) range work and the .22HP with its 70gr. loads delivered them in an era when .224 bullets rarely were obtainable in heavier than 55gr. weights. Let's hope that if this rifle does indeed have a .227/.228" bore and chambered for .22HP that it also has a faster twist than what Savage provided in the M1899 barrels, 1-12".) If Lovell did the work on this gun I bet it'll be first rate.

If such is the case, .228" bullets can be found with a little diligence, and brass can easily be made from .30-30 and .25-35 brass.

I just found and bought an original Ideal .228151 mold to use with my Pope-Ballard in .22WCF. It should be around 50 grain bullet, but wont know until I cast some bullets. This is the final mold I needed for the Ballard's 3 barrel Pope takedown set. I found a .28 Pope and .32 Pope molds for the set for the other barrels in .32-40 and .28 pope Special. Figured I'll never find a .22 Pope mold for the WCF barrel, so the Ideal will be close enough.