doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com remodeling a Winchester 61

Mossberg actually made miniature trap throwers to handle the tiny clay birds used in the downsized trap shoots. They had one that actually attached to the barrel of your gun, so you could launch your clay bird, and then shoot it too!
I owned a couple of the old Mossberg trap throwers, and tried one on the barrel, but it really jerked the barrel when you launched; requiring you to reacquire the target again.

Did not Orvis make some sort of thrower to toss Ritz crackers or something like that? Designed for "patio trapshooting" or some such.

1/8 " tool steel stock makes a nice solid rib for a 22 bbl I have done 2 of these on 22 shot barrels. You do need a milling machine and some basic machine skills. It will take a little time as you will need some fixturing. Think twice and do it once.

There are some throwers on line that you can throw ritz crackers with those and or butterflys make demanding targets. Mind your downrange stuff to keep out of trouble.
Good fortune with your project.

While we're on the subject, I believe that the "Routledge" (sp?) bore for the .22 shotshell was a Remington patent or trademark not used on other smoothbore .22 makes. Not sure how it differed from the others, perhaps some kind of taper bore or "long choke."

I used a Remington 510 smoothbore for finch/sparrow control in a seed processing plant I worked in in the 1950s, but don't remember it being marked "Routledge," so this barrel may have been only used on the more expensive models like the 121 and 241.

If someone here will volunteer to post some pictures, I'll send some photos of the results of this project. The rib ended up not a part of the final piece after all. Instead I made sight bases just wide enough to cover the dovetail cuts in the barrel.

The (Fred) Routledge designed 22 smooth bore was used by Winchester in their M61.
Mr Routledge designed the mini indoor trap game 'Moskeeto' in the late 30's. He also developed his 'Routledge Bore' design for .22LR Shot cartridges that threw better patterns than a standard single dia .22 smooth bore bbl.

(The following specs from Win Slide Action Rifles VolII by Schwing)
A Routledge Bore is the first 10.5" @ .217d, then the remaining 13.5" of the 24"bbl of the M61 is counter bored to .375".
The claim was an 80% pattern in a 6" circle @ 35ft.
The straight thru smooth bored (.217) bbl was said to throw patterns 3 times larger (and more).

Winchester & Routledge entered into some sort of agreement ($$) around 1939 to produce the M61 .22LR Shot with this Routledge bore in it.
Winchester quickly decided to change to it's own version of the 2 stepped bore dia and could stop paying Fred for the use of his design.
Win factory info shows drawings for their own version in 1940.

The Win version was a .217 smooth bore from the breech extending 16" forward, then expanding to a counter bore dia of .265" (instead of the Routledge .375") for the remaining 8" of the 24" M61 BBl.

M61s with original 'Routledge bore bbls are very rare as production was short lived.

The last version of the M61 .22LR Shot are the straight thru one dia (.217"d) guns. These were made starting around the mid 50's.

There are a few fake Routledges around of course. Counter boring a straight thru bored rifle, or a Winchester counterbored gun to the correct .375d & depth results in a 'Routledge bore'.
The former will be way off in ser#/production. But the latter can be argued as being in the range. Be careful as always.
Check bbl address marking and other features for era of mfg.
No records available AFAIK on these.

Simmons offered the M61 22LR Shot w/a V/R installed.
It's pictured in their 1956 catalog,pg22
.."Model 61 Slide Action Hammerless Repeating Rifle
with New Simmons Deluxe Ventilated Rib
#G6116RSVR / .22Long Rifle Shot (Smooth Bore) / $97.85"

I'm guessing they'd fit one to a customers rifle as well.

Thanks, Kutter! Great details! I wonder how the current (?) CCI shotshells with the plastic shot capsule measure up in patterning. Do they, as I've always believed, require RIFLING to break up the capsule, or will it disperse freely in a smoothbore?

Am I wrong in believing that there are Remington .22s with the special Routledge bore as well as Winchesters?

You are correct. Remington made at least 4 variations of the smoothbore on rifles such as the Model 121, one of which used the word "Routledge". Others used "smoothbore" and the term "Moskeeto".