doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Custom/semi-classic rifle

This is my first custom rifle. I've had it for probably 12-15 yrs now, so it is bit worn around the edges but it is still my favorite rifle of all time. It also still has a lot of working life ahead of it.

This was from this afternoon. I filled half a bag (3) eventually. If there is something more fun or tastier to hunt, I don't know what it is.

Wonderful stalking rifle !!
Tell me more please
What action, Win or Falling Block Works?
What scope, A-5 or ???
What caliber?
More, more, more, please
Mike

It is a .22rf. I have probably posted pictures of it before, but I confess, I like to show it off. The action is a coil/leaf spring, thick-tang, large-shank, low wall probably made in the 1880s.

The barrel is a #2 full octagon that has been bored out to 0.60". Then a 17" Lilja barrel was installed as a liner. Because the last 11" is 0.60" of emptiness the rifle was a little muzzle light so I added a muzzleloading rib to it, which may not be functional beyond weight but it doesn't look too bad. The top flat has been matted like a shotgun rib.

The stock has 3/4 - 1" of cast off and is fairly fat and heavy.

From time to time, the stock hammer is swapped out for a titanium hammer that has much less than a 1/4" fall for speed locking.

The net result is a rifle that holds just about perfect for me in offhand (much to this squirrel's dismay and one of the two others too).

The rifle was built to be an offhand competition rifle first and foremost, but I have shot many 200 yds Schuetzen targets in the high 240s with it off the bench. I also use it in the .22 BPCR competitions that have become so popular. But nowhere do I like it more than in the squirrel woods.

The scope is a 4x Unertl small game scope. It comes and goes in exchange for a 10x Fecker or a 25x Lyman STS or an MVA B5. It wears tang sights for BPCR. Have a nickel plated small swiss butt plate for it when shooting Schuetzen.

It is my do-it-all rifle.

That is a beautiful rifle. I hope you have someone that will appreciate it when it's time to pass it on.

Jerry Liles

Jerry,
I have no plans to pass it on. There is no one to pass it too. But it will be a hell of an estate sale unless I give it away sooner.

I gave away my first childhood .22 to a guy I met at someone's 50th birthday party. Seemed like a nice guy and he had some kids that needed a rifle, so I gave it to him. It was in pretty nice condition, though nothing of particular value to anyone but me.

I guess that little gun would qualify as classic, though certainly not custom. I took a few picts before I handed it over.

I have a Remington #1 Rolling Block that has a similar barrel setup! When I bought the gun it had a 20" half octagon barrel on it. It shot wonderfully, so I was happy, but it felt light, and aesthetically didn't look right to me.
I talked with John Taylor about what could be done to fix it, but retain the good shooting barrel. John came up with the idea to turn the last part of the barrel's diameter down, and make up a "bloop tube" that he would press over the turned down section. The bore on the extension is .40 caliber, and is 10" long; making it a 30" barrel.
Once it was polished out, and the whole barrel rust blued, the extension doesn't show. It looks like a .40 caliber barrel at the muzzle, and a .22LR at the chamber. Best part is it handles well, looks great, and shoots like it did before!
Nowhere near as good looking as your Winchester, but it's a fun gun!

Brent that's sad. A rifle like that deserves to be an heirloom. Something a grandson or daughter would cherish.

Jerry Liles

WJL, it's not sad, so long as someone enjoys it. It just won't be a decendant of mine. I am an evolutionary dead end.

All of you own fine rifles that were made by someone you never knew, for someone you never knew, and yet you treasure them and get to ponder their pasts. This will be one of those.

Val, that is a very nice roller. Very nice indeed. It would have been very happy in the woods with my yesterday.

One more weekend of squirrels season left.

Brent:

It might be a nice gesture toward some future owner to include some of the history of this rifle and some basic information about you in written form. A letter under the butt plate would be a very nice surprise to someone acquiring the rifle after you're done with it.

Rem

Rem,
With a little luck the rifle would have several notebooks with it that hold at least a portion of its history, matches shot, scores, and what was won or how I placed. Not a lot of hunting info in those books, but there is some. And there is a little bit here and there about some of the many people who helped put it together over the years.

But notebooks and guns often get separated, so you never know. Nonetheless, nearly every one of my rifles has a notebook (or several).