1885 Low Wall in 25-21 Stevens|General Discussions & Questions|Forum|Winchester Collector

Springer2 said
Thank you all for the responses. I seen the rifle in a local ad along with some accessories and bought it. Using your serial number dater, it came up 1890. It just says 25-21 on the top of the barrel along with the Winchester markings further down barrel but no proof stamp. The bore looks very good, almost too good to be original. It looks like it shot some target as the front post sight is windage adjustable and the rear tang aperture is pretty small. Also this medium weight barrel was drilled and tapped for a target scope so I am guessing a target shooter had it. Looking forward to shooting it. 
  

If you can, send (or post) pictures of the caliber marking and the serial number. 

Bert – [email protected]

Per the original factory records, your low-wall S.S. was originally a 25 Stevens rim fire.  I can see in the pictures that you posted that it still has the original rim fire breech block versus a center fire block.  That leads me to question if will actually fire correctly.  Do you know if it has been test fired with a 25-21 Stevens center fire cartridge? 

To covert from a rim fire cartridge to a center fire requires changing (or altering) the breech block and the firing pin, and changing the extractor.

Bert

Springer2 said
Thank you so much for the information, Bert. That explains a lot. The breach of the barrel looks like new and just machined, not something done over 100 years ago. Also it locks up very tight but smooth–not like an old rifle. After I read your reply, I took a case I just primed and it fired fine and the primer was hit on center. Looks like whoever did the work knew what they were doing.

  

That is good news on the mostly correct conversion.  My guess is that the original breech block was altered/modified for the center fire pin.  Winchester drilled a vertical gas vent hole in the top of the center fire breech blocks (not present on your rifle’s breech block). 

Bert