Robert Moore said
I have an 1890 that the barrel is marked 22 short. A 22 LR will fit in the chamber just fine but of course it will not cycle through the feed tube. We’re all the chambers cut for LR snd just the carrier designed for the short shell?
In answer to your question, No, they were not cut for the 22 LR. As it was originally manufactured, it would not fully chamber a 22 LR cartridge.
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
Robert Moore said
Well I have check 3 more 1890’s all marked short and all 3 will take a LR dropping in very loosely into the chamber. I also noted that the shell will drop in from the muzzle. This surprises me since my Marlin model 20 will not do this and it is about the same age.
Wish you’d take one of those guns, shoot a few groups with Shorts, then do the same with LRs, & report back about the accuracy of each. “Theory” says the slow twist of a Short won’t stabilize the heavier LR bullet, but theory is often way off base.
If I had 3 Shorts, I’d open up the carrier on one of them to accept LRs.
Only two of them are mine and they are in really bad shape. I may have to sleeve the barrels in both. I will try 25 yards with both the LR and S this weekend to see what kind of pattern they will hold. I was really looking for a short only when I found the two. Not complaining at all just learning.
Chuck said
I agree with Roger. I believe the short and long chambers will take a long rifle. Not sure how they shoot though?
I wish they all did. I have a SS Short that won’t take a LR. All the Longs will, however. How they shoot depends, I think, on each individual rifle. A Ballard Long I have is more accurate with LRs than with Longs.
November 7, 2015

I wish I could find one ammo all my .22’s liked! The rifles chambered for shorts all seem to like one ammo (CCI Match) but it seems every LR has a different taste in ammo. My 52C predictably likes Eley but my old Ruger MKI thinks my old bricks of Winchester Wildcat are target fodder. My 69 and 75’s seem to like Norma’s Match or Tactical. My Winder musket (short) will only chamber shorts but my buddy’s LR Winder will keep up with mine in spite of supposedly being handicapped with the slower twist. My 1890 (LR) seems happy to bang away with whatever I put down the tube but I can’t recall ever getting serious about punching paper with this little scrapper. I suspect it will do just fine with shorts if my visibly passive (poison) pest control efforts fail and I’m forced to initiate a shooting war with the rodents my neighbor’s abundance of chicken feed seems to attract.
Long post short, it’s widely accepted that rifles are often individuals and that seems especially true for .22 rimfire. One entire shelf of my ammo storage bookshelf seems to be dominated by rimfire; .22 short, LR and Mag and quite possibly a few rows of 17HMR. I don’t try to understand, I just try to figure out what it likes and keep it on hand.
Mike
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