Log In
Members
Home
Add Reply
Add Topic
New member here, I recently inherited a 1885 in 22WCF. The rifle itself is in fair condition with silvered cased receiver and good barrel blue, however the chamber and most of the bore is corroded out. Any recommendations for when to have it relined? No local shops here in FT Worth seem to be interested.
Also I was considering having it re done in 32/20 as I like to shoot all of my Winchesters
Thanks
Hello David,
Send it to Randy Redman and have him reline & chamber it for the 22 Hornet. Having it bored out to 32/20 will require changing the extractor as well. The 22 Hornet uses the same extractor as the 22 WCF.
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
November 7, 2015
Offline
Welcome, David. I’m a fan of the 32 WCF but must admit I like the 22 Hornet idea. If Randy can’t get to it I have another guy up Bert’s way that does nice work. I don’t know anyone in our neck of the woods who does this kind of work.
Mike
TXGunNut said
I don’t know anyone in our neck of the woods who does this kind of work.
Mike
Hard to believe there aren’t several, at least, gunsmiths doing it in Texas, though they probably don’t advertise; why advertise, when you’re probably already snowed under with work through word of mouth, as every half-way competent smith is?
What about this outfit? https://texasgunexperience.com/gunsmithing
For local DFW firearms info, my first stop is usually with Jeff Lee, at Lee’s Gun Parts in Irving (a nice, if sometime cranky fellow, with a GREAT selection of old gun parts!). He may be able to give a recommendation. He’s only open Tues, Wed & Thurs. Going in person is an interesting experience, reminiscent of an old-style auto parts counter. If you call, best to do it in the morning, before he gets busy. Doesn’t do email.
You could also try here:
http://gervasegunsmithing.com/
Ron was the long time head gunsmith at Ray’s before opening his own shop. He advertises barrel relining for $350.
I am interested in what you find, as I have a Winchester Model 62 with matching English proofs on the barrel & receiver, where the barrel is badly corroded, and the gun keyholes. I’d like to reline it, if that’s the fix, but it’s not worth the $350 that Ron charges.
I’ve also wondered if the folks at Shilen might be able to give a recommendation.
btbell said I’d like to reline it, if that’s the fix, but it’s not worth the $350 that Ron charges.
That’s rather steep, unless some special fitting is required. I think $200-250 should be the ballpark for the average job. “Asking around” seems, unfortunately, to be the only way to find the shops doing this work. On other sites I’ve seen literally dozens of different shops recommended by satisfied customers, but I never took the trouble to write down those names. Last one I dealt with personally was John Taylor in Palliup, WA–he’s one of the best but also one of the most snowed-under. Snap’s Gunshop in Mich is one of the oldest doing this work, & no doubt equally snowed-under. I remember another in Mass highly recommended but forget the name. Rather surprising how many of these shops are in the North.
Thanks for the inputs, Randy Redman looks the go to guy for this type of work. If I go to 32wcf what has to be done to the extractor? Or can the correct extractor still be found.
David Attanasio said
Or can the correct extractor still be found.
It can, either old or repro. Before wasting your time looking for one, I’d ask Redman if he has or knows where to get one.
November 7, 2015
Offline
clarence said
TXGunNut said
I don’t know anyone in our neck of the woods who does this kind of work.
Mike
Hard to believe there aren’t several, at least, gunsmiths doing it in Texas, though they probably don’t advertise; why advertise, when you’re probably already snowed under with work through word of mouth, as every half-way competent smith is?
What about this outfit? https://texasgunexperience.com/gunsmithing
Only guy I’ve used is John Taylor, could be someone closer but John came highly recommended. I’m not sure whose liners he uses but it could be Redman.
Mike
I sent a contact form e mail to Redman’s asking about doing the re line to 32wcf and what has to be done with extractor. Hope to hear back from him
David Attanasio said
I sent a contact form e mail to Redman’s asking about doing the re line to 32wcf and what has to be done with extractor. Hope to hear back from him
The extractor has to be replaced. If you reline to 22 Hornet, your original extractor will work perfectly and save you the trouble of finding a 32 WCF extractor. Original extractors are extremely difficult yo find, and the reproductions have to be hand fitted to your rifle & barrel.
Both John Taylor and Randy Redman are in “my neck of the woods”. I highly suspect that John uses Randy’s barrel liners.
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
Bert H. said
I highly suspect that John uses Randy’s barrel liners.
He may use them, but he recommends TJ’s.
TXGunNut said
Only guy I’ve used is John Taylor, could be someone closer but John came highly recommended.
There’s none better; consequently, he’s perpetually snowed under–work he did for me took yr & a half. However, he’s capable of complex machine work that I’d trust to no other, like convertions from RF to CF & chamber replacements
November 7, 2015
Offline
clarence said
TXGunNut said
Only guy I’ve used is John Taylor, could be someone closer but John came highly recommended.
There’s none better; consequently, he’s perpetually snowed under–work he did for me took yr & a half. However, he’s capable of complex machine work that I’d trust to no other, like convertions from RF to CF & chamber replacements
I’m inclined to agree, he discovered the barrel of my 1892 (.32WCF) had been cut down to 23”, offered to add the missing inch.I declined but quite honestly almost approved the job just to see how he would pull it off. It’s just a shooter. Several guys over on the cast bullet forum speak highly of him, they can be pretty picky about bores. He’s also a member there. I’d post a pic but that 1892 is buried. I think it needs shooting, part of my efforts to make a shooter out of this gun included a tang sight and a Lyman 17M front sight. Silly? Yes. Fun? Yeppers!
Another option is to re-bore and re-rifle the barrel, if you’re going to increase the bore to .32 this may be a better option. IIRC Jess Ocumpah (pretty sure I spelled his last name wrong) re-bored my shot-out 30-06 to 35 Whelen. He specialized in that type of conversion but he may be able to do smaller calibers.
Mike
Mike
Well I have tried several times to get in touch with Redman’s by e mail and phone with no response. I contacted http://gervasegunsmithing.com/ and waiting to see what I get back. This is local to me so hope I can have it done there.
David Attanasio said
Well I have tried several times to get in touch with Redman’s by e mail and phone with no response. I contacted http://gervasegunsmithing.com/ and waiting to see what I get back. This is local to me so hope I can have it done there.
Anytime you can hand deliver your gun, that beats the hell out of packing & shipping. $350 is definitely high, but might be worth it to avoid shipping. (What is Redman charging?) His references to AR work would make me wonder about his experience with old guns.
A brl can’t be RE-lined unless it was previously lined; wasting my breath, I know.
Make sure the barrel liner you purchase is .224 dia. When I did a bit of research on barrel liners some years back, Redman did not offer a .224 dia. liner. His were 22 RF liners with a .221 bore dia. Track of the Wolf carries .224 dia. liners but they are substantially more expensive than Redman’s. They are sold by the inch, $7.45 So just the liner is going to cost you close to $200. $350 for a liner install is cheap when you factor in the cost of a liner. It’s pretty much an all day job by the time the barrel is drilled, the liner fastened, the muzzle crowned, the chamber cut and head spaced and the extractor groove recut. Then comes reassembly of the rifle…….. The piloted drills for drilling the barrel are over $100! $350 is not an unreasonable price for anyone who is going to be in business for long. No one can be self employed and work for $10 an hour…………
Barrel liners: breech loading rifle bore liners – Track of the Wolf
Erin
Erin Grivicich said
$350 is not an unreasonable price for anyone who is going to be in business for long.
Well, I perceive I’ll have to retire my memories of $200 lining jobs, as checking Redman’s prices, I was shocked to see that he now charges $375 for SS rifles, $275 for repeaters. I suspect those liners sold by T/W are made by TJ’s.
Redman’s responded, he isn’t interested in doing the work!!! So anybody have contact info for John Taylor? Does he have a web sight?
Thanks
David Attanasio said
Redman’s responded, he isn’t interested in doing the work!!! So anybody have contact info for John Taylor? Does he have a web sight?Thanks
Amazed to hear that! Guess wholesaling to Brownell’s relieves Redman of the need for jobs such as yours. I well remember when he’d take any work he could get.
I was about to give you John Taylor’s add. when I ran across this shocking info on the ASSRA website: https://www.assra.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1603507950
I’m stunned.
1 Guest(s)
