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I picked up this 1885 Low Wall at an auction. The barrel is a 22 short that has been bored to 30 caliber, but has never been chambered. The breech block is a centerfire breech block. There is no extractor in the gun. I was hoping to chamber this gun to use. About the least power 30 caliber I can find is 30 Herrett, which I would not mind making ammo for (I had one in a Contender once, and I still have a 357 Herrett in a Contender). Is the Low Wall strong enough to chamber for this cartridge? I would only use lower power 110 grain or 130 grain bullet loads for the gun. I just want to make it a shooter at a reasonable price. The gun is not worth restoring. Any advice will help. Thanks. Vern
Vern,
What is the serial number on your low-wall project rifle? Is it a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd variation low-wall?
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
Vern,
Are you sure that it has been rebored to .30 caliber and not .32 caliber? The reason I ask, is because serial number 85644 was originally a center fire rifle, 32 W.C.F. caliber.
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
That may be why the gun has a centerfire breech block. The barrel says 22 short, and it is bored to 30 caliber (.308).
Vern,
For safety reasons, I do not recommend chambering it for the 30 Herrett cartridge. I would be inclined to chamber it for nothing more potent than the .30 Carbine (M1) cartridge. Use 32-20 (32 WCF) cases, and size them down to .30 caliber. This would make it easy use a standard size extractor. You would need to have a custom made reamer made though.
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
It will probably be difficult to find but I recall that there was a 30-20 TCU cartridge around for a while. It is the 32-20 necked down to 30 caliber. A reamer for it would probably be easier than finding one for a rimmed 30 carbine but I don’t know for sure.
After a little more thought, you’re probably better off finding a used low wall barrel in a standard caliber and installing it. I think that would be much less expensive than putting together and setting up to reload a non standard cartridge. Seems like I see barrels for sale from time to time and I don’t think they’re very expensive.
a .30 cal barrel is .308. A 32 cal barrel is .311 to .312. I’m going to have to slug the barrel to be sure of the dimension.
im no one here but a curious student, maybe post a pic of the .22 stamp and make sure your not misreading it for 32???
im just saying gun was built a 32 and and bore is 32ish just worth a tad bit more investigation unless im just totally out there.
someone installed a 22 barrel on a gun that was a 32 then bored to a 32ish and never reamed chamber??? lets double check maybe?
November 7, 2015
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Good points, Mr. Tompkins. Seems to me the 1885 was everyone’s favorite “project” rifle for more than a few decades and unmolested specimens can be hard to come by. The first step for a rifle like this is to ascertain exactly what you have before starting the project, IMHO.
Mike
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