Winchester 1890

Freezer

A friend has an 1890 Winchester pump rifle. Date of manufacture is approx late 1925. The barrel is labeled S, L, LR & WRF. The rifle will feed the WRF, but not the other three. Any ideas why? My thought is old stiff grease. He says it has a peep sight, but I can't find that listed as a stock part. Am I correct that this was added later?

Diver43

http://www.1890winchesters.com/

I believe the peep sight may be an original as it is listed as a replacement part

This website is great for parts

Bob has forgotten more about these neat little guns than most will ever know.  Give him a call

Wambli Ska

That is a combination I’ve never of heard before.  WRF is totally different chamber than S, L and LR.

JunkCollector

Something doesn't jive 
Sounds like an original WRF gun  though.

My only theory would be something happened to the original barrel and one for S L LR was reamed to accept WRF and that stamp added.

Wambli Ska

As a matter of fact the 1890s were very chambering specific because they started as .22 Short ONLY guns.  I believe the guns were made to chamber only ONE variant of the .22 family with the .22LR introduced in 1919.  I think the interchangeability of the .22 S, L, LR started with the 1906 model.

I really can’t see how a 1890 (or a 1906 or 62) would be chambered in all of those and be able to chamber them interchangeably.  A picture of the markings would be really helpful.

Gene L

That's a strange one.  There's a lot of difference between LR and WRF, as stated.  Not likely that it was bored out for a WRF and re-labeled.   The good news is that it chambers the "ordinary" .22s. Can't have too many .22s.

JunkCollector

Here is a picture of my 1890
To show where it should be stamped.
It's 22 long not LR

JunkCollector

Gene L said:

That's a strange one.  There's a lot of difference between LR and WRF, as stated.  Not likely that it was bored out for a WRF and re-labeled.   The good news is that it chambers the "ordinary" .22s. Can't have too many .22s.

There is a lot of difference 
It feeds the WRF  much longer
not the other way around.

Gene L

Yeah, I got it backwards.  If you can get WRF, great.  And apparently you can get them since you chambered one.  If you plan to keep it, buy as much as you can afford.  It seems to come and go in availability.  I would love to have one in WRF. Just because.

Wambli Ska

JunkCollector said:

Here is a picture of my 1890
To show where it should be stamped.
It's 22 long not LR

Yep.  Those guys were VERY specific with the chambering in the gun.  They chambered to a specific round, again unlike the 1906 which went to .22 S, L and LR.  But .22 LR works with Long chambers just fine.

Wambli Ska

Gene L said:

Yeah, I got it backwards.  If you can get WRF, great.  And apparently you can get them since you chambered one.  If you plan to keep it, buy as much as you can afford.  It seems to come and go in availability.  I would love to have one in WRF. Just because.

CCI does a yearly run and I buy all I can get every year.  I love shooting them in .22 Mag guns.  They are really good out of my sons Single-Six Convertible.

JunkCollector

But .22 LR works with Long chambers just fine.

I'm not sure what you meant there ?

LR will not work in my 1890
It's the reason They thought it was broke and I was able to get it cheap.

22 longs.....it runs like a singer sewing machine

Big Al1

The carrier was very cartridge specific on the 1890, that's one of the things they changed on the 1906 to improve it. WMR will not work. The WMR can be shot in a .22 Magnum but not vice versa.

Japhy

There is a difference in the length of the carrier, the part that catches the round from the magazine and aligns it with the chamber in the 22 short model vs the 22 s, l, lr models. I would think if it works with 22 wrf it would feed everything else. It may be that part is not original or that the mechanism that moves the round to the chamber is mismatched with the carrier. If you have another similar model to compare it would be helpful. 
the carrier can also be bent slightly if it was ever dropped when taken down.  Years ago I fixed one that would feed shorts but not lr by straightening the carrier.

Wambli Ska

JunkCollector said:

But .22 LR works with Long chambers just fine.

I'm not sure what you meant there ?

LR will not work in my 1890
It's the reason They thought it was broke and I was able to get it cheap.

22 longs.....it runs like a singer sewing machine

I get it… These pumps are way more touchy.  I’ve fired LRs out of L chambers in bolts without issues.  But, it’s a 1890 and as Al said the carrier on the 1890s is very specific to the chambering.  The OAL of the LR is definitely longer than the Long even though the brass is the same length.  In a bolt or other guns it makes much less of a difference.

RugerFan

Mine is a 90A. I know it has been rebarreled