View attachment 1170176 View attachment 1170169 View attachment 1170169 I bought a Winchester HighWall at Tulsa about 8 years ago, mainly for the action, as it had a Savage 99 barrel on it. The action and original buttstock had honest wear but were unmolested, no buggered up screw heads, hadn't been used for a hammer or pry bar, etc. Sent to the Cody Museum for a factory letter, where I learned it was built in 1887, had a #2 octagonal barrel 26" long, chambered in 22 WCF, the predecessor to the 22 Hornet. Took off the old barrel, bought a #2 Green Mountain octagonal barrel with a 14" twist, chambered it in 22 Hornet, finished it at 26", making it as near original as possible, then bought a new, but original style forend for it. I made up my own rust bluing solution from a recipe I found, and did my first rust blue job on the barrel. I mounted a 10X Lyman Super Targetspot to top it all off. I played with it after I completed it about 4 years ago with mixed results. I learned of some half price Nosler Varmageddon ammo at a local farm store, so I picked up a couple boxes on the way to the range this morning to escape the house with a trunk full of rifles, HighWall included. The weather was perfect for trying new things. This rifle is anything but a bench gun, thin and curvy, lots of drop in the stock, crescent butt plate, so it doesn't ride bags well at all. I had to experiment with grip, how tight to pull into my shoulder, things like that. With no other changes besides grip, shoulder tension, etc., I dropped group size from 1 1/2" on the first couple targets down to 5/8" for 5 shots, with 4 into 7/16".
I think its a keeper.
I think its a keeper.
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