Old 22RF

[Lucky Shooter]

Morning gentlemen.

I think this might be my first time to post on RF.

I plan to reactivate an old Stevens Walnut Hill target rifle that hasn't been shot for a while.

Don't know how old it is but I've owned it for about 35 years and have shot it a little
and cleaned it gently-----even if not properly.

I borescoped it from the breech end and as expected there was some pitting as far as the
probe would reach. There also was some powder fouling in the throat area.

This rifle has been a relatively accurate shooter on 50 yd paper and could do a good job
on 100 yd golf balls-----with 10X scope.

My plan is to clean it as best I can, start shooting it and clean it less frequently than a CF rifle.

Can any of you suggest what cleaning method to use---and to avoid---as I get started with
this rifle.

Thanks for any help.

A. Weldy

 

[DOGCAPPER]

Keep the carbon ring clear at the chamber end.

 

[drover]

Let the barrel tell you what it wants as far a cleaning regimen.
For example; I have two very accurate 22's both with match barrels on them, on #1 the groups start opening up at around the 200 round mark. It is easily restored to shooting good groups by nothing more than running a patch or two through the bore.
On #2 the more shots down the barrel the tighter the groups get. I have often shot well over a 1000 rounds through it with nothing more than a chamber cleaning and it just keeps on shooting good groups. If I run a patch through its bore it takes at least 50 shots for it to start grouping reasonably well again.
Both rifles are capable of five shot 1/4" groups at 50 yards so neither of them are slouches, but it took me a while to figure out that #2 just want to be dirty to shoot good - it goes against my every instinct but I have finally learned to leave it uncleaned.

drover

 

[Lucky Shooter]

Thanks for the replies.

I've cleaned it just a bit.

The powder fouling in the throat and leade were easy to remove---a few twirls of
a nylon brush with Butch's got it out.

A couple of patches with Butch's didn't seem to make much difference on the rest of the barrel but I now have a starting point.

This barrel has a history requiring quite a few rounds to restore fouling after cleaning and even after changing
to other ammo.

This is a fine old rifle and I don't want to do anything to shorten it's accurate life. Need to get to the range
and shoot it.

Your replies were pretty much in line with what I've been told by other rimfire shooters-----clean it a little and shoot it a lot.

A. Weldy

 

[Lucky Shooter]

I dug around in my old and small stash of ammo and found a two types of PMC-----PMC Scoremaster and
PMC Match.

Anybody have an idea of what to expect from each ?

Also found a little REM Match Extra Plus----Ely Ltd.
Same question on this brand.

Also found a little Wolf Match Extra and Wolf Match
Target-----again, same question.

Hopefully some of this stuff will shoot.

Thanks for any opinions.

A. Weldy

 

[1Merlin]

Not to be a downer but unless you can get current ammo in decent sized lots it's basically a generalization of what will and wont shoot in your rifle. Lot to lot variances start really becoming apparent when you have a rifle with the potential to shoot little tiny groups and trying to determine accuracy, or the lack thereof, with old or small test lots that may not point you in the right direction. I would suggest you shoot what you have with a smile and then when you can get test lots of ammo find something that maximizes your particular rifles potential and order enough to last you a few years for "this" rifle." Now that I have given you my totally unsolicited .02 worth of "advice."........

As to your question.... PMC for me seemed to be about the same as lower line Federal. Rem?Eley stuff I have never shot and the Wolf seems to be about the same as Eley Club. I rarely shoot Eley so I am not that aware of how it shoots compared to SK and Lapua which I shoot in all of my "precision" rimfires except one Anschutz 1712 that loves (a particular) batch of Eley Team. I buy test lots of ammo from https://goodshootinginc.com/ and test a rifle than buy a case at a time. Being a cheap old bastard (that doesn't shoot benchrest) I usually wait until I find a superior batch of SK Standard plus and stock up.

 

[Lucky Shooter]

Thanks Merlin1 for the intro to the real world.

I think I'll try to make myself happy with the fun side of this rifle-----if this wants more maybe I can build or buy a BR RF Rifle.

I took the oldster to the range and shot a bit over a box of the Wolf target. Getting more than three shots into about 1/4" at 50 yds was hard to do-----5 was totally out of the question for me.

Thanks for the orientation.

A. Weldy

 

[SGW Gunsmith]

I haven't pulled a bronze bristle brush through a .22 rimfire bore in well past 25 years. With the great synthetic solvents that are available these days, I only use a nylon bristle brush or these felt plugs and let the solvent soak to loosen whatever fouling is there and then a dry felt plug to pull whatever crapola out that's involved. .22 rimfire rifling at 0.0020 to 0.0025 land height and shooting lead bullets just doesn't warrant a whole bunch of scrubbing, as far as I've found:

During the winter months that keep us pretty much in hibernation up here, I like to resurrect the Stevens Favorite rifles that I pick up at estate and yard sales:
BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

COMPLETED:

Keeps me outta trouble anyway.

 

[1Merlin]

Old fashioned response here but.... Cool! I've done a bunch of Marlin 39s and various lever guns. Very rewarding to see a POS turned into something attractive and functional.

 

[ebb]

SGW how was that beautiful finish achieved on the metal work of the Stevens favorite? It looks fantastic, or are you jus a very good photographer?

 

[SGW Gunsmith]

SGW how was that beautiful finish achieved on the metal work of the Stevens favorite? It looks fantastic, or are you jus a very good photographer?

The sides of the receiver were first surface ground flat and then hand polished using progressively finer emery paper, starting with #220 and working up to #800 for the pre blue finish. The barrel flats were draw filed to remove any pitting and then received the same hand polishing. The metal was then rust blued with 8 applications and carding.

 

[ebb]

Nice job it looks great!!! I recently got a lot of pieces to a M1A1 Thompson and a friend gave me a rewelded upper, the upper came from a gun the was fished out of a lake in Hungry and is pitted bad. The receiver is about an 1/8" thick so not a structural problem, but it won't be done in a rust blue. I was hopping that the finish on the Stevens came in a bottle so I could make my Thompson look that sweet. I think it will need to be patched with Marine Tex or JB weld and done in gun coat or cera coat.

 

[ebb]

SGW Do you have a website?

 

[centershot]

SGW What did you do to the bore? I assume it looked as bad as the outside of the barrel.

 

[SGW Gunsmith]

SGW What did you do to the bore? I assume it looked as bad as the outside of the barrel.

The bore was relined and then the liner was chambered. This is after the liner had been permanently installed in a Steven Model 44, but before the other needed work was done. The Model 44 is considered to be the "big brother" of the Favorite 1915:

The breech face was then faced off, the extractor cut-out milled and then the chamber cut. Quite often the detent in the barrel shank for the take down screw for the Favorite models will need to be filled and the reset.