The 1885 gets a new Malcolm Scope!

[rbertalotto]

I decided to mount a period correct (or close to it) scope on my 1885.

The Winchester 1885 previously wore a 1970s vintage Burris.......

When the scope arrived I realized that I did not have anything close to mount for it. Wayne McLerran, in his book, "Model 1885 Black Powder Cartridge Rifle" has a whole chapter on mounting a scope to these rifles. A recommendation is to buy a one piece scope mount made by Steve Earl who just happens to have his shop about 30 minutes from my house. A one piece mount is advised as you don't need to drill any new holes in the barrel, which could effect collector value down the road.

But upon looking at the rifle and the Malcolm rings, I figured I could whip a one piece mount up myself.

I grabbed a piece of stock out of the scrap bin and let my milling machine have its way with it.

Here's what we turned up with.....

And the finished product......

Tomorrow we'll give it a bit of a workout.........Range report to follow!

 

[jonbearman]

Robert,that looks nice and sturdy and a clean alternative to butchering a collector grade gun down the road.I have a 1899 savage that some idiot drilled several holes in the reciever.The gun shoots ok but it looks lousy.If it wasnt a take down,I would have passed on the gun. Great work as always.

 

[rbertalotto]

If your 1899 is case colored, those holes can be TIG welded and if done properly, you won't know they were there.

Thanks for the kind words on my mount. I just love messing with this stuff...........

 

[flatlander]

Roy,
Nice job! Great idea, and a fine way to avoid drilling more holes in a nice classic rifle.

I bought an original Hi-wall several years ago that'd been slightly butchered by someone very un-caring compared to you. It's got two holes drilled & tapped on the flats of its octagonal bbl. - one at 12:00 just ahead of the rear sight, the other at 6:00 just ahead of the forearm tip. God only knows what the intention was, but it sure put a hefty ding in the value of an otherwise fine Winchester single shot. The bbl. is a #2 contour in 32-40, which would've been a special order item. Based on the factory stamping on the bbl. under the forearm, it's been back to the factory for work at some point in time. Given how nice the trigger is, I'm wondering if it was re-worked at the factory.

This rifle's ser.# dates it around 1913, yet the action uses flat springs instead of coil springs. Interesting, but probably not that unusual, as they used whatever parts were in the parts bins to build single shots later on.

 

[COLT45SA]

I decided to mount a period correct (or close to it) scope on my 1885.

The Winchester 1885 previously wore a 1970s vintage Burris.......

When the scope arrived I realized that I did not have anything close to mount for it. Wayne McLerran, in his book, "Model 1885 Black Powder Cartridge Rifle" has a whole chapter on mounting a scope to these rifles. A recommendation is to buy a one piece scope mount made by Steve Earl who just happens to have his shop about 30 minutes from my house. A one piece mount is advised as you don't need to drill any new holes in the barrel, which could effect collector value down the road.

But upon looking at the rifle and the Malcolm rings, I figured I could whip a one piece mount up myself.

I grabbed a piece of stock out of the scrap bin and let my milling machine have its way with it.

Here's what we turned up with.....

And the finished product......

Tomorrow we'll give it a bit of a workout.........Range report to follow!

Nice work, My Malcolm was mounted on a filler blank where the rear sight was and on the two factory provided receiver holes.

 

[XTR]