doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Question on Winder Musket .22 Just Acquired

Don't ream your chamber, especially since LRs fit fine as-is. Also, the Winchester barrel markings look like this:

22 Short

22 Long, and, later,

22 Long R

Frequently the R is overlooked, seems that it was added to the Long stamp as sort of an afterthought or at least that's the way it looks to me.

The 3rd model (Winder) fly is often a PITA. I've had several and only one worked as it should every time. IMO it's an unsatisfactory solution to a nonexistent problem, just remove the fly parts and save them.
Regards, Joe

I have a high wall Winder that I replaced the stock on some time back. I finally got tired of the fly also and removed it. I took a Dremmel tool and inletted a shallow pocket under the butt plate for it so I wouldn't loose it. Terry H.

If your Winder will chamber 22 LR cartridges and will stabilize the bullets at 50 or 100 yards, rejoice and shoot it as is. Some were made with proper 22LR barrels. I have 2 Winders, one with the fly that leaves the hammer at half-cock and one that comes up with the hammer cocked. I find I shoot the latter much more frequently.

I have also heard that reversing the fly would allow the hammer to stay at full cock. If that works, at least the parts would not get lost.

Remember that the Winder was intended for introductory marksmanship training of military recruits, many poorly-educated conscripts who had never before seen a rifle. An automatic safety device was probably desirable from the instructors' point of view. I doubt if anyone thought that we would be shooting the Winders 90 years later.