doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Opinions Please

I picked up this single shot a few years ago. I do not know the make of the action, but it is a Shelhamer stock. When I bought it it had been poorly rechambered to 5.6x50. I Suspect it was originally a 22-3000 and was rechambered by the seller to try and make it easier to sell as it had not been fired since rechambering until I fired it. The bore is rather pitted, and as I said, the rechamber job is very poorly done. The buttstock is a very good piece of wood and in very good condition, the forend has some dents, mostly in the checkered area, so I think they could be repaired and hidden quite easily.

What I think it needs is a new barrel in either 22-3000, or .22 Hornet, and the whole thing correctly polished and rust blued. I am leaning towards the Hornet. As much as I like the 22-3000, I just don't have faith that we will ever see brass for it.

What do you all think? And who to do it?

John

Pretty little gun and I really love what I can see of the wood. Beautiful color.

My vote is for .25-20 SS or maybe a 38-55 or a .30=30 if it must be smokeless. But whatever gets it up and shooting well and meets your needs is fine by me.

Brent

John, Please refresh my memory, is the stock marked and if so where and how? If the rifle is marked "T. Shelhamer" with a number under the buttplate then it's post Niedner and it might be possible to learn what the caliber was originally. The Shelhamer papers are safe for the time being with a hope that someday everyone will get to use them. Shelhamer kept a file on every stock he made. Now if this rifle dates to the Niedner Rifle Corporation time I would look for a Niedner barrel to replace the one on it. That's just me, otherwise a .22 Hornet would be the way to go if for no other reason than resale value.

Nice rifle. Is that a Farquharson action?

John:

Are there any markings at all on the action? I do not recognize it, but there is something familiar about the action. I will poke around in a few books and see. It is definitely not a Farquharson, or any other Brit action I know of. The action has a Germanic air about it, and the triggers support that. There was not much in the line of double set triggers out of Britain.

Glenn

A friend of mine has a near duplicate of that action with the original German stock. His has been rebarreled and is now a .219 Donaldson Wasp. It seems to be OK for that cartridge. His loads are in the .222 class.

Agree with Glenn - that action does have a German look to it. Of course, they did make such a bewildering array of single shot actions...

Sorta kinda looks like a Hauck action. He made action briefly up in new england in the 40 - 50's I think.

Brent, I like pre-war varmint rifles, so I'd like to stick with that theme. It is also a rather light weight barrel, so it would be a walking around varmint rifles, so no need for a 400 yard cartridge.

Michael, neither the barrel nor the stock are marked anywhere. The barrel has sort of a purplish color to the bluing. Not like any Niedner blue job I have ever seen. There is also an extra hole in the bottom of the barrel for a forend attachment that is no longer used. Makes me think that maybe someone else did the barrel work and sent it to Niedner just for the stock. I have no doubt that it is a Shelhamer stock, the checkering, styling, forend treatment, sling swivels, even has the little brass insert in the bottom of the forend for the screw head that you see in all his stocks.

Where would a guy find an original Niedner barrel?

One of Dehass' books has an action very similar to this, but I do not recall the makers name and I do not have the book handy right now.

John

If it is just the chamber that is messed up someone good could reline the chamber, otherwise why not reline the whole barrel and have it rust blued. No need to fix inletting that way.