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#324285 05/10/13 09:51 AM
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Gary D. Offline OP
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Update, and range report on the Lovell Krag.

First the set trigger:





Pushing the front trigger locks the arm down under control of the rear trigger. ( set screw adjusts engagement- adjustable down to where the merest touch releases it) Second pic shows how arm flies up to hit the kicker which trips the sear. Were these made/sold by Pacific?

Me firing the rifle, and the result:









(That's four shots, .350", 100yds, 16.5gr. H-322/50gr. Sierra Blitz. I didn't have the courage to fire the fifth shot!! The rest of the groups averaged between 1/2-3/4" for five shots at 100 yds., plus one ten shot group that went into slightly under an inch. She shoots!)

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Gary glad to see you are having fun. Keep me posted. Whitey

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From what I can tell, it looks like a nice rifle. What can you tell us about it? Also, more pictures of the rifle would be great as always.

In the first picture of you shooting the rifle you must be wearing your invisible suit. confused

John

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Gary D. Offline OP
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Up until right before the War, Hervey Lovell said that the .22 Maximum Lovell was his favorite for efficient use of the .25-20SS case to drive .22 bullets. After the War when he had relocated to the Pacific NW, his attention drifted toward larger case sizes and higher velocities. I reckon this rifle was built while he was still in Indianapolis, sometime prior to WWII.

The gun weighs a shade under 10 pounds without scope. The 15X Unertl pushes it over a point where I wouldn't want to lug it very far out across the woodchuck pastures. I need to find a little Unertl/Fecker/Litschert of around 8-10X to live on the rifle.

The box magazine + all of its internals was removed, as was the Krag side plate (which was replaced with a simple nicely fitted simple steel plate inside the 'boundaries' of the receiver). The thick heavy stock covers the 'amputated' appendages on both sides of the rifle. A collar was fitted inside the bolt face to snugly capture the rim of the smaller cartridge, and the extractor hook lengthened to snag same. Ejector was eliminated- empty cases must be plucked from under the extractor. Approximately 1/4" was removed from the leading edge of the sear (to accommodate the set trigger kicker, and possibly to shorten the length of firing pin travel), the cocking knob removed, and the safety was reversed (why, I don't know).

A chamber cast revealed a lot of freebore in the throat, allowing bullets to be seated waaaay out. Maybe Hervey was thinking in terms of using extra long heavy bullets, but if so why the 1-14" twist? Extra powder volume for even more 'Maximum' velocity- wringing out the nth degree of velocity? Who knows?

The trigger definitely took some getting used to. Out of 50+ shots fired, I must have forgotten to set it 30 times. (That coming from someone with traditional double set triggers on most of my bolt guns.)

This rifle may well cause me to abandon my 20-year hiatus on woodchuck hunting this summer. Something about a Lovell chambering that stirs that desire! (Previous addiction to that sport back in another lifetime centered around other Lovell chamberings in single shots.)

I think old Hervey Lovell would have been a cool guy to sit and talk guns with, and take turns with punching holes in paper or taking pot shots at groundhogs on a warm summer evening. I swear I was born 30 years too late!

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I'd ask him about the .23 Caliber Thunderbolt.

Nice rifle from the past- Good luck with it this summer! Have you tried any 40 Gr. bullets?

Good shooting.

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That's a remarkable group from the Sierra Blitz bullets, from any gun and even more so considering the throat you describe! Very easy to understand the sphincter factor, taking that last shot, or not;-) I dearly love the fact there are die hards out there w/classic varmint rifles who still enjoy shooting them. Best o' luck on those chucks!

Some years ago I played w/WM-8S bullets and assorted .22 cal Sisks in several older classics until my supplies of those bullets got too skinny to use them all up. IMHO, it was clearly the early .22 cal jacketed bullets that were the real limiting factor rather than the rifles and gunsmithing that some makers were capable of.

Are you using Jamison brass or were you lucky enough to find some of the older G&H 2520SS brass?

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Gary D. Offline OP
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Brass was older still- W.R.A. 25-20SS brass. Lost several during this shooting session. One or two drop out each time due to splits,cracks, etc. Small supply of new .25-20SS Jamison brass on its way here. More to follow as I can afford them. (Once, a few years ago I spent $100 on a minty boxful of Rem-UMC .25-20SS cartridges- quite the collectors item. I then proceeded to pull the bullets and turn them into R-2 Lovells.)

I have always had good luck with 50gr. Blitzes. They were my bullet of choice in my last HiWall R-2, and so far they do well for me in this one. I'll agree with you re: old Sisks and W-M's. I too shot away a boat load of them over the years, but it was more of a nostalgic experience than one of precision shooting. The tiny group was fluke-ish, if you recall the rest of that paragraph. I would say the gun is a solid sub-MOA performer, and quite probably will do even better with some higher quality bullets. But for now I'm satisfied.

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Gary,
Good looking rifle;I'm particularly looking at the trigger as
my Lovell is a Krag action also; still has a two stage trigger
Not bad but I'm looking for something better.
Looks like you have the Maximum about figguresd out.
By the way Buffalo Arms has 25-20SS cases available(Captech,
fomerly Jamison)
Best wishes,
Bill


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