To me it would depend more on the gun. If the gun and bore are pretty nice, I'd hesitate to change it. If it's a run of the mill 44 1/2, and maybe not that great condition, then I'd rather have a good shooter with a great bore, and a caliber I liked better.
I'd rather my 44 1/2 Walnut Hill was not .25-21, as I wish it was .32-40. But I'm not going to change it, as it's too nice to mess with or alter.

That's the dilemma,  the bore is not bad, but the rifle is nothing special as 44&1/2s go - single trigger, plain wood, CC and blue mostly brown patina. Also, I don't cast and don't have any plans to start, so a mould won't do me much good.

I thought about having CPA make a 32-20 barrel for me, but the relining option is starting to take hold in my mind.

I would consider selling the barrel if there was enough interest (i.e. $$$), or trade (barrel or whole rifle) for a 32-20 in equal condition.

Decisions, decisions.

Might even consider re-boring the existing barrel to a .32-20 that suited your needs better. It's usually cheaper than relining the gun.

BP wrote on Feb 3^rd, 2016 at 3:44pm:


Good thoughts and worth considering. I usually fall on the side of keeping things original, but the 22-15 is a tough nut to crack and I like to have things that I already have dies, components, etc. for.

Just a suggestion here, but if you decide to go to the 32-20 route the origional twist was something like 1x20 or so. Which limits you to just about bullet weights around 115-120 grains in weight. CPA does a 30-20 which has a much faster twist and although the pressures are higher you have a better selection of 30 caliber molds so you can shoot a wide range of bullet weights. Frank

gewehrfreund wrote on Feb 3^rd, 2016 at 5:47pm:


Well you'll have about $160 to start for a TJ's .32-20 liner. Then the cost of installing it will probably be in the neighborhood of $200-$250 I'd guess. Re-bores generally are less than that.

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Some interesting info on the 22-15-60