Welcome to the forum Halo68.
The experts will be along shorty.
But, I'm sure that the general consensus will be NOT to change that rifle.
It looks like a nice original piece that should stay together.
Stay tuned,
Dave

Walt,

First off, let me say that that is a nice rifle - you are a lucky guy to have had three 1885s passed on to you. If that 22 WCF was mine, I wouldn't change it, but set myself up to load for it.

There have been several threads about the 22 WCF here on the board. I don't remember all of the particulars, but if you search them out, they'll fill you in on the cartridge.

I may mangle this info, but someone will undoubtedly come along to give you the straight scoop.

I think that rifles marked 22 WCF have actually been chambered for one or the other of 2 different cartridges. Originally, rifles marked 22 WCF were chambered for a cartridge (22 Single Shot?) somewhat similar to the 22 Hornet, but with a longer case with a straight tapered case rather than the bottle necked Hornet.

Later on, some rifles may have been chambered for the 22 Hornet and marked 22 WCF.

You might see if a Hornet case will fit in your chamber, or give a try casting the chamber with Cerrosafe to see what the chamber looks like.

I believe that you can probably still get brass for the 22 SS, though it might be pricy.  22 Hornet brass is much easier to get a hold of.

Converting your rifle to 22 rimfire would entail either relining the barrel  or setting the barrel back to allow the large chamber to be cut off.  Either one would be a shame with a nice rifle like yours with a good bore. The breech block would also have to be converted to rimfire by filling the CF firing pin tunnel and drilling a new, offset firing pin hole in the block.

Ideally, you might go to the trouble of determining which chamber you have and setting yourself up to reload cast bullet cartridges for that rifle. This should also be the least expensive route for you to take, even considering the cost of getting 22 SS brass if that is what your rifle is chambered for.

P.S. I see two helpful folks posted while I was typing and beat me to it.

Buffalo Arms has brass for about a buck a piece.

I once had a near-twin to that rifle, and, with the help of a man who had a mold that was suitable, shot it quite a bit. It wasn't quite a tack driver, but it was hell on tin cans at 50-100 yards. I never shot very many different loads, so maybe some further work would have helped. If I were you, I'd get some ammo made up and have fun- mine was.

Thanks everyone for the replies, I am going to keep the .22WCF  the way it is. I am on a waiting lis for ammo from Buffalo Arms. I gave my Son the 38-40 rifle, I thought it was a 38-55, There are a set of 38-55 dies in the box. But the rifle is marked 38-40 on the flat.. on the .22wcf i took off the forearm and the flat piece of steel and found the letters-  *K 3 **wcf (vp). also i got a .Win. 52c .. rimfire rifle.

Savage's .22 High Power, which also requires bullets of .228, was once pretty popular; are there no jacketed bullets made for it that could be used in a .22WCF?

Walt,

I'm glad to hear that you are going to leave the 22 WCF as is.  It is a jewel in its original condition that would lose significant value with any alteration.

Montana Vintage Arms (MVA) makes very nice tang sights that will bolt into the existing threaded holes on the tang. They also make nice reproduction scopes that would look good on your rifle, but the barrel is likely not drilled and tapped for blocks. A tang sight sure helps to tighten up my groups compared to a barrel rear sight.

My Steven's Favorite with an MVA #133 tang sight installed:
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My 25-20 Low Wall with an MVA reproduction 5X scope mounted:
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