Here is what could be an interesting 1885 single shot.  I'll have to get a letter for this one.

It looks to be built in 1896, leaf spring action, blued, close coupled double set triggers. #3 round barrel in 25-35 with British proof marks.  If it's an original 25-35 then it's a very early one.  According to Bert H, there were exactly 64 of them made in 25-35 up until detailed records aren't available.  He's found several more of them in later serial numbers in his survey.  I imagine there were more made later than earlier though due to them being a smokeless cartridge. 

However, either the barrel or the buttstock has been swapped.  The barrel has a factory swivel mount, but the buttstock doesn't.  I'm guessing it's the buttstock that was broken and swapped later, only because there are a lot more buttstocks than 25-35 highwall barrels.  I'm pretty confident that the tang is original to the action because the fit is perfect.  I haven't had it apart yet though.

It will be interesting to get the letter and see how messed with the rifle actually is.    

Chris.

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bpjack wrote on Nov 7^th, 2023 at 7:06pm:


Well let me shoot it a couple of times before I send it over

Chris.

Do let me know how your triggers work. The rifle I got from Gunrunner auction had a VERY stiff to set rear trigger. A thinner spring from a great forum member made it acceptable but it seems stiffer than most of my SST actions.  I took off the barrel (30-40) and haven’t decided what to put on it. It is a coil spring and may be a better fit for some of my heavy barrels. Enjoy it Chris. It would be a good rifle to shoot in the ISSA 25 cal match at the Stars and Stripes range in 9 mile falls. 

Jack

My action has the later Schuetzen lever and seems to have room for my fat thumb

Thanks for the feedback.  I need to put a barrel on my action and shoot it.  Too many rifles and not enough good weather lately.  I spent 5 hours at the range this morning.  Things went from good (22 Ballard) to getting there (25 Hornet) to a disappointment (33-47)

Jack

I think you're right about the buttstock being swapped Chris, as the British hated crescent buttplates, and almost every US made rifle I've seen that went to Great Britain had a shotgun style buttplate on it. Even small .22 caliber rifles that came standard with crescent buttplates got shotgun buttplates when ordered by British dealers.