Wickliffe 76

[pmatuk]

Decided I wanted another Stevens 44 or 44 1/2 ,so put up a wanted to buy ad .Later in the day I had forgot about the old wickliffe tucked in the corner .Kinda looks like the Stevens 44 1/2 and stronger ,this is in 243 win .Bought it a bunch of years ago and never really shot it (when the receiver was blue ,turned pecker purple for some reason ),so scoped it today and bore sighted .Going to try it out before it becomes the base for another project/44 12 on bottom

 

[double gun]

What is the 44.5 chambered for?

 

[pmatuk]

the 44.5 is in 40-65 it come from the east coast already built .The nice part is the barrel is hand tightened and the barrel off my 44 in 32-20fits and head spaces close enough to shoot too , as I have to rod them out as the 40-65 extracts at 6 o'clock and the 32-20 is 7 o'clock .Just had to try it

 

[MiG25]

I like that 44 1/2!

 

[a j cave]

I had a Wickliffe in 243 years ago. Sorry it’s gone. Than and a great number of other singles.

 

[trevj]

I had a Wickliffe in 243 years ago. Sorry it’s gone. Than and a great number of other singles.

The Wickliffe was a bit of an odd duck, as it was sorta the wrong rifle in the wrong calibers at the time it was being sold. The guys that wanted the calibers it was offered in, mostly wanted more modern bolt action designs, while the guys that wanted the big single shot were looking for the old-time cartridges.

In recent years there was the added bonus that there were two jokers keeping a running squabble alive over the interwebs, both claiming to be the 'real' owner of the intellectual property rights/brand name/etc. Someone would mention the name and these two a-holes would show up and star squabbling again. For a while there was a real flinch reaction to the name even being mentioned on a couple sites as a result.

I have heard two different causes for the purple bluing, one being contamination of the salts, and the other being the composition of the steel used for the actions.

 

[iron cat]

The Wickliffe was a bit of an odd duck, as it was sorta the wrong rifle in the wrong calibers at the time it was being sold. The guys that wanted the calibers it was offered in, mostly wanted more modern bolt action designs, while the guys that wanted the big single shot were looking for the old-time cartridges.

In recent years there was the added bonus that there were two jokers keeping a running squabble alive over the interwebs, both claiming to be the 'real' owner of the intellectual property rights/brand name/etc. Someone would mention the name and these two a-holes would show up and star squabbling again. For a while there was a real flinch reaction to the name even being mentioned on a couple sites as a result.

I have heard two different causes for the purple bluing, one being contamination of the salts, and the other being the composition of the steel used for the actions.

I had one in 25/06 and another in 45/70, big actions.
The purple bluing is not uncommon on older leupold scopes, and the receiver on my Voere and my dad's P14 that was customized are both purple.
Cat