Wycliffe single shot rifle -- what can you tell me about it.

[Harry O]

Saw an unfinished one at a gunshow today.  An action that looked like a heavy Winchester 1885 and three interchangeable barrels: one in 22-250, one in .243, and one in .308.  All three barrels were lightweight 22" long.  None had sights, but all had scope bases.  I screwed one barrel into the action and it seemed to index well (no way of measuring the headspace, though).

The action opened quite unlike a Winchester single-shot.  The metal was finished (machined, heat treated, and blued -- according to the dealer).  The wood was unfinished, oversize, and rough, but it looked like it was inletted well.  It would not take much to finish it.

What can you tell me about it?

[Datil]

 I have one of the originals, Bought it about 25 years ago.
 Mine is 243, 26 inch barrel, With hand loads it tack driver.
 Never a factory round, My estractor broke on the 14 th
 round fired, Company had folded. So made extractor from
 1/8 drill bit but. never failed again. would not take a millon
 for it. just my 2 cents. Marv.

[smk]

I would run away and never look back. I bought two of the rifles that were mostly finished after the company folded and they were a total disaster. I spent countless hours fixing problems, welding, heat treating, hand poishing, remachining etc. The problem is that whoever did the machining of the rough castings apparently did not have the original jigs and fixtures to help them locate the castings correctly resulting in holes and machined slots out of location. This messed up the relationship of the pivot point of the lever with the breech block among other things, causing binding triggers, binding lever, firing pin not centered with the chamber, loose breech blocks etc. Also some of the smaller parts were not heat treated. The hammer (which contains the sear notch) was soft on mine and after about 10 shots, the notch cmpletely smashed over and the gun would fire if you pulled the hammer back whether or not you pulled the trigger. Absolutely the biggest fiasco I have ever been involved in trying to fix. You also will find that some of the parts used in these cobbled together guns look like they came out of the scrap bin. The chamber on my 45-70 has a HUGE gouge in it like the reamer broke or something during chambering. You have to remember that someone just bought a huge lot of parts after wickliffe went out of business and they really don't know what they had - good parts, bad parts, unfinished parts etc.
Several different guys have had their hands on this lot of leftover parts (the parts lot has been sold at least 3 times) and some knew what they were doing and some didn't. The original guns are pretty nice from what I can tell, but you really need to look at the unfinished ones very carefully.

[Datil]

 I didn't know The first poster only talking about the sold in parts after the closed .
 Mine is one sold before they closed the dooe. It is a good rifle. Marv.

[Harry O]

I found and talked with the gunsmith who finished the Wickliffe rifle and set it up for the three interchangeable barrels.  The gunsmith was a different person from the gun dealer who was selling it.  It looked finished except for the wood.  I was going to see it again at a different gunshow that both of us were going to (if it had not been sold by then). 

However, I got a chance to buy a wildcat Ruger No. 2 (30-40 Krag Ackley Improved and necked down to 7mm in a Ruger No. 3 with a Ruger No. 1 stock) and bought it instead.  The case has the volume of a .284 Winchester or .280 Remington.  It is 99% plus with a Lilja barrel, aftermarket trigger, and forming/reloading dies.  I have formed and fireformed the brass, reloaded them, and will be going to the range to try it out soon.