Winchester Model 490

[roddy]

This is another full sized .22LR from Winchester. These were only made for a couple of years in the 1970s, and never really caught on. They were made to resemble the Model 100 centerfire hunting rifles, and they do. At ~ 42" and 7 1/2 lbs, it's a tank of a .22.

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[North Country Gal]

Very interesting gun. Only remember them from the catalogs. Have never actually seen one. See an 88 for sale, now and then, but never one of those. Would love to hear about how it shoots.

[JEBar]

Echo NCG ..... no experience with one and would love to hear how it shoots

[roddy]

These rifles have a not-so-stellar reputation. There was a recall and some running changes made part way through production. From what I have been able to find, it appears there was 1 reported incident of a 490 firing "more than one round" when the trigger was pulled. Rifles serviced by the factory or built after production resumed will have an asterisk ( * ) added to the serial number. Despite spending its whole life less than an hour away from the factory where it was built, this one has no *.

I've read a few positive reviews, and a lot of negative ones. Most of the issues involve fail to load/feed properly, and subsequent jams. Accuracy issues seem pretty common too. This one suffers from both, but I have been tinkering over the last couple of weekends, and think I have a pretty good handle on what's going on in there. I'll go into more detail once I know all is good. I'm hoping to get out again soon, and see how it works.

My main reason for picking this one up is emotional...I enjoy local history. When this rifle was built, I lived just a few minutes away from the Winchester (formerly Cooey) plant it was made in.

[roddy]

Echo NCG ..... no experience with one and would love to hear how it shoots

Ask, and ye shall receive...

After some (work)bench time, it was time to take it out to the other bench, so I grabbed a frosty soda, and headed out back.

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I took a few sighting shots and made some adjustments, then shot 10 rounds (pausing to reload the only 5 round magazine I have).

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This is at 25 yards with iron sights and my eyes. The front of the rifle is resting on a bag, the rear on my shoulder, standing. CCI standard velocity.

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[JEBar]

very nice .... very nice indeed .. .. thanks for taking the time and making the effort to reply

[roddy]

Thanks. I have a little 4X rimfire scope that I think would close that up considerably. It shoots better than I expected.

[Old Syko]

Roddy I'm tickled for ya to get one of these that actually shoots In the mid 70s when these were new I got one because I loved the look and feel and it turned out to be a real mistake. I finally got it to feed but accuracy was off the wall. One group would be great and the next would look like a splatter board. I was short on patience back then so it didn't stick around long. I still love the look and feel though I probably wouldn't pick up another today because of my experience with the first.

[roddy]

Roddy I'm tickled for ya to get one of these that actually shoots In the mid 70s when these were new I got one because I loved the look and feel and it turned out to be a real mistake. I finally got it to feed but accuracy was off the wall. One group would be great and the next would look like a splatter board. I was short on patience back then so it didn't stick around long. I still love the look and feel though I probably wouldn't pick up another today because of my experience with the first.

Thanks. Mine was doing pretty much the same. To get it to feed properly, I had to tweak the feed lips on the magazine, and polish some casting flash off of the feed ramp.
The 'accuracy fix' was entertaining...I tapped off the front sight hood, and the sight itself fell out in my hand!! The dovetail is too loose, and the front sight slides right through. The hood will keep it from falling out, but allows the sight to slide back and forth by an 1/8" or so just from handling the rifle. I simply gave the leading edge of the dovetail on the sight a wack with a chisel to make a burr, then tapped 'er home.
I've only put a few magazines worth through it since I put it back together, but all seems good so far.

[Old Syko]

I don't remember even shooting mine with the irons but I may have. I do remember putting 2 different scopes on it and got the same result. As to the feed issues, I never touched the magazines but did take a die grinder to the ramp followed by a good polish job. Around that time I also picked up a 10-22 in a sporter stock that closely resembles the stock on the 590 and had accuracy issues with it also. I doubt the stocks had anything to do with it though.