Ward's Western Field 22

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bersaguy

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What exactly do I have here? I know Wards had different manufacturers make firearms for them, but I can't figure out who made this one. Here's what I know, is a 22lr-long-short. Ward's Western Field model 41. No serial to be found on it. It belonged to my grandfather, as the story goes, he and his two brothers went in together to buy it, I'm thinking in the late '20s or early '30s. It used to have a scope, long thin, possibly 4x. That was taken off in the mid 1980's as it had clouded up, rubber eye cup had pretty much dry rotted off. The thumbscrews are not original in the tapped holes. Aperture sight says Mossberg No.4, Its heavy, and very accurate. My question is, has anyone seen this guy before, approximately when was this made, and who actually manufactured it? I thought maybe Mossberg because of the sight, but cant find a model that quite matches up. 20191120_164217.jpg
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Mossberg did make a number of gun's for wards. I had one that looked very similar. I believe it was a rebranded Mossberg 81b if my memory is correct.
 
Apparently it is a re-branded Mossberg Model 45,
Mossberg-45-22-S-L-LR-bolt-24-bbl_i28282466
 
Ok, that appears to be it, searching images of the mossberg 45a, looks like two different styles of bolts were used, one looks like mine with that kind of inverted flag safety, have to be pull out and rotate the cocking peice to put it on safe
 
Looks like that nails down the date fairly well, looks like those were only manufactured between '37 and '38, which would have put my grandfather in his early 20's when he got it...if he bought it new
 
It's one of my favorite shooters, bit heavy for stomping around the woods, but as a target rifle, its fantastic. I remember being a kid, and being able to consistently hit soda cans set up at about 75 yards with no problem. It's the rifle I take with me when bringing a new shooter to the range for the1st time. When it came to me in the 90's, it was gummed up with what appeared to be Cosmoline, but apparently my grandfather put WD40 on everything, and it had just built up over the years.
 
Mossberg 45.IIRC the "A" variation was on the later Master Action. Very nice rifle. I have the mag feed version. If the adjustable aperture is stuck or sticky DO NOT take it apart. Soak it in solvent or put some Kroil in it and let it work a couple days. They almost always loosen up. It only turns to the right and has 4 app sizes. Enjoy it.

https://www.gunpartscorp.com/brand-cross-reference?mfgr=Western Field&model=41
 
Man, would I have fun cleaning up that old Mossy!

That stock is sexy as all get out and I'll bet can be prettied up in short order.

Nice rifle. If you find accuracy issues, look first to the muzzle crown or lack there-of. Too, you might move through couple-few different .22 loads to find what it likes best before giving up on the accuracy that these should almost always return.

Todd
 
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