What about the Winchester 190 .22 auto

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moewadle

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I walked in my local gun shop today to pick up a Marlin 60 on hold for me and saw a Winchester 190 for sale for $120 plus tax. Somehow I walked out of the shop with two rifles instead of one. So, I know nothing about the 190 and just wondered what anyone can tell me what I should know regarding the quality of this gun, the care and feeding of it, and that sort of thing. It is in very nice condition and I know it is not a rarity but I have never seen very many of them for sale at shows and shops. Thanks.
 
You done good. The 190s are decent semi auto 22s. Bought a 190 new in the late 70 still have it still works fine. I read some where about is was not a good idea to fire many of the hyper velocity 22s out of 190s. Such as Stingers, Velocitor ect because the barrel will loosen up from the aluminum receiver. Mine as been real reliable with CCI 40 grain Mini Mags solids over the years.
 
All I know is that they are very ubiquitous like the mod 60, but I never had the guts to go ahead and get one. So make sure you give a full report, take down ability, accuracy , reliability, etc., I am also curious, how many rounds does
the tube feed hold? Thanks.
 
The tube mag in mine holds 16 Fed bulk pack lr's.

One item to note is that with high velocity lr ammo, it will chuck the brass farther than most AR-15's I've seen. I usually try to be at the farthest stand to the right if there's not any barrier between the benches.

Accuracy is decent, even with the afformentioned bulk pack ammo and a craptacular scope. I keep meaning to get better ammo and a decent scope to really test out the accuracy.

I've killed a few bunnies with mine. It's a lot of fun for such an inexpensive gun. I paid $80 FTF at a gun show half a dozen years ago.
 
I also have had a Winchester 190 since 1979. It's been my plinker for 30 years and I can't even guess how many rounds have been through it. Plenty of rabbits have been taken with it and it has always fired whatever I put in it. I have to agree, CCI Mini Mags work well in it. It will act up if you let the receiver get fouled up with crud. Quick cleaning and your good to go. The whole trigger assembly just drops out by popping out 2 pins making it easy to clean and lubricate. Be careful if you take out the bolt. The spring can be fiesty trying to get back in place. Otherwise, I think you made a good purchase!
 
I bought one in the early seventies, but sold it years ago due to the extremely heavy trigger pull.
 
In a moment of weakness I bought a Ted Williams 3T (Sears rebadged 190) for $70 as my first rifle instead of holding out for a bolt action (to go with my Sig Mosquito. Yay for ammunition commonality). I field stripped it and cleaned it, was a little overdue for cleaning, but no rust, and the bore looks good to my inexperienced eye. It is interesting to contrast it's setup to the Mosquito, which seems more dependent on the strength of its springs to momentarily hold it in battery, as opposed to the inertia of the bolt block on the 190.

Reason it is such a brass chucker is that when the bolt block hits the back of the receiver, the impact first hits the back end of the hybrid firing pin/ejector, pushing it forward in the bolt block, which flicks out the case from the extractor, spinning it end for end.

On another site I saw a suggestion of using a piece of coat hanger wire as a guide rod to keep the return spring from buckling as you slide it into place, then pull the wire and replace it with the rather short guide rod plunger. I tried it a few time and it seems to work. DON'T use a white painted hanger wire unless you want little white flecks all over the place. I am going to try making a tool from some 1 inch aluminum flat stock to hold the spring in place while doing the switch to make it easier.

Since the previous owner let it sit for a while I would like to do a detail strip, clean and lube before I take it out to the range.
How hard (aside from that crazy return spring) will this be?
Or should I wait till I have the money to take it to a gunsmith for a detail strip?
Or am I overthinking this and should just drip a little oil and grease in the moving parts and wait till it malfs before I do a detail strip?

Going to get crown protector (probably from Brownell's) so I can clean the bore. Any recommendations?
And How the heck do I clean that odd conical feedramp/vestibule to the chamber? It is very hard to get at so I haven't been able to fully clean it. Only thing I can think of is to run a cleaning rod down the bore and then put an over caliber brush on it.
 
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It is a decent 22. I have my older brothers that he got in the late 60s/early 70s.

I find it exceptionally reliable even today. It is reasonably accurate easy to shoot but as others have pointed out it is not exactly easy to clean. Frankly I find it the hardest gun yet I have ever owned to clean. Getting the spring back in is a killer. Very frustrating.

Keep in mind that it is a painted receiver. Be careful with modern cleaners that may strip the paint.

The barrel is sometimes known to come out of the receiver. Take it apart and you can find the set screw to loose and put it back in. This has not happened to mine, but be aware of it.

Beyond that, if you don't have to clean it, it is a very reliable, accurate little 22. Mine will go 4 or 5 years between shooting just because it is such a pain to clean.
 
I bought one many years ago, and if memory serves me correctly - the model
190 Winchester was a "sleeper" of a deal. I shot several thousand rounds thru
that weapon, without the first hiicup. Like other's, I ened up selling or trading
it on something (?) else~! :scrutiny: :)
 
I bought one many years ago, and if memory serves me correctly - the model
190 Winchester was a "sleeper" of a deal. I shot several thousand rounds thru
that weapon, without the first hiicup. Like other's, I ened up selling or trading
it on something (?) else~!

I had a similar experience. I just never could get used to the heavy trigger pull, so I sold it.

Mine will go 4 or 5 years between shooting just because it is such a pain to clean.

I remember that it was pretty easy to clean.
 
bought my wife one in 1991 to help her prepare for her annual Army Reserve qualifying, paid $100 for it at a pawn shop. we still shoot it; although not near as much as my Marlin 39A. It is sensitive to some ammo. does not fire CCI, hollow points or high velocity well at all. jams once or twice every tube. shoots Federal, Remington and Winchester just fine.
 
I would say stripping it is reasonably easy. Putting it back together will be a pain though.

I would not tear the bolt apart or take down the trigger. Many of the pins are pressed into aluminum and might not take well to taking them apart.
 
My son & I were at the range a couple weeks ago to wring out some of our
.22's with a variety of ammo. I was shooting a Springfield 87A & a Remington 550-1, & he had his Remington 512 & a Winchester 190.

When we finished shooting & were wiping down the rifles he said: "Hey Dad, check this out". The 190 had developed a hairline crack at the upper rear corner of the ejection port.
He bought the rifle used (cheap) some time ago & neither of us noticed the crack, so I don't know if it was there when he bought it (I doubt it as both of us are pretty anal about our guns) or whether it has happened since he got it.
I know he hasn't shot it much, (too many guns & not enough time)but he may have shot some hyper velocity through it that aggravated a weak spot in the reciever.
He is going to stay away from hyper ammo in that gun.
 
I don't know much about the subject, but it might be worth your while to drill a crack stop hole so the crack does not continue to propagate.

I checked with a magnet (I guess I will have to advance the homemade demagnetizer project now!) and the bolt is steel, while the trigger/hammer group assembly has a nonmagnetic frame with magnetic pins and components.
 
it might be worth your while to drill a crack stop hole
That is going to be the first recourse. I have some tiny pin drills for cleaning my oxy- acetylene welding tips. If that doesn't do it, we will explore other(?) options.
 
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If you really like the 190, just buy yourself another one and move on. They guns are only a few hundred dollars at most for very nice ones here in Houston. I would not mess around with the crack stopping much unless you are doing your own work. It would be hard to justify the expense in my mind to pay someone to fix it a lot. You could just buy another one and substitute the bolt also.
 
I've had one of the later Model 290's since my Dad gave it too me as a boy back in the 80's. It's seen so many bricks of 22lr I have no way to gauge how many rounds I've shot with it. When I was a kid I was kinda PO'd by the fact it wouldn't wear out. My brothers both went through a couple of 22lr rifles, they got new ones, I didn't. Even my Dads Marlin 60 wore out. My 290 shoots just the same as it did back then. Only thing that seems a little worn out is the spring in the tube mag is a little weak now.
 
ive have a win 190.i shoot fed champion 40 gr solid in th blue box. my son shoots the lights out 30 yds open sights at the prickly pears on top of cactus.i shoot armidillos at 80 yds.i love my 190,ive been looking for another.ive only cleaned it once.has never jammed ever.
 
The 190 was my first .22 back in the early 70's.
Dad bought it for me from J.C. Penney.

Mixed feelings about that gun.
Dad used the vinyl roof of his his T-Bird as a rest, and really wrecked the vinyl with powder burns before he realized what was happening.

Dad really never liked guns much to begin with.
I'm sure he thought less of them after that mistake.

In 1979, when I awoke to relieve myself at a National Forest campground, I was ambushed, and beaten to within an inch of my life by guy wielding a large-frame single action revolver. His accomplice was carrying a Winchester 190. I escaped when the revolver guy went to get a tire iron to smash my skull. The guy with the 190 was apparently just not "into it" enough to shoot me in the back running away.

On a different camping misadventure, my 190 spent the night underwater when the "soft low spot" became a flooded creekbed after a full night of torrential rain.

I still have my 190... but I never shoot it.

Winchester190rightsmall.jpg
 
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