Well,it looks like I am going to be a GRANDFATHER in the early fall.
I can hardly wait,God willing and the creeks don't rise.
I think my mod. 1890 Win. will be a good first present.
About 20 years ago an old gunsmith told me I could re-do the guts(a drop in assembly) and it would shoot 22lr.(its chambered for 22short).
Unfortunatly,he has passed away and the local gunsmith here has never heard of this conversion.
Can any of you help?
Does this conversion exist?
I can see LOTS of new purchases coming up in the future!!!
I can hardly wait.

It really depends on the condition of your M1890. I own 2 of these rifles, 1 in 22 short and 1 in 22 extra long. I just completed a complete restoration on the 22 short. The extra long will be next. To convert these to 22 LR you need to re-chamber and modify the cartridge carrier and feed mechanism. There are no parts available to do so at this time. The existing parts will work fine but the conversion cannot be undone once completed. I plan to convert the extra long to long rifle. I kept the short as is, ammo is no problem for that caliber. The barrel twist is  1:20 for the short and you need to have a twist for 1:16 to stabilize the long rifle bullet. The longer length requires a faster twist. Good luck. Semper Fi. JarheadGunner.

Thanks.
This rifle is in pretty decent shape.
The chamber area is well worn/pitted though.
Thats the reason I had thought that changing to 22lr would get me past those pits.
Might just have to reconsider the rechamdering and just pass this old beauty on as it is.
SF

I wouldn't think of butchering it-hell I'm a gun nut!
If I replaced any parts at all I would surely save whatever was replaced so it could always be put back to original.

Actually installing a barrel liner would be a viable option. Then you would have a choice of twist, either 1:16 or 1:20, and could rechamber as you may require. These rifles tend to be collector items, but, most of the ones I have seen were in too poor a condition to be collectable. JarheadGunner.

KheSahnDon:
Please, Please, Please, don't rechamber or line the original barrel.  Restore the gun and put out the extra couple bucks a box for .22 short.

I'm not sure, but I believe the carrier would have to be replaced to make .22LR work in a .22 short gun.  I do not believe the .22LR guns will feed the .22 short out of the magazine.  The carrier as far as I know is caliber specific.

JagheadGunner:

When you say .22 extra long do you mean .22 WRF?  If so, CCI started to load .22WRF last year.  I picked up a box of the CCI plus a box of the limited edition Winchester stuff that was made a few years ago for my 1890 in .22WRF.  The new CCI ammo worked great! it was the same price as a box of .22WMRF, about $5-$6.  Performance was a bit on the slow side, probably to play it safe with these old guns.  It was running about 1250 fps with a 45 grain jacketed bullet.  Or, about the same as my .22 LR, but with 12% more bullet weight.

My recommendation is to leave all the guns as-is since the ammo is now available for chamberings of them.  A skilled restoration is all I could condone due the history and collector value of these guns.

Kent

More than the rifle Congrats and I hope the child is health. He or She will most likely want that's AR right off. PS I also like your name that's a good one.