W3373 EARLY PRE-WAR MODEL 70 IN 22 R2 LOVELL; A very interesting gun. 24 inch round barrel is labeled 22 Hornet but has been re-chambered to 22 R2 Lovell caliber. The 2R Lovell is a fine target/varmint cartridge developed in the late 1930’s by Harvey Donaldson by necking down the obsolete 25-20 single shot case to 22 caliber. Ramp mounted Redfield blade front sight and fitted with a Weaver K4 scope with excellent optics. Mounted at the rear sight slot and back of the receiver. Also has a couple of holes in on top of the barrel address and a couple more in the side of the receiver. Early 13k serial range model 70 which has the pre-war safety. Very good excellent bore. Wood has nice checkering and has been lightly refinished. Barrel retains most all blue. This will be a good shooter that was made in 1938.
One of the most popular wildcats of all time was itself derived from another wildcat, the .25-20 Single Shot of 1886. Single-shot target shooter Francis Rabbeth converted one of the long .32-caliber centerfire cases of the era to shoot a .25-caliber bullet. Around 1934 Hervey (not Harvey) Lovell, necked it down to .22-caliber to make the .22 Lovell. Harvey Donaldson a few years later “blew out” the case to further increase capacity to make the R-2 Lovell (second reamer for making the barrel chamber). This version drove 50-grain bullets about 3,050 fps and became so popular that a few major players like Griffin & Howe sold brass and, some say, loaded ammo in R-2 Lovell. WWII reportedly short-circuited plans to legitimize the round, and after the war Mike Walker’s .222 Remington flung 50-grain bullets 3,140 fps, ending any need for harder-to-find wildcats like R-2 Lovell.
MODERN $ 2,150.
