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Oregon Arms had their big 2 day collector show this weekend and I didn't setup this year. So me and a friend went there yesterday to walk the show. Got maybe 100 ft. into the show and found a Hepburn Match A rifle with a 10x Litschert scope, and a full round barrel in .25-20WCF! One of the best gun buys ever at a paltry $1350 out the door!
Bore is perfect, and everything looks great, except finish on the barrel. Almost none left, so I'll spin the barrel off and rust blue it soon. Should look great with a decent barrel bluing.
The new to me Hepburn Match A from the show.
Should improve a lot once I spin the barrel off and rust blue the barrel.
Last edited by marlinman93 on Sun Aug 25, 2024 7:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
GunnyMack wrote: ↑Sun Aug 25, 2024 9:28 am
That is a nice find for sure. You certainly do find some neat stuff!
So is it a wildcat cartridge, you said 25-320wcf...typo?
No, just fat fingers that hit the 3 and 2 at the same time. It's a .25-20WCF.
samsi wrote: ↑Sun Aug 25, 2024 12:13 pm
Nice score, I've always liked Hepburns. A late friend who was a self-described Black Powder Mechanic called it the Toilet Handle action.
Guys I know either love the Hepburn looks, or hate them. But most who know the design know it's one of the strongest actions made in the 1800's. I know a friend whose got one he had fitted with a .300 Win. Mag. barrel and has been his elk rifle for over 40 years!
Louis Hepburn designed this action as his idea of the perfect competition rifle after being on the first 1874 Creedmoor team. He did the side lever design so shooters could extract and load cartridges without changing their position, or their hold. The rifle could stay shouldered and simply flip the lever to extract, load a cartridge, and close the lever, and only move your thumb on the shooting hand.
I would shoot my Savage 23 on the prarie dogs , I once smacked a pasture poodle at 273 paces with the lowly 25-20. Two witnesses watched as my first shot was a touch long but my second pancaked it.
Was a great mid range gun, doesn't burn a ton of powder and it's really hard to get a 25-20 barrel hot!
GunnyMack wrote: ↑Mon Aug 26, 2024 4:22 pm
I would shoot my Savage 23 on the prarie dogs , I once smacked a pasture poodle at 273 paces with the lowly 25-20. Two witnesses watched as my first shot was a touch long but my second pancaked it.
Was a great mid range gun, doesn't burn a ton of powder and it's really hard to get a 25-20 barrel hot!
That sounds like fun! I used to do a lot of sage rat hunting, but haven't gone for years now.
In between another kitchen partial remodel I got the barrel off, polished, and rust blued. Used Mark Lee Express Blue so didn't take a long time between applications.
marlinman93 wrote: ↑Sun Aug 25, 2024 7:21 pmGuys I know either love the Hepburn looks, or hate them.
It is indeed aesthetically challenged, but as you point out, it is a joy to operate.
The only time they aren't a joy is if the shooter ever gets a stuck case. Then that nifty little lever proves to not have enough leverage.
I had a well known gunsmith reline the barrel on my Hepburn in .40-70SS and he got the liner off center by .011", which caused a void at one side of the chamber, and 6 shots into testing the new barrel the chamber bulged and the case stuck! I had to push down hard on the lever as another guy tapped the stuck case out with a cleaning rod.
Very irritated, especially when the gunsmith kept making excuses for why he couldn't fix it yet. I finally gave up and had a new barrel installed by a 2nd gunsmith and have been shooting it since without issue. That little fiasco cost me $550 for the first reline, which was just money lost.
I like the look of them. Not sure why. Course... I also like the look of a Krag Jorgenson rifle too. That said, the aesthetics of a fine Winchester rifle are not lost on me, but I don't care for the look of Savage 99s.
Vall, your good fortune finding exceptional single shots continues. You’ll be a serious threat if you ever make it over to Bend for the quarter-bore shoots with Earl and the gang at the COSSA range.
First time I saw a Hepburn in action was at your home range, Douglas Ridge, about 30 years ago. Dave Gullo was running one in .45-90 for long- range work at that time. It becomes obvious how practical that action is for the prone target shooter upon the first firing.
Yes, prone or benchrest it's very easy to figure out why LL Hepburn designed the action as he did. I've always thought they are great rifles, and had I started out collecting them before my beloved Ballard rifles I'd be a Hepburn guy today instead!
