MONTANA VINTAGE ARMS HIGH WALL

THE HEART OF THE SINGLE SHOT

- Mike Venturino

It seems that in the single-shot arena, High Walls come and High Walls go. By High Wall, I mean originals and replicas of the rifle Winchester Repeating Arms officially called the "Single Shot” or "Model 1885 Single Shot." Along the way, the generic term High Wall was applied, evidently to differentiate between Winchester's two versions of the same basic action. One had high side walls which were trimmed down to give a low side wall model. It seems that the “low” version was chambered for smaller cartridges while the high version was made for every sort. Winchester's Single Shot was chambered for around 80 different cartridges.

If an award could be presented for the rifle offered in the most shapes, sizes, calibers, configurations and variations, it would have to be Winchester's Model 1885. Author John Campbell in his excellent book THE WINCHESTER SINGLE SHOT gives the following information. Model 1885s were made as rimfires, centerfires, military training rifles, military-style muskets, small-game hunting rifles, large-game hunting rifles, ordinary target rifles and specialized Schüetzen-style target rifles. Some were actually made as shotguns. Initial High Wall cartridge offerings were all black powder, later ones were high-pressure smokeless rounds as hot as the .30-06. Cartridge selection for which they were chambered ranged from .22 Short Rimfire to the .50-140 with a 34/4-inch case, plus some rare, one only, special orders. There is rumor of an '85 High Wall being made for a .70-150 WCF round, but some collectors think perhaps that was only an advertising gimmick.