Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires Winchester Model 290 Semiautomatic .22 Rifle

Friend has one I want to buy. New and unfired from the 60’s or 70’s. I had the cheaper version, the model 190 as a kid and remember it being very reliable and accurate too.

Any thoughts on what it’s worth ???

Up

I never could make one run. Might have been me or the ammo. If you find a 490, give it a good look. It feels like you're holding a model 100 in your hands.

Here are some gunbroker auctions. They're all over the board.
https://www.gunbroker.com/item/824839599
https://www.gunbroker.com/item/822280741
https://www.gunbroker.com/item/830357830

I would not pay more than a $100 - $150 dollars for one. I had a 290 years ago and the trigger ismake bet not very good on them, it is also hard to do make much better unless you are really good at stoning a sear.

Accuracy ? - On the one I had and one a friend still has is just so-so, about like a bad 10/22 but in the case of the 290 there is not a lot you can do about it. On dirt clods at 25 yds it is pretty good - on paper at the same distance, not so much.

drover

Thanks OSU Sig !

That whole series of rifles had really heavy triggers. They were made to a price point, and it shows. Too bad, because for me at least, they handle very well. Nicely balanced. Accuracy is fun plinking accurate. Pretty disappointing to try to really get precise.

In my opinion, the 490 semi auto and the 320 bolt rifle both feel and handle like centerfire rifles.

Had a 190 barely used that split cases on every brand of .22 long rifle tried. Trigger was awful. It went down the road.

junk

Not a 190/290 fan because of the crappy triggers, but can tolerate the 270/275 pump guns because that market niche isn't full of other options. If you want to use a .22 semi-auto "as is", it is hard to beat the Marlin 60 series. If you want to use a .22 semi-auto and are willing to pour money into it, the Ruger 10/22 has about any option that you could ever want if you're willing/able to open you wallet.

The steel and walnut 77 that came before the 190/290 series was a better, or at least more substantial, rifle even though it didn't have an exceptional trigger either.

I think they are a decent rifle.
Inexpensive 22 auto rifles of that time were forced into the shadows cast by Marlin and Ruger.
As Benchman has said, they balance well.
They also have a nicely machined front site and some examples allegedly can cycle shorts.

My uncle had a190 that was very accurate even with a heavy and gritty trigger. He used it for squirrel hunting because it would cycle .22 shorts. My aunt had a 190 that the barrel crawled out of the receiver.

I had the Ted Williams fancy one from Sears with really nice wood, marred by that hideous impressed "checkering" and goopy finish. Don't recall the trigger, but POI would climb, a LOT, as the barrel heated up; not a great feature on a semi.

I'd not bother with any of that line these days.

In 1971, a cousin and I both turned 13, within a month's time of each other. I got a Marlin 60, and he got a Winchester 190. I was kinda envious of him at first, until we shot them side by side. For whatever reasons, he'd never put a scope on it, while I couldn't wait to do so. No doubt that was the major factor between the two rifles. I don't recall his malfunctioning any more than my rifle did (they both choked and puked fairly often, mostly due to cheap-ass ammo that we bought. We still had a lot of fun with our .22s whenever he came up from Kansas City to hunt with us on Thanksgiving or at Christmas break.
I was always the better shot, mainly because I lived in the country, and he was a city kid, and didn't have the opportunities to practice that I did. I always thought that 190 was a decent little rifle.

I look at that old impressed checkering as retro cool these days. Particularly the patterns that included oak leaves or squirrels or basketweave. Those are the guns I remember fondly from my youth. I still have an old Montgomery Ward WesternField model 550 AR deluxe pump shotgun with the basketweave pattern impressed checkering and it is one of my sentimental favorites. That particular gun has a genuine American black walnut buttstock that would easily grade AAA fancy today.

I have one that I paid very little for. It's my unscoped utility beater gun. Whacked quite a bit of fur with it over the years. The trigger isn't great, but I've learned how to manage it well. The longer barrel quietens it down considerably.

I had a model 270 pump, my first rifle, Christmas 1964. Decent gun, but nothing great. For sentimental reason I wish I still had it.
I’d guess the NIB 290 will bring $400 pr so. Is it worth that? Depends on how bad you want it.

I've always wanted one since that is what I learned to shoot with in the early 70's. It belonged to one of my Dad's work friends. All the ones that I have seen for sale were beat to crap.

I believe that the first two are mismarked. They didn't have checkering which I believe would make them 190s.