the old 22

[charlie cleveland]

well fellas its been a hot humid day here. been so hot ididnt feel like lugging that old 8 ga loomis around so i draged the old 22 reminton auto off the wall.then i twisted my grandaughters arm and grabbed a brick of those walmart specials and began to waste some lead. i had to cheat a little i had to look through the scope. ha my grand daughter is ten she is going to be a good shot.shes done talking about getting a coyote call and us going hunting soon. not going to be long and i am going to have me a good hunting companion. this eveninhs shoot was pretty expensive in the end. the gun she was shooting does not fit her to good so she said that we were going to the store and get a gun her size. well thank the lord we werent taking driving lessons this evening. all jokes aside i m sure that i got somebodyto tag along with for a while. you folks get that old 22 off the wall and grab a kid and have some fun plinking with that old 22. charlie

[Dean Romig]

Charlie, I only have 2 old .22's left anymore - a Steven's Favorite with the rear half of the barrel octagonal and the front half round... then there's the Savage clip-fed, take-down pump gun. I've never shot either one. Kathy's grandfather, God rest his crazy soul, used to shoot the Steven's and I picked up the Savage in a lot deal and never had the desire to clean it up and take it out dancin'.

[Old and Reliable]

My late Granddad gave me a Stevens Walnut Hill .22 on my 9th Birthday- still have it- what a 'dinger'- Also have two .22 pumps with open sights- a Remington 12A and a Winchester M61- My "pet" woodchcuk, raccoon and barnyard rat "duster" is a Ruger M77 with a Leupold 2x7 x40mm scope in the ruger factory rings- I call it my "lil' M70" as the safety and stock fit are similar to my M70 SG 30-06 (with Leupold 3.5 to 10 Vari-X 11 scope in Buehler two pc. mounts) Dad bought that classic new in 1948- had a Weaver on it, he gave it to me in 1980 and I added the Leupold later--

Reason for this 'wind in the willows" is- "To be a good deer hunter, first be a good squirrel hunter" so the Ruger knocks tree rats for a loop and I get the same sniper hunting techniques with that in Oct- as I do with our firearm deer season starting Mid-Nov--

I can feed that M70 anything from 150 grain SilverTips to 165 grain Federal premiums to 180 grain Core-Lokt and same POA at 200 yards= a real dinger!!

The "piece de resistance" of my .22 battery- a 1948 Model 63 from the custom shop with 23" barrel- engine turned bolt, bolt op rod and also mag tube- checkered- made for WRA sales rep Aubrey Brennan- when I bought it in 1970 it had a Weaver 4x 3/4" dia scope in Weaver mounts- Now it has a Leupold 6x by 33mm 1" scope--what a sweetheart-

Handguns for .22 plinking- I have my Dad's old Match Target .22 Woodsman- with Eliason sights and the wood "elephant ears" grips-- Great fun--

[ch]

Francis, Walnut hill thats a cool gun. Where all of the Walnut hills 44's or did they make them in 44 1/2? ch

[C.O.B.]

We tend to forget about the .22's as we chase game with feathers and antlers or go off after clay targets.

My first .22 was a Remington M572 pump. This was also my little brothers first gun both of which rest in the safe. I sold the Rem once for a Browning sweet 16 when I was in high school. I lamented the deal and Grandma gave me the money to buy the Rem back.

I have a Kimber "S" series high grade .22 I bought for tree rats but seldom go hunting for them any more either. I also figured I'd practice my deer stalking with it on rabbitts but that didn't happen either. Now for some unknown reason I have an itch for a tricked out Ruger 10/22 with a stainless fluted bull bbl, Houge overmold stock etc. I have an old Weaver 6X scope with a target dot and figure this rig would be ideal for Prarie Dogs under 100yds...but there I go thinking again.

[Bill Murphy]

My collecting of shootable .22s is worse than my Parker collecting. Every several years, I accumulate so many .22s that twice now I have sold every one of them off and started fresh. Some of these sales have made me sick, like the Mauser 350ES target rifle in minty original condition, or the 13,000 serial number range, 1928 Model 52 with slow lock in mint condition that would shoot 3/4" to 7/8" groups at 100 yards all day. I'd like to have back the little Ruger International that was made the first month they made them. Once at a gun show, I needed some shotgun money so I sold a mint late Model 61 Winchester for about half what it was worth and couldn't even get the scope off of the grooved mount because the mount was screwed onto the gun with some weird high tech screw. I had to let the scope go with the gun. Well, I'm into the third .22 collection now and will never feel the need to sell again, I hope.