bill bet you was a crack shot .i too love the little 22 it would be hard for me to pick my favorite 22...at the moment i shoot a remington auto rifle model 550 and secound i shoot a marlin auto of some model...but i shoot my ruger bearcat the most it goes with me on the farm a lot...yep 22 s are special to me too... charlie

Of course we used to shoot longs when we didn't have the extra dime to buy a box of LRs. I don't know if the ammo companies still make them. I think they shot the same bullet as the short, but delivered it a little quicker.

As a gun collector I have gone through several phases. First I collected only muskets, then Civil War carbines (most stolen), a few '73's and then I hit on 22's and I must have bought a dozen. One of my faves is that little Win. model 67 single shot. You load it and have to cock the striker. Pretty bad safety; using it makes the gun less safe! But a kick to shoot and it shoots fine! The safety is - don't pull back the striker. I've got a minty 9422 and have only shot it a few times. I like the 39A best when shooting a lever .22.

Shooting rats at the dump with a .22 just may have been my favorite big game hunting of all time. Prairie dogs too. My grandson loves to shoot and is 'into' airsoft. I am looking forward to handing him a .22. Doing so allows one to kind of relive one's youth.

Of all the late model Winchester .22s. The 9422 was the best and off the highest quality. I have two, a .22 and a.22 magnum. The .22 is NIB, and I shoot the magnum. Got them both when an Ames Discount store in Southbridge, Mass went out of business. 1975--$100 each. My only complaint with the gun is the loading tube is a little undersize for the "holding" tube. It is easy to turn and get unlocked and slip out. I have had to retrace my farm walk more than once to find the darn thing. Still a nice gun and becoming more valuable as the years since discontinuance go by. Charlie, remember when .22 long rifle shells were less than .$50 per box and you could buy shotgun shells by the each? Time goes too fast....

I do.... am I showing my age? :whistle:

Shooting bats with .22 birdshot out of a 510 bolt action Remington. Now, that was fun!

Did you ever hit one? I went through a box of .410 shells using a little single barrel shotgun at bats. I think i hit 3 in 25 shots. I am actually a fairly good shot but those bats were realy good at dodging!

i too remember the box of 22 s for 49 cents..bought many a box and plugged everything from a pebble toa minnow in the creek..never could strika a match togood withone but was death on birds withone... charlie

When I was fifteen I used up a whole box of 20's at bats in the early evening. never touched one of them. I decided that it was a pretty wasteful endeavor and never did it again.

The day I turned 16 I bought a Ruger Bearcat. Cost was $36. It shoot where it was aimed and I learned to shoot a pistol with that little gun. I sold it and bought another that shot around corners. I hesitate to buy a new one, since they cost something like $575.

I found an NRA special Model 34 Remington at a pawn shop about 15 years ago. It had Lyman peep sights and extra fine wood. The little rifle was well used, but I love it and it is a great shooter. Has a tubular magazine, which I like. I found a regular one a few years ago and it is a grand little rifle too.

While sneaking up on 70 my bulbs are still hanging in there, so I usually avoid scoped .22's. Put a dot scope on my ancient Weatherby XXII and it's okay, but I can't warm to it.

I shot a zillion weapons of all kinds in the military, even 20mm canons from an A-4 Skyhawk, but I still get excited when I slip a magazine into a .22.