Walnut and Steel: Vintage .22 Rifles

By Bill Ward

If you love old .22 rifles (and who doesnt?), and would like to know more about them, this book is a must-have. It is the only book of its kind, covering 20 classic and vintage rifles from five different manufacturers. The rifles covered are among the most-used and best-loved rifles of all time. In these pages you will find a wealth of information about each rifle and each manufacturer including: history and development, physical measurements and handling characteristics, accuracy testing, and current value. Plus, there are chapters on finding your own classic rifle, hunting with the .22, improving accuracy, and proper care and maintenance, and much more. So, if youd like to know more about that old .22 that youve inherited or you need some good information to help you find your own, this is the book for you.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Feb 21, 2014
• ISBN: 9781491863190

Bill Ward

The author has almost 50 years experience with a wide varity of firearms, particularly .22 rifles. Now retired as a Tennessee Wildlife Officer, he has a B.S. from the Uinversity of Tennessee and an M.A. from Southern Illinois University. A life member of the NRA for over 40 years, this is his first book. He and his wife, Lois, live near Jackson, Tennessee.

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© 2014 BILL WARD. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 02/18/2014

ISBN: 978-1-4918-6320-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4918-6291-9 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4918-6319-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014902620

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Dedication

Introduction

Chapter One A Short History Of The .22 Rimfire Cartridge

Chapter Two Stevens

Chapter Three Savage

Chapter Four Marlin

Chapter Five Remington

Chapter Six Winchester

Chapter Seven Choosing And Finding Your Own Vintage .22 Rifle

Chapter Eight Hunting With The Vintage .22

Chapter Nine Accuracy And The .22 Rifle

Chapter Ten Care And Maintenance Of Your Vintage .22 Rifle

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author would like to acknowledge with grateful appreciation the following individuals who have been instrumental in the preparation or production of this book: First, and by far the most important, my wonderful, patient, and understanding wife Lois. Without her immense contributions this book would never have seen the light of day. Others who have helped greatly in one form or another: Mike Wimberly, Terry Sanders, Mike Presson, the late Carl Feathers, Jeff Bailey, Gary Cook, Ben Snider, and Amy Spencer.

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to my wife, Lois, and to the memory of my parents, Carl and Jessie Ward.

INTRODUCTION

I’ve always had a fascination for classic firearms of every type, whether it’s a Fox or Parker double, a Savage 99, a Colt single action, or a Winchester lever. These and many, many others epitomize the genius of American firearms design. While these wonderful inventions intrigue and inspire, all too often they are priced out of reach for a variety of reasons, or they are of limited use to us because of their somewhat specialized nature. However, there is one category of firearms that almost anyone can afford to own and shoot, and this category includes many classic designs of yesteryear, namely the .22 rifle. There is a wonderful variety of every type from all the big names in American and some European makers. These are truly Everyman’s firearms, the most useful, practical, and economical to shoot firearms the world has ever known. They are the ones we learn to shoot with, and the ones we learn to appreciate more as we mature.

Heretofore, the only attempt to chronicle these amazing little firearms has been within the pages of books covering a single manufacturer or a few passing mentions in generalized firearms texts. To the best of my knowledge, no one has ever attempted to consolidate a good variety of classic or vintage .22 rifles under one heading. And that is the reason for this book. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that this is not a complete guide by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, I get a little amused by any title that includes the word complete in it. I just don’t believe one can cover any subject completely. While I’ve attempted to include most of the really popular .22 classics (and a few that weren’t all that popular), I know there are many I’ve neglected, so if I’ve overlooked one of your all time favorites, I apologize. There are so many great .22s out there that it would take a cumbersome book to even make an attempt to cover them all.

Surely everyone with an interest in firearms can fondly recall firing their first .22 rifle. Although it might not have seemed particularly impressive at the time—after all, it didn’t kick them violently or cause their ears to ring for days—it hopefully led to many pleasant days spent afield or at the range with some memorable companions. Often we look at the .22 as mainly a kid’s gun or just a stepping stone to the big boomers, but a good .22 is, or should be, a life’s companion, just as important and enjoyable at age 80 as at 8.

Although my dad wasn’t much into guns or hunting, he introduced me at an early age into the pleasure of plinking at tin cans with a single shot .22 and always stressed the importance of safety. My early fascination with firearms was given full rein as long as I was careful and responsible, and even though Dad is no longer around, I’ll always be grateful to him for allowing me the opportunity to pursue my passion for the outdoors in general, and firearms in particular. Also, when it comes to messing around with a bunch of guns and gun-related stuff, it helps to have a very understanding wife, and I’ve got one of the best. Although she pretends not to notice when I sneak a new acquisition into the gun safe, I’ve got a feeling that she really does. At any rate, I would like to thank her for her patience and understanding, as well as her considerable help with this book.

The purpose of this book is really twofold. First, I would like to acquaint or reacquaint today’s shooters with several of the classics of yesteryear—rifles that your grandpa or great grandpa might have grown up with or dreamed about owning. Secondly, I would like to really delve into the history, design features, strong points and weak points, ergonomics and idiosyncrasies of each. We’re going to spend some quality time with each one and really get to know them. We’ll talk about the background of each manufacturer, something about the designer of each model (when known), time frames and historical perspective, and production figures (if available). Every effort has been made to insure that the information provided is as accurate as possible, but I’ll have to admit that there may be several instances when one source conflicts with another. In that case, I have tried to consult at least one or two other sources to verify something like a production figure, date of manufacture, or a designer involved. Unfortunately, some factories weren’t overly concerned with record keeping, or in some cases their records were destroyed by fires or floods, etc. In these cases, an educated guess is the best we can come up with. All this is what makes learning about these old guns so challenging and fascinating. I can only hope you will enjoy reading this book nearly as much as I have researching and writing it. It’s been very rewarding.

If you don’t already own at least one classic .22 rifle, I have a feeling that you may get the urge. You’ll find, as I did, that it’s a fascination that’s hard to resist, and I sincerely hope that this book will help you make an informed decision.

Current interest in .22 rifles of all types is about the highest I’ve seen in my lifetime, and there are several good reasons for this, not the least of which is that shooting .22s is just plain fun because it is so easy on the ears, shoulder, and wallet. Low noise endears it not only to the shooter, but to all others within hearing distance, an especially important factor in our increasingly suburbanized society. In the eastern U.S. it’s become quite difficult to find a suitable location for a high-powered rifle range, but scaled-down ranges for .22s actually seem to be on the increase. Moreover, shooting .22s is an ideal family affair. Even small youngsters, with appropriate adult supervision, can enjoy the pleasures of plinking away without worrying about excessive noise or recoil. Of course, eye and ear protection should always be used, even with .22s. Also, a safe backstop is essential.

The .22 rifle is the ideal beginner’s gun for all the reasons mentioned above, plus the fact that .22 rifles and ammo can still be purchased at very reasonable prices. In the case of currently manufactured rifles, prices range from around 200 dollars for a very serviceable, dependable semiauto or bolt action to well over a thousand for a top of the line model, with a lot of great rifles in between. Used or pre-owned specimens can be found across an extremely broad spectrum of prices, depending on condition and demand from collectors. Ammo prices have spiked in recent years, but are still quite reasonable, with good plinking ammo generally selling for around three or four bucks for a box of 50. As I write this (2013), availability of many .22 cartridges is questionable, due mostly to unprecedented demand and hoarding for whatever reason. Ammo manufacturers are doing their best to meet this demand, and the situation appears to be gradually improving.

In addition to being the ideal beginner’s gun, the .22 rifle is a wonderful choice for the seasoned veteran as well, allowing one to concentrate on holding, sight alignment, and trigger squeeze without the distractions of muzzle blast and recoil that tend to induce flinchitis with the bigger stuff.

Finally, where the .22 really shines is in its ability to harvest small game, particularly squirrels and rabbits. It’s hard to imagine a cartridge that would be better suited for the purpose.

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The 22 rifle is the most useful firearm of all. It is ideally suited for such small game as squirrel and rabbit. Rifles have provided us with millions of pounds of high quality protein for a couple of hundred years now

Someone once wrote that if the .22 didn’t already exist (seems like it’s been around forever), someone would need to invent it for just such use. Sure, there have been, and still are efforts to improve upon it, such as the .25 and .32 Stevens rimfires of yesteryear, as well as the 5mm Remington Magnum, .22 Winchester Magnum, and the .17 Hornady Magnum and Mach II of more recent vintage. While these were and are all excellent for their particular purpose—for the most part slightly larger game or varmints at slightly longer range—as far as edible game at the ranges most of us are capable of making under field conditions, no one has been able to improve on the old, reliable, and still superb .22 rimfire (more on the history of the .22 later).

Another reason I think a lot of us baby boomers are rediscovering the joys of the .22 is the fact that small game hunting is still quite accessible to just about anyone regardless of where they live or what tax bracket they fall into. This gives us the opportunity to get outdoors and enjoy the wonders of God’s creation and hone our hunting skills at the same time. Even well-known, well-traveled big game hunters like outdoor writer Jim Zumbo will tell you they enjoy a good squirrel hunt as much as anything. Let’s face it, few of us can afford to travel to faraway places and pay enormous sums to hunt exotic species of game with custom made rifles or shotguns that cost as much as the average new car. I’m as guilty as anyone when it comes to ogling over a best-quality double from names such as Purdey, Holland and Holland, Rizzini, Fabbri, or Famars. They are the pinnacle of the gunmaker’s art, but there is no way short of winning the lottery that I could ever hope to afford one. However, I can afford to buy, and I’m not afraid to use, some of the finest .22 rifles that have ever been made, and this opportunity is available to anyone of average means. A good .22 rifle can be your passport to some very exciting and enjoyable hunting experiences.

By now I’m sure you’re thinking, OK, you’ve sold me on the .22, but why an old one, why not a brand new model? That’s a perfectly legitimate question. I certainly don’t have anything against most of the new .22 rifles available today. Virtually all are safe, dependable, functional, and reasonably accurate. A few, such as the Anschutz and Cooper are arguably as good as any that have ever been made, but none of them has been around long enough to be considered a classic.

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The Kimber .22 is a high quality modern bolt action. Although no longer in production, it filled the void left by the long discontinued

Winchester Model 52 Sporter.

No doubt a great deal of the allure of the older .22s must be attributed to nostalgia, or what used to be called a walk down memory lane. It’s a powerful influence, and its power seems to increase as we add more candles to our birthday cakes. We sometimes find ourselves longing to return to a time, or to at least reminisce, about the days when life was simpler and less hectic, an idyllic world of our youth that may or may not have ever really existed. Still, we like to think that it did—a time when we knew and cared about all our neighbors, and they returned the favor; when a person’s word was his/her bond; when TV shows were generally inspiring and uplifting—not the garbage that is foisted off on us today. I can’t help but think that this is why reruns of the old Andy Griffith Show are still so popular 50 years after they originally aired. The little town of Mayberry represents the kind of place we used to know or wish we had grown up in, and the values we still believe in and hold so dear. An old episode of The Twilight Zone depicts a man who, sick of the rat race he found himself in, found a way to escape to an era in the late 1800s where people weren’t always in a hurry, where they appreciated the simpler things, and where they took pride in what they did, no matter how big or small the task. I guess old guns are my way of connecting with such a past.

Thus, I must admit that one of the most compelling reasons, to me at least, for choosing an older gun design of any type is that it represents an attempt to slow down, to apply the brakes if you will, to this increasingly fast-paced society that we (or others) have created for ourselves—a sort of passive rebellion, or silent protest to today’s ever more technology-oriented culture in which last year’s TV, cell phone, computer, or even compound bow is already outdated by the time we figure out how to use it. It’s certainly not just in the realm of firearms that many of us are discovering that the old ways were not only simpler, but better. We see it in transportation (classic automobiles that are more straightforward and easier to repair), entertainment (wholesome movies, TV shows, books, and magazines), food (wild game or farm raised meat and home-grown vegetables), and even time-tested cold and flu remedies. Recurve bows and longbows have seen a tremendous resurgence in popularity in recent years, as a lot of bowhunters are responding to their challenge and simplicity. I believe a similar force will draw muzzleloading hunters back to their traditional caplocks and flintlocks and away from the high tech gadgetry that is designed to take most of the skill out of shooting a muzzleloader.

Maybe I’m all wet and a little too psychoanalytical, but I think a lot of you would have to admit that in many areas of our lives we long for, and need to relax and simplify. I think we would all enjoy life better if we could.

I guess one of the things I like best about classic .22s is that when I hold one I get a feeling of holding a bit of history in my hands. I can’t help but feel that connection with times gone by, and I often wonder about the background of that particular rifle—the hands that made it, the dealer who sold it, the young man or woman who saved their pennies and dimes for it and doted over the catalog that pictured and glowingly described it, then dreamed of the happy day when he or she might actually have enough money saved up to be able to walk into their local hardware store, lay down their hard-earned money, and walk out with their prized possession. The sights, sounds, even the smell of such magical moments, along with the anticipation of their arrival, still brings a smile to the face many years after the actual event. Possibly, it was on a very special Christmas morning when the anxious 12 year old rushed down the hall to the aromatic cedar Christmas tree and found the tell-tale long and narrow package lovingly wrapped beneath it. Little Johnny’s hands trembled as he tore into the package, and he smiled from ear to ear when he beheld the gun of his dreams, thanks to the sacrifice of Mom and Dad. Well, I guess that new washing machine could wait another year. After all, the old one still worked, most of the time.

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Old advertisements, such as these, remind us of the days when life was a little simpler, and firearms were much more socially acceptable

I often find myself wondering about the working history of a rifle also—what it was used for, how many squirrels, rabbits, raccoons, crows, or whatever, it accounted for. Perhaps it was used to win a local turkey shoot or some such local competition. It may have even belonged to someone famous—Teddy Roosevelt, Henry Ford, John Phillip Sousa, Roy Rogers, Ernest Hemingway, Gary Cooper, John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, Clark Gable—who can say for sure? Imagination is a wonderful thing.

As we look back in nostalgia, we often have the overly romanticized notion that life was not only simpler, but easier in granddad’s or great granddad’s day. Simpler? Maybe. Easier? No way. Our ancestors had to endure some really tough times, including World Wars I and II, the Korean Conflict, the Dust Bowl, and the Great Depression. Often they didn’t know where their next meal would come from. Firearms were viewed as necessary tools and not just recreational objects or hobbies as we usually look at them today. Thus, accuracy, durability, and reliability were prime considerations, and most buyers of that day were willing to pay as much as a month’s wages to buy a firearm that they knew they could count on. Looking at old catalogs and advertisements from this period, roughly 1900 to 1950 might give us the impression that firearms were dirt cheap back then. For instance, a top quality Stevens dropping block Ideal Model sold for ten dollars in 1912. In 1915, the excellent Marlin Model 1897 went for 15 bucks. As late as 1952, you could buy a Winchester Model 61 for 55 dollars, or a Model 62 for 47 dollars. Sounds too good to be true, huh?

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Old catalogs can give us a lot of information about vintage rifles. Some of them even include detailed instructions on disassembly.

On the other hand, the average family income was probably only about five to ten percent of what it is today, and the workweek was often 60 to 80 hours. So, I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I would want to trade places with my ancestors. Much of what we take for granted today (like indoor toilets or even electricity) would have been unimagined luxury in their time.

In our current world of ever-advancing technology and planned obsolescence, isn’t it comforting to know that we can still purchase and use with complete satisfaction a product, whether new or well-used that is capable of lasting several lifetimes, assuming proper care? I can think of very few products other than firearms and some hand tools that we can say that about. Of course, manufacturing methods have changed enormously in the past few decades. They’ve had to in order to keep prices within reason. Labor of any kind, but especially skilled hand labor, has become extremely expensive. Around the 1950s most manufacturers began to seriously look for ways to cut production costs. Even well before that time gun making had become highly automated. For the most part, the results were pretty good, and it’s to the makers credit that they could still provide a quality product at reasonable cost with the new methods. In some instances, however, the new products left a lot to be desired. Certainly, many of us remember the debacle at Winchester in 1964, but some may not recall that similar events had already occurred at Remington and Savage. Partly this was due to the fact that Winchester had more of the beloved classics in its stable, so it attracted a great deal more attention when they were axed, but more on this later.

I hope I haven’t left the impression that modern guns are invariably not as good as the oldies, because in some cases they are even better. They are definitely made of better steel, and they are usually held to tighter tolerances, but when it comes to final fit and finish, nothing a machine does can approach the skill of a fine artisan. Often when I pick up one of the classics, I visualize an early 20th century craftsman with file or brass hammer putting the final touches on something that he has dedicated the better part of his life to. I’m sorry, but I just don’t get that feeling with modern firearms. Too often, they seem to have about as much charisma as a refrigerator. They appear to have passed through the assembly line virtually untouched by human hands. Each one is a virtual clone of the ones made before and after it. Fewer and fewer stocks are being made of genuine American black walnut, most makers having gone to synthetics (very practical, but not very attractive). All of this is not necessarily a bad thing, since it does help to keep costs down and usually makes the gun easier to repair when needed. Still, however, they just don’t seem to have much, if any, character to them.

I’ll have to admit that maybe, just maybe, I’m a little guilty of having an overly romanticized conception of little old men sitting at a workbench painstakingly filing, checkering, or polishing away. With rare exceptions, this has not been the case for at least the past 80 or 90 years, thanks to the efforts of Eli Whitney, Sam Colt, and Oliver Winchester, for they were the pioneers who steered the firearms industry (with other industries following their example) toward parts interchangeability, increased mechanization, assembly lines, and automation. All these naturally led to greatly increased efficiency, and the savings were passed along to the consumer.

Another reason that I am not totally against modern technology or state of the art manufacturing techniques is that, thanks to them, we can still enjoy some of the great designs of the past that we might not be able to otherwise. Several of the really superb classics have been given a new lease on life by the use of some very sophisticated and highly efficient manufacturing techniques, thus making them available and affordable again. Good examples are the Winchester Models 1873, 1876, 1885, 86, 92, 95, 52, 62, 63, the Stevens Favorite, the Sharps, and the Remington Rolling Block. Unlike many collectors, I am not so much the purist that I would turn up my nose at these fine re-creations just because they weren’t made in New England at least 50 years ago. Today’s production techniques allow us to own and appreciate them now, whereas due to their very substantial collector value, we might not be able to otherwise. For instance, an original Winchester Model 52 Sporter in excellent condition can easily bring five thousand dollars in the collector market. A few years ago, I bought a reproduction M52, made by Miroku in Japan, for less than 10 percent of that, and the quality is outstanding (more on this later).

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Reproductions, like this Winchester M52 Sporter are pretty faithful copies of the originals, and are usually available for much less money

Before we leave this subject, let’s make one point quite clear: some of the finest firearms ever made are being made right now, and many are being made by American craftsmen. For the most part, these are hand-crafted, custom-made, virtual works of art