Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires Mossberg Chuckster

Getting one of these next week. I hear they are decent 22 mag shooters. Don’t know why I bought it, but I looking forward to shooting it.

Mine has an unusually bad trigger buts shoots really well.
Golf balls at 200 feet are easy. Over and over again.

I think you'll like it.

I’ve heard about the trigger woes but those guys on rimfirecentral have a post were they smooth them up some.this one is the KS that comes with the hand cut checkering. It’s gotta crappy 3/4” scope on it and I’ll take that off and either shoot open sites or if it is dovetailed on top I’ll scope it with an old scope I have laying around.

I had one many years ago that was very accurate for a .22 mag.. The triggers do suck but can be improved a bunch with a little work. Other than that they can be a bit of a PITA to mount a scope on as the scope grooves are very far forward. I ended up having to put both scope rings between the turret and objective bell in order to get the scope back far enough for proper eye relief.

I have 2 Chucksters, 1 is the mannlicher stocked 640M and other is a plain/homely 640KA. I cut the KA barrel back to 19" to improve the balance and make it handier. They are reasonably accurate even with the crappy triggers, about the same as the same vintage Savage 63s and 65s. The scope mounting groove on the receiver are spaced such that you may find it necessary to modify the rings or bases to fit properly.

Unless the rifle is priced right and you like it, I think that almost any Marlin in the 700, 800, 900, and XT series made within that last 30 years is likely to be more accurate and easier to properly mount a scope on. Many .22 Magnum fan think that the tubular magazine Marlins in the 783, 883, and 983 series are among the best all-around .22 Magnum bolt guns yet to be made.

260remguy, apparently it was priced right because I already bought it. :-)
It is in transit as we speak. I have a feeling it will end up being an open site gun but you never know. These comments explain why the scope that is on it is mounted so far back.

I have an older Fullfield 4-12 on mine, one mount just before and after the ejection port. I must be a scope crawler... lol
It got good glass because its a good shooter. If you have a dovetail you may want.to find one like it.
Ill post a pic so you can see the setup

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/gallery/80/full/108948.jpg


And keep an eye out for spare mags - they're easy to lose and hard to find.

Wrong picture. That's not a Mossberg chuckster.

The rifle is coming with 2 mags.
I would like to see which mounts you’re talking about. Thanks for any help you can give.

The real kicker out of this deal is that I went to my ffl to arrange for the transfer and he has a 1956 vintage (N prefix) 39A in real nice shape that I could get for 500.00
I haven’t told my wife about the chuckster yet, I have to figure out how to get that 39 too.

My bad. Fixed the link.

A cousin of mine has one, complete with an awful trigger. I've never seen him shoot it, but he's got it. I can't wait to show him my CZ 512 autoloader , he won't be able to sleep at night!

He has a lot of stuff I doubt he's ever shot, or maybe, just shot one box of ammo thru it. He didn't have a scope on it when I found it in his gun stash, but that was some years ago. I know he buys some oddball stuff. He bought a Sendero in 7mm RUM, and asked me to zero it for him. I did so, and he hasn't shot it since then, that I know of. He gets suckered into buying oddball stuff like .243 WSSM, and then fusses about the ammo prices. I suspect he does the same with the .22WMR.

Ok I ordered the BKL offset scope rings and they should be in by the time the rifle shows up.

Most Mossberg RF bolt actions are a bit weird because they were built with semi-auto receivers and components.
Good rifles, anyway.

Btw how is that CZ 512 ratsmacker?

Just dandy so far. It won't set the world on fire for accuracy, but it seems to be getting better each time I shoot it. It's favoring the 30gr. Vmax, THIS WEEK. Next week, who knows? I buy CCI 40s mostly, though. Oddly enough, with a 100 yard zero with the 30s, it's shooting dead on at 50 yards with the 40s. CCIs and Hornadys are the only brands I've tried in this rifle, Winchesters gave such poor results in the other two .22Mags I've owned, that I've sworn off them for good. Since CCI loads the Fiocchi, RWS, and some other loads, I've just stuck with CCIs, since they're everywhere. I'll try some Aguila, too, next time I see some for sale. I've been having excellent results with Aguila products, though they gave extraction problems with an RAR. They "might" be loaded a little hotter than CCI............

I have mine set up with target sights. It prefers the hornady 30 gr. v max and remington accutips. It also shoots the el cheapo win dynapoints good. It also really likes the heavy 50 grain federal hollowpoints...


The trigger took some time to fine tune, but it's pretty nice at 2.5 pounds now. Took some work to get there though. I rebuilt the bolt and installed new springs throughout, so it works like a new rifle now. Mounting a scope was easy too. Maybe I just got lucky, but I had no problems...

Great looking rig, bsa, I always thought the bolt handle was too far forward, but that's a minor quirk of mine. I always liked them, but that bolt placement is a bit odd.

Good move.I mounted a Weaver cv10 50mm on mine.It's all of 16",and I still crawl the stock a little.As already mentioned,trigger will need work,but they sure do shoot good...

"Unless the rifle is priced right and you like it, I think that almost any Marlin in the 700, 800, 900, and XT series made within that last 30 years is likely to be more accurate and easier to properly mount a scope on. Many .22 Magnum fan think that the tubular magazine Marlins in the 783, 883, and 983 series are among the best all-around .22 Magnum bolt guns yet to be made."


You forgot to add the 725M as a good shooting .22 WMR. Had a friend that owned one. After firing it a few times one afternoon at his place, I decided to start looking for a Marlin myself. Had another friend that owned a small Sporting Goods retail store, and he would allow me to order firearms at his wholesale cost. So, along with a Marlin 1897 CB .22 LR, I also ordered a Marlin 883S .22 WMR as I had read good reviews about them. Accurate is an understatement....taught my ex-wife to shoot with that rifle....had her popping egg's at 100 yards with it before she was through!

While loading/unloading is a bit of a pain if you live in a state where you must do that to enter a vehicle, it also has the advantage of never needing another magazine in case you lose one, and it holds quite a few rounds.

It likes Fiocchi ammo and Armscor, go figure!