Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires Winchester 69A

Yes they get used time to time, heavy barrel 52's get used by the more experienced youth shooters in the club, they use the 52 I got from the DCM back in the 80's, got eight 52 and eight rem 513

My best friend is a residential real estate appraiser. A few decades ago before he started his own business a co-worker came to him and said “I found this old rifle in the attic rafters of a foreclosure today. $20 and it yours”. So he bought it and threw it in his closet. Fast forward 20 years and he mentions to me a year ago that he has some old .22 in the closet, would I want to mess with it. I only wish I had been smart enough to take some “before” photos of the gun. Somebody had “finished” it with varnish, literally painted the whole thing (metal and stock) with a brush. I didn’t even know what it was until I stripped it down and dissolved all the gunk off the metal. I sanded the stock back to bare wood (beautiful walnut stock, no cracks), stained, and approx. 20 coats of hand rubbed oil finish. Polished all the metal to bare and cold blued receiver/barrel. Bought a new brass bead front sight which I drifted on, and a new reproduction buttplate was installed, sanded to a perfect fit and polished to match the gloss stock.

I did have to purchase one of those W 5 round magazines, found one at a gun show. The rifle shoots wonderfully, quite the long barrel on these. Best I could tell from the features is it was made in the early 1960s before the requirement for serial numbers by the ATF. I finished the restoration just before Christmas and gave him his rifle back. He was amazed and very thankful of the effort. I looked at it a few months ago in his case, the metal bluing looks a little thin. It really needs a hot salt blueing and it would be absolutely gorgeous.

I have some photos laying around I will try to post.

Would love to see those pictures

I have owned two Win 69A rifles, and a Win m75 target (same action). All shot well (well under 1 inch at 50 yards, more like 5/8 -3/4" ) with standard velocity "nothing too fancy" ammo ( typically CCI std vel).

My second Win 69A, and my Win 75 had grooved receivers, making it simple to mount a scope. My first 69A did not have a grooved receiver. I drilled/tapped a Brownells scope base on it and it worked fine.

I sold the first 69A and 75 many years ago. I gave the grooved 69A to my niece.

Nice rifles. I like all those long-barreled , simple walnut-stocked 22LR bolt rifles from "the old days." ( ie Win 310/320, Rem 510, 511, 540/580 series and Marlins). A still have a CZ 452 American 22 LR, and a Rem 540xr. They all bring a smile to my face when I shoot them. Simple pleasures.

Mine has the scope groove on the receiver which is great, but a stiff, dull and numb trigger.

Any tips or tricks to know about these triggers?

Thanks

The 69A triggers are a breeze to adjust. Take the one receiver screw out, remove the stock, and the screw in the front of the trigger housing that points down adjusts. Be careful to not adjust too much or the little ball bearing will fall out and you'll be scrambling around to find it. I think mine are down to around 1 1/2-2 lbs now and pretty nice. Not like a 52C trigger, but very nice for a light rimfire....

They still kill just fine.

Thanks Sheister.

I've got so much going on that I haven't had a chance to play with the gun or even poke around on-line. You saved me a bunch of time!

" the little ball bearing will fall out "

Sheister, do you know the diameter of the ball bearing? I would assume it sits between the trigger spring and the trigger? Mine is missing in my 69A. I was only able to safely get the pull down to about 3#s on it as well. Thanks! Kurt

No, I don't know the diameter but I could drop one out tomorrow and measure it. Mine wants to fall out at about 1 1/2 lbs pull. Have you tried Numrich for the ball bearing?

It seems to me I saw a tutorial somewhere in the interweb that showed how to remove the screw and put it in the front of the trigger housing instead of the bottom with a lighter spring and you could get the trigger down to ounces. Might have been on snipershide but I haven't been able to find it and I'm pretty happy with mine as it is at the moment. My buddy and I both have a couple 75 Sporters and they are the same action/trigger... He brought his to shoot one day and wasn't happy with it at all. I showed him how to adjust the trigger and it made a huge difference in how he shot the rifle....

Shei, Thanks for comments. If you ever have a 69A apart a diameter of that bearing would be very useful. I was thinking of steel shot, or maybe a BB as a replacement? Shipping any gun parts to Canada is always an exercise in figuring out what is legal and what is restricted. Kurt

Well, I'm embarrassed to admit, no ball bearing in the 69A trigger. I adjusted at least 4 different triggers last time out at the range and I mistook the 69A with the 541S or 40X trigger IIRC that had the spring with the ball bearing in the trigger that I almost lost.... however, bright side is the 69A is simple to adjust with just the screw in the front of the trigger housing right behind the mag holder. Bad news is I could only get two of mine down to around 3 lbs without releasing unexpectedly , which is okay for rabbit/squirrel hunting, but not so much for target work... funny thing is, my 75 Sporter is adjusted to just under 2 lbs and feels nice and crisp...

The 541S however, was pretty easy to get down to around 1 1/2 lb and a very nice crisp release...

Bob

Bob, Thanks for the update. Yes, I've owned a 541S, two M52 Winchesters, and have a Cooper 57M, CZ 455 with a reworked trigger, a 10-22 Sporter with a Shilen barrel and Timney trigger as well as the old M69A in the safe. All except the 69A have great triggers that can be set very light if you want. The 69A trigger at 3#s is very crisp but a tad heavy.

I too had a 72A with the tubular feed on it and it was topped by a Weaver 4X scope. I spent my youth shooting this rifle and became so familiar with the ballistic curve on it that I was dangerous to 100-150 yards with it. We use to buy shells back then, by the box and I remember one day heading out to a local ranch that had alfalfa meadows bordered on three sides with sage brush with a creek on the remaining side. I had two boxes of LR ammo which I think cost about 55cents a box, we never bought 22 shells by the carton, only the box. With those two boxes of ammo on a summer afternoon I shot 43 jackrabbits and won the praise of the rancher. I don't think I have ever become as great a shot with any other 22 rifle as I was with that one.

I refinished the stock in a primitive fashion a couple of times as a teenager and remember that the trigger became smoother and lighter as the round count went up. The safety would fail to engage periodically and I would remove the action from the stock and push a pin back it. I have 10/22s that have a round count of over 25,000 rounds thanks to 4 sons but this 72A had around 5,000 rounds through it and was always more accurate.

One of the disappointments of my gun collecting career is that I don't remember what ever happened to it. Maybe I stupidly traded it in on something else.

Great memories were made with that 72A and if I ever come across another I'm a buyer.