Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires Shooting my first .22 - 50 years later

This week I did some more work on my old .22s and received and shot the 1966 Browning T-Bolt I recently bought.

My M-Ward/Mossberg .22 always had a real heavy trigger pull (6 lb) and many years while trying to figure out how to lighten it up I took apart the trigger/safety group and lost the tiny safety detent ball that tightens up the safety lever and gives it a nice click upon engaging it. I finally got around to getting the proper sized detent ball from Numrich and a new retaining clip that tightened it up nicely and it once again has a nice feel and click. That rifle is now all done and is the way I always wanted it to be, however, I never did figure out how to lighten up the trigger. I just learned to deal with it.

I also got a Weaver mount and rings that fit the old Springfield 87A. I put on an old Weaver steel K4 4X scope and shot it at 25 yds. It won't set any records but it shot better than I expected. That ol' click-clack gill gun action sure is fun to shoot.

Today I picked up the T-Bolt and quickly put on a 6X Burris target scope and hit the range. Again, I sighted it in at 25 yds shooting over 1 wind flag and shooting Eley Match ammo, it shot really well. It was a cold and windy day today and after figuring out the proper hold-offs for a couple recurring conditions, I was hitting the X dot on an IR50/50 target fairly routinely.

Earlier this week I also shot my custom IR50/50 Benchrest Sporter (Turbo sporter action, Shilen barrel, Pippen Maple stock, Jewell trigger) and shot it for the first time in 5 years. Shooting at 50 yds at the IR50/50 target with Eley Match ammo I shot a respectable 248-10X in breezy conditions shooting over 2 wind flags. I was a little rusty, so 8 of the 10 Xs come in the final 10 shots after getting reacquainted. It was fun and satisfying week.

I learned to shoot with my dad's Marlin model 99 (precursor to the Model 60). He still has that .22 with a fixed 4 power scope on it. I'm sure my brother and will have to thumb wrestle over that one when the time comes as we both learned to shoot with that .22

I purchased a Marlin Model 60 from the local gun store right out of college and a short while later found another Marlin Model 99 just like dad's at a gun show. Think I paid $80 for it?

I passed my Model 60 down to my son but the extractor has gone out on it (or maybe the spring). Just need to order parts to get it running right again. Everything else on it still looks new.

First .22LR was a J.C. Higgins 25, semi-auto. The 25 was a re-branded High Standard A10? as I recall. I once heard it referred to as a 'gill gun' since the left side of the receiver has what looked like gills to vent gasses. Shot the living daylights out of that rifle. Unfortunately, it 'disappeared' while I was in the USAF. Every once in a while I go looing/searching for a replacement, but my luck just hasn't been up to par.

I guess I shot my first .22 when I was 8 or 9, I had a friend whose father would take us and let us shoot. I remember my first shotgun blast very clearly! I didn't get my own .22 until I was 27 or 28 a Marlin Model 881. That was the first gun my niece ever shot. Her son is 4, I'm considering looking for a Winchester Model 67 for his first time shooting, then he'd get it when I'm gone. My Winchester Model 69 would be OK too, it's my personal favorite, although I've just acquired a Model 57 I haven't taken out yet.

I got a Stevens Model 73 by saving S&H Green Stamps that my mother gave me when she bought groceries - can’t remember how many books it took but we turned them in for the rifle - it was 1973 and I was 10. Never really liked that rifle - it was accurate enough but never extracted right….even had a local gunsmith change extractors out. About a year or two later my brother let me use a Remington 572 that I shot a few cases of ammo through. Still have the 73 Stevens and am actually putting a new walnut stock on to replace the old birch stock that I attempted stockwork on back in the late 70s . Hopefully when I’m done with it I’ll finally figure out the extraction problem……or not!?

PennDog

Cooper57: Our family was poor but I distinctly remember my father loading me and my two brothers up in his 1949 Chevy and driving us into Seattle's "Skid Road" area and taking us into Kauffmans Pawn Shop.
Father was looking to buy us boys our first 22 Rifle.
He settled on a used $11.00 Remington 511 Scoremaster.
Even though my older brother was urging that dad buy us a used $17.00 Winchester Model 69 - not to be though.
I have posted this before - during that shopping trip at Mr. Kauffmans store I made the faux pas of asking him why he had numbers tattooed on his left arm. Father backhanded me (I was 8 or 9 at the time in 1955 - 1956) for my innocent , unknowing blunder.
15 years later as a young police officer walking the beat there on skid road I befriended Mr. Kauffman and bought several guns from him over the next two decades - I never did mention my earlier indiscretion.
Still have the trusty old magazine fed Remington - humble as it was and subjected to MUCH use and not enough care by my younger and older brothers as well as myself, it shot/shoots rather well.
Time flies - almost as fast as bullets it seems.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

First rifle i ever shot was a Remington model 121 FieldMaster 22 pump that my father purchased right before Pearl Harbor. My father was a decorated WWII Army vet and he helped me shoot that rifle when i was 5 years old. It was way too big and heavy to do much. I was hooked.

When i was in 4th grade he gave me a new single shot 410 shotgun for my birthday.

When i was old enough, i used the Remington A LOT. had a Weaver B4 scope mounted on it...the mount anchored on the side of the receiver and held the scope over the center of the action just high enough that i could also use the iron sights. Worked well. had it zeroed for about 60? yards.

My father tossed out compliments like they were man-hole covers. That rifle helped actually get a compliment about my shooting skills.... probably the only one i ever got.

We were shooting at beer cans at a sand pit. Buddy John and i were shooting real well with our 22 rifles . We filled some cans with sand and stood em upright or end on. About 40 yards. We hit all of them easily. One of the cans standing there had a rock laying flat on top to keep it upright. The rock was about a half inch thing and about the size of your hand.

My father said, " why dont one of you guys do something to impress me."

So I told him, "I am going to shoot the rock off that can." Part of my father's reply mentioned BS and that talk was cheap. lol he watched with the binoculars.

One shot later the rock went flying. My father's comment was generally not repeatable in mixed company. :-)

That night at supper my mom asked him how the shooting went. and he said "Mom, the kid can shoot."

that was about 60 years ago.

The rifle and the shotgun are still in good shape. the scope is not easy to see thru. Both work well.

My son has shot them both. and soon, if i am lucky i will help my grandson shoot the Remington.

They will stay in the family, of course.

Fifty years ago last week, I got a Marlin 60 for my 13th birthday. I've still got the old thing, but unlike you guys's rifles, mine doesn't shoot for beans any more. I've cleaned it and cleaned it, but it sure doesn't shoot nearly as well as I remember. I still drag it to the range every now and then, and give it a chance, but it always disappoints.

Funny, I don't recall any rabbits or squirrels, or raccoons for that matter, ever complaining about it's poor accuracy.

I left it with Dad while I was in the Army, and he used it pretty hard on his trapline and around the barn. Oh well, I've got scads of other .22s nowadays, and all of them shoot pretty well. I'll keep it around for nostalgia's sake, and maybe give it another chance sometime. I must have killed a traincar load of small game with that old thing.

Bringing up this old thread. The first 22 I ever shot was my Dads Winchester 55 single shot automatic. I remember sitting on his lap shooting in a wet almond orchard shooting 22 shorts. My Dad adopted two boys over the years with my step Mom as my Dad couldn’t have anymore kids. Wasnt even supposed to have me.
Time passed and he always said he wanted each of us boys to have the same rifle. So here and there I found 3 and put them away. My Dad passed a few years ago at the age of 69. When dividing up Dads guns I made sure that my brothers received the ones he used, including that 55. Then I made a gift to one of those brothers another 55. Letting him know that Dad wanted all his boys to enjoy the same type of rifle. We all learned on that 55 and it had killed a pile of critters. And for the other 2 sitting in my safe, well those will go to my grandson’s one who got to know great grandpa. Knowing that they too have a gun just like their grandpa’s

my first .22 was a Marlin/Glenfield 25 7 shot bolt action rifle with a Weaver .22 variable scope, still have it and it still works fine, also ahve the .22 rifle cleaning kit that we bought with the gun at Sears in 1968.

Mine was a cooey 750 single shot, had a rabbit engraved in the stock, grandma gave it to me one Xmas, eventually I traded it to my dad for an old 1903 Winchester he had.
He was to give it back to me later, the bugger sold it to someone we knew instead.
I was not happy he did not keep it in the family.

My first .22 was a Winchester 67 that Geoff Bowers had for $10. He was older and had a Yamaha motorcycle that always needed gas. I still have it propped up beside my hospital bed
for dispatching varmints such as snakes and armadillos. No telling how many rounds have been thru it. Got several more including grandfathers with the finger groove stock. Used to buy them cheap and refinish them. Later got an Ithaca 49 that I had drilled & tapped for a Weaver side mount and 4X scope. We would ride our bikes to a sileage pit and waylay grackles by the hundreds. Later had Remington pump and semi auto, Win 190, Win 69, Ruger 10/22s, Marlin 81s. My favorites in old age are CZ 452 Trainer and a custom SS Ruger 10:22 with a Green Mountain fluted barrel built on the cheap with eBay parts. 22s are my most used firearms.

I have my late fathers model 67, nice accurate rifle.

I have my first 22 rifle. A Ruger 10/22 Deluxe Sporter, given to me by my father in 1979. I shot it today in fact.

My first was a Sav/Anschutz 141. Think it cost $82 in 1966. Paid for it delivering newspapers.

Over 56 years it's killed woodchucks, crows, pigeons, rabbits, gray and red squirrels, beavers, starlings, roosters, rats, chipmunks, porkies, and one rabid skunk.

Took four red squirrels on the feeder from a bedroom window, just since Christmas. Last was two days ago.

My 1st 22 was a Model 77 Winchester semi-auto with tube mag that a girlfriend bought for my 19th birthday almost 50 years ago. It was great fun but a pain to keep functioning without regular disassembly for a good cleaning. Cleaned it up real good & sold it to a collector a while back.

The 1st 22 I ever shot, around 1960, was a JC Higgins (Marlin) bolt action that I now own since the old man passed a few years ago. It still shoots minute of beercan at 50 yds, open sights, with whatever crappy ammo I run thru it, & does a bit better with Norma TAC. The stock finish has seen better days, but I hate to mess with it.

My first and only 22 is a ruger 10/22 that I got for my 10th birthday in 1975. I think my parents paid $89 for it. I did eventually have to replace the recoil spring because it got to the point where it would only cycle cci mini mags. I have also replaced the recoil rod with one with the extended bolt handle and replaced the trigger assembly with the ruger BX trigger.

I don't check this forum often and was surprised to see this old thread reactivated. It's fun to hear about everyone's first .22s and their start in the shooting sports. There must be something about this time of the year that gets me thinking about old .22s Last month I purchased a Winchester 190 like the one my uncle had, that I first shot. It brought a smile to my face when I shot it and found that like my uncle's, this one also shot a little to the left with the open sights. I found it in a small gun shop and when I saw it, I had to have it. It's in pretty good shape and cleaned-up nice. I was at the range today shooting my old (late 40s) Springfield 87A. I've continued to work on and upgrade this old .22. It gives me something to do on these winter days.

Nice wood on that. Looks like you're planning on shooting some onions.