I saved this thread in Word a year ago. I’m not sure if it’s complete, but I thought I’d post it anyway.
Sears JC Higgins .22 Model 41 single shot rife (Marlin Model 101) This was/is my first firearm.
Walther P22
Ruger Single Six
Ruger Mark II
Harrington & Richardson 999 Sportsman
Ruger 10-22
Winchester 94-22
I saved this into Word a year ago, I don’t know if it’s complete, but here it is.
Marlin Model 39A
Henry Arms (Armalite) AR-7
ETA: I have two Ruger 10-22s. One is a stainless steel Wal-Mart special with a 22-inch barrel. It has a stainless steel-finished scope. The other is a 'crinkle-finished standard 10-22 that I’ve modified with a Manlicher stock.
I tend to like the most mundane version of a firearm. Think; ‘This is what most people bought.’ That’s why I bought the Ruger Mk. II pistol with a four-inch barrel and fixed sights.
I’ve never fired my (three-screw) Single Six. I need to buy some .22 Magnum rounds so that I know which cylinder is which.
I really like my H&R 999. I’ve never taken it to the range, but I used it to dispatch a mouse that the snap trap maimed but didn’t kill. I think the aesthetics and the top-break are cool.
This auction entry is a much higher-quality Colt Woodsman Match Target First Series (elephant ear grip) than the one I own, which has amateur engraving and is a user, not a collectible, but it’s a darn nice shooter. One of the grips got broken and glued back together by a previous owner. Mine’s actually a 1938 manufacture, as I found when I checked the serial number. So the gun’s actually older than I am.
Well, the cheapest one I can find right now is about $350, and it’s pretty damn rough. It doesn’t have the magnum cylinder, and you’d have to refinish the bluing, at least. Most used ones are in the same ballpark as a new one.
Really nice older ones are asking for more than new ones. Who knows, maybe they’re not selling for those prices. I just would have never thought a plinking gun that’s still manufactured would be collectible.
BTW, IIRC, my mag cylinder was marked as being for them.
I own a Ruger 10-22, but it was purchased for me as a present by my FiL riiiight before COVID / BLM panic buying, and it’s never been fired. Sadness. Now that .22 and other ammo is not pain inducing, I may have to take a chance to go shooting again - probably in fall when the temps drop.
I have a pair of .22 bolts that I have semi-inherited from my FiL, one with a fire and reload mechanism, one with a tiny 5 round box mag. Both are probably 70+ years old, and were apparently my wife’s grandmothers guns.
I have another .22 coming to me from him in a few more years, a .22 revolver (full size, 9 shot) with a top break extractor system. I don’t think he owns any other 22LR, but considering I have a safe full of guns from him that he didn’t have space for anymore, I won’t rule it out.
I don’t think I’ll be buying any more guns but there are two I have always wanted but couldn’t justify when I have more than I will ever shoot. One of which is a Henry Lever action in .22 mag… Because lever actions are just too much fun to shoot.
Well, mine is long gone (haven’t owned a chemical propellant gun in decades), and apparently not all of them were marked (possibly they’re the minority). This forum thread has a pretty good discussion about identifying them, but obviously if you have both cylinders the cheapest and safest method would just be buying some .22 magnum and seeing what fits. I mean, .22 ammo is still expensive for what it is, but $0.40 per round at Academy for the fancy stuff doesn’t seem too bad.
Wow, you guys seem to classify air guns that can reach over 500 FPS and more than 5.7 joules as firearms. That would make my ancient Crossman .177 multi-pump a firearm under Canadian law. It can do twice that speed, and easily double that energy with a heavier pellet. Of course, if I’m shooting it in my backyard I keep the pressure down so the pellets wouldn’t go supersonic and scare the neighbors with a pop that’s indistinguishable from a .22 pistol. My house would be the backstop behind/around my pellet trap, so it avoids the prohibition of firing any projectile throwing weapon in a trajectory that would cross a property line that seems pretty standard in Texas.
Either way, yeah. These .22 pistols aren’t really good for anything but target shooting/plinking. I wouldn’t even hunt squirrel with a .22 pistol. That’d just be cruel. .22 LR in a proper rifle? Yeah, that’s perfect for squirrel, or really any other varmit around the same size.
Winchester single shot bolt action that my grandfather owned. Passed down to me from my father. The rifling is about gone.
Browning BL-22 short throw lever action.
Rugar Mark II bull barrel target pistol.
I also bough a Benjamin Marauder PCP ( Pre-Charged Pneumatic) in .22. Also bought a special compressor to charge it up. It’s very, very accurate. Didn’t come with iron sights. Came with a 4x-16x 40mm scope, and it makes good use of it.
I do live remote, and people do sight in their hunting rifles around here from time to time, but I prefer something quiet for target shooting. The scope on it makes me feel like I’m cheating though.
My first gun was also a J.C. Higgins .22. Mine was a tube fed, bolt action rifle made by Marlin (Model 81). My brother gave it to me for Christmas when I was (I think) 13 years old in 1960. He ordered it from the Sears catalog, of course. I recently gave it to my grandson.
Actually, come to think of it, by step-grandfather gave me a Stevens 22-410 over/under break action rifle/shotgun about a year earlier than that. Stevens started making these in 1938, and Savage took it over in 1950. Mine had “patent pending” stamped on the barrel, so it may have been a very early model.
