Thanks

The 521 is not used that much. It's a late production rifle June 1968 even these are getting hard to find in nice condition. For the past week I have my eye on a very nice model 34. I did not make an offer on it yet. I would today but I do not fell like driving thirty miles one way to go pick it up. I may regret being too lazy today. The guy could sell the rifle. The model 34 is in great shape and the price is fair. However I would pay his asking price. Some of the model 34's go for crazy prices. More than I'm willing to spend for one.

You are correct about these old target Remington’s are a lot of fun to shoot. They also work well as hunting rifles. During my preteen years my favorite 22 was a Remington model 34. Since that 22 has a magazine tube you had plenty of ammo on hand in the tube for plinking or hunting.

I spent many afternoons plinking at tin cans, homemade targets, small game. When it comes to accuracy These old Remington’s can hold their own. I took many rabbits, squirrels and pheasants with that model 34. Back then the farming practices were different than today. Pheasants would roam the fence lines of corn fields.

We would walk the fence lines kick up a pheasant and take a shot. Most of the time we were able to get a shot at the bird while it was running along the fence line. Times are different today. Kids have more things available to them to do. Video games and so on. However, plinking is still fun in today.

At my family cottage when the whole family is staying with us. My grandsons will be laying around playing video game. I’ll say to them Hey boys you want to breakout a few 22’s and have some fun. They drop the video games in a heart beat and want to go on the small range I have and plink away.

We all have fun plinking away. Even my granddaughters get into the mix of shooting sports. Sometimes the young girls kick the boys A... in shooting. The girls pay more attention to shooting techniques than the boys. Safety wise they all do well. Proper shooting techniques is where the girls shine, they listen and pay attention to the details.

 

The most accurate .22 bolt actions I've fired were those that had a internal hammer rather than a striker. One was a "Revelation" IIRC a clone of a Mossberg design.
The Savage bolt actions with adjustable trigger, though striker fired, are also deadly accurate. I leave a hair of slack to take up for safety's sake but slick everything down and lighten the pull while making sure it still breaks crisp.

Personally I consider a two stage trigger to be the most safe.

PS
I prefer a airgun or CO2 gun for plinking.

 

Heartwarming post about .22 shooting voere, both the Model 34 lore and your description of the grandkids' shooting enthusiasm. Am glad to hear it.

I will have a good Model 34. Cool little rifle with interesting cartridge feed design. Got a model 34 from a local pawn shop about 10 years ago as a "project." Stock was poor, damaged. A "sympathetic" restoration I undertook didn't do much for it in my opinion so it went away.

Actually that Model 512 I mentioned picking up at the gun show in the earlier post was a sort of "consolation prize" last weekend at the gun show. Funny you should mention the Remington Model 34. I'd just stayed up all night Friday night doing the security stint and was leaving that morning to come home to take a nap before returning for Saturday night. I walked the full length of the arena exhibit floor to where I had the car parked inside near the roll-up door.

There at the last table of the center aisle was an exhibitor with a rifle rack containing vintage .22 rifles. There was the usual run of Winchester Model 67s in uneven condition, a ratty Winchester Model 61, Remington 550, and also a cracker jack of a Model 34. I've not seen hardly any of these and this was best I've seen by far. A tag for $300 was swinging from its trigger guard. I didn't have my reading glasses but it was easy to see it was in really fine condition and no real complaints could be leveled at its condition. The exhibitor was no where to be seen, likely milling about looking for "deals" before the show opened. I put the rifle back on the rack, thinking I'd just stop back by when I returned at closing time with my glasses, take a closer look, perhaps offer $250 and take that little dumplin' home. After all, who else was going to come along and want an old obsolete .22 beside me?

Returned to the show a bit early in the afternoon to have time to pick up the rifle before closing time at 5:00. Walked up to the table and there ... there was a gap on the rack where the rifle had been. Inquired of the seller if indeed he'd sold it. Yep, gone! Getting home for the Saturday nap cost me. "Snooze, ya' lose."

Discovered and purchased that Model 512 on the rebound about 10 minutes later. I'm still tickled over the nice Model 512 though. It's charming.

 

Here's a "pontification" I placed up on another forum or two about another .22 I've had around here for a long time.

A Sad Little .22



This scarce model and very uncommonly seen Winchester Model 57 .22 target rifle was unearthed sometime about 1979-1980 in the South Main Pawn shop, now out-of-business, formerly located strangely enough, on South Main Street in Cleburne, Texas. One day when I was browsing the fairly extensive inventory of used firearms they carried, I spied a fresh pile of long guns crammed into a heaping stack into one corner. Perhaps I should have said pieces of long guns for this jumble really consisted of a lot of junk they'd cleaned out and were intending to scrap. Stuff like: broken stocks, broken cheap-o single-shot shotguns, damascus twist double-barrels without stocks, a sporterized Arisaka missing its bolt, cut-down 93 Mauser also missing a bolt, junk Crosman pellet rifles, rusty BB guns. Just a lot of junk, truly worthless junk. I asked to dig through the pile, thinking I might come upon a 98 Mauser action or similar. None were found, in fact there wasn't a single complete firearm in the entire pile except for one, found deeply buried. I almost lost interest before rooting far enough to discover it.

It was a very broken .22 rifle. I was not familiar with my Winchester models back then, but knew the name could mean something so I fished it out. It looked like it would have been cute at one time with its cocking piece reminiscent of a 1903 Springfield. But it was in a sorry state. No finish, ample rust, bore like a plowed field, and the stock had been horribly smashed. Extensive crude repairs had been made and then the stock had been broken badly a second time at some later date. When I held the rifle horizontally, supported at the pistol grip, the barrel pointed drunkenly toward the floor, a frightfully extensive and splintery split running through the fore end and back to the action.

The Winchester Model 57 was designed to be a target right for junior competition, intended to be a sort of "junior" Winchester Model 52. It was manufactured from 1926 to 1936, serial numbered to 19000-and-something, the serial number sequence being shared with the even scarcer Winchester Model 56, which was the sporter version of the same action design, only with a different stock design and lacking the Lyman sight. Most were produced prior to 1930 and the final few years were probably assembled from a parts clean-up.

The pawn shop gigged me for $30 for this piece 'a junk and I carried it home. I had me a project. I had hopes that the barrel would clean up enough to group decently. If it did then I was going to order a generic stock that Fajen then advertised in their catalog that could be adapted to several different Winchester magazine-fed bolt-action .22s.

The 22-inch barrel sports a '27 on its underside, beneath the stock and in front of the action. This means the rifle was produced just prior to the advent of non-corrosive priming and the bore was a testimony to the ravages of the corrosive ammunition of the era in which it was made.

Impatient to fire a round through it, I just grabbed the bottle of Elmer's Glue out of the kitchen hardware drawer and filled the huge fore end crack up with glue, wound several stiff rubber bands around the repair and screwed a couple of c-clamps to the fore end for good measure.

The aperture in the Lyman 42W receiver sight was smushed so I stopped by Gary Fellers' tables at the next Fort Worth Round Up Inn gun show and got a replacement.

These two repairs and the clean-up represent the sum total of effort expended on the rifle to date and that was nearly 40 years ago.

I likely purchased my first jar of JB Bore Cleaner for this rifle and after much scrubbing, produced a bore that appeared as if a bullet would actually pass through it. A jillion rounds later and with regular cleaning, the bore is burnished to the point it doesn't look so bad.

Right off the bat the rifle was bench rest tested for group at 100 yards and it proved good for easy 1 1/2-inch 5-shot groups, one even measuring 1 1/4-inches. It's a sleeper and one of the most accurate .22s I have. Remember, the bore doesn't look bad, but it also doesn't look good by any stretch of the imagination.

The rifle possesses the most wonderful two-stage trigger you ever saw with a dreamy trigger sear. This trigger has much to do with its accuracy performance.

Since its early days here, the rifle's been toted to Lake Leon on endless occasions for hunting and plinking, pursued rabbits on my parent's old place where I grew up, pursued more rabbits and squirrels in the Island Creek bottom south of Grandview, Texas. My brother-in-law's been on outings where it came along. My huntin' cousins have been amused by its homeliness. It's done duty as the yard defense gun, even recently. Most importantly, our two sons received early instruction on shooting and gun safety with it. They also competed with it in junior small-bore matches at the Central Texas Rifle & Pistol Club near Waco. It even occasionally won them first place ribbons against competitors with far more elaborate and expensive match .22s.

Mrs. noelekal even used once it to defend the house against a nitwit feral dog bent on digging his way into our house through a dryer vent. He kept returning, had torn up the vent and was doing extensive damage to the exterior brick work. One day she'd had enough and surprised our sons by employing the Model 57 to drop the dog in his tracks as he was attempting to make his escape, running across the back yard and into a field.



Our eldest son about 32 years ago, on his first hunting trip to Lake Leon with Dad


Probably 20 years after acquiring it, the rifle was lying on the reloading bench, its bore soaking after a shooting session. The freezer was situated right next to the reloading bench in a large laundry room. Mrs. noelekal dug through the freezer for something and had placed a package of frozen meat on the bench. A couple days later I discovered the now thawed package lying across the barrel of the Model 57 and bloody meat juice pooled on the bench. A further indignity that the rifle suffered.

I've often thought of providing it with a complete restoration with careful polish and blue, a new walnut stock custom made to correct profile. It's been a part of our family so long, looking bedraggled as it does, that I'm sentimentally attached to it. When I kick off, it'll likely be the single firearm our two sons fight hardest over. It was once sad and forlorn, but it's been a happy working rifle and well appreciated for a long time now.

 

Let's "parse" the "finer" details of this sow's ear.


Stains from the thawed meat.






The glue I poured in for the second repair as well as evidence of the first repair. The mark from a C-Clamp may be still seen.


Brass pins, part of the first repairs.


Genuine vintage cloth electrical tape and who-knows-what wraps on the pistol grip, part of the first repairs.




Nasty steel screw through the stock at the wrist, a part of the first repairs.




Hey, the steel butt plate is pretty nice.

 

Since we have the 22 plinkin subject.....
Back in the dark corners of the gunsafes behind the dozens of AR’s we have....
Browning 22lr semi made in Belgium
Winchester 9422 Boyscout edition
Makes me want go shoot them a little

 

I think my "wanter button" is turned up too high for I'd really like to have a both Browning .22 automatic and a Winchester Model 94/22. Would do for me to have a commemorative for I'd shoot it for sure.

I'm on the prowl for the right Marlin Model 39 to be acquired sometime this year.

 

You have a fully functional rifle. Hard to beat that cosmetically the rifle can be fixed up. You can pick up a new stock do the refinishing work yourself refinish the metal and wind up costing less than $100.

However, since the rifle functions and has sentimental value to you and your family you are better off to leave the rifle as is.

Great picture of your Son holding the rifle. He looks to be very happy with that rifle. That picture alone along with the rifle as is would be enough for me to keep the rifle as is.

 

Ah, memories. I remember back in the day when we were allowed to own guns, I had one of those little Brownings. Mine had a smaller/finer fore-grip, a lighter barrel and was a delight to use. It would break down into a back pack and was a great hunting rifle to catch the odd bunny or two for the campfire.

My other two .22LRs at the time were a Winchester Cooey single shot (never liked it much) and a Japanese Bentley .22LR lever action. The Bentley was a fine little rifle but my all time favourite .22 was always the Browning.

 

I also have an old Belgium made Browning take down .22, it's an excellent little gun.
My other .22 is an old Mossberg, a very accurate old rifle that my dad received for his 12th or 13th birthday.

 

This weekend I got my son's new Springfield 1911 on the bench to do a trigger job and in general just clean up the internals a bit. It sadly lacked in the area of finishing, the bushing and plunger were gritty feeling, the pins were roughly roughly finished. After an hour with some 400 grit emery cloth the gun now disassembles and reassembles smoothly and with little effort, and after a bit of time with the hones it has a decent trigger.

I also got my 110 year old Officer's Model on the bench and replaced the hand and bolt. The hand was surprisingly easy to fit and time, more like a SAA than a DA, the bolt on the other hand was a PITA. After forty minutes I thought I was done, it was working smoothly and I was really happy, then I put the side plate on and it wouldn't cock. Turns out that the bolt at the bottom of its travel was running into the sideplate and arresting the movement of the lock. After I figured that out it just took some more fitting of the bolt and now the gun functions perfectly.

 

Here is my Browning .22. It was made in the mid 50s, and is a very fine firearm.

 

Y'all are killin' me with these photographs of your Browning .22 automatics. I think it'd be an most elegant way to do .22 automatic in the field.

 

I hopped on Gunbroker real fast, it looks like you can pick one up for less than $500, I'm guessing that they will not be the old Belgium made ones though.

 

22 cal indulgence...found in local gun shop..too cheap to say..you wouldn't believe it.

Anschutz Match 54, 1974 vintage

 

OOOooo ... Wryfox, I'm envious of you too! That's a deal!

 

Pm me...."I gots ta know" under 800?

 

$350 w/accessories (2 slings +2 alternate adjustable buttplates + match ammo, plus hard case). Yes this was at a real gun shop. Shop sells tactical equip and such(ARs, HK, Glock etc), had no idea what this was, or cared. Said it had been there for months. I had to wipe dust off it.

 

Wry, that is simply amazing. You really made out like a bandit.

 

You find this and then I also have to read about guys finding a ‘62 Speedmaster in the cushions of a couch they looked at in Goodwill

That rifle is practically a little work of art