Is it Semi-Auto or Bolt ? Have You Ever Seen One?

rust collector said:

A bit more info that may help someone: https://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+Beretta+Olimpia,+Part+One:+while+scarce+before+2016,+recent...-a0587765416
http://www.smallarmsreview.com/display.article.cfm?idarticles=1957
I find no mention of parts interchangeability.

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Thanks for that, makes sense..

Parts do not look interchangeable.. Well without a little man handling

Such a cool Walther! And just about any thing made from Walther in 22, or even Pellet rifles are top class. Love the Finger Grooves on the stock, which is a beautiful stock to begin with.
Thanks for sharing.

In 1938 Stevens introduced the gun folks call a Gill Gun or Click Clack. A tube feed Semi auto that featured a charging handle that when pushed in locked the bolt closed. Pulling the cocking piece back out allowed one to pull it to the rear and release it. One could thus use it as a locked breech gun or a semi auto, much the same as these guns.

As a kid I was convinced my later Savage version was more accurate and more powerful when used as a lock breeched gun. Not having a chronograph I had no way of knowing about the velocity then and just guessed. As I did not shoot at bullseyes then or for groups but just did plinking and small game the accuracy was just a guess because it "felt right" as well.

One thing neat was that the rifle I had was marked as for S, L, or LR and it functioned in both modes with each and even with a random mix of shells. In those days Shorts were cheaper than Longs and longs cheaper than Long rifle, so depending on my job situation at the time I shot what I could afford. That long tube held a boat load of .22 Short! I wonder what it would be like for a twelve year old to walk up to the counter and offer a hand full of change for a box of .22 today....at the grocery store.

-kBob

The 1st rifle I purchased was one of those Gill Guns. Except mine was the Model 85 which had the removable magazine vs the tube magazine. Picked it up at a Garage sale while on my paper route (with paper route money no less). As I rode home with it on my bike an older neighbor yelled at me wanting to know what I had. I stopped and showed him, then he went in his house to give me a 1/2 box of ammo. Now that is the good old days.. I still have the gun and the box of ammo (now empty). Wish I had the bike still ... Sorry OP for the topic drift.

So was able to actually compare these 2 guns in person. At that big high tone Sunday shooting club, it just so happen, that one guy brought a Walther Model 2 and another guy was shooting a Beretta Olympia.. So got them to let me get some close look at the 2 and take some photos..





Now here is a the best part, the guy they call Chrono Charlie also showed and he likes to measure everything.. So he used his chronograph to see if the there was any difference in muzzle velocity between semi auto and bolt action.

The results showed little if any difference between shooting them in Semi auto and bolt. At best there may have been a 50 feet per second lower muzzle velocity when the guns were in Semi mod. But in all probably just variations in the ammo. Just as likely the rounds were just as fast in Semi mode as well as Bolt action.

I guess blowback guns do not have a negative effect on muzzle velocity.??

kBob said:

One thing neat was that the rifle I had was marked as for S, L, or LR and it functioned in both modes with each and even with a random mix of shells. In those days Shorts were cheaper than Longs and longs cheaper than Long rifle, so depending on my job situation at the time I shot what I could afford. That long tube held a boat load of .22 Short! I wonder what it would be like for a twelve year old to walk up to the counter and offer a hand full of change for a box of .22 today....at the grocery store.

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My grandfather says the same thing about a Winchester 190 he still has. He would feed it shorts and longs to control squirrel/chipmunk populations on his farm. He grumbles about buying .22LR for it now as longs and shorts are scarce. I have a box of 22 shorts that was made sometime in the 70s I believe that would feel at home in that 190.

Mr.Revolverguy said:

Nice comparison thank you. I have actually shot reloads 308 in a Savage 110 and AR10 and did not see any statistical change in velocity

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Well I am glad I was not a betting man because I would have bet money there would have been a noticeable difference.. Sometimes no matter how much you try to think things out, reality reaches up and slaps you in the face..

I’ve been thinking about getting one of the Beretta Olympia rifles from Classic Firearms. If I’m going to, I should do it before they sell out.

GunnyUSMC said:

I’ve been thinking about getting one of the Beretta Olympia rifles from Classic Firearms. If I’m going to, I should do it before they sell out.

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Considering what they were selling for before this last batch came in, the new ones are a bargain. AND THEY HAVE MAGAZINES.. It is one hell of a nice rifle. The one in the photo is the heavy barrel version, I think the sporter looks better.

I saw one at the late, lamented San Francisco Gun Exchange in the 80's. I wanted it, but while the price was reasonable for a Walther it was a bit more than I was willing to part with for yet another 22. So I passed. Still a very cool gun.

Oh, my.

Funny, I just heard about the Walther for the first time earlier this week on the latest Forgotten Weapons Q&A. I remember a discussion of the Gill Gun sometime back on another forum, but I've never laid eyes on either to date.

Cool history and gun. Thx for posting the video.

neat!