pump .22 rifle

I cut my hunting teeth as s kid pursuing fox squirrels with a Win 1890 .22 LR in the Texas hill country. I’d love one again someday...

Like lever rifles, there is something also very All-American about a pump action rifle .

Stay safe.

OP, sounds like it could have been the same gun that was the first non-BB-gun I ever fired; my Dad's 1950 model Remington 121 (which I still have and enjoy, as shown below). I've never had a scope on it (don't want to drill it or anything of that nature), but it is really accurate with open sights. It'll shoot with, or in some cases outshoot, my CZ 452s with open sights, which is an accomplishment. They are very well built and fun to operate and shoot.



They show up frequently on gunbroker and elsewhere, so finding one isn't a problem.

rkittine said:

I bought one of the Henry's pumps. Wanted an octagon barrel gallery type rifle and also wanted one in .22 WMR. I am happy with it, but it is not a newly designed gun, but a modification to their lever action. Not very smooth the way the action bars (singular) is.
Bob

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It's not because of a singular action bar that's it's a dog.

It's because it's a poor design with very little "mechanical advantage" to operate the action, and there's no way to ever make it a smooth action without a complete redesign.

NOW, their lever actions are VERY smooth, and a very nice lever gun to use.

DM

Ok I will chime in, I have my dad's Winchester Mod. 61 I used to buy .22 shorts at western auto for $0.39 in 1963 I was 11 and nobody thought that odd back then. I bought my first grandson when he was about 2 a Winchester Mod .62 from a gentleman and his wife asked how old he was and I told her 2 and she said you're just buying that for yourself, I said no ma'am I have my guns this is for him. I also picked him up an Ithaca Mod 37 in 16 gauge, I wanted a 20 but couldn't resist it. Somebody said something about reminding him of gallery guns. I didn't know this until maybe 15 years ago, the main difference in a gallery gun was the loading chute on a gallery gun was on the side and faced upward when gun was layed on the counter and made it easy for the operator to load them. Plus probably a shorter barrel. BTW that ole Mod. 61 I have, if you miss with it, don't blame the gun that thing is by far the most accurate .22 I have ever shot.

Sniper66 said:

You don't say how long ago the was. Could be a Model 121 if older or a Model 572 Field Master. Those were the 2 most popular I think...or maybe it was called the Speed-Master. I owned the 121 for awhile, but prefer my Marlin 39A lever gun.

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I also had a 572 Fieldmaster, but it wasn't as solid as the older models. It had an aluminum receiver and seemed more like a toy, compared with the older, solid steel rifles like the Winchester Model 61, which was a true marvel.

I have an old Remington 12. Slick, clean lines, just a lot of fun to shoot.

Encoreman said:

I didn't know this until maybe 15 years ago, the main difference in a gallery gun was the loading chute on a gallery gun was on the side and faced upward when gun was layed on the counter and made it easy for the operator to load them.

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Howdy Again

When I was about 12 years old or so my grandparents took me to a local shooting gallery on the midway of a carnival. I remember the operator had tubes preloaded with 10 rounds. Probably 22 Shorts, because it was a moveable gallery and the backstop was probably not very thick. Anyway, to load the operator pulled out the internal spring loaded magazine tube of the rifles, dumped his tube full of rounds down the magazine, then reinserted the rifle's internal spring loaded tube over the fresh ammo. The rifle's tube had a 'twist fastener' at the end of the muzzle. Very quick to pull out the inner tube and dump fresh rounds down the tube. The loading slot on the bottom of the magazine was not used at all. At least that's the way it was done at the shooting gallery Nana and Pop took me to. Here are a couple of photos of the pertinent area on my Dad's Model '06.








These rifles basically fired from an unlocked action. There is a small, triangular locking lug attached to the firing pin. The rebound spring on the firing pin keeps the lug in the rearward position where it engages a small recess on the inside of the frame to lock the action. When the hammer falls and the firing pin moves forward, the lug moves forward and unlocks the action at the instant the cartridge fires. This is necessary so the action can be cycled again.








Yes, you yank the slide handle back and forth to work the action, there is no mechanical advantage as there is with a lever rifle. The length of throw on my Dad's old Model '06, or its predecessor the Model 1890 is only about 2" total.








However I clearly remember handling a brand new Rossi copy of the Model '06 at a gun show once. The action was very stiff, much stiffer than Dad's old Model '06. Even though Dad's rifle was made in 1931, it did not get fired a whole lot in all those years, so it was not a question of it smoothing out over the years. It was just better made than the Rossi.




I have told this story here before, but it bears telling again. When I was about 15 I was rummaging through a big cardboard box in our basement, and my hand closed around something hard. I pulled it out, and there was Dad's little 22. I went upstairs, rifle in hand, and asked him "What's this?" His reply was, "I guess that's yours now". When he was a youngster my Dad wanted a 22 target rifle. He told his father, who commuted into Manhattan every day. So one day Pop went into the big Abercrombie and Fitch store that used to be on Madison Avenue, and came home with the little Winchester 22. Pop was an expert fisherman but he did not know anything about guns. This little rifle is a boy's gallery rifle, not a target rifle. I don't think my Dad ever had the heart to tell Pop it really was not what he wanted. I used to ride my bike to the local sporting goods store and buy boxes of 22 Shorts for the little Winchester. I don't remember how much they cost, but I was probably only about 15 years old. The store owner looked at me and said "You're Eighteen, right?" I nodded my head and rode my bike home with a couple of boxes of 22 Shorts. I set up a little shooting range in our basement with a piece of steel mounted at a 45 degree angle over a box of sand, and would shoot the rifle when my parents were not home. Years later I mentioned this to Dad and he smiled because he had done the same thing. Dad is gone now, but I still have the little Model '06. Here is a photo of my Dad shooting the little Winchester on the shores of Lake Katahdin in Maine in 1931. Dig the knickers.

Great story, Driftwood Johnson. The only thing that surprises me about it is that I wouldn't have thought there was a place in the country back then that cared how old someone was when buying ammo. By the time I was 12 or so I was trading guns by myself at the local trading post (in TN), not to mention buying ammo.

I'll probably get in trouble for this but if you need mechanical advantage to operate a .22 pump action rifle you should probably start working out more and eating better.

Steel Horse Rider said:

I'll probably get in trouble for this but if you need mechanical advantage to operate a .22 pump action rifle you should probably start working out more and eating better.

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Here's a news flash for you. IF you have a pump 22 that's smooth and works easy, it's BECAUSE of the mechanical advantage that's built into it, that is a big part of what makes it easy to pump, and Henry pump guns just don't have it.

I guess you just didn't realize that.

DM

I’m a diehard classic looks guy, but there is something about the plastic fantastic Rossi pumps that calls to me. Not that it’s a pretty rifle, but it’s not ugly, and when I think about hunting the rough ground of the hunting lease I think that’s a better fit than my nice wood stocked 22s. I have too many 22s to fool with as it is, but I feel like I might end up with that one.

I had parts of a Savage pump when I was a kid. Never did put it all together. It went missing after a fire at my parents' house. Savage model 1903 .22 pump action early production for sale (gunsinternational.com)

There is a gun shop on the SC/GA border on I-85 with a restored Remington pump 22 from the 50s. If I could have, I would have snagged it.

A couple of years ago my local gun store had an 1890 Winchester that had been relined with the comment “shoots great” on the tag. They wanted 450 for it. Kicking myself now

DMW1116 said:

There is a gun shop on the SC/GA border on I-85 with a restored Remington pump 22 from the 50s. If I could have, I would have snagged it.

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Are they still in business?

When I first started hunting I had two borrowed guns to choose from: a well-worn Ithaca Model 37 20 gauge and an equally used Remington Model 572 Fieldmaster .22. Both had super slick actions from being used so much but for some reason I just gravitated to the Fieldmaster. Looked for a pump action rifle when I was looking to buy my first .22 but couldn't find any. Turned out okay though as I got a Ruger 10/22 instead.

Steve Milbocker said:

A couple of years ago my local gun store had an 1890 Winchester that had been relined with the comment “shoots great” on the tag. They wanted 450 for it. Kicking myself now

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Howdy Again

Another story from the distant past. One Saturday when I was cutting the grass, shortly after Dad gave me his little Model '06, our across the street neighbor Mr Presco called me over to his house. We went inside and Mr Presco showed me a beautiful pump rifle very much like my Model '06. It was a Model 1890, the predecessor to the Model '06. As I recall the blue was spotless, but of course this was a long time ago. A week later Mr Presco called me over again and presented me with a rifle rack he had made for my Model '06. It was made of walnut, and I proudly hung it on the wall of my bedroom and the little rifle hung there until I went away to college.

Time passed and I went to college, then moved to Boston, but I never forgot Mr Presco's beautiful Model 1890. A few years ago I went on a quest for one of my own. As I mentioned earlier, because of the design of the carrier, the Model 1890 was chambered for 22 WRF, 22 Long Rifle, 22 Long, or 22 Short. They could only feed one version, they could not feed different lengths interchangeably. It turns out that because it was considered a 'boy's rifle' the most common chambering for the Model 1890 was 22 Short, followed by 22 WRF, followed by 22 Long, with 22 Long Rifle being the least common variant. I have no idea which cartridge Mr Presco's Model 1890 was chambered for, but I wanted one chambered for 22 Long Rifle.

I now have three of them.

22 Short, left the factory in 1906.






22 Long, left the factory in 1908.






and 22 Long Rifle, left the factory in 1928.






None of them are pristine as Mr Presco's was, but I was able to get each of them for reasonably good prices, between $500 and $700. I took them all to the range one day along with Dad's Model '06, and I wish I could report the 1890s are still tack drivers, but they are not. Who knows how many thousands of rounds went through them over the years, perhaps in shooting galleries, but my Dad's little Model '06 is still a tack driver, probably because thousands of rounds were not put through it, and it outshoots all of my Model 1890s.

I looked up Mr Presco recently, he passed in 1998. But I'm sure he is smiling down on me with my collection of Model 1890 rifles.

Ol'Rusty, a Winchester Model 61:

About a year or so ago, I bid on a Remington 572 Fieldmaster pump .22 on an online auction.
I always wanted a pump .22 but never saw one at a price I liked when I had the money.
Anyway, I just kept sneaking the bid up, and wound up with this old rifle.
I think I did ok, not great but ok at $310
It's a smooth, accurate, fun little gun. If it ever warms up, I'll have to take it out for a while.
I don't have any pictures after it was cleaned up, but this is it from the auction sight.

Henry makes a pump.

I had the Daisy replica of the 572 when I was a kid. The plastic parts in the slide didn’t hold up and I had to hold the slide back to fire it but it was my pride and joy at the time!

They were as of a month ago. I haven't been that way since then.

I still like to take this old Marlin Type 47 out to the woods to plink at squirrels and rabbits. Old but still gets it done.

DM~ said:

Here's a news flash for you. IF you have a pump 22 that's smooth and works easy, it's BECAUSE of the mechanical advantage that's built into it, that is a big part of what makes it easy to pump, and Henry pump guns just don't have it.

I guess you just didn't realize that.

DM

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I have three old Winchesters and a Remington pump, none of which is difficult to operate. I have shot the one Winchester since I was about 12 years old, which would make it 55 years. Never had a Henry and probably won't ever buy one so I will take your word for it. My comment was in a general sense, not particularly directed at you. My apologies if I offended your finer sense of well being.