MacTech
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It's funny, Dad taught me how to shoot on an old Ithaca 49 lever-action single shot .22, for my 16th birthday, he gave me a Marlin 25 7-shot bolt action .22....
I appreciated and loved that rifle, but in my heart, I "knew" semiautos were "better", every time I took that 25 out to shoot, part of me was wishing it was a 10/22, 10 shots, semiauto, just plain cool.....
Fast forward to adulthood, (I'm 40 now), thankfully, Dad is still with us, he no longer shoots for fun, just the occasional dispatching of a woodchuck with his Ruger Single Six....
He's given me full reign of his gun cabinet, all manual action guns, the aforementioned Single Six, a couple break-barrel shotguns, a falling block .22 Short Stevens heavy barrel, the aforementioned Ithaca 49, and a Winchester '94 in 44/40
Most of my guns are manual action as well, break barrels, pumps, revolvers, and bolts, but of course, I *DID* have to pick up a couple semiautos, just to buck the trend, a Ruger 22/45, a Kimber Custom II, and a Ruger 10/22......
I've never really been completely happy with the 10/22, this current one is my second one, the first one had an absolutely horrible trigger, and I traded out of it, my current one has a slightly better trigger, but still not very good, heck, my Marlin 25's trigger is better than the Ruger's...
I know I could upgrade and tweak the 10/22 to my heart's content, but I really don't want to, I'm of the mindset that a gun should just shoot right right out of the box, and not require a nearly complete rebuild to make it servicable, I bought the gun used for around $175ish, and I can't see spending more than I paid to get the gun shooting "right", when my Marlin 25 does it right already, and has had *NO* tweaks, aside from being scoped, the only advantage (for *me*) the Ruger has over a good boltgun is ammo capacity and faster follow-up shots, but since 99% of my shooting is killin' paper targets, quick followup shots are not necessary, and it goes against my ingrained training (thanks, Dad
) of making *each and every* shot count
Even stranger, whenever I shoulder a semiauto, be it a 10/22, a Marlin 60 or 795, a Remmie speedmaster, Savage 65, AR-15 or any of the myriad of semiauto long guns I've tried, they just feel somehow, vaguely "wrong", I have no way of describing or quantifying this feeling, to me, a semi just feels wrong, like something is "missing", but put me behind a break-barrel, a bolt, a pump, or a lever, and I immediately feel at home, the gun just feels *right*
I think that what I feel is "missing" from the semiauto is the interacting with the gun during the eject/load cycle, a semiauto removes that factor of control from the shooter, instead of the shooter ejecting the spent shell and reloading a fresh shell, the gun does it itself (strangely, the M-1 Garand is the only semi that I don't get a "this is wrong" feeling from, maybe I'm just one of those "old souls"? ), and I miss that little bit of interaction with the gun, a well made bolt, lever, or pump feels like a finely tuned machine, precise and smooth, a semi's bolt slamming back, spitting out a shell with reckless abandon, and crudely *jamming* a new one into the chamber feels slightly "rough" and "unrefined"....
(that's probably also the reason I only own manual transmissioned cars, as I hate automatics, too boring, I want *control* )
Y'know something..... Dad was right all along, for my purposes, a manual action gun is just plain *better*, I don't hunt small game, so followup shots aren't necessary, besides, if I can't make the hit with the first shot, I shouldn't be shooting it anyway, somehow, he knew that getting me that Marlin 25 would be the right thing to do, that I really wouldn't have been happy with a 10/22, the temptation to spray-n'-pray would be too strong
Heck, I've even made the final decision to trade off my last 10/22 towards a nice used CZ 452 bolt action, far more accurate, and has that precise Swiss timepiece feel to it, and more accuracy, solid steel construction, real walnut stock
If I ever feel the need for another semiauto .22, I can pick up a decent inexpensive Marlin 60 or 795 anyway, but I may not feel the need for a semiauto .22 for a long time, as I love my manual actions
Dad, you were right, thanks for starting me off the right way, with that great little Marlin 25
....strangely enough, I *don't* get that "this is wrong" feeling from my semiauto handguns though, mainly because Dad never really let me shoot his revolver as a child and teen, not sure why, I have always been a safe and responsible shooter, he just never let me shoot the revolver, so, when I was old enough to own a handgun, I started off with a Ruger Mark II and a Taurus 689 .357, semi or revolver? my answer on that is "both, please"
I appreciated and loved that rifle, but in my heart, I "knew" semiautos were "better", every time I took that 25 out to shoot, part of me was wishing it was a 10/22, 10 shots, semiauto, just plain cool.....
Fast forward to adulthood, (I'm 40 now), thankfully, Dad is still with us, he no longer shoots for fun, just the occasional dispatching of a woodchuck with his Ruger Single Six....
He's given me full reign of his gun cabinet, all manual action guns, the aforementioned Single Six, a couple break-barrel shotguns, a falling block .22 Short Stevens heavy barrel, the aforementioned Ithaca 49, and a Winchester '94 in 44/40
Most of my guns are manual action as well, break barrels, pumps, revolvers, and bolts, but of course, I *DID* have to pick up a couple semiautos, just to buck the trend, a Ruger 22/45, a Kimber Custom II, and a Ruger 10/22......
I've never really been completely happy with the 10/22, this current one is my second one, the first one had an absolutely horrible trigger, and I traded out of it, my current one has a slightly better trigger, but still not very good, heck, my Marlin 25's trigger is better than the Ruger's...
I know I could upgrade and tweak the 10/22 to my heart's content, but I really don't want to, I'm of the mindset that a gun should just shoot right right out of the box, and not require a nearly complete rebuild to make it servicable, I bought the gun used for around $175ish, and I can't see spending more than I paid to get the gun shooting "right", when my Marlin 25 does it right already, and has had *NO* tweaks, aside from being scoped, the only advantage (for *me*) the Ruger has over a good boltgun is ammo capacity and faster follow-up shots, but since 99% of my shooting is killin' paper targets, quick followup shots are not necessary, and it goes against my ingrained training (thanks, Dad
) of making *each and every* shot countEven stranger, whenever I shoulder a semiauto, be it a 10/22, a Marlin 60 or 795, a Remmie speedmaster, Savage 65, AR-15 or any of the myriad of semiauto long guns I've tried, they just feel somehow, vaguely "wrong", I have no way of describing or quantifying this feeling, to me, a semi just feels wrong, like something is "missing", but put me behind a break-barrel, a bolt, a pump, or a lever, and I immediately feel at home, the gun just feels *right*
I think that what I feel is "missing" from the semiauto is the interacting with the gun during the eject/load cycle, a semiauto removes that factor of control from the shooter, instead of the shooter ejecting the spent shell and reloading a fresh shell, the gun does it itself (strangely, the M-1 Garand is the only semi that I don't get a "this is wrong" feeling from, maybe I'm just one of those "old souls"?
), and I miss that little bit of interaction with the gun, a well made bolt, lever, or pump feels like a finely tuned machine, precise and smooth, a semi's bolt slamming back, spitting out a shell with reckless abandon, and crudely *jamming* a new one into the chamber feels slightly "rough" and "unrefined"....(that's probably also the reason I only own manual transmissioned cars, as I hate automatics, too boring, I want *control* )
Y'know something..... Dad was right all along, for my purposes, a manual action gun is just plain *better*, I don't hunt small game, so followup shots aren't necessary, besides, if I can't make the hit with the first shot, I shouldn't be shooting it anyway, somehow, he knew that getting me that Marlin 25 would be the right thing to do, that I really wouldn't have been happy with a 10/22, the temptation to spray-n'-pray would be too strong
Heck, I've even made the final decision to trade off my last 10/22 towards a nice used CZ 452 bolt action, far more accurate, and has that precise Swiss timepiece feel to it, and more accuracy, solid steel construction, real walnut stock
If I ever feel the need for another semiauto .22, I can pick up a decent inexpensive Marlin 60 or 795 anyway, but I may not feel the need for a semiauto .22 for a long time, as I love my manual actions
Dad, you were right, thanks for starting me off the right way, with that great little Marlin 25
....strangely enough, I *don't* get that "this is wrong" feeling from my semiauto handguns though, mainly because Dad never really let me shoot his revolver as a child and teen, not sure why, I have always been a safe and responsible shooter, he just never let me shoot the revolver, so, when I was old enough to own a handgun, I started off with a Ruger Mark II and a Taurus 689 .357, semi or revolver? my answer on that is "both, please"
