Happy rimfire dance!

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Preacherman

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Dropped into a new gunshop yesterday. It's run by a friend who was a gun nut for years, and decided in retirement to turn his interest into a business. I went in to look for .22LR rifles, because I want to get one or two lever-actions in that caliber as training weapons for my disabled students.

Yours truly spotted four lovely lever-action .22's: a Winchester 9422MXTR in .22 Win. Mag., two Browning BL-22's (one missing its inner magazine tube assembly) and a Henry .22 (all three of the latter in .22 LR). My pal the owner had just got them on trade, and spent yesterday evening cleaning them up. He invited me to come in again this morning and see what the selling price would be once he'd had a chance to clean them up and check them out.

Well, I went in today - and oh, boy, did I get a great deal! The Winchester 9422 (a high-grade gun with great wood, engraved receiver, etc.) turned out to have a bulged barrel about two-thirds of the way towards the muzzle, making it necessary to replace the barrel if it's to be used. In that condition, he priced it at $150. The Grade 1 Browning BL-22 was listed at $250, and the other, a Grade II BL-22 missing its inner magazine tube but with checkered wood, engraved receiver and gold trigger, was also listed at $250. The Henry was listed at $200. Silly man that I am, I actually pointed out that his prices were very much on the low side, but he said that because I was a good friend and a pastor he'd give me a break on them - others would pay more. I didn't ask any further questions! :evil:

I borrowed his computer and went online to Gun Parts Corp., to find that a new .22 Magnum barrel for the Winchester would only cost about $80 and a new inner magazine tube for the BL-22 about $32 - and both parts were in stock. To make a long story short, after trading in a few milsurp bolt-actions that I can't shoot any more due to back injury, I walked out with all four rifles for $100 in cash! Talk about a happy dance!

The Winchester and the Grade II Browning are going to live with me. The Grade I Browning and the Henry will become training guns for my disabled students.

I need a gunsmith to install the new barrel on the Winchester. Can anyone recommend a riflesmith who can do such work well? I don't mind paying a professional rate to have it done properly. Even if it costs me a hundred bucks or so, I reckon I'm still way below market on the total cost of the gun - round here a 9422MXTR in top condition will fetch $500 or more.

I'm now gloating and caressing four lovely rimfire lever-actions lined up next to my desk.

:D
 
Congratulations!

Those are all fun guns, and the Winchester is even a rare classic.

Enjoy, and may your students enjoy them too!
 
I would shoot the winnie before ya do anything... also would it be 16 iches or more if the problem spot in the barrel was cut off? A .22 trapper might be nice ;)
 
Tallpaul, unfortunately the bulge is 15" from the breech - that means the overall barrel length would be below the 16" legal limit if I shortened it. I'll put a new barrel on instead.
 
Try Steve Young a stevesgunz.com I have owned all the guns that you now own and I can tell you that you have some nice guns there. When you get the 22mag up and running be sure to try the Winchester ammo in the black box. I don't remember what it is called but it is the most accurate that I have tried.
 
That Winchester black box stuff was called "Supreme", I believe it was made in Canada and I don't believe Winchester offers it anymore.
I haven't seen any listed in any of the distributer catalogs in quite a while.

Great deal on those rifles.
 
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