Inheireted Rifles - Lots of Questions

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xanderzuk

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My Grandfather passed away in June, leaving behind a handful of rifles that hadn't been fired in decades. Knowing that I would use them more than anyone, my dad and his brothers gave two of them to me. Both are in absolute MINT condition.

The first is a single shot Remington 514 in .22lr

The second is a Mossberg 640 KD Chuckster in .22 Mag (pretty rare)

My first question is this: I know how to clean all of my center fire weapons, but I've heard a lot of rumors about cleaning rimfire guns- whats the best way to go about cleaning these beautiful relics?

Second: The gun's are in San Diego, where I've moved temporarily, where can I go shooting? Also, I've heard lots of people go out to the desert to shoot, where can I do this legally and safely?

Third: Whats the story with hunting rabbit out here? This is what my grandfather used the rifles for, but that was back when SD was a city of less than 200,000. Are there any good places to go in SoCal? Is there a certain time of the year that this should be done to avoid parasites?

Thanks for the help! I'm just a southern boy trying to comply with these wonderful California rules and regulations!
 
As far as places to shoot, look into South Bay Rod and Gun. I was a member there when I lived in San Diego.
 
The de facto arrangement for most of SoCal is: drive until you're in the middle of nowhere, set up, shoot, and leave. If you feel like being a good steward of the land, police your stuff up; just realize that it will probably be a feel-good exercise in futility since the last two dozen people to shoot at that spot will have left all their crap where it lay.

I've never formally hunted rabbit, so I couldn't tell you whether there's a license or a season; what I do know is that jacks are all over the place, pretty overpopulated in a lot of areas due to lack of predation, and I wouldn't eat 'em if you paid me - I haven't seen one yet that wasn't covered with ticks and full of parasites.

The thing to keep in mind is that the SoCal desert is a BIG place, and the state has neither the resources nor the give-a-crap to patrol most of it. This doesn't mean that flagrant disregard for rules & regs is okay, but it does mean that in practice, you're going to be pretty much on your own - use your personal discretion and don't sweat the (unenforced and largely unenforceable) paper rules too much. If you have a pickup and you want to earn the gratitude of the locals, hitting up illegal dumping sites and carting out a couple of old mattresses or discarded La-Z-Boys anytime you make a trip out to go shooting is a pretty surefire way to earn a rep as an alright guy. This is assuming you have a Dumpster or somesuch to dispose of them without the ridiculous CA landfill fees (which is why everyone dumps trash in the desert to begin with).

Have I mentioned I'm glad to be out of there?
 
Buy a Calif. Hunting License, and get the Hunting Regulations booklet from the F&G Dept. Check out the hunting regs for rabbits, etc.

L.W.
 
Clean the .22 mag the same way you clean your centerfires. .22 mag bullets are not lubricated the way .22LRs are, so you should regularly clean the .22 mag barrel in the same way you handle centerfires.

I rarely fully clean my .22s ... just run a bore snake through the barrel once in a while. However, if I inherited a gun that I didn't know much about, I'd detail clean it and really scrub the bore, knowing that by doing so I'm removing any "curing" from the lube from previously fired ammo. With a completely clean bore, it may take a few rounds for the gun to settle down again as the barrel once again "cures."
 
I don't know about the Remington, but I had one of those Mossberg "Chucksters" in 22mag, and it was a true "tack driver". Sold it about a year ago to a fellow in AZ that is having a ball using it to keep the Coyotes out of his chickens.
 
As far as places to go shooting, I can't help you, but I can tell you where NOT to go. Out by Ramona there is a place called Orasko ridge or some such, I will NEVER GO THERE AGAIN. I didn't even shoot there. I got there, saw that one of the shooting areas was the top of a hill that served as a back stop and drove away. Dumb.
 
The 500 series of Remmy 22 rifles are usally always tack drivers. I have a 512 it the Bolt action tube feed one in the series. Head over to RimfireCentral and they will get you up to speed on both rifles.
 
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