Inhereited Remington .22

[Waveski]

I came into good fortune recently. I am very pleased to now own a vintage pump action .22 Remington. I would like to learn all I can about it, including year of manufacture.

This appears to be a model 12 or variation thereof. There is no model reference stamped anywhere on the receiver. 22" barrel. The sights are very interesting - Lyman tangent type rear peep sight and flip-up front shroud. I don't know if these were original options or after market.

There are a few fine cracks in the stock and a bit of looseness in receiver ; I have not yet disassembled. I did put 5 rounds through the old rifle and the function checks.

I have long admired this genre of .22 ; now I have one. It came as a surprise - how fortunate I am!

 

[Sniper66]

Looks like a Model 121 that I had. Congrats on your good fortune!

 

[Boattale]

Cool rifle.

 

[bannockburn]

Waveski

Seeing your "new" .22 brought back some fine memories I had with a rifle very similar to yours. The first .22 I ever used was a Remington Model 12 like the one you now have. It belonged to the Dad of a friend of mine and he let me use it to hunt small game with. It was fairly worn (my friend's Dad liked to frequent gun shops and pawn shops always on the lookout for older rifles and shotguns he could get a great deal on), but it still worked okay and was capable of some pretty surprising accuracy!

 

[tark]

That's a model 12. On the left side of the barrel, just ahead of the receiver there should be two, or three, letters. they are Remington's date code. The first letter is the month, the last letter (s) is the year. This chart will tell you when your gun was made. The production ran from 1909 to 1936, with 831,727 rifles being produced. Remington started the date codes in 1921 so if your rifle doesn't have one it was made before then.

 

[Dave DeLaurant]

John Pedersen designed -- check out this video:



Very cool sight setup, BTW!

 

[Jim Watson]

Nice old rifle.
I suspect the sights, Lyman sporting tang (not tangent) and what looks like a Marble's Combination are aftermarket. I don't have a period catalog but Remington was not offering sight options on the later model 121.

In those days, a ".22 repeater" was usually understood to be a pump. Marlin lever actions were much less common and a magazine fed bolt action just wasn't fast enough.

 

[Waveski]

Please clarify tang vs tangent.

 

[Dave DeLaurant]

Please clarify tang vs tangent.

Tangent refers to a range-adjustable open rear sight. Usually this has an extension to the basic open notch anchored at the front and elevated from the rear to adjust for range, but there are other ways to arrange things. There are many different versions, civilian and military -- here's a couple of fairly typical examples:



I think technically all rear sights form an angle tangent with regard to the trajectory of the bullet, but if you call a peep sight a tangent sight guys in the know will look at you funny. Geometry isn't my strong suit in any case.

A tang sight is simply any sight mounted in the area immediately behind the receiver, affixed either to the receiver metal, the stock or both. These are most commonly seen on leverguns and single shots, but almost any rifle designed with a suitable open area on top of the stock grip area could conceivably mount a tang sight there. Some exceptions are rifles with tang safeties that interfere with mounting, such as the Ruger No. 1, and rifles with reciprocating parts like bolts, and workarounds can sometimes be found for even those.

Tang sights are virtually always aperture sights mounted fairly close to the eye, and frequently can be folded down when not in use:

 

[Waveski]

Excellent explanation , thank you.

Now , if someone can talk me through the reassembly process - particularly engaging the bolt assembly and pump/slide , I'll be even more grateful.
I decided to give it a break and try again tomorrow morning.

 

[Rubone]

My model 12A dates from 1934. It is still a good shooter! At the bottom in this picture.

 

[Dave DeLaurant]

Now , if someone can talk me through the reassembly process - particularly engaging the bolt assembly and pump/slide , I'll be even more grateful. I decided to give it a break and try again tomorrow morning.

See if this rather lengthy video will help. Playback off YT is disabled, so right click on it, select 'Copy video URL', then paste that into your browser address bar:



(BTW, the voice in this video sounds suspiciously like a young Eric from Iraqveteran8888)

 

[Waveski]

Thanks Dave.

I succeeded in reassembly this morning , better rested, clearer head.

 

[tbob38]

Congratulations, Remington, Winchester, Savage etc. made some great pump rifles in those days. Enjoy!

 

[doubleh]

I have a special love for the Model 12 as it is the rife I learned to shoot with. I inherited it and it resides in my safe. I never knew when it was made but thanks to Tark I just found that is was 1925 production. I have no idea of the number of rounds this old rifle had seen go out it's barrel as I was after every jackrabbit, ground squirrel, or grain eating bird that I could get in my sights every spare minute I could get to hunt them for several years. It's still tight and accurate and I get it out and shoot it now and then.

In the seventies I found one in a hock shop in very sad condition but the price was good so I took it home and restored it. It did not have the care that my dad's enjoyed and the action is slightly loose but it's still a dependable and accurate shooter. It was made in 1927.I have run across a few more over the years, all in deplorable condition but with a price like they were excellent and I left them all where I found them.

Everyone seems to like the Winchester 62 over the 12 but not me. I much prefer the little Remington.

 

[Gary W. Strange]

My Grandfather gave me his Winchester model 61, when I was 10. It is a neat little pump 22, and I love it and would never part with it, but I always thought the Remington model 12s snd 121s were better looking. They just have a very sleek look. I would love to find one in good condition and add it to my collection,

 

[Picher]

I've had pumps, semi-autos, single shots, and bolt actions. These days, I only have two kinds, semi-autos and bolts. Bolts for ultimate accuracy and semi-autos for fun and competition. I've discovered that I'm not a pump or lever-action kind of guy. A very accurate 10-22 does all I need, including lots of FUN.

 

[Hookeye]

Nice rifle OP.
But that pic screams for a fat grey squirrel to be included

 

[Hookeye]

Pops had a 121 I used to hunt with, had a Winchester peep screwed into the wood.
Worked fine. Pop cans at 100 were easy.
Did very well w WW Super X.

Prices on those old rigs has gone up quite a bit. He sold it a few yrs back, didnt tell me he was gonna.

Grrrrrr.

My mom sure picked a loser LOL

 

[Waveski]

Tark - Thanks - I never would have spotted this without the heads up from you. A single letter H , indicating 1939, I presume. I think the sideways "u" looking thing is a blemish. Don't know why there is only ! letter ...?