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A Country Boy Can Survive

Fantastic rifles I own both of the ones in the lower photo, I think the upper one is a 75 sporter which I don't have.

I recently picked up a Model 74 (Made circ. 1952)
The main reason I wanted it is that the M74 was the first .22 I ever shot.( It belonged to my Dad and probably was just a little earlier than this one was made....)

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Dean
SWCA #680 SWHF #446

It's hard to beat pre 64 Win 22rifles from the cheapest single shot to the M52s. Today you have to pay a premium price to get a rifle of same quality and will be foreign made or high end specialty Manf. The semi, pumps and levers of milled parts days are also gone. If I was buying a 22 I would rather pay today's prices for a hi condition pre 64 Win 22 than a new rifle.
A better gun and better investment all around.

I have a Win 74, also. Patina, but shoots very well. I read somewhere, maybe on this forum, you're not supposed to cock the gun with the safety ON. Which is odd enough. There was the photo of an original hang-tag from Win stating that. So I learned something.

I don't know if it was the first .22 I eve shot, but it was the first one (my brother's) that I hunted with. Very accurate, but when my brother got out of the Air Force, my stewardship was over.

Very nice, and as already said nice condition model 75's or 52's are not cheap. So I went a different route...the earlier model 69, a more primitive version of Winchester 22 rifle. Mine from the early to mid 30's is accurate and fun to shoot.

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Why would someone want one of those old things?

Gave a Winchester 69 to my grandson about 20 years ago.

The Winchester 62A (1939 vintage) remains in my gun safe. Slickest little small game rifle ever! The kids can fight over it when I'm done with it.

Right now, I've got a 'few' 69A's, as well as a Model 72 that had a cracked stock when I bought it out of an auction at one heckuva price. Repaired the split, then checkered it up in a pattern mimicking the Winchester 75. If I can find what's left of the last nice piece of ebony from a prior project, I'll apply it to the grip and forend.
For some reason, it's tough for me to pass up an old .22.

Waaaay back in the foggy recesses of my memory, my 'first' experience with a 'real' firearm was when we went fishing on the Blackfoot River, and at lunchtime, while Mom was cooking up the morning's catch, Dad pulled out his .22 rifles for some plinking. The first one I shot was his H&R "Leatherneck" semi auto, I remember it clearly because of the unique way he charged the rifle. The other, and perhaps his favorite, was his Model 74 that he'd had a Weaver side mount installed, and was shooting it with a Weaver 330.
Right after they were married, Dad and Mom were out on the Idaho desert, and a jackrabbit jumped up about 50 yards out. Mom said she asked Dad where she should shoot it. Dad replied "right between the eyes", so she pulled the Mod 74 up, and did exactly that!
Had to be careful with that rifle, as it would sometimes do a full-auto mag dump until he installed a new sear in it. Could that be why the caution not to charge it with the safety engaged?

Winchester was all about quality back then. I am amazed at how much fitting and attention to detail went into even their economy single shot 22s.

Still have my first gun, a Model 67. Over 60 years now.

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Made it, Ma! Top of the world!

I have a very nice 1890 in .22 LR with a Marbles tang sight. Fun little gallery gun.

Very nice all! Amazes me concerning the build quality that went into those vintage .22s way back. Wonder what the cost would be if made the same way these days? The guns pictured above sure put that new Winchester Wildcat to shame!! Now that thing looks just plain awful.

I think pretty much all of the pre-'64 .22 Winchester rifles (and the later Model 9422s) were top-notch. I just did an article on the single-shot Model 67, which appeared in the November 2019 issue of Dillon's Blue Press. It was the outstanding performer in the "youth rifle" class, and its action was designed by John Browning himself.

Here are a few I've acquired over the years since I got my first rifle, a Model 69A, when I was 11.

John


Model 60


Model 67


Model 69


Model 69 Target


Model 69A with scope


Model 75 target and sporter


Model 69A deluxe - extremely rare


My first gun, a Model 69A, modified by me in my youth


A customized Model 69A


Model 9422


Model 9422 magnum


Model 63


Model 62A


Model 72


Model 72A


Model 47 - fairly rare single shot


Model 61

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- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

A neighbor had his great uncle's thumb trigger Winchester, which is chambered in .22 Short and Long. It has always fun to shoot and cheap as well. IIIRC, .22 Shorts were 29 cents for a box of 50 at Western Auto.

One college friend had a 1890 Winchester pump chambered in .22 Short. Generally, he was a better shot than I was, but for some reason, I could shoot that 1890 better than he could.

I had a Rossi pump for a while and it was another fun gun.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

Love that old signage/ads. I have a few in my den- Win Model 12, Win Model 69, and a few Remington ones.

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Some Might Say.

Boy, THAT rang a bell! There was a Western Auto store about 2 blocks from where I lived as a kid, and I bought many boxes of their inexpensive "Hiawatha" brand .22 shorts. I actually kept one of those boxes, dating from the early 1950s, and it's still about half full of cartridges. Don't ask me why; I guess because it brings back fond memories of shooting my first gun...

Here's a pic.

John

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- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

Nice family stories and good memories I'm sure. My first rifle shooting was my uncles old Winchester pump 22 (a 1906 I believe) out back on my grand parents farm. Don't know who ended up with that one but I have one just like it in the safe and still love shooting it.

As to the model 74 if my memory is correct the safety and sear would bind if you tried to load the gun with the safety on. This could jam the safety or damage the sear (or both) and was the reason new guns had a warning tag attached when sold.

I started out collecting old .22's because that's all I could afford. Ended up accumulating dozens of them. I sold a lot of them over the years but still have several dozen. I haven's seen a Model 68 posted yet. It is a model 67 with a factory peep sight.

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Another one I don't see posted is the Model 55. Winchester made two model 55's, a .22 rifle and a lever action. The .22 was advertised as a single shot automatic. I fires from an open bolt. The bolt locks back after each shot. It loads from the top and ejects out the bottom.

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I had a 55 Win ss that I removed sights and used it to shoot hand thrown targets. Fairly easy to learn if you have a rifle that fits you

You have a version of the Model 67 that is rarely seen today!

(From my article on the Model 67 in the Blue Press:)

"A Model 68 was introduced concurrently with the Model 67 in 1934. It was nothing more than the Model 67 with an aperture rear sight and a hooded front sight. It was discontinued in 1944 when the same sights became optional on the Model 67. Deliveries of the Model 68 were still being made in 1945. The Models 67 and 67A with target sights continued to be cataloged into the 1950s."

John

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- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

Many years ago I went to stay the weekend with a friend of mine at his new house in the country. The first morning he asked if I wanted to go squirrel hunting. I said sure but I didnt bring a gun. He told me he was sure his dad had one I could use. His dad dug out a Winchester Model 74 that had spent quite a bit of time in a truck rack. Well we spent most of the day exploring his new surroundings and not much time actually hunting. We had just got the call for dinner and were heading in when we heard a rustle in the leaves ahead of us. I spied two squirrels playing about 40-50 yards out and decided to give it a go. Two shots, two squirrels-my first of many.
Fast forward about 25-30 years the old man passed away. After the dust settled my friend went to his safe and pulled out that 74 and handed it to me. Here he said, dad would have wanted you to have this.

I love old rimfires and have been lucky enough to get one of the 68's and a really nice 75

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Paul
S&WCA #2726