Springfield Model 1922 M2

[BB57]

In this case "M2" is short for "MerryChristmas 2" me.

I've wanted a Model 1922 or it's M1 or M2 iterations for quite a while now and this one has been sitting in a shop an hour or so away for a few years.

Last weekend it had apparently now been there long enough that I was able to negotiate an agreeable price, so I brought it home.

I've always like the sporter lines they used on these, similar to the NRA Sporters as well as the early Model 52s. They are reported to be very accurate shooters, on par with the early Model 52s.
Based on the 1903 receiver and with a heavy barrel it weighs in at a heavy but very nicely 9 lbs 7 oz with a Model 1907 sling attached.

The trigger is typical 2 stage military, but with minimal creep and a 2 1/2 pound pull.



It's well made with a very nicely engineered bolt in a modified 1903 receiver. I'm not an expert on them or their serial numbers but my take on it is that a low numbered receiver M2 receiver may indicate one of the early - and very unsuccessful - U.S. Gallery Rifle Caliber .22 Model 1903 rifles (introduced in 1907) that was rebuilt or reworked as an M2. That's based on records kept by Richard T. Colton, a historian at the Springfield Armory Museum. He has stated that many of the early rifles, including the U.S. Gallery Rifle caliber .22 Model 1903, were rebuilt and updated and possibly used to build the 1922 M1 and M2 models.

I suspect that is the case here. Rather than being marked as a "1922M2" (indicating a reworked M1922) or "1922M11" indicating a reworked 1922 M1, it's just marked "Cal. .22 M2" with the "M2" being struck slightly less deep than the rest.



The barrel is dated 7-42, so it's either one of the last M2s made (in this case from a 1903 gallery gun receiver), or it was made earlier in the M2 era (1933-1942) and was rebarreled at some point in its service with a leftover 1942 barrel.

The Lyman 48C sight was pretty stiff so I took it apart, cleaned it, lubricated it and re-assembled it and it now functions perfectly. I have a slide pointer and screw on the way since this one is missing both. With 1/2 MOA clicks in windage and elevation and plenty of elevation travel it should be fun for use on plates out to 200 yards or so. It's a superb sight and it's unfortunate that Lyman doesn't make receiver sights with that level of quality anymore.

Condition wise, the bore is excellent, the metal is in very good condition, and the stock is dark but has only a few small dents and handling marks. I've got some cheesecloth and pure tung oil coming tomorrow and I'll see if I can lift some of the dirt and oil out of it to lighten it up and bring back some of the color.



It's been windy today and it's supposed to be windier tomorrow, and windy again on Friday, but hopefully I can get it out on Christmas day or perhaps Saturday and see how it shoots at 50 yards and at long range.

[Rodan]

Very nice!

One of my most regretted "ones that got away" was an NRA Sporting Rifle '03 made in 1933 that I sold. One of the best shooting rifles I've ever owned, and unreplaceable at current values...

[BB57]

Originally Posted by Rodan

Very nice!

One of my most regretted "ones that got away" was an NRA Sporting Rifle '03 made in 1933 that I sold. One of the best shooting rifles I've ever owned, and unreplaceable at current values...

Around 1990, I passed on a parkerized 1903A3 that had been custom fitted in an NRA sporter pattern stock and band. It had an Emer Keith inspection stamp on the stock, but I don't know who did the work.

It was however superb. The inletting was perfect and the wood looked like it grew on the metal. It was just so tastefully done to that simple NRA Sporter pattern. Gorgeous. But I passed on it as it wasn't original, and was "sporterized".

In retrospect, so what. It was still incredibly tasteful gun art. Idiot. I still kick myself over that.

[Golddollar]

I picked up a 1922M1 that was converted to an M2. I bought it probably around 1980 and I still have it. I managed to hang unto it during my job loss in 2009. This post is going to inspire me to take it out to the indoor range in Harrisburg and play with it.

[Cooter Brown]

I always wanted to find one of those to buy for my dad. I almost bought a fairly decent one at a gun show, but the guy wanted more than I thought it was worth at the time. Of course, looking back, I should have gotten it.

Dad would have gotten a big kick out of it--he shot them while on the rifle team in high school. This is a picture from the annual I found after he died. He's the squared away looking kid on the upper right, with the sergeant stripes.

Less than a year after this picture was taken, he was on New Guinea with a Garand. He said ROTC saved his life many times in the next couple of years. And man, did he love a Garand.

[Golddollar]

Originally Posted by Cooter Brown

I always wanted to find one of those to buy for my dad. I almost bought a fairly decent one at a gun show, but the guy wanted more than I thought it was worth at the time. Of course, looking back, I should have gotten it.

Dad would have gotten a big kick out of it--he shot them while on the rifle team in high school. This is a picture from the annual I found after he died. He's the squared away looking kid on the upper right, with the sergeant stripes.

Less than a year after this picture was taken, he was on New Guinea with a Garand. He said ROTC saved his life many times in the next couple of years. And man, did he love a Garand.

Thank you for your dad's service.

[Scharfschuetzer]

I've got two of them and they are both great shooters. Years ago I used one of them to help teach marksmanship to a Boy Scout troop. That along with a No 2 Enfield and a No 7 Enfield (both in .22 RF also) had the scouts queueing up to shoot them.

[Ruger 1,3]

Very nice!

[CptCurl]

I've got to have one!!!!

Curl

[PALADIN85020]

You have a great rifle there - very accurate. I have one, an M1922 M1 arsenal converted and re-stamped to M2 specs. The bolt locking lug on these is headspace adjustable; be sure that it's tight and right for the ammo you use. Original and reproduction military manuals are available. Here's mine.

John

[SRG]

My Uncle had one of these when I was a kid. I spent many a day putting rounds through it target shooting and squirrel hunting. Often wonder what happened to it.

[Ivan the Butcher]

The only Military Trainers I have able to afford are the M-1965 Romanian 22's I bought when they first started importing them. Back then they were $66 each and $5 for a spare mag. People are asking $300 now! These will go to the right handed grand sons for their 12th birthday!

Ivan

[BB57]

I got it out to the range yesterday and it shot quite well - after a couple of minor issues.

The first issue was that it would not fire. After 3 attempts and seeing no firing pin mark on the rims, I looked at the striker and noted the end of the firing pin was quite deep in the firing pin hole. About 30 seconds more pondering and I figured the stiker wasn't screwed all the way into the bolt. Sure enough, it needed one more turn. Some well meaning individual in the past had apparently stripped and cleaned the bolt and then put it back together wrong. After that fix is was 100% reliable.

The second issue was the magazine kept falling out when the bolt was cycled. Removing the floor plate identified the problem - the stamped spring steel retainer for the magazine was sliding aft out of it's recess. After a couple of attempts sliding it forward again and having the issue soon re-occur it was obvious that the small dimple on the bottom wasn't sufficient to keep it in place in the matching hole in the receiver. I completed the session single loading rounds. That improved accuracy as the on-the-verge-of-falling-out was also not properly aligning the round and created some point damage.

(This morning, I added a small dot of silver solder to the dimple and filed it to shape to increase the roundness of the dimple. It now stays solidly in place and feeds .22LR rounds with silk smoothness and no point damage.)

I had already installed a replacement sight pointer and screw for the one that was missing on this Lyman 48C rear sight. With the rifle zeroed the highest the pointer would slide was 7 MOA, so I set it at 10 MOA to make the mental math easier.

Accuracy wise it wasn't bug hole accurate at 50 yards but it shot several 50's on the A-23 target at 50 yards, although a slightly larger 48 or 49 was more the average.








Sk Std Plus is mid grade match ammo with a flier or two in every box of 50. But it has the benefits of being affordable and shoots well in just about every accurate .22 LR rifle I own. That makes it a good choice to buy in quantity to feed a number of rifles.

That said, I noted that this 1922 M2 doesn't like Sk Std Plus all that much and it shot CCI SV better. I'm guessing being 1942 vintage, it just doesn't like anything German. Fortunately, I stock CCI SV in large quantity as well as it shoots well in my non precision .22 LRs. It also shoots as well as I do in my pair of High Standard Victors, S&W Model 41, Model 17, K22, Ruger Mk II 512T and Mk I 678T, so it's my go to informal Bullseye pistol ammo.

----

To be fair to the rifle, there was some breeze from the left that varied in velocity. It was also late afternoon with the sun fairly low in the sky and only about 30-40 degrees off to the right.

I added a 1903-A3 style stamped sight hood which took the glare off the front post and improved the sight picture. The sight picture is surprisingly good with the hood installed as it gives a nice even circle in the aperture - better than the same style hood ever did on my 1903-A3. However, the vertical stringing is still most likely just me struggling with getting a precise front sight picture.

The front sight post is the perfect width for the A-23 bull at 50 yards (no surprise there) and the top of the blade is sharp. However, with an aperture that was slightly smaller than I'd normally select in the prevailing light conditions I had some difficulty getting consistent white space between the front sight post and the bullseye. The end result is some inevitable shooter induced vertical stringing.

I suspect it would be capable of even better accuracy with an aperture front sight to improve the sight alignment, so I have a vintage Lyman 17A NXA (designed for the 1903 using the Lyman 48 sight) on the way. I also have a set of Lyman rear sight apertures ordered in several sizes to give me some aperture adjustability.

As an aside, I have an adapter I use for modern adjustable apertures for Lyman and Redfield match sights on vintage small bore target rifles, but it's a non started on a M1922. Even a hunter sized Merit adjustable aperture extends too far to the rear and interferes with the bolt.

I normally would not add an aftermarket sight to a collectible, but I think a better front sight will help it live up to its accuracy potential. Plus the vintage Lyman 17A NXA is a front sight commonly found on M1922s - and it's a reversible change since it just replaces the front sight post assembly in the front sight base.

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The stock is also lightening up some after a couple cleaning sessions with cheese cloth and pure Tung oil.

[XTCShooter]

Here’s a little info on your Springfield M2 training rifle. First, there were three different models produced; the Model of 1922 (1922-1924), the M1922MI (1925-1932) and the Cal. 22 M2 (1933-1942). Production of each new model began with serial number 1. There were also two different styles, the NRA Sales rifle and the Issue rifle.

Your rifle, SN 1747, was produced in the first year of M2 production, 1933. Originally it had the first version M2 bolt which was not adjustable for headspace. About 4800 of these first version M2 were assembled. Eventually, most of these rifles were returned to Springfield and upgraded with the new M2 bolt, as was yours. The replacement bolt should have the rifles serial number etched on the bottom. Another indication that your rifle was refurbished by Springfield is the 7-42 barrel date and the greenish parkerized finish. Originally the rifle would have had an early 1933 barrel and early guns had a black-dyed parkerized finish. If you check the receiver bolt channel, it is probably parkerized, a clear indication that it was refinished. One final observation is that the stock is a M1922MI issue type, not an M2. All total, about 40,000 1922 rifles were produced and rumor has it that up to 10,000 were arsenally destroyed. That makes these rifles very desirable. And as you have noted, they will shoot.

Art

[.357magger]

Nice rifle. Thanks for sharing it, and the story of your Dad.

I couldn't help but think of how different attitudes are today when seeing your fathers rifle team. Different, and not for the better.

Again, thanks for sharing it.

[OIF2]

Great thread! Your rifle would go nicely with this one.
Bob

[InTheWoods]

I really enjoy shooting my 1922 M2 (converted), made in 1927 and rebarreled in 1933. It has the NRA stock and wears a Lyman Junior 8x scope. Someone many decades ago fluted the comb and installed a Neidler buttplate. Both conservatively and tastefully done. The rest of the stock remains as issued.

One some days, this rifle will shoot competitively with my Anschutz 1710 heavy barrel sporter that wears a 20x Leupold! It is amazingly forgiving when shot over a good front rest and rear bag. Pictured below is the rifle and my most recent 50 yard target, shot with Lapua Center-X (5 shot groups).

[OldChief]

Here's mine, serial number 198.

[Muley Gil]

When I was in college, a friend brought me a .22 rifle that belonged to his dad. His dad wanted to sell it for $90. It was nice, but I didn't have a spare $90 for a rifle I couldn't shoot. I took it to a Birmingham AL gun show and sold it for $110. My friend gave me $10, he kept $10 and gave the $90 to his dad.

What kind of rifle was it that I couldn't shoot? It was an early Springfield that used adapters that were shaped like a .30-06 cartridge and the adapters held .22 Short rounds.

Not long after the gun show, I found out how much it was really worth. At one time, Dixie Gun Works sold the adapters.

[wx7b]

I have my Grandfathers 1922 M1. He shot in a NRA rifle club that disbanded early in WWII and the rifles were sold at a reasonable price to members. He acquired the M1 and a National match 1903. I missed a deer while hunting as a teen so he gave me the M1 to practice shooting. He was getting rid of rifles as when he left FL to come back to MI for hunting his house seemed to get broken into and his other rifles disappeared, so might as well donate the 22 to me. I still have it and shoot it regularly. Gets lots of looks at the range! NRA stock, drilled and tapped, serial #129XX.