Single Shot .22 LR Rifles ?

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Wondering why they were so popular back in the day ? Must have been less expensive back in the Depression ?
 
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Many single shots sold for less than $3.00 at the turn of the 19th century. These guns were very simple, and even by the standards of the day not much steel or labor was used in their manufacture. A single shot is not much of a handicap when shooting a rabbit or ground hog. You learn to make that one shot count.

The better guns. The repeaters, like a Marlin 1897 lever action .22. Those were always expensive. Even back in the day they were like $20, which is equivalent to $600 today.
 
Lots of parents felt that learning the basics with a single shot was mandatory before moving up to a repeater. That's why there were a ton of single shot 22's and 410's out there. Most of my hunting buddies started out that way.
 
Early 1900's up thru 1950's or so people used these guns
to put food on the table and money in the pockets from
trap lines. There wasn't much if any Trophy Hunting.
The single shot rifle was merely a tool to use.
And just how many of us started out with guns shooting
a .338 ?
Most all kids start out with a .22 or .410
Great little guns to teach basic firearm safety with as well.

Chuck
 
You'll notice that as time went on---many cheapy 22's were made and the sights were not important.

The rifles (if you could call them that) were made to sell----not really be useful ---except to send the kid along with a lot of ammo until he came back wanting more ammo----and he would learn nothing of marksmanship.
 
Remington-Winchester-Mossberg- Savage- Stevens were over built single shot rifles. One with peep sights will do an easy 1 1/2 10 shot group at 50 yards.:) My son hits rocks in the air with his. Easy to convert to 22 mag.:cool: They have excellent triggers. I gave my last 22 Ruger away. I know they shoot good but they don't shoot better than my 513s.
 
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My father bought a JC Higgins single shot in 1936 for $8.00. He gave it to me when I was a kid in 1960s. He told me that a single shot would make you a better shot. He was right. I still have that JC Higgins. I will put it up against a Ruger 10-22 any day,
 
eyegots2no said:
You'll notice that as time went on---many cheapy 22's were made and the sights were not important.

The rifles (if you could call them that) were made to sell----not really be useful ---except to send the kid along with a lot of ammo until he came back wanting more ammo----and he would learn nothing of marksmanship.
Click to expand...

I respectfully disagree, because I don't think this was the case at all. For one, ammo was considered expensive. It wasn't wasted. No one went out with a brick of 500 and blew thru it in the afternoon. That would be an unimaginable luxury.

Farmers bought a box of 50 and shot that one box all year. A kid might scrap together 15 cents, or what ever it was for a box of shorts, and shoot that. Go down to the local hardware store and put their money on the counter. But they made it last. They made every shot count.

The sights on some guns were rudimentary. But they worked. And you know what? Kids have EXCELLENT eye sight. If nothing else, most have that.
 
My first rifle about 1960 was a turn of the century Steven's Favorite... single shot falling block...the first outing with my oldest was with the same gun.....currently hanging on my home office wall as I type.

Edit: following up on KC's comments a 50rd box was good for both Dad and I for a whole weekend; at the camp site that is now the Cabin

By 1963 I'd got the safety stuff down and got a Remington 511-X Scoremaster with a 4X weaver scope for Christmas...... currently hanging on the wall at the Cabin!!!!!
 
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BAM-BAM said:
My first rifle about 1960 was a turn of the century Steven's Favorite... single shot falling block...the first outing with my oldest was with the same gun.....currently hanging on my home office wall as I type.

Edit: following up on KC's comments a 50rd box was good for both Dad and I for a whole weekend; at the camp site that is now the Cabin

By 1963 I'd got the safety stuff down and got a Remington 511-X Scoremaster with a 4X weaver scope for Christmas...... currently hanging on the wall at the Cabin!!!!!
Click to expand...

I have a 511x like new.
 
My first rifle was a Montgomery Ward WesternField .22 bolt single shot. My dad gave it to me on my eleventh birthday. The rifle had a heavy barrel and was extremely accurate with the open sights. A few years later I got a .22 pump and gave the single shot to my younger brother and he eventually gave it to his son. Maybe my nephew will one day pass it on to his son or daughter. That rifle is getting some of family history attached to it.
 
My first was a Marlin/Glenfield single shot. Load it and pull
The cocking knob. I wish I would have kept it.
I was really proud of that shiny, chrome loading ramp, I think $32 gun.
Many a rat met their doom at the dump with it and plenty of squirrels on the dinner table.
 
I have a single shot .22LR and there is nothing inexpensive about it at all (Anschutz 2000 series).
I believe both Remington and Winchester made very high quality single shot rifles that were and still are pricey.
 
I had a horrible experience.....

I had a horrible experience with single shot .22s and I'm not likely to get one. You lay a cartridge in the groove and close the bolt, right? In Boy Scouts with the leaders watching me close mine jammed three times in a row and necessitated poking them out with a cleaning rod. I never got to fire a round that day. And for a kid, that's BAD.:mad::(:confused::mad::(:confused::mad::(:confused:
 
I started out with a J. C. Higgins myself. It was second hand when I got it but was in good shape. I earned to shoot with that little rifle and later bought a Browning auto but never liked an auto. I guess growing up with that little bolt gun spoiled me.
 
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