Chief, I really enjoyed that story. Thank you. I'm honestly not particularly drawn to the pump .22s, though myself and my buddies do consider them to be top tier "river bed plinkers"
My wife has a nickel Rossi 62 A carbine that I bought her with my first real (Not under the table) paycheck. For some weird reason, I think I still remember the price being $175. I was making $4.75 an hour at that time. I'm sure there were smarter things for a young lad to do with a paycheck, but she was purty, I sure liked her a lot, and the gun was darn cute.
It was Summer time in Alaska, which meant that it was not abnormal that we took it back to the river with some sugary gas station snack, a couple bottles of soda, and a blanket. We had a very memorable time that evening plinking around with that gun. Our time was cut short though. After 200 rounds or so, the rifle ceased to feed, so..we called it a night on the shooting and moved onto other ways of entertaining ourselves.
We took it back to the shop I'd bought it from. They were super friendly, and helpful. They took the gun in the back for ten minutes or so. I heard them fire a tube full of rounds into a stack of phone books. They brought it back, said it should be fine now. I asked how he had fixed it so quickly, and he just shrugged, grinned modestly and told me that the Rossis are good guns, they just need a little help now and then.
For that Summer, it could often be found in either her car or mine. There were many hours spent plinking at random cans, floating twigs, dandelions, cat tails, etc. I've never put it on paper. There's some guns I just can't bring myself to do that with. But, I can say "Shoots purty straight" with a degree of confidence. 32 years later, and that gun has still never missed a beat, though I'd be lying if I said it gets much attention these days. It's one of those guns that competes for space in my over crowded safe. Nostalgia and a sense of romance demand that it stay in the best safe to remain secure, but practicality says it's a pretty expendable gun that can do just fine in the less fancy safe. I know my wife will never let go of it. She still hangs onto the first movie ticket stub we ever went to together, so...she darn sure ain't lettin' go of that little rifle that we think played a part in the best Summer we'd ever known.
Most recently, I recieved the "real McCoy" in the form of a very curious Winchester 62 I got from my dying sister in law, but that'll be a thread for a different time. It's nowhere near as beautiful as the original post, but it is fairly interesting.
