sipowicz
Member
As much as I love my 39A I much prefer a pump for .22 shooting.
1957 Winchester 62A
- Thread starter BB57
- Start date
I honestly don't know. I just recall rifles that looked like that at the boardwalk in Ocean City Maryland, with a small chain tether around the barrel, and the easy slap of the well worn pump slide on rifles with thousands of rounds through them, the little 'crack,' the 'tink' of the marching bears toppling over, and then the smell...ahh... the smell of all those 22's, three rifles at a time, going 10 feet down range.
I think I was about 9 or 10 years old the first time I was allowed to do that.
Father & son! That's so cool! I was born in '57, and Dad was born in '26. That's just too cool!!
Oh, really nice guns, too.
Oh, really nice guns, too.
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It's hard to say as the different internal hammer pump action galley rifles were generally similar.
The Winchester Model 1890 and 1906 with their external hammer and from the third model 1890 forward, large externally visible locking lugs were very iconic. That easy recognition was one of the big reasons why Winchester waited so long to introduce a sleeker, more stylish internal hammer design.
Savage had a magazine fed pump .22 as early as 1903, although both the 1903 and 1909 were magazine fed and not so suitable for gallery use. However the Model 29 had a tubular magazine and an inverted U shaped receiver just like the Remington Model 12 and it's subsequent Model 121 revision. The Winchester 61 also had an inverted U shaped receiver and a tubular magazine and all four of the designs look pretty similar.
Here is a Remington 121, in between an 1890 and a Model 62.
The Remington Model 12 and 121 were also commonly used as gallery rifles. What distinguishes them from a Model 61 is the slightly oblong shaped ejection port rather than the parallel sided oval on the 61, and the lack of any action bar.
On the Model 12 and 121, the entire magazine tube assembly cycles with the fore end, acting as the action bar. It's one of the elegant but complex pieces of engineering that John Pederson (of 1903 Springfield Pederson device fame) was known for, as opposed to the deceptively simple and elegant engineering John Browning was known for.
However, those kinds of minor details are very hard to remember 30, 40, 50 years after you shot a particular rifle in a gallery.
I recall shooting smooth topped pump action rifles in galleries and thinking "this thing is old" and I recall shooting exposed hammer pump action rifles in galleries and thinking "this thing is *really* old" - a nod toward the hammerless rifles being seen as more "modern" regardless of age.
But I couldn't tell you if the smooth topped rifles were Savage Model 29s, Remington Model 12s or 121s, or Winchester Model 61s.
The exposed hammer rifles were most likely Winchesters, although not all of them had the big letters on the side, but I could not tell you if they were 1890s, 1906s or 62s.
bananaman
Member
I love the 62As. I have four. Two in S,L&LR, and two in Short only. The ones in Short only tend to be the more reliable in feeding 100% but slightly less accurate the the others with good standard velocity LR ammo like CCI.
That's interesting. Never herd that before.
Most 62's do indeed chamber all 3 but 62's were made in "short only"
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Not all the Gallery model 62's had the bold WINCHESTER roll marking on the left side of the frame.
That feature seems to have become a delight of the fakers of the Gallery rifles in recent years along with their like new red enamal paint inlay and the ditto like new over all condition condition of the rifles in general.
They even roll mark Model 61's with the Gallery marking and sell them as original.
There are NO factory records on any of these Model 61, 62, 62A or 63 rifles.
There's big $$ in a Gallery 62 as compared to a standard issue in comparable condition.
The Triangular loading port, the 22 short only chambering are the only differences. The carrier should be a .22short only carrier if you are wisely checking it out and not a .22s,l,lr edition.
The rifling twist is slower in the 22short bbls than the 22 LR bbls.
The Triangle cut loading port mag tubes are available aftermarket.
The .22Short only marked bbls they make and have roll mark dies to mark them.
The Gallery bench tie that attaches to the bbl to keep the rifle secured to the Gallery bench is also available aftermarket .
They are excellent at metal and wood finishing
Proof mark stamps//How many do you want..
It's a perfect world sometimes for the bad guys.
That bold 'Winchester' so called Gallery marking is on a couple of Roll Dies being used freely by a number of people faking these and other high condition Winchester .22 rifles.
There are small differences in the 'new' roll imprint from the original die if you compare them closely.
Over on RimFire Central.com on the Winchester forum there's an entire section on the faked rifles. Chasing down standard rifles sold on auctions and private sales on the net over the years w/ pics. Various conditions, ect.
Then to see the same rifle with the same ser# re-appear in NIB condition,,sometimes with a Box (fake as well),,in a rare configuration (octagon bbl,, single caliber like .22 short only caliber,, 'Deluxe Grade' with checkering and maybe engraving... all brand new looking.
Some with paperwork as well.
It doesn't surprise me as I've seen it done for years. But people should be careful when diving into those waters with their $$.
That feature seems to have become a delight of the fakers of the Gallery rifles in recent years along with their like new red enamal paint inlay and the ditto like new over all condition condition of the rifles in general.
They even roll mark Model 61's with the Gallery marking and sell them as original.
There are NO factory records on any of these Model 61, 62, 62A or 63 rifles.
There's big $$ in a Gallery 62 as compared to a standard issue in comparable condition.
The Triangular loading port, the 22 short only chambering are the only differences. The carrier should be a .22short only carrier if you are wisely checking it out and not a .22s,l,lr edition.
The rifling twist is slower in the 22short bbls than the 22 LR bbls.
The Triangle cut loading port mag tubes are available aftermarket.
The .22Short only marked bbls they make and have roll mark dies to mark them.
The Gallery bench tie that attaches to the bbl to keep the rifle secured to the Gallery bench is also available aftermarket .
They are excellent at metal and wood finishing
Proof mark stamps//How many do you want..
It's a perfect world sometimes for the bad guys.
That bold 'Winchester' so called Gallery marking is on a couple of Roll Dies being used freely by a number of people faking these and other high condition Winchester .22 rifles.
There are small differences in the 'new' roll imprint from the original die if you compare them closely.
Over on RimFire Central.com on the Winchester forum there's an entire section on the faked rifles. Chasing down standard rifles sold on auctions and private sales on the net over the years w/ pics. Various conditions, ect.
Then to see the same rifle with the same ser# re-appear in NIB condition,,sometimes with a Box (fake as well),,in a rare configuration (octagon bbl,, single caliber like .22 short only caliber,, 'Deluxe Grade' with checkering and maybe engraving... all brand new looking.
Some with paperwork as well.
It doesn't surprise me as I've seen it done for years. But people should be careful when diving into those waters with their $$.
