remington .22 gallery gun

[HARDWARE]

Remington model 12B.. manufactured from 1909 to 1926

really just a 12C that shoots .22 short only. a great little gun.

has a really nice bore and is in generally good condition considering the heavy use that these babies went thru.

ive been shooting CB shorts out of it. theyre rated at 715fps and are quiet enough not to bother the neighbors.







one thing I found kind of amusing is that rather than use the standard model 12C site they've substituted this large deep V site that leaves plenty of margin for error... heh heh

not that it cant be mastered... but youre gonna pay for a couple goes before you get it dialed in

 

[Ed Fowler]

Good post and love the photos. Thanks for sharing.

 

[HARDWARE]

thank you. I was starting to detect a distinct lack of interest in the gallery gun.

its hard to believe in this age that we live in that there was ever a time when the general public could be "trusted" to be entertained with firearms.

 

[reddog81]

What a neat gun. I've got a 1946 Remington 121 and enjoy shooting it regularly(the subsequent model introduced after the 12 was retired in 1936). The quality that went into making these 22's is something that only exists today when buying the most expensive guns on the market.

I never knew the Gallery Specials had a large V sight on them. That would definitely hinder an accurate shot. Mine shoots the shorts surprisingly well in addition to LR's. I wonder how many rounds would have been put through a gun like that...

 

[HARDWARE]

I wouldn't even venture a guess. I wonder how these guns were marketed. I suspect that they would never have been seen on a store display rack.

perhaps they were simply ordered from a Remington catalog directly from the factory 8 or 10 at a time.

and why were they really built at all? why not just purchase model 12s and provide short ammo only.

there doesn't appear to be any cost cutting measures whatsoever.

 

[DWalt]

In my opinion, there was never a better .22 pump made than the Remington Model 12. And they do work fine with .22 Short. In fact that's about all I feed to my Model 12. The Winchester '06 also handled Short, Long, and Long Rifle ammo interchangeably. There were lots of those also used as gallery guns.

 

[HARDWARE]

As many of you probably know, the model 12 was designed by John Pederson, who was once proclaimed the greatest firearms designer in the world by no less than John browning.

In addition to the CB shorts I've been able to find regular .22 shorts loaded in excess of 1,200 fps. ...which of course is LR velocity

 

[robvious]

Great Memories...

My late fathers first gun was a 12A given to him by his uncle for varmint control on his Rocky Mountain Ranch... my big brother got that one... but I found a twin at a GS that was scrubbed clean of rust with steel wool... but was tight and functioned well... inside was clean... so after a visit to my favorite gunsmith I had my tribute gun... shoots great... looks incredible... not worth what I have in it... but will pass it on to my son with pride...

will post "long shots" later...

 

[Drm50]

I had a uncle that had a Arcade in a permanent amusement
park. In the 60s park was sold to developers. He kept the
rifles, all Winchester Pumps 22 short Gallery models and cases
of Peters Krumble Ball ammo, loading tubes,ect. He would not
sell one. He was looking to sell whole outfit. He did give me a case of ammo. I really wanted one of the two new ones he
had NIB. These were not real old guns, he bought them new
in 1952.

 

[alwslate]

I have a Remington mod 12A and a model 12C. I would love to have a
12B but they are seldom seen for sale and are pricey when one does
show up. Realize that all Gallery guns were not sold to shooting
galleries and many went to individuals. By the looks of your 12B I
would bet it was never used in a shooting gallery. Way back in the
mid 50s when I was a kid I remember going to a county Fair that had
a real shooting gallery that used Winchester exposed hammer pump
guns. They fired .22 shorts and the guy running the booth reloaded
them with pre-loaded tubes of ammo. The rifles were worn almost
beyond belief but they still worked. I found out what the con was
when I thought I had won a prize by completely removing a dot from
a paper target. The RN ammo doesn't cut a clean hole like a WC
bullet and the jerk in the booth took the target and folded the paper
back into the hole which revealed traces of the dot. I doubt he lost
any sleep over conning a young kid out of his money. Oh well, at
least I had fun trying.

 

[spdguns]

I spent many a dollar behind one of those at the Tulsa State Fair. What memories. 3 shots to shoot out the circle and win a shiny new rifle.

Of course that was back when the shooting gallery actually had guns.

 

[HOUSTON RICK]

I remember as a 10 year old at old Coney island in Cincinnati, loaded 22's were lined up on the counter, you gave the man a buck or two and picked up the rifle and shot away. Could you imagine that today!

 

[ameridaddy]

Boy O boy! I can hear the carney noises, smell the powder odor floating over the cotton candy smells, see the bears going round and round, hear the 'tink' and flip when I hit one, then the hiss and faint clatter as the carney guy slid another tube of .22's down the magazine. When I shot them, there was always a light chain attached to the barrel to keep the muzzle more or less pointed downrange. I could never pass up a shooting gallery in the late 40's early 50's. Fun times - thanks for the memories, Hardware.

 

[HARDWARE]

You know, I don't remember .22s... I'm 52 and I seem to recall it being BB guns in the 70's.

But i do recall the cheesy and slightly sinister state fair and carnivals... The Bonnie and Clyde car... Which I have no idea now if it was the real thing or just some shot up piece of ****... But fascinating nonetheless

 

[Watchdog]

Remington model 12B.. manufactured from 1909 to 1926

Love the vintage photographs. What a great post, and what a flood of memories it awakened for me early this morning.

Dad and mom and me in the early to mid-fifties, going to little circuses and traveling carnivals. The lights in early evening, the smells of sawdust, cotton candy, peanuts, and that sort of ozone-electric smell that came from some of the equipment. And even the smell of manure. The shooting galleries where dad always won something for mom...I was only five in 1952 ...Harry Truman was president!...but I remember it as if it was last week. Wow.

its hard to believe in this age that we live in that there was ever a time when the general public could be "trusted" to be entertained with firearms.

It is hard to believe. It's become a cliché, but there's still a bunch of us around who think of those days as a simpler, better time. Maybe because we were kids, and everything was simple for us. Even our parents, with all their wisdom, could not have envisioned the world as it is today.

 

[Watchdog]

I remember as a 10 year old at old Coney island in Cincinnati, loaded 22's were lined up on the counter, you gave the man a buck or two and picked up the rifle and shot away. Could you imagine that today!

No. There'd be so many different groups protesting, a place like that wouldn't stand a chance today.

 

[Watchdog]

Coney Island, 1937

 

[HARDWARE]

Great pic. There's a mix of rifles there I see.

Are those the pre loaded tubes there in the box that have been mentioned? I've been trying to visualize how that works.

People sure dressed nice back then.

Today you'd see some fat **** in a tank top with a cap that says something like "I got my head job at Frank's machine shop"...or some other public display of vulgarity.