.22 – The ExhaustNotes Blog

The Rimfire Series: Model 69 Winchester

By Rob Morel

After seeing Joe Berk’s article on the .22 bolt action Springfield rifle, I thought about my recent project Model 69 Winchester. I bought it from my favorite gunstore. It was in pretty bad shape when I bought it and it was obviously well used. The Winchester had a screw for a bolt handle that did not work well, a homemade peep sight, the rifle was rusty, and it had a dinged-up stock with a lot of miles on it. I bought the rifle for $150 knowing it would make for a good project. I wanted to fix and preserve it as a plinker.

The Model 69 Winchester is an old magazine fed rifle made in 1936. It is an interesting vintage .22. I believe it was made around 1935 based on the exposed side magazine release and the exposed screw that holds the barrel to the stock (as shown in the above photo). These two features make it one of the earlier Model 69 rifles Winchester produced.

The finish on the barrel and the receiver had left the building a long time ago. It exhibited what might be called an authentic patina, but to me it was just rust and I wanted to prevent it from heading further down that road. I sanded it very lightly and used Birchwood Casey cold blue to preserve it. That turned out well eonugh, but it was not as good as a hot blue job would have been. Maybe I will clean it better and redo it someday. But my cold blue approach had the rifle looking good (I think for now the steel finish is good enough), so I continued fixing other things.

The rifle’s original peep sights had been “fixed” (read: Bubba’d) by a shade tree gunsmith. The sights worked, but they looked terrible. Bubba had drilled out the original aperture and tapped it to a larger thread. Then he took and sawed off a length of all thread (all thread is threaded rod) after drilling a small hole way off center. Maybe he did that to allow for windage by rotating it in the threads…who knows? Or maybe he was just sloppy.

I machined a nicer-looking knurled retina (see the picture above), but I ended up putting a scope on it, so for now the peeper looks good but is not used. I’ve seen comparable sights on Ebay for over $225, so I’ve got that going for me.

The old bolt handle was a standard screw from someone’s grandpa’s blacksmith stable. It didn’t work. The handle needs to go through two sleeves to cock the firing pin properly. It wasn’t too hard to make a new one that works well. I had the little ball end you see above in my tool box for years. It was waiting for me to use it on something, and it looks like it belongs on this rifle.

The rifle’s wood stock showed its 85-plus years of use, so I sanded it lightly, stained it, and gave it a clear varnish finish. I similarly cleaned up the buttplate and its screws. I think it all turned out well.

After doing the above work, it was time to sight the rifle in. Waiting until it was dark, I clamped the rifle in a cleaning rest so it wouldn’t move on the table. With the bolt taken out I could look through the barrel at a distant streetlight. I then looked through the scope and adjusted the scope’s windage and elevation so it was right on the streetlight several hundred yards away. After making sure the barrel and scope were secure, I tried the rifle on the farm the next day. The rifle can shoot .22 Short, Long, and Long Rifle ammunition. I could hit dirt clods fairly consistently from 40 to 100 yards away. That’s good enough for now. After shooting it for the first time, I had to go out and celebrated with a Yoo-Hoo and a new box of 50 rounds. I’ll next shoot at a paper target from a rest to hold it steadier then my 66-year-old arms can.

Overall, resurrecting the Model 69 Winchester has been a fun and satisfying project. It didn’t cost very much and gave life back to this 85-year-old firearm that is a hoot to shoot. It would be great for a youth rifle and for teaching kids to shoot. The rifle is small and light, and it can be taken apart for cleaning and reassembling quickly.

Meet our newest contributor: Rob Morel

Rob Morel is a good guy…a considerate, literate, and motorific kind of man. I first met Rob on the Western America Adventure Ride, when guys who owned Zongshen RX3 motorcycles joined Joe Gresh, a group of Chinese riders, a couple of guys from Colombia, and yours truly for our 5,000-mile romp around the US. Rob joined us in Idaho, and I knew I was going to like him the minute I saw the guy seated by the side of the road, waiting for us, somewhere before we crossed into Hells Canyon. It said a lot about Rob: He would be ready, he wouldn’t hold the rest of the group up, and he put others ahead of himself. Like I said, I liked him instantly. Rob has ridden with us a number of times…on that first Western America Adventure Ride, in Baja, on another ride through the Southwest, and more. He’s a machinist, a motorcyclist, a shooter, and a writer. This is Rob’s first piece as an ExNotes contributor. Welcome aboard, Rob, and thanks for this story!

– Joe Berk

More stories in the Rimfire Series are here.

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The Rimfire Series: Winchester Model 62

By Joe Berk

The gun that has been in my family the longest is a Model 62 Winchester chambered in .22 Short, Long, and Long Rifle. I remember it being in the gun cabinet when I was a little boy and being told never to play with it (you can guess how well I listened to that advice).

I could go into a bunch of technical details about the Model 62, and I’ll provide a little bit of that below, but that’s not my intent with this article. I decided to instead focus on the rifle, how it shoots and handles, a little bit of its history, and what it means to me.

The starboard side of my Winchester Model 62 rifle. It’s a sleek and lightweight .pump-action 22.

A port side view of the Model 62 on the range at the West End Gun Club.

When Dad had the rifle up until the time I went into the Army (and that would be in 1973), the rifle’s metalwork was flawless. Then I disappeared from the scene for about 10 years (the Army, work, and other things). I guess during that time my father stopped paying attention to the rifle. Dad passed in 1982, and when I came home for the funeral, the metal parts had taken on the patina you see here. New Jersey is a unforgiving and humid place; if you don’t keep your toys oiled, they corrode quickly. But the Model 62 still looks good and it shoots well.

Shooting in RAW (the camera, that is), a macro lens, and even lighting bring out the inherent beauty of this fine old rifle.

I like the Model 62 Winchester’s straight grip stock. It felt right to me when I was a kid and it influenced my future preferences in firearms. I have more than a few rifles with that same straight grip stock now…a Winchester 1886 .45 70 clone made by Chiappa in Italy, several Ruger No. 3 rifles, and a few Marlin lever guns.

The Model 62 is what we call a “takedown” rifle. A single thumb screw secures the stock and trigger group to the rest of the gun. It’s a cool approach.

The Model 62 taken down. The stock and the trigger group detach from the barreled action with a single thumbscrew on the left side of the receiver.

I rotated the photo 90 degrees clockwise to provide a better look at the rifle after take down.

A macro view of the aft portion of the Model 62 after it has been taken down. The large thumbscrew in the center of this photo allows disassembly.

The Model 62’s barreled action after take down.

The sights on the Model 62 are old school. They’re Lyman front and rear. Nothing fancy, but they work well. A simple gold bead up front, and a drift adjustable rear with a stepped ramp for adjusting elevation. But I’ve never had to adjust them. Either they came zeroed from the factory, or the guy who owned the rifle before Dad adjusted the sights, or Dad adjusted them.

Winchester used Lyman sights front and rear back in the 1930s. This front sight has a brass bead. It tarnished enough so that it looks black when I align the sights, and that works for me. Bright brass beads reflect light and pull the shots to one side.

The Model 62 rear sight. Simple, elegant, and traditional.

I think my Nikon 810 and the Sigma 50mm 2.8 macro lens do a good job in bringing out the rifle’s vintage beauty. You can see it in the next few photos.

The Model 62’s bolt lifts up and slides to the rear when the pump is actuated. The spent brass ejects upward.

Another shot of the retracted bolt, showing the mechanism that ejects the spent brass case.

Rollmarks on the right side of the barrel: “Made in U.S.A. Winchester Repeating Arms Co. New Haven, Conn. Patents Pending.” Cool stuff.

The receiver from the left side. Patina, they call it. I could have it reblued, but then it wouldn’t be original, and like they say, it’s only original once.

The pump action forearm with its distinctive pre-war oval shape. Post-war forearms were straight. This one is much classier.

When I was a kid and my parents weren’t home, I sometimes snuck out of the house with the Model 62 and a box of .22 ammo. We had a couple of acres in New Jersey that ran into the woods with a stream behind the house (the stream fed Farrington Lake, which emptied into Raritan Bay on the Atlantic Ocean). You might think having a couple of acres in central Jersey with property bordered by a stream was a sign of wealth, but it wasn’t. It’s what people did in the 1950s: You bought a couple of acres and built a house, and that’s what my Dad did. He didn’t pay somebody else to build a house; he actually built our house. Today you’d have to be rich to own those two acres. Back then it was the path you took if you didn’t have money.

Those were good days and good times. One time a kid from my junior high came home with me (Bob Dixon, if you’re reading this, drop us a line). Mom and Dad weren’t home yet, so Bob and I grabbed the Model 62 and headed into the woods. There was an old cellar door laying in the mud next to the stream and Bob thought it would be a good idea to flip it over. “You know, there might be a snake or something under there…”

A New Jersey water snake. This one was about five feet long. We used to think these were water moccasins.

We did, and what we saw shocked the hell out of both of us: A monstrous, scaly, and scary reptile. Being kids, we were convinced it was a water moccasin. Today, I realize it was probably a water snake. But it was huge and we did the only thing any kid would have done in similar circumstances, and that was to put the Model 62 to good use. Call me Bwana. (On a recent trip back to New Jersey’s Farrington Lake, I saw another one of those frighteningly large snakes and I wrote about it here.)

Loading the Model 62 is pretty straightforward. The rifle has a tubular magazine that holds a ton of ammo. As you see from the rollmarks above, it will shoot .22 Long Rifle, .22 Long, and .22 Short. I don’t know how many rounds of each it will hold, but it is a lot. I only load five rounds at a time, so it’s kind of a moot point to me. Come to think of it, I can’t remember the last time I saw .22 Long or .22 Short ammo anywhere. It’s all .22 Long Rifle these days.

The tubular magazine below the barrel. The arrow points to the knurled knob that opens the magazine.

A macro shot of the tubular magazine’s knurled knob and its bayonet lock. Twist the knob and the plunger can be pulled forward for loading.

When the magazine’s inner plunger is pulled forward, the loading port can receive ammo.

A Federal .22 Long Rifle being loaded into the Model 62.

So how accurate is this nearly 80-year-old pump action .22? I’m glad you asked. I had not shot it in three or four years, so I grabbed three different kinds of .22 ammunition I had in my ammo locker: Older Federal copper washed high velocity ammo, CCI standard velocity ammo good buddy Greg gave me a few years ago, and Aguila standard velocity target ammo I bought from a local sporting goods chain when it was on sale.

I’m just about to the end of this box of .22 Long Rifle Federal ammo. Look at the price!

The accuracy load: CCI standard velocity .22 Long Rifle ammo. This is good stuff.

Aguila .22 Long Rifle target loads. Previous testing at 50 yards showed this worked best in my Ruger 10/22 (a Rimfire Series blog on that rifle will follow in the near future).

My U-boat Subie and I braved the Meyers Canyon water crossing to get to the West End Gun Club, I went to the .22 range and set up a table, and I tested the Model 62’s accuracy at 50 feet from a bench rest. I fired three 5-shot groups at an old 50-foot rimfire target I found in my stash. Here’s how it went:

Test results at 50 feet. The top right target was the first target of the day, and it was predicably the largest group (the bore was unfouled, and I was not yet in form). The Model 62 did best with CCI standard velocity ammo. This is not too shabby with open sights on an 85-year-old rifle.

A bit more info on the Model 62 Winchester: This Model 62 carries the serial number 94XXX, which puts its date of manufacture at 1939. My father bought the rifle when he was a kid; he would have been 13 years old in 1939. Winchester manufactured 409,000 Model 62 rifles from 1932 to 1958, with a two-year break during World War II. In 1939, production switched over to the Model 62A. The Model 62A incorporated engineering changes to reduce production cost (mine is the original Model 62, not the 62A). When Winchester introduced the Model 62 in 1932, the rifle’s suggested retail price was $17.85. Presumably, the price had climbed a bit by 1939. Family lore has it that Dad paid $8 for the rifle. Sales of recently completed auctions on Gunbroker.com show the price for a Model 62 today ranges from $300 to $3000. That’s quite a spread, but to me it’s irrelevant. This rifle is not for sale at any price; one day it will go to one of my grandsons.

Model 62 Winchesters show up for sale on Gunbroker.com pretty much all the time, so if you want one they are available. More good news is that the Model 62 is legal here in the Peoples Republik of Kalifornia.

More good news is that Rossi, a Brazilian firearms manufacturer, offered their Model 62 (a fairly faithful reproduction of the Winchester Model 62) from 1970 to 1998 and the Rossi rifles can still be found. Rossi discontinued the Model 62 when they were acquired by Taurus, but the Rossi rifles still show up on the auction site gunboards. Sometimes you see one in a pawnshop or a gunstore’s used gun rack. I’ve never handled or fired the Rossi so I can’t say anything about them, but if I came across one at a reasonable price I would jump on it. You might consider doing the same.

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Check out our other Tales of the Gun Rimfire Series articles here.

The Rimfire Series: A Tale of Two .22s

Rimfire rifles are cool. The ammo is inexpensive (when you can find it), there’s no recoil to speak of, they are accurate, and they usually cost less than centerfire rifles. Usually. Unless you go for fancy wood and high end rifles. Both the rimfires you see above fit that description.

The one on the left is a CZ452 Varmint model and it is a stunning rifle. I bought it used and came to it in a unusual way. I’d never owned a CZ before I bought this one. I heard they were accurate and I’m a sucker for a pretty piece of walnut. I saw this one on an Internet rimfire forum, and I knew the chances of finding one like it in a store were slim. So I wrote to the owner through the board’s messaging system and asked if he’d be interested in selling it. “No way,” came the quick response. I forgot about it and then one day about a year later came the email. The guy needed cash and I needed that rifle. It was a match made in heaven, and I bought it as you see it here, complete with the Mueller scope. It’s as accurate as I hoped it would be (it’s the most accurate .22 rifle I own). Patience pays big sometimes.

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The one on the right I came to own in a different manner. About 15 years ago Susie and I were in Rapid City, South Dakota. Rapid City is a cool little town and it has a very cool gun store. First Stop Gun is a dream come true: A real gun shop, with an eye for high end guns, blue steel, and good wood. I didn’t buy anything on that visit, but having learned about the gun store I watched for their listings on Gunbroker.com. One day, they posted an ad for a Remington Custom Shop Model 504.

I pounced on the 504 and I’m glad I did. Remington (as we knew it) is no more, the Custom Shop (as we knew it) is no more, and the Model 504 is no more. This one checked all the boxes for me…great wood, a Custom Shop rifle, and a rimfire. Yeah, you might say I paid too much for it, but the value is only going one way (and that’s up). I’d say I didn’t pay too much; maybe I just bought it too soon. And no, it’s not for sale. It shoots well and the Model 504 has the feel of a full size centerfire (check out the recoil pad on this rifle). It doesn’t feel dinky like many .22s do. It’s just a fun gun to shoot and it’s a fun gun to look at. I do both a lot.

Do you like photos of high end handguns and rifles, and fancy walnut? Then here is where you want to be: Tales of the Gun!

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A Fancy Stevens Little Scout

I saw this very interesting post on Facebook from good buddy Reeve not too long ago and I thought you fancy walnut aficionados might enjoy it:

Here’s my take on a Stevens Little Scout. I built it for my grandson from a rough original. The barrel has a new liner, and the stock changed to a pistolgrip. The forend changed from the lifeless little wedge to a Schnabel. The wood is Turkish walnut. I hot blued the metalwork. Engraving and color case by Mike Crumling.

Reeve, thanks for allowing us to share your artistry. I’d say your grandson is a lucky guy on many levels. That is a beautiful rifle, my friend.

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The Rimfire Series: A .22 Colt Trooper Mk III

Take a look at this: A Colt Trooper Mk III chambered in .22 Long Rifle, an interesting and extremely accurate revolver. I picked it up maybe 30 years ago in a local gun store. The revolver was in their display case on the lower shelf and I almost didn’t see it. I wasn’t in the market, but when I saw the Trooper it grabbed my attention. It was marked $225, I offered $200, the guy on the other side of the counter said okay, and the Trooper was mine.

Deep bluing, crisp lockwork, and color case hardening on the hammer. It makes for a good-looking revolver. This one wears custom handgrips.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but the little Trooper is a phenomenally accurate handgun, maybe one of the most accurate I’ve ever shot. It groups as well as a Model 41 Smith and Wesson, a target handgun with maybe twice the sight radius.

The Trooper is based on a Colt that was originally a .38 Special, then it was chambered for the .357 Magnum, then it was redesigned as the Trooper Mk III, and then it was offered in .22. That was a thing back in the ’60s and ’70s, you know, offering full-sized revolvers but in .22, and it was a good thing. These are awesome target guns, relatively inexpensive to shoot, and just plain fun. And heavy. The Trooper kept the same external envelope (i.e., the exterior dimensions) as the far-more-powerful .357 Magnum Trooper, and that means there’s a lot more steel in the barrel and the cylinder.

I bought my Trooper used, but it is in as new condition. It came with the original lighter colored (and checkered) walnut grips, but I saw the grips you see the revolver wearing in these photos about 15 years ago and I had to have them. The smooth grips look good and the medallions imply the gun went throught the Colt Custom Shop (it did not), but truth be told, the original grips offer a better hold and they fit the revolver better.

The grips say Colt Custom, but my Trooper was a regular production gun. The build standards were way higher back in the day.

One of these days I’ll get around to hogging out the interior of the custom grips and fitting them to the Trooper with AcraGlas, but that’s a project for the future. Or, I may put the original grips back on the gun (they’re around here somewhere).

The Troopers were available with a 4-inch barrel (like mine), a 6-inch barrel, or an 8-inch barrel, and they could be had with a high polish blue (like mine), a high-polish nickel, or a brushed nickel finish. If I knew then what I know now I would have purchased a matching blue steel Trooper Mk III in .357 Magnum. They were around $200 back in the day, and like my .22, the .357 would have been a sound investment. These guns go for five to eight times that amount today. You could argue that they make for a good investment, but that implies flipping the gun to realize the profit, and that’s not going to happen. I’ll keep this one forever.

You know, it’s hard to find new guns built to these same standards as regular service guns were 30 or more years ago. When I look at the deep bluing on my Trooper, that’s pretty obvious. The new Colt Python is one that rivals the Trooper for build quality, but it’s the exception.

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