The old .22 I learned to shoot with

Win 38-55

Win 38-55

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This old Winchester Model 68 single shot .22 made its first appearance in an old B&W photo of my mother when she was a young girl. I don't have a copy, otherwise I'd post it. In the photo, she's holding this very .22 in one hand and a Snowshoe Hare in the other. It was the first firearm I ever fired ..... can't remember how old I was. When I was about 12 or 13, I took this little rifle into the bush with me every winter day, checking my trapline, and hunting Snowshoe Hares (which turn white in the winter) to feed all our farm cats. The extra hares were hung on our clothesline, frozen solid, until I needed one for the cats. After I left home, this .22 stayed out in the yard, sitting in a derelict '54 Chev pickup truck and in various granaries, ready at all times for taking care of squirrels that liked to eat holes in the granaries, varmints, or putting the occasional weak or sickly cow down that couldn't make it through those cold spells of 35 or 40 degrees below zero.
After many years of use out in the farmyard, this .22 was a wreck, with a shattered buttplate, broken stock, makeshift bolt holding the stock on, and covered in surface rust. About 18 years ago, I got to thinking about that old .22 and started feeling sentimental about it. I bought dad a beater .22 to abuse out in the farmyard, and I rescued this old gun and restored it, and believe me, it needed restoring. So here's a photo of the old gun. It is an early version of the model 68, with finger grooves in the forearm so was made sometime in 1934 or 1935 according to George Madis. The Model 68 came with a nice rear peep sight. This old rifle has taken a lot of Showshoe Hares, and even a large Lynx that was hanging around the yard back when I was a kid.

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Very Cool. I think many of us have one of these "Ole .22's" around. Mine is an old Cooey Model 75. My Grandfather was a neglectful tyrant, and my dad has many stories, from out on the farm, were his .22 and a half dozen shells were what kept the family fed. It has a special place in the Gun cabinet.
 
I like the story and think the picture you have included is beautiful.

Just by looking at the picture, I can see the sentiment with which you're restored this beauty.
 
My "old" .22 is a Cooey repeater that my dad was traded for several days of plowing, he gave it to his father who then gave it back to him when I started shooting and hunting. That .22 has apparently killed several deer eating apples from the apple tree outside the house where my dad grew up.C.I.L. Whiz-bangs were solid roundnoses where the load of choice for partridges (grouse) and apparently the odd deer.
 
Nice to see some old guns staying in the family. I have two of my wife's Grndfather's a 67 and 68(?). They were left out in the shed too and look like what your description was. They have the finger groove as well but different rear sights.

For giggles I refinished the one witrh the best bore and shocked the family with how nice it turned out, both were quite rusty.

As to vintage pics Win 38-55, here are a couple for your thread.
This is a family friend when he ws a young lad. Believe he is turning 80 years young this fall. Hopeing to take him hunting this fall.:cool:
He and his brother could relly trick shoot with the Winchester pump, Annie Oakley style.;)
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Many years ago, I was given the barrelled action with bolt intact, of a Winchester model 68 22 rimfire. I had a stock made up for it from a pattern of an early model 67 [identical stock] Also had it reblued. Used it for many years and finally passed it on to my oldest son, who learned to shoot with it at about age 7 or 8. He's now 30, so imagine it will be passed on to his son in time as well. Great old rifle, and accurate as can be! Regards, Eagleye.
 
Hopefully, if anyone else has some old photos like that, they will post them. They make good additions to this thread.
 
Win 38-55 said:
Hopefully, if anyone else has some old photos like that, they will post them. They make good additions to this thread.
Click to expand...

:cool:
I wish more folks would post their old pics too!

You best go get those pics this weekend seeing as your deer tag is full already.;)

Here's buddy with the same old pump after all these years. They shot the bore out of it and his brother took it to Calgary to get it resleeved for a whopping $18.
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He told me how they would toss up a can for eachother and then shoot the can. They were able to hit it three times before it hit the ground.

We were actually shooting targets this day. Great fun. He was really frustrated with his shakes. "I never needed a rest before yoo know".....
God love him.
 
I like your story. 2-3 years ago I was in an army surplus store and I found a pellet gun for sale that reminded me of the one I had as a kid. It got me thinking. When I was in elementary school I was riding my bike up in the hills and had come across 4-5 rifles that had been stolen and for what ever reason had been left under a large tree beside the road. I had told my parents and they had gotten me to call the police about the whole thing.

We lived out of town so it took the police a while before they could come out and see the guns. In that time my young self had cleaned up the pellet gun. Taken it apart and gotten it working again. In the end the guns all had to be destroyed but I remember the day the police officer took them all away except for that pellet gun. He said if it was ok with my parents he didn't see a problem with me keeping it seeing as how I had put in so much work into getting it to look all nice and working again.

My parents decided I was at an appropriate age that a pelletgun was not a problem so I got to keep it. I shot that gun for years as a young boy and eventually once I was in high school I refinished the wood stock. It looked really neat because of the water damage to the wood it turned kind of blue and grey. Time moved on and it sat around the house as a gun my dad would use to scare off undesirable birds etc.

Anyway back to the future. I bought the pelletgun from the army surplus store and dropped by my parents place to see if the old pelletgun still existed. After some digging around I found it. I used the new gun to replace anything that needed replacing on the old one. Now I use it as an indoor plinking gun and generally just enjoy the fact that it is probably the oldest thing from my past.
 
There's something about having a connection with the past that brings back a lot of good memories. I still have my old Daisy BB gun, although it doesn't work anymore. I can't bear to chuck it.
 
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