The 22 caliber

[Palmetto Bug]

I have a few 22's but the one that gets the most use is an AMT Lightning 10/22 knockoff of the Ruger 10/22. AMT came out with an all stainless version (not an aluminum receiver like the Ruger's) that came with a folding stock. They quit making them when they got sued for patent infringment. This was before the assault weapons ban and when it was still very unusual to see a militarized looking gun in the woods. The folding stock makes it very convenient to pack and it fits on the ATV without sticking out to snag stuff. It is a surprisingly good shooter and, with its laser sight and banana magazine, it's irresistible to kids that I take shooting.

My other favorite is a Browning Challenger pistol I bought with money my grandfather gave me for graduating high school. Had to use a fake ID because I wasn't old enough. I've hunted squirrels with it back when I had a good dog and killed a LOT of rats with it in the barn.


My grandfather also gave me a little Winchester model 190 that I've killed a bunch of squirrels with. I had my all time personal best with it one time in Cottageville when I shot 13 squirrels out of one tree. They were eating some sort of wild pecan type nut and wouldn't stop even when one of the buddies came bouncing off limbs to the ground.

If I had to give up all my guns but one, I'd probably keep a .22.

[walt4dun]

My grandfather had a big garden when I was a boy and hated rabbits with a passion. He used to take me up his long dirt road just before sundown on his old Harley Davidson 3 wheeled golf cart and there would be rabbits around every corner it seemed. He let me use his old Winchester Model 270 pump .22 rifle and I still have it today.

Granddad would tell me about the times when he was a boy walking the roads of York county in the 1920s with his father or friends, shooting all kinds of stuff with a .22 rifle. He was a big believer in eating what you killed and he was Depression era so you really had to make every round count. They didn't target shoot like we do today and he would give you hell if you ever missed. I can remember shooting a cardinal off my grandmother's bird feeder with his .22 rifle and he made me clean it and eat it. He told me a story once of him and a friend killing about two dozen sparrows and warblers, sitting right down on the banks of the Catawba River, starting a fire and cooking all them and eating them like that was the best meal in the world. Needless to say, shortly after that I decided to stop killing song birds off Grandma's feeders.

[Jozie & Me]

I grew up hearing stories of how my dad could shoot change out of the air with his Winchester .22 pump. He bought it on his 12th birthday in 1946.
He was on the Clemson Rifle team 3 years and was invited to try out for the Olympic team in '58, so needless to say that pump saw some action in his youth.

I shot that thing at any and everything in sight growing up as well.

When I was in college, I bought a Marlin automatic from Walmart to mess around with. During a camping trip a few years ago I lost the elevation riser out of the rear site. So, my dad and I made a new one out of a scap piece of metal laying around.

I took it out behind the shop and didnt think it was quite right. Daddy, who is in his '70s now, shot it a couple of times at a can, THEN, he took a quarter out of his pocket and tossed it in the air . . .ZING off it went. Then a nickel, he did miss the dime. All those stories I heard from my uncle growing up were true. I had never seen it until then.

He handed me the rifle back and said. "seems to work fine"

[Boo]

My first 22 was a Remington Speedmaster with a weaver 4x scope on it. The scope was crude and the reticle was a thick piece of wire (seemed to be anyways). My dad bought it from his "step" grandfather right before he passed away. That thing was super accurate but started having problems ejecting spent cases. After a trip to the local gunsmith, he said the "hull plucker" was bad and that it needed to go back to Remington because it wasn't something he could repair. He then told me that it would cost at least $80 for them to even look at it and maybe another $50-100 to fix it. I start thinking that was a lot of money to a kid just out of college. Mossburg had justcome out with the 835 and I was itching to get my hands on something that shot 3 1/2" shells (who knows why?)... Well, I walked into White Jones Hardware in Anderson, SC and asked the guy if he would consider a trade. He promptly offered me $150 trade and they had the the 835 for just over $250. I then, promptly traded for the 835 thinking I just got a new shotgun for $100... About two days later, after losing sleep over it, I felt terrible about getting rid of the gun. I ran down to the Hardware store and of course, was told they didn't have the gun anymore...

Even thought I have sold a few guns since then, none of the others had any family significance. I still, to this day, fell sick when I think about getting rid of that sweet shootin' little .22lr.

On a side note, the Ruger 10/22 that I now have with a trigger job and a 3x9 scope is a fun little gun to shoot, too. However, once I bought my first .17HMR, the 10/22 hasn't been back out of the gun safe... I need to get it back out and plink with it again. Thanks for the memories!

[marhas]

Marlin 39A(Dad's). My favorite story about the gun is: One time while walking back from the swamp after squirrel hunting, my dad and I heard a summer duck (that's what everyone called them back then). I was carrying my .410 and dad had his 39A. The duck came through the swamp straight toward us and dad told me to get ready and shoot her when she came over. After I missed with the .410, dad dropped her with the .22. A few minutes later we flushed a snipe, I hit the deck and dad hit the snipe square in the chest with his shot from the .22. I am still amazed today when I think about those 2 shots that my dad made. Thanks for the memories dad.