RE: Paco's Rare Find

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Mike Armstrong
Levergunner 3.0
Posts: 506
Joined: Sat Aug 03, 2013 12:21 pm

RE: Paco's Rare Find

Post by Mike Armstrong »

I don't go to the "Articles" section often enough. Went there today and found Paco Kelly's article on an Uberti SAA he found--in .22 WRF, of all things! Where I came from that ctg. was always called by its Remington designation ".22 Special," which sounds more powerful than just plain .22, although Remington probably just called theirs that to avoid putting the "W word" on their guns.

My family goes back a ways with .22 Specials. My dad was parked with a relative (nobody ever told me how we are related) called "Grandma Grimes" in Rapid City SD for the duration of the Depression after his parents split and his mother lit out for parts unknown. My grandfather had lots of time for federal law enforcement and the National Guard, but little-to-none for kids.

Grandma had a Remington Model 12S pump .22 and the "S" stood for Special. My dad was the protein provider for the "family" of 3 (including a baby brother who later became a distinguished Marine in China and WWII, and Korea). Few deer around there in the Depression, but lots of small game, and they ate it all. (Who says jackrabbits aren't edible? Someone who isn't really hungry, that's who!). He got good at stalking, because shells took actual "hard money" to get!

So when our neighbor needed his chicken house cleaned out in 1952 so he could convert it into a garage and I saw a pump .22 sitting in the corner of his porch, we made a deal--me carrying out and spreading the chicken gold and him giving me the pump. Done.

Turned out it was a Win Model 1890 and it worked, sort of. Single shot because no inner magazine tube, and regular .22 shells split when fired in it. Bore looked like a Roman sewer that hadn't been cleaned since the Empire fell!

Fortunately there was an old gunsmith (he may have been all of 39, a real graybeard to me) who had a small shop on the outskirts of Petaluma CA (then the Egg Capital of the World!) near an old cinnabar mine. He was a retired machinist who didn't hear well, and was a real grouch. Except when he ran across somebody who loved guns as much as he did. That was me.

He told me the problem was that this rifle wasn't just any .22--it was a "Special" and that's why the .22s split. He gave me address of Numrich's and the part number for a new mag. tube and how much $$ to put on a PMO so they'd send me one. It took a few months for me to get the $$ together (fortunately--for me--the Korean War was on and scrap metal was very high) and for me to get the rust off with bronze wood and Kroil, and for him to plumb the bore with some secret bore cleaner he had that removed lead from steel. The reason that the rifle was so gummed up with lead was that the neighbor had been using it for sparrow/jay/starling control with .22 shotshells and had never cleaned it. It cleaned up great and I used it for many years after that--it was my first Winchester after the .410 single shot I'd bought new by picking 104 crates of prunes the summer before.

I still like the .22 WRF and still have an old Winchester Model 68 bolt single shot made in that caliber. Gave my Win 1885 Lowall Single Shot . 22 WRF to my son a couple of years ago, a fairly pricey rifle these days.

Now I mostly use ".22 Specials" as a subload in my Colt "New Frontier Convertible" Single Action and my S&W Model 651 Stainless Kit Gun. For small game, they're all you need in a close-range handgun. The 651 likes them a lot more than most .22 Magnums!

Great article and great find by Paco! How many .22 WRF chamber reamers do you suppose here are in Brescia? (ONE, I'd say.)

Wish WW would make more Specials, er WRFs! Anybody else have experience with 'em?

Mike Armstrong
rgates
Levergunner 1.0
Posts: 55
Joined: Wed Jan 28, 2009 11:24 pm

Re: RE: Paco's Rare Find

Post by rgates »

Around 1975 I was in the Navy stationed in San Diego. Went in one of the big 'carry-some-of-everything' stores and in the Sporting Goods department saw a SALE sign on a stack of ammo. When I got closer I saw that it was Remington brand .22 WRF. However, there was an ominous sign above the stack stating, "CANNOT BE USED IN THE .22 MAGNUM". I tried to hide the smile on my face and asked how many boxes they had in the stack. Don't remember the exact number but there were about 30-35 boxes. I told the clerk I'd take em all. He pointed out the sign and I assured him I had seen it. Took that ammo out to my favorite shooting spot and used several boxes in my Ruger Single Six with .22 Magnum cylinder. Worked great! Oh yeah, the price? $1.00 a box! Still have around 25 boxes in a military ammo can.
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