Here's a little side trip for anyone who knows older Winchester rimfire rifles.
I have no motivation for starting this thread except to find out what folks who have, used to have, or have used this rifle think of them.
It's a model 55 (IIRC!) and it had a 22" barrel, I think. .22 LR, not sure if it also liked shorts or longs, too. Fixed sights, wood stock.
A buddy of my brother owned this, it was in his family... either his Dad's or his Grandfather's old rifle. I remember it distinctly because of the oddball nature of the operating system of the rifle. Listen to how this one worked-- it kind of acted like a blow-back semi auto rifle in that the shell was automatically ejected upon firing, it would extract and then kick out the bottom of the wooden stock. But it wouldn't feed the next round because it had no magazine. It was a single shot rifle that you had to load from the top through a loading port that was similar to the push-in loading door on the side of a lever-action rifle.
And the rifle fired from an open bolt. When you loaded the rifle, the cartridge sat in the chamber with nothing behind it, and when you pulled the trigger, the entire bolt slung forward under spring pressure and the firing pin was pretty much just a metal nipple on the front of the bolt. The firing pin didn't move, the entire bolt slammed forward in to the cartridge case head.
Because the trigger let loose the entire bolt, it wasn't a great trigger. And I can't see a system of this design being really very good at... well, anything. But I suppose it would be one of the quicker loading and firing of all single shots?
Given how it works, it seemed similar to the operation of an Uzi. Sounds ridiculous to say that out loud, but I don't know a lot of rifles that fire by letting the bolt fly forward when you pull the trigger.
So anyhow... maybe this thread gets 3 views then drops off the face of the earth. But if you have one, or your Grandpa had one, or you used one and liked it (or hated it!) and you remember it, tell me what you thought. Cause on the odd day when it pops in to memory, what I remember most is how odd it worked, why it was designed that way and how unique it is in a world of rimfire rifles.
I have no motivation for starting this thread except to find out what folks who have, used to have, or have used this rifle think of them.
It's a model 55 (IIRC!) and it had a 22" barrel, I think. .22 LR, not sure if it also liked shorts or longs, too. Fixed sights, wood stock.
A buddy of my brother owned this, it was in his family... either his Dad's or his Grandfather's old rifle. I remember it distinctly because of the oddball nature of the operating system of the rifle. Listen to how this one worked-- it kind of acted like a blow-back semi auto rifle in that the shell was automatically ejected upon firing, it would extract and then kick out the bottom of the wooden stock. But it wouldn't feed the next round because it had no magazine. It was a single shot rifle that you had to load from the top through a loading port that was similar to the push-in loading door on the side of a lever-action rifle.
And the rifle fired from an open bolt. When you loaded the rifle, the cartridge sat in the chamber with nothing behind it, and when you pulled the trigger, the entire bolt slung forward under spring pressure and the firing pin was pretty much just a metal nipple on the front of the bolt. The firing pin didn't move, the entire bolt slammed forward in to the cartridge case head.
Because the trigger let loose the entire bolt, it wasn't a great trigger. And I can't see a system of this design being really very good at... well, anything. But I suppose it would be one of the quicker loading and firing of all single shots?
Given how it works, it seemed similar to the operation of an Uzi. Sounds ridiculous to say that out loud, but I don't know a lot of rifles that fire by letting the bolt fly forward when you pull the trigger.
So anyhow... maybe this thread gets 3 views then drops off the face of the earth. But if you have one, or your Grandpa had one, or you used one and liked it (or hated it!) and you remember it, tell me what you thought. Cause on the odd day when it pops in to memory, what I remember most is how odd it worked, why it was designed that way and how unique it is in a world of rimfire rifles.
I've had mine over a year and I have yet to even fire it lol 
