romanian .22's

M

MAURICE

New member
I saw a thread a little while back about Romanian training rifles in .22 cal.
What do you all have to say about em? Good and Bad experiences, ups and downs. Some specifics.
Any info would be appreciated.
 
Shot one last night. Can't comment on open sights as the gun had a $50 variable magnification scope on it. It produced 1/2" groups out to 25m (basically large ragged holes). That was as good or slightly better than a heavy-barrel Mossberg bolt action with peep sight.
Trigger has a lot of free travel, then becomes nice and crisp. Stock is a bit short.
Extra mags were hard to find and the one that came with it didn't work, so the gun had to be single-loaded. Its owner is happy.
 
I got a SINGLE shot 27" heavy barrel model last year from Empire Arms, $97. I think, and it's worth 5 times that price. This thing shoots better than a moa with good ammo and no wind on a sturdy rest. It's easy to load, just throw the bullet in front of the bolt and it goes into the chamber easily by pushing the bolt forward. I've seen the five shot detachable magazine romainians around (J&G) but haven't seen another single shot, I'd buy another in a heartbeat if I found one.
 
Love mine. Paid $60 at the local store. Had a problem--it would not feed reliablly from the magazine. Fixed it myself, with help from TFL. The firing pin was not retracting when the bold moved forward. Polished a burr on the bolt, and now flawless.

Accuracy is great. Mine shoots right to point-of-aim with the iron sights.

Yeah, the trigger is not a Timney, but you can learn how to adapt to its travel and break.

I had no trouble getting extra mags from http://www.gunsnammo.com They were $12 each? Can't remember.

Anyway, I think its a great value, and a great shooter.
 
I used my C&R and bought one from Classic for under $60 to my door. Had some problems at first with FTF but after advice from this board realized that it was from packing grease in the bolt, either in the extractor channel, or firing pin channel. Knocked the pins out and cleaned it up, and have had no problems since. I really like the gun. I have not put it on paper yet but it has sure as hell impressed some varmints around here.
 
speaking of Romanian .22s:
Anyone know the difference between the .22LR and the .22LRLN listed on gunsnammo? (besides about $40)
 
Yup. The last two letters mean "like new". They "appear to be unissued".

The $39 ones will be well-used.

If I hadn't already bought one, I'd look real seriously at the "like new" ones.
 
"speaking of Romanian .22s:
Anyone know the difference between the .22LR and the .22LRLN listed on gunsnammo? (besides about $40)"

.22LRLN= .22Long Rifle Like New. These are supposed to be "unissued" rifles. I was thinking about trying one out. I have one of the $40.00 rifles and ejection is unreliable. Accuracy is exceptional, however.
 
also just got one...

prolly overpaid for it, still in the double digits though. All said -- great little plinker, and much fun. More accurate than me, though I realize that ain't sayin' much.

I've found the ejection problems are mostly solved by being a *little* more forceful pulling back the bolt, so the ejector gives the spent case a good smack.

One question for the rest of y'all -- mine is sighted in too low, so I'm currently using the "100 yard" tab to get 10-ring hits pretty close in. We've tried using an SKS sight tool to move that front post, but the hole in the shroud's too small. Is there a special tool out there, or is a better solution to --

1 -- dremel out the shroud for the SKS sight tool
2 -- get a buddy to make a split rod to use as an impromtu tool.

Anyone know?

Thanks!

-K
 
Mine shoots dead on. I love it. It's very accurate and well worth the money.

For a sight adjustment tool try experimenting with some steel fuel line and a file or dremel. You should be able to find something that works.
 
Good deal?

For about 80 bucks, a guy can't go wrong. Will they shoot .22 shorts? Anyone got a pic of these little pearls? Thanks!

-Jared
 
On the http://www.gunsnammo.com page, it says the "red" colored wood is rare. That's what mine had under all the nasty stain and varnish. I refinished it with linseed oil and beeswax and it looks sweet IMHO. One of these days I'll get a digital camera and post a photo of mine.

Mine had seen some hard use but functions just fine, even the box magazine that looks like it was used as a hammer.

Joker - it'll single-feed shorts or what-have-you. I don't think it will feed them from the box magazine. You can use CB Longs in them, though.

Semper fi.

Bruegger out.
 
40, 0r 80?

So, Which do you think would be better,
Buy the 40 dollar one, and refinish it, or the 80 dollar one? How is the blueing on these? What are the options, if any for mounting optics. I want to build an Urban Sniper rifle. :-)

-Jared
 
I think you can beat $60 by mail order. Have you looked at J&G Sales? I paid $70 or $80 at a Big 5 and so got to "hand select" mine. The wood was an ooooogly doody-brown and looked like a reject from a broom factory 'til I fixed it up, but the bluing was fine and the crown was fine. It's pretty hard to wear out a .22 LR barrel, so bore condition isn't much to worry about.

Pvt Joker - personally, if the only difference was the condition of the wood, I'd take the cheaper one and do the refinishing myself, but I LIKE to do that sort of thing. Mrs. B is always coming into my shop and asking when I'll be done monkeying around with my latest project. You can't justify it on a money saved basis unless your time is worth only pennies an hour. And by the way Pvt Joker WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH THAT JELLY DONUT IN YOUR FOOT LOCKER?!?

Semper fi.
 
actually, the $60 is mail order. Since gunsnammo has their standard quality for $40 (and their "like new" for $80) I was curious where classicarms offerings fell on the quality scale.
 
40 sounds good!

I like to refinish wood too, Or wouldn't mind it. How would I go about stripping the wood? Commercial stripper, like paint thinner or something? Sounds like a fun progect actually. What are the options for mounting optics? I'll probably get a little 4x scope for it. or something, for sniping crows and such from the back yard. :-) Thanks!

-Jared
 
Joker - there is some kind of nasty varnish and cheesy stain on there. Truly hideous on mine. However, the wood hiding under there on mine was actually pretty nice - a lot like the one on the web site in my earlier post.

You can use a chemical stripper and steel wool or one of those PVC/plastic stripper wheels for a drill (use very carefully so you don't remove any significant amount of wood).

[NOTE] Some people say that under no circumstances should you use anything other than 0000 steel wool on your stocks, but if that's all you use on one of the Romanians, you won't get that nasty stain off. If you do use sandpaper, you have to be really careful not to change the contours of the stock, and the collector value is definitely shot - but that's not why I bought my Romanian anyway. The stock on mine was so darn ugly I was willing to chance it and used the stripper wheel.

Here's my whole procedure:
-Remove the varnish and stain (and with it, the topmost layer of wood if you use a stripper wheel).
-Raise dents in the wood by soaking in water for just a few minutes. You can slap a wet towel on there and put a hot iron over the remaining dents to raise the dents a little more. Use an old towel and an old iron unless you want the old lady to beat you silly.
-Let it dry.
-Then you can start with 100 grit sandpaper - very lightly - and work down to 400 or 00 steel wool, sanding with the grain, just enough to smooth things out.
-Then soak the stock in water for a few minutes to raise the grain.
-Once it dries remove the whiskers that have risen up on the grain with 0000 steel wool or a Scotch Brite pad.
-Apply a coat of linseed or tung oil (from Home Depot) and let dry. Some people prefer Tru-Oil, but to me it's too shiny and slick.
-The first time you do this, you might try diluting the oil with mineral spirits 50/50 or even 2 parts spirits to one part oil to make sure it soaks in really well.
-Smooth with 0000 steel wool or scotch brite.
-Repeat last two steps endlessly. "Once (or twice) a day for a week, once a week for a month, once a month for a year, etc."

Regarding the scope I have no clue where you'd get a mount for it.

Now drop and give me twenty Private Pyle.

Bruegger out.
 
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