Looking for advice and input on two 22's I just picked up

[king kong]

Hi everyone,Thanks to some friends I've been bitten by the bug and having a lot of fun shooting. I ended up picking up my first two guns from a friend and brought them out for the first time last weekend.

The first is a Winchester 69a with what I've read is the desirable grooved receiver to mount a scope. It came with a weaver tip-off but it seems a bit clouded when looking through it. I'd like to turn this thing into a tack puncher and I'm not sure if I should change the scope, or do something to clean it up. Also, the finish on the stock seems a dull with some indentations where someone wore a ring. I'd like to refinish, but I'm not sure how that would effect value if there is any.








The second is a Remington 552 speedmaster, I think it's from around '66 but haven't officially confirmed yet. The gun seems to shoot well, my first experience with a tube feed that isn't a shotgun. It also has a grooved receiver and I'd like to put some sort of optics on it. The stocks on this one though are really beat up. I'm currently trying to find a set of stocks from a newer 552 as they seem a little more aesthetically pleasing.









I think I over paid a little for both of them, but I'm not sure if I'll actually end up keeping both. I think I would have more fun with the winchester, but since I have them I might as well shoot both. I wanted to hear what you guys have to think of my plans for them. Open to suggestions, comments, concerns, etc. I want to hear what you guys have to say though. Thanks for the help

[Lead Waster]

My suggestions is to keep both and go shoot an Appleseed event with them to learn how to shoot them. Once you shoot both a lot, you'll know which one you like better.

Maybe keep one with iron sights and the other a scope gun?

[king kong]

My suggestions is to keep both and go shoot an Appleseed event with them to learn how to shoot them. Once you shoot both a lot, you'll know which one you like better.

Maybe keep one with iron sights and the other a scope gun?

Appleseed is what I would really like to do. The only thing I'm concerned with is reloading. Between tube feeding the speedmaster and the 5rd magazines for the winchester, I'm not sure if I would get left behind.

[BSlacker]

I'm not sure if I would get left behind.

Everybody else has to load as well. There are speed loaders for tube feed rifles that speed it up a bunch. Load the nite before and have a head start.
I have a buddy with the Remington 552 SpeedMaster. It is a good gun.

[AR22]

Wish I still had my Remignton 552. I miss that one.

[llamatrnr]

"Spee-D-Loader" is your friend . . . Have fun!

[troutbum54]

those are some nice rifles, I would try to keep them as original as possible. The 552 looks to be Feb. 1966 based on the photo.

[king kong]

Thanks for all the input guys. I'm definetely going to pick up a spee-d-loader. I think I'm going to give appleseed a try also. Thanks again.

[CasperSYTFU]

That winchester is a beaut! Congrats.
Absolutely stay original if you can.

[wellfedirishman]

Those are both nice. Old 22s are cool and some can be very accurate.

You may want to experiment a bit with ammo to see what type each gun prefers.

[king kong]

Thanks for all the advice and tips guys. I do want to try and see if some different ammo will help with the winchester. Right now I'm having trouble with the rounds ejecting properly. The empty casings come out of the barrel no problem, but they get stuck in the mechanism that holds/ejects them (please pardon my lack of proper terminology). Any ideas what to do do about the cloudy sites, or if I should just upgrade to something else on the one that I chose to use a scope on?

[hanover67]

You maybe able to cure the ejection problem by giving the bolt and extractor(s) a thorough cleaning with a toothbrush and some solvent. I'm not familiar with Winchesters, but the extractor is probably mounted in a groove in the bolt and it could be gummed up with old grease and not functioning properly.

That old Weaver scope is probably not worth repairing, but there are plenty of good, inexpensive .22 scopes available. Look at Midway USA's website.

Finally, you can refinish the wood on both guns yourself. I've done several with Tru-Oil finishes and they came out really well. Look on rimfirecentral.com under Remington and do a search for stock refinishing for how-to information, or e-mail me at hanover67@yahoo.com and I'll tell you how I did it.

[bobgengeskahn]

Nice Winchester. Which one is it? It looks a lot like the G6 on my 341P. When I picked mine up there was some clouding in it as well, but it cleaned up nicely with some alcohol.

IMHO the old rifles only look right with period optics. In my research I found that Weaver has since sold all of the rights for the old optics (ones that were made in El Paso TX) to a group called Iron Sight Inc. in Tulsa OK. They offer a complete rebuild/cleaning service for these scopes. It's a little pricy and a long-ish wait, but if you can't do it yourself and you want the original its the only way to go. http://ironsightinc.com/index.php?route=common/weaver

Also, to clean it up I used Howards Wax n' Feed. Its more of a restoration agent than a cleaning agent, so the stock will keep all of the character its acquired. Here is a before and after from my 341:


(Sorry for the close up pics, I wanted to pick ones that showed the wood before and after)


Edit:

Also, Got into a conversation with a guy at the range about old rifles. He was saying that the lead (no jacket) federal seemed to perform better for him. I was using normal .22 lr Federal and was having FTE (unless I slammed the bolt around). I shot both and there was a noteable diffeence, granted the 341 is a B/A, but it might be worth a shot.

[guns_and_music]

Those old Weaver scopes with the skinny tubes are really nice, a far cry from the plastic pieces of junque sold now.

In the picture, it looks like the "tip off" scope mount may not be fully on the rails on one side - may have been dropped or something. In my opinion it's a really good scope mount, though, well worth working on or getting worked on if it's bent etc.

The *older* weavers, that looks like their make of really thick "iron", as in the last pictures, can be worth some real bucks. I believe some of those were used to "sniper-ize" military rifles in WWII and thus they have a collector value. I seem to remember getting about $200 for one years ago.

[bobgengeskahn]

The *older* weavers, that looks like their make of really thick "iron", as in the last pictures, can be worth some real bucks. I believe some of those were used to "sniper-ize" military rifles in WWII and thus they have a collector value. I seem to remember getting about $200 for one years ago.

Yeah, my N3 mount is actually tweaked (different thread) but it is super thick hard steel, and the scope in good-great condition can go for ~150, and I only paid $130 for the rifle... They are really great pieces of equipment. Super solid when everything is clean and restored. But $150 and 10-12 months to have it restored is just a little longer than I'd like to be without it