This comes courtesy of our friends at Collectors, and even for them, it’s a little cheeky to ask $250 for a 1970 Rossi pump plinker in only average condition.
But that’s not the point, here.
What I want to know is this: why does nobody (except Henry) make .22 pump-action rifles and carbines anymore? You might say that they don’t move off the shelves anymore, which is a perfectly good reason to stop manufacturing them.
Okay, then the real question is even more puzzling: why doesn’t every home in America have at least one of these little beauties in a closet or gun safe?
The reason I find this inexplicable is that I don’t believe that there is any more fun to be had than plinking with a pump-action .22 rifle. This has certainly been my own experience — not just for myself, because I am a completely promiscuous shooter of .22 rifles — but for everyone I’ve ever gone shooting with, and handed them a pump rifle to shoot. Let’s just say that huge and I mean HUGE grins of delight have been universally in evidence, coupled with a look of utter disappointment when there are no more boolets left in the tube.
Everybody loves shooting a little model 62, whether a Winchester, Taurus, Rossi, or the Henry H3 (which costs new about $500, or double that of the Rossi). (You can’t shoot a Winchester 62 anymore because they are a Collector’s Item, i.e. they cost over a grand, regardless of condition, if you’re lucky to find one at all.)
Here’s what I think: if anyone were to get a .22 pump rifle, they’d never get rid of it. As stated earlier, there is no more fun plinking to be had, with any other rifle.
So why doesn’t everyone own one?
Here’s the one I lost to burglars, a Taurus Mod 62 stainless carbine:
Ooooh that little 16.5″ barrel… [pause to let uncontrollable sobbing die away]
I’ve looked all over for a replacement, but they’re like virgins in a knock shop: if you can find one, they’re too expensive to consider.
Out of many guns, my Rossi pump .22 is my favorite. I can’t shoot it without a grin on my face.
Back in the 80’s and 90’s I went to every gun show I could find. Back then gun shows were quite different from today. In any event, early 90’s, one show in Louisiana had more pump action rifles than I’ve ever seen before. And never seen since, either. Table after table, at least several dozen of those Winchester .22 pumps and, like you mentioned, prices were sky high for a basic, old, used .22 rimfire. Even back then. But I wanted one bad. And then saw a Savage in amongst all the Winchesters for only $100. Functionally identical and much much cheaper. Lucky me. It’s old enough that it doesn’t even have a serial number. One of my favorite rifles. Fun times.
Growing up in the 60’s, on a farm, with 6 brothers, meant there were always at least 2-4 .22’s in the garage, barn, or truck. My father started us on a single shot, bolt action Remington 510 that he got slightly used for $12 around ’62. We would go to the town dump after church on Sundays and shoot rats. You could shoot til you missed and then the next brother got his turn. Somewhere around 4th or 5th grade, we were allowed to shoot Dad’s Nylon 66 but we had to count to 10 between shots, so as to not waste that precious .01/round ammo.
We had a pump .22 and if memory serves, it was a Marlin 38 that my Dad got for winning a scrap metal drive during WWII. It had a slick action and an octagonal barrel. Somewhere along my 38-year Navy career, it disappeared off the farm, whereabouts unknown. The last pump action .22 we had on the farm was a Browning Trombone my Dad brought back from a fishing trip to Canada in 1970. One of my brothers still has it but it’s a safe queen.
At one point I had an even dozen .22’s, including the Henry, which I honestly did not care for. I’m down to 4, including the KdT recommended Hammerli B1, a heavily modded Ruger 10/22, a CZ 457 Varmint and the venerable Anschütz Model 1422 with a double set trigger. I’m headed out to the local Isaac Walton range on Saturday to burn through a brick or two.
I still shoot my Win 62A, and it’s brother Win 61. Both are too sweet not to shoot. Every time I use one, I can’t get over the balance and how nice it comes to shoulder. After I bought one of them, I was disappointed to find a rust spot in the bore which didn’t seem to affect accuracy, but it accumulated lead like crazy, so I had it relined by an excellent gunsmith in Idaho. His work was so good, I can’t find the junction of sleeve with barrel even with a magnifying glass.
All dumps are now so Big Guv, we’ll never see rat shooting in dumps again, but I’m lucky enough to have some rural acreage where we slaughter tin cans by the dozens. For some reason, shooting reactive targets with these is much more satisfying than paper targets.
I inherited my pump .22. My mother learned to shoot with it while still in grade school, as did I. It is an original Winchester Model 1890, chambered for .22 Long. Serial number puts production about 1930.
Fast forward to my post military college days when I decided to shoot it off the bench. Yeesh. Minute of pie plate. Hmm. Maybe I should like, you know, clean it? Yeah, bore looked like a sewer pipe. Amazing I ever hit anything.
So fast forward a decade + to where I met a guy at a rifle match who’s hobby was restoring Model 1890’s. Had him install a barrel liner and set it up for .22 LR. It runs like a top and shoots dead on.
Not long after the refurb, went to the local outdoor range with a gaggle of friends and family. One guy’s wife and her girl friend were hanging out waiting their turn to shoot. I invited them to shoot my .22. On their way home, the first gal made here husband drive to every gun shop on the way until they found a pump .22 she liked.
Kim, I couldn’t agree more about the huge grins and that everyone should own one, or several, pump-action .22 rifles.
You missed a good one off the list – the venerable Browning “Trombone” pump-action .22. Those are right up there among my favourite rifles to shoot, along with their semi-auto brother, the Auto-22. One just needs to pay a little attention to the barrel markings, as JMB’s Trombone design is old enough that some of them were built for .22 Short or .22 Long (not Long Rifle) cartridges only.
Browning has remade and offered the Auto-22 in recent years, but I don’t think they have reissued the Trombone. They really should…
Got a Remington Model 12 made in, as best I can tell, approximately 1914-15. Lovely. However, it likes to be manhandled a bit; I have to tell people they need to work the slide with some authority. Much the same as a lever gun, or a bolt action – if you want to eject correctly, move the bold – or the slide – sharply to the rear, all the way back, and then drive it forward to insert the next cartridge into the chamber.
Slide actions are almost as much fun as lever actions.
While we’re on the topic, Grail Gun indeed.
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2026/07/a-grail-gun-for-collectors.html
I’m with Peter. While I would very much enjoy seeing this work of art in person, I have no desire to own it.
Dad had the Winchester version of the above. Its still in the family inventory, though sadly Dad is not.
Dad was never a gun guy (both his boys turned out to be though). So it probably is the only really “valuable” gun he ever had.
Have an old Winchester 1906,manufacturered in 1911, and looks older than it is. Range time with a friend and his young grandchildren. Bench loaded with new “22’s”, bolt action, semi auto, scoped, you name it. All the kids lined up to shoot that old 1906. Could have left every thing else at home. Over the years, the first gun I hand to new shooters. If they don’t enjoy that (never had that happen), they wont enjoy anything.