It was hard work, however I loved everything about working on a farm. I loved the smell of fresh cut hay (still do). I especially liked the idea of hunting woodchucks. I liked the freedom I had as a kid on the farm of wandering the back forty with my own Mossberg bolt action clip fed .22 rifle. That was long before Hillary Clinton started the notion that "Kids and guns should not be used in the same sentence". I killed a lot of woodchucks with that Mossberg .22 rifle and I respected its limitations. Later on I bought myself a single shot .22 mag rifle when they came out.
The .22 mag came along in 1959 making me just 12 years old and was my FIRST magnum round in a rifle. I later purchased a Ruger single six revolver which of course has the .22 and .22 mag cylinders and still treasure that gun. I went into the Navy at age 17, and while serving had an opportunity to purchase a Sako bolt action .222 while in Italy. In those days we had vendors come aboard ship selling everything from clothing to optics and YES guns. I had the Sako shipped to my home( Just before the gun control act of 1968), with a Bausch and Lomb Balvar 8 (2X8) rifle scope on board. That scope in those days had the adjustments in the mounts as opposed to the body of the scope itself. Regrettably I let that rifle go years ago and have kicked myself in the butt ever since then. That caliber was king of the woodchuck guns in those days (at least for a while). Prior to that .22 Hornet lovers might argue the point. Later the .222 mag came out however as I recall it was never very popular in my neck of the woods.
In any event I still have the Mossberg .22 mag and the Ruger single six and enjoy both of them within their limitations. Working on the farm and spending a lot of my youth outdoors, I knew where every woodchuck hole within 10 miles of my house was and the best approach to get close unseen. The .222 certainly allowed me some leeway on the getting close aspect of hunting. I made a lot of shots out to 200 yards and a few on calm days out to 250 and a little beyond.
Today we have a wide range of calibers to do what I did as a kid with the .22, .22 mag and .222 rifles. To name a few, we have the .223, the .22-250, the .204 Ruger, the .243 Win, the .17HMR and other variants. and of course who can forget the .220 Swift. I know this leaves out a lot of wildcats and other calibers.
Let's go back to the .22 Mag and see what is available in bullet weights for this gun:
You can have your choice (IF you can find any ammo right now with the crisis created by recent anti-gun legislation attempts here in NYS and on a federal level) of loads from 28 grain Winchester JTHP Green loads to standard 40 grain loads. In between you can have 30 grain CCI violently expanding loads at 2300fps and the 33 grain Accutip from Remington along with the 30 grain V-Max from Hornady.
My prayer is that the current ammunition crisis will subside and dealer's shelves will once again be replenished and ammo will be available on a local basis.
I still like the .22 Mag and if used within its limitations it is very effective and a lot of fun to shoot. Here is an older photo of my son Jeremy shooting the Mossberg .22 mag. I went to the gun club today and fired (2) 6 shot groups at 75 yards. One was with Winchester 40 grain HP and the other with CCI 30 grain HP. Both groups were on the order of 1.5 inches (outside spread) and the 40 grain bullet put the first 3 shots into 1/2 inch. Again, is is NOT a long range varminter and not meant to be, however within its limitations it is very capable and a lot of fun to shoot. I am blessed with an incredible trigger pull on this particular rifle. I have never owned a rimfire prior to this that had such a smooth, crisp light trigger out of the box as this one has.
Dan
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