My first rifle was a .22 caliber Savage single-shot. I saw it behind the counter of Menomin Sport Shop when my dad was buying minnows. I think I was ten. I had to have it. It cost 40 dollars, so I started squirreling away bills and coins in an empty pickle jar that I kept in my closet. I don't know how long it took to save the money. It seemed like forever. I checked the pickle jar regularly. Pulling out the dollar bills and laying them side-by-side on the floor of my bedroom. They smelled like pickle brine. The day that I had 38 dollars I told my best friend Adam that I was only two dollars away from buying the coveted weapon. That afternoon Adam's father called and asked if I was available to work at their house. A few hours later I had stacked some wood, helped organize the garage, and eaten a few of the homemade cookies for which Adam's mother was particularly known by the neighborhood kids. I received five dollars in consideration. The rifle would be mine. The details of the purchase are less clear in my mind. I gave my dad the contents of the pickle jar. He went to the sport shop and brought the rifle back.
I spent hours polishing that .22 with an oiled rag. I kept it in my bed at night sometimes. Its sharp report put many squirrels in the crock pot. My dad still keeps the rifle in his basement. Budding Wisconsin hunters and family friends have used that rifle for their hunter safety test at the local armory. So, when my kids were ready to graduate from their Daisy BB guns to a .22, I thought about retrieving the rifle and passing it along. But I decided that they should have their own small rifle experience.
I looked at various youth .22 offerings. They are named after cute animals like crickets and chipmunks, and are available in various bright plastic colors. None of them have the allure of my old Savage. That elusive pull that made me stare and hold and imagine and beg my dad to go squirrel hunting. One day I went into a local hole-in-the-wall gun shop to buy shotgun shells. It's the kind of place that caters mostly to the military surplus crowd. There are old Enfields and Springfields and Kalashnikovs on the racks. As I scanned the ammunition, a rifle caught my eye. An old Remington single-shot .22. It was a little rusty and the wood was dried out. It was too big for either of my kids to shoot comfortably. When I picked it up, the old walnut and blued steel made we want to go squirrel hunting. 70 dollars later I had a box of 12 gauge Nitro Pheasant loads and the .22 rifle.
The perfect starting-point for a small-rifle project.
I decided that we would turn it into a miniature copy of my favorite deer rifle. The first step was to cut it down to size. I trimmed three inches from the stock and two inches from the forend using a miter saw. Then I stripped the wood finish with CitrusStrip and sanded it with 220 grit paper. I steamed out the dents with a damp rag and iron. I used a hacksaw to shorten the barrel by 5 inches. Then applied Birchwood Casey blue and rust remover and polished the metal with steel wool. I beveled the muzzle with a whetsone and re-crowned the barrel by hand--turning a Dremmel polishing bit until the ends of the rifling looked sharp. Finally, I re-cut the 3/8" dovetail with a file.
I worked on the wood next. First, I installed an 870 Wingmaster grip cap that I bought for two bucks on eBay and filed the pistol grip flush. Then I re-shaped the stock with the files--slimmed down the pistol grip and narrowed the butt-section. I also rounded out the forend tip where I had shortened the stock. I debated modifying the butt-plate to fit the shortened stock. In the end I decided to install a thin rubber grind-to-fit recoil pad. Then I used painter's tape and a jet-black stain to create a faux ebony forend tip. I burnished the stock to an 800 grit finish.
I applied a dozen coats of thinned Tru-Oil to the stock. The character really showed up at this point. But what rifle is complete without checkering? I'll confess that I almost lost motivation at this point. I have never checkered anything. I ordered a DemBart starter kit and screwed around during the evenings for a week practicing on scrap wood. I didn't feel ready to take on the project, but eventually held my breath and jumped.
Teddy helped me with the checkering.
After checkering, I used Birchwood Casey cold blue to finish the metal. As an afterthought I added sling swivels and shortened a Remington rifle sling to fit the small rifle. Here is the result. Ready to pot some squirrels.