Just Like Grampa

The Sportsmaster only gets a decent cleaning once a decade.

It doesn't NEED cleaned like an arms room was taking it back.

I always do the bore after I get home, but most of the time let the mechanism get dirty.

And .22 rimfire always leaves a lot of gunk behind.

Appreciation

Grampa's old rat slayer is apparently valuable now.

It's a '39 made Remington 341 in .22.  Short, Long, Long Rifle?  No matter, just changes the number of shots in the tube.

I remember these things being cheap, nearly throw-away, priced.

Even without the sentimental value, I'd keep it because:

It still shoots really well.  Better than Harvey's much newer 10/22 even.

It baffles me that it's gone from being a tomato spike to a $300 rifle in the brief time I've owned it.

Remington .22's

My 341 Sportmaster is descendant from the Model 33 and this lineage keeps going all the way to the 5 hundred series guns.

The 33 is a single shot.

34 is a 33 that doesn't take-down, has a tube magazine and improvements to the action.

The 341 is essentially an improved 34 combining features with the model 41 single shot.

The 512 is an improved 341.

There's lots of other 3x, 4x, 34x and 5xx in this series too.

Single shots, detachable boxes, target sights, scope mounting provisions, different barrel profiles... etc.

More Same Caliber

Remington 341A Sportsmaster in .22 Short, Long and Long Rifle.  Grampa's vermin slayer from 1938.

Colt Challenger in .22 Long Rifle from 1953.

Tubes

The stock I have been lovingly crafting butchering while I master checkering belongs to Marv's Sears Model 25.  This is a Sears Roebuck branded High-Standard Sport King semi-auto.

It uses a tube magazine.

My, inherited from my maternal grandfather, Remington 341A Sportsmaster bolt-action also feeds from a tube.

Something else these two guns have in common is their chambering, .22 Short, .22 Long and .22 Long-Rifle.

It's kind of neat how they can take rounds which are three different lengths and still be magazine fed.

I should have been more familiar with the concept because I also own pump shotguns.  They feed from tube magazines as well, and have no problems with different length shells.  Well, within limits.

The Remington 870 won't cycle the cute little 1-3/4" mini-shells.  The much older Winchester Model 12 Heavy Duck feeds them fine.  I've never had a 2-1/2" shell to test with, but both handle the common as dirt 2-3/4" and 3" rounds.

Marv's KSG cheerfully eats 1-3/4", 2-3/4" and 3" rounds as well.

What I don't think I've ever seen is a box magazine .22 which can handle the shorter versions of .22 LR.  It doesn't seem like it would be impossible, especially for a bolt action, but was it done?

What's also apparent is .22 Short and .22 Long stopped being popular enough for gun makers to bother with as .22 Long-Rifle supplanted them and reigned supreme.

Rimshot

.22 is like artillery for Lego.

Short, Long, Long-Rifle and Winchester Magnum

Reality Check

I like to double check the published GURPS numbers with real world measurements when I can.

My Remington 341's magazine capacity has been confirmed with .22 Short, .22 Long and .22 Long Rifle.

22, 17, and 15 respectively.

Damage slung...

22x 1d pi- gives a total damage on something unarmored of 22-66 points (38.5 avg).
17x 1d+1 pi- gives 17-51 points (38.25 avg).
15x 1d+2 pi- gives 15-60 points (41.25 avg).

The rounding and minimums make it non-linear.

My Paradigm Was Shifted

My Remington 341 does hold 22 rounds of .22 Short.

You just have to accept that the last round will not be below the loading port before you shove the magazine's inner tube and follower down on the rounds.

Grampa Gun

When my mom's father died, I inherited his old .22.

It's a 1930's made Remington 341A Sportmaster.

Tube loaded, bolt action in .22 Short, .22 Long or .22 Long Rifle.

20 rounds of CCI 29gr CB .22 Short, 25 yards.

.22 Short CB is marked as "Sub-Sonic, Low Noise" right on the box with an advertised velocity of 710 fps.  It is definitely low noise.  It's just a bit louder than dropping the striker on an empty chamber and you can distinctly hear the sound of impact over the sound of the shot.

Long ass barrel and subsonic ammo; who needs a suppressor?

15 rounds of CCI 40gr Mini-Mag .22 Long Rifle, 25 yards.

Still hits minute of rodent after near 100 years.