Browning Auto .22 Rifles (.22 LR)
Kim du Toit
November 27, 2003
1:00 AM CDT
People are probably sick of me drooling over the wonderful Winchester Mod 63 semi-auto .22 rifle.
But the John Moses Browning design of the Model 63 is not the only one out there: the Browning .22 Auto and the Remington Mod 241 Speedmaster (which was made from 1931 to 1949) are also good examples of his excellent design. While neither the Remington nor the Browning look similar to the Model 63, the loading mechanism (through the slot in the rear stock) is identical, and the action close to identical.
Here’s a pic of the Browning (the Remington is a carbon copy):
Now, the Brownings are not cheap, either: they typically run from $500 to $$$ell your firstborn (rare engraved models can fetch over $4,000). A guide is to see the “grade” in the gun’s description—the higher the grade, the more it will cost (the Grade I sells for about $500, and I’ve seen Grade VI models for close to $1,500). But the Brownings (unlike the Winchester 63) are still in production, so if you want a new .22 rifle designed by John Moses (and why not?), the Auto .22 may be the one for you. These rifles are also in “takedown” configuration, which makes storage easier, of course. (Side note: I don’t know if all Auto .22s are takedown or not—I’ve never seen one which wasn’t, but that doesn’t mean anything.)
For some reason, the Remington 241, while almost identical to the Browning, doesn’t seem to hold the same allure to gun owners, and is seldom priced above $500—Reader Mark H. tells me he just picked one up for under $200, but I think the dealer was an idiot and didn’t know what he had.
Remember, condition on these old rifles is everything—but if you get one cheap, and it needs a couple hundred dollars of gunsmithing work, the result will still be well worth it. (But the chances are that it won’t need anything more than a good cleaning, and maybe a little rust buffed out.)
Certainly, all three examples of the JMB design are excellent rifles, and you could do worse, a whole lot worse, than spend your money on one of them.
Gratuitous Gun Pics
