Happy new owner of a Winchester 62A

[Bang]

I am a happy new possessor of a 1950 Winchester 62A in pretty nice condition. In other words it has an “acceptable patina” considering its age. LOL.

When I was a kid our family, unaware of any health considerations, shot a .22 rifle in the basement. It was an exposed hammer pump that exasperatingly screwed up feed and ejection so often it got trashed. (Boy do I rue that). I can’t recall the make or the action beyond exposed hammer and a gap you could look down into so I couldn’t even look for a replacement after the years passed.

Old guns being ever-increasingly expensive, sometimes trying to save several hundred bucks doesn’t quite work out. Wanting a pump .22 I fell for a clean Henry for $400. Henry’s flagship product is the lever action. The pump model has the same innards, and activating them via a slide action means a diminished leverage for the design. That kind of leaves me with a feeling of something not right with it.

Ergo, the justification for the new toy. It’s a takedown model, so of course I had to take it down. Pretty dry, mild deposits of who knows. Did some cleaning and lubing, put it together and headed for the range with shorts and LRs. Shorts functioned perfectly, but it refused to function with Long Rifle ammo. I was told by the seller to watch for a small part being in a wrong position during reassembly. LRs work now. Learning curve.

Shooting at 50 yards, the steel plate was consistently ringing, and then the joy suddenly stopped. WTH? Then I found the cause… the takedown screw had loosened. Tightening it put the poi back on target. Hmmm…more learning curve.

The two halves bear different serial numbers that are both a 1950 series. The stock has a numeral painted on it, typical of gallery use. Mismatched halves of gallery guns is common. At the end of the day the gallery operator would clean the rifles and reassemble two halves with no regard for serial numbers and future collectors. However, I don’t know that that is the case this time.

The front half exhibits no evidence of being a gallery gun or having had gallery use. Winchester marketed gallery guns in a particular configuration…chambered in .22 short. My version is S L and LR and lacks the triangular magazine cut that ensures correct cartridge direction. How a likely gallery rear half wound up married to a standard front end is lost to time. I believe a probable explanation would be a replaced broken stock. Conversely, nothing dictated that a postwar gallery operation could not employ a standard front end at a time when firearms were being replaced by air rifles.

Put it all together (no pun intended), I guess it is a “shooter”, in collector’s parlance. That’s alright. This shooter shoots. Perfect!

[Delkal]

Sounds nice but we need some pics to know for sure.