That lingering regret partly accounts for my eagerness to get my hands on the new Steyr Mannlicher Zephyr II, successor to the original Zephyr from the 1960s. Little did I know I would later struggle to find something as good to take its place. In a misguided moment, I parted with that rifle, having moved on to – I thought – better things. The barrel was steel, and the stock was genuine American walnut – as I learned when I sanded it down to refinish it and encountered the unmistakable scent of freshly cut walnut for the first time. Made by Cooey, a Canadian company later acquired by Winchester, it was a bolt action with open sights and no provision for a scope. 22 was a single shot my father bought as a teenager in the 1930s. 22 made today should not still be shooting a century from now. We looked at pictures and drooled, but that’s where it ended.Īesthetics aside, such fine rifles are made to last. 22 sporting (i.e., non-target) rifles made to centerfire standards of quality, but many of these never made it to America – or at least, not for long – because high production costs and unfavorable exchange rates put them out of reach. Over the years, manufacturers like Sako, Fabrique Nationale, Schultz & Larsen and Anschütz offered. 22 than a centerfire rifle, and if the law makes it difficult to own more than one gun, you are more likely to buy a really nice one. The guard screws are disguised by polymer caps, adding to the stock’s clean, elegant appearance.In Europe, things often take a different direction, partly because of restrictive laws.
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It goes nowhere, albeit accompanied by tears and sobs. This, alas, is typical of what happens when a manufacturer responds to the demands of the gun-loving few and offers an expensive rifle to the penny-pinching many. The Kimber Model 82 disappeared after about 10 years. Every one of my gun-loving friends wanted one, but not one of us bought one. The Model 82, with its select walnut “American classic” stock and finely blued steel, sold for upward of $400 – about the same as a Weatherby Mark V. Unfortunately, that was near the high-water mark of the inflationary era that started with the 1975 oil-price hikes. The then-new company, Kimber of Oregon, responded in 1980 with its Model 82, a rifle that was a real gem. 22 rifle, for real riflemen, made “the way they used to be” – blued steel and oiled walnut with adjustable sights, a light and responsive trigger and a bore that might have been hand-cut by Harry Pope. 22 rifles became progressively tackier through the tasteless and misguided 1970s, cries went up in the shooting media for a real. Rather, think of this as an object lesson, and to that end I present Exhibit A: The Kimber Model 82.Īs. 22 made in 1920 was a masterpiece of the gunmaker’s art. All too often, the great things we think we remember actually never were. This is not intended to be a stroll down memory lane, remembering things that used to be. (One notable exception is the Ruger 77/22, but as with many things from Ruger, it is the laudable exception that proves the rule.) 22 rimfire has gradually evolved into a rifle for kids without much money – hence the reduced dimensions and weight, the emphasis on its ability to take abuse and still function and, above all, to be sold at a price the proverbial “farm boy” can raise from selling eggs. 22 rifle is too small, too light and too cheap. They used to be, if memory serves, but not any more. Colonel Townsend Whelen wrote those words, and they have stuck with me despite the ravages of time.
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That’s not an exact quote, but it’s as close as possible, drawing on memory going back 50 years.
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The scope is a Leupold VX-2 2-7x 33mm in Warne rings.Every rifleman’s gun rack should hold at least one serious, high-quality. 88 inch and was shot with RWS match ammunition. The Steyr Zephyr II’s best 10-shot group measured.