I've just acquired a fine old Remington Model 24 (the one made on the Browning autoloader patent) that is chambered for .22 Short Only.

The only shorts my dealer had were some CCI Hollow Points ($9.00/C, ouch!). I was wondering what ammunition some of you dedicated short-shooters would recommend.

Also, I have some CCI CB caps which I've not yet tried. Anyone wish to bet whether they will successfully cycle the action?

When I was a kid (oops, now showing my age) the .22 Short seemed to be fully as popular as the .22 LR and local stores stocked as many boxes of shorts as they did LR's. Each store also had at least a few boxes of Longs, also.

ive got a stash of about 2500 winchester shorts, 5000 mohawk longs from the '70's (bought at $5.90/brick) and 3000 aquila long rifles....my old winchested m190 eats 'em all....i like the shorts because they didnt tear up hides as much when i was trapping...

Check out www.rimfirecentral.com lots of rimfire shooters obviously. There are gun specific and ammo specific sections.

Aquila is your cheapest route. Midway has them for under $3 for 50.

I'd bet CBs won't cycle it.

quote:

Originally posted by Stonecreek:
I've just acquired a fine old Remington Model 24 (the one made on the Browning autoloader patent) that is chambered for .22 Short Only.

Is that an old gallery gun?

quote:

When I was a kid the .22 Short seemed to be fully as popular as the .22 LR and local stores stocked as many boxes of shorts as they did LR's. Each store also had at least a few boxes of Longs, also.

If that ain't the truth....I only have two boxes of federal .22 short HPs and somewhere in a well hidden corner a box of longs.....also HPs.....I think the HP longs are collectors items.....

If I wanted shorts I'd be looking to federal or CCI.....and stock up because they may soon be obsolete.

Remington still makes Shorts. However they dropped the hollow point design many years ago. I think I paid $6.99/box last time I bought Remy Shorts. I have my grandfather's Win model 62A and while it is chambered for S,L,and LR, it shoots best with Shorts. He liked Remington and thats what the rifle likes too. I buy them by the brick when I find them.

Andy

+1 for Vapodog's response.

I have some 22 longs that I shoot in a Saturday-night-special 22 revolver that is labeled "22 shorts only" but the longs work just fine and the longs I have are just a tad bit faster than the shorts. Also, the longs are easier to manipulate with arthritic hands. However, I believe the days for purchasing 22 longs are not long--or are short (sorry for the pun).

quote:

Aquila is your cheapest route. Midway has them for under $3 for 50.

I'd bet CBs won't cycle it.

Thanks for the tip on Aguila. When I get around to trying some CB's I'll let you guys know the results. I looked at the box of CB's I have in the back of the closet and found that only one was missing from the pack of 100 -- then I remembered the possum on the front porch that wouldn't come out from behind Moma's pot plants. A CB will go into a possum without coming back out. Very handy.

quote:

Is that an old gallery gun?

According to the history (and appearance) of this one it was privately owned and used, but I believe that the Model 24 Short was a favorite of the shooting galleries, along with several Winchester and Remington pump models. If that is true, then the old 15 grain composite bullet Gallery load (which I assume is no longer available) should cycle the Model 24's action. Or maybe they used a lighter action spring in guns intended for gallery shooting?

i do believe the best of the shorts available today are the Russian ones. fairly available too

It was probably the gallery gun model. I used to go to the shooting gallery at the state fair in Texas and that is what they used. I was familiar with the Model 24 because that is what my best friend had for a 22. I had a Remington 550. This was when I was in high school and I think then the model 24 was discontinued.

What about it? Did automatics made to use as Gallery Guns use a lighter action spring so that they would cycle the gallery load with its lightweight composite bullet? If so, are they stressed if using a regular .22 short?

I thought they were regular 22 shorts, but I could be wrong. If they were composite then they were probably made from powdered lead.

Report on CB caps, as promised:

Loaded four CCI CB caps into the magazine. Three of the four cycled and fired perfectly. One cycled and loaded the next round in the chamber, but aparently did not push the bolt far enough to the rear to cock the firing pin.

I may explore some way to slightly reduce the tension of the action spring, because shooting these little buggers is a pure delight.

Re: Composite gallery bullets.

I looked at a ancient Shooters Bible (1963) and both Winchester and Remington list gallery loads with a "composite" bullet. They offered both a 29 grain bullet and a 15 grain bullet. There is no indiction in the listing what the bullets are made of.

I came within an inch of buying an old time shooting gallery, not once but twice, even drove to Florida pulling a big trailer to pick the first one up and the owner tried to jack me around on price on sight when we'd already agreed upon a price before I left Texas. I told him that he had 3 minutes to agree to take the original agreed upon price or I was going back to Texas. I guess he didn't believe me because I was about 1000 miles or so from home. He didn't and I was gone. Amazing, he was trying to jack me around over about $500, and the piles of rusty iron which comprised the "shooting gallery" were on his "lot" on the Atlantic Ocean shore, where they had been building his house/mansion for over two years. Foreman who I was talking with directly (owner was on phone) said lot cost over $25 million. Not that I hold a grudge, but the SOB who jerked me around made his fortune and was in real estate, I sincerely hope he has gone broke in this crash. That was a long tiring drive for nothing, and Florida East Coast traffic is to die for, literally.

Other one was in much better shape, in an auction of parts of the estate of Doris Duke in New Jersey, I quit bidding by phone while I was on a pig hunt in S Texas, at about $25,000, don't know what it finally sold for. This was about a year ago or so. Prices at that auction were really high, I suppose because of the name associated with it. I was figuring $10,000 to have it broken down and shipped to Texas, but got blown out as they went by my bid like a freight train.

Point of all this is, I seriously looked into gallery loads, commonly known as "spatterless". I was originally told they were made from a mixture of pressed powdered lead and graphite but another more authoritative source says it was lead and sodium carbonate. I'm not sure which is correct but I tend to believe the latter, or, who knows, maybe both at different times. They are no longer made since at least the 80s. Any you could find would be priced at collector's prices, not shooting prices. I shot a lot of them while I was a kid on various Midways. I remember using some semi-autos but most of the guns I shot were Winchester 62s.

BTW I'm still in the market for a shooting gallery so if anyone knows of one for sale, let me know. Fascinating piece of Americana, most of them made by W. F. Mangels Co. Coney Island, NY.

After writing this originally, I looked up online the Doris Duke shooting gallery I bid on. It sold for $43,200 which includes the buyers premium. Here is a brief link on it, and a good pic of the front. That front with all the birds, etc is something like 11 feet high by 11 feet wide. Motors were still in place behind front with chain drive.

Duke Shooting Gallery

More pics:

Gallery

I shoot a lot of Shorts in a couple of Winders and a Winchester 74 gallery rifle. If you are looking for accuracy at ranges out to 50 yards, CCI Target Shorts are best, at least for me, with the plated CCI HV stuff almost as good. The other commonly available stuff isn't worth dragging home.

Gato: The information about the Mangels shooting gallery is fascinating. I'm sure that the collector value of a genuine Mangels is significant, but looking at the prices they bring, couldn't you build something similar for less money? I'm sure you've looked into that, or at least considered it.

Maybe but it's not as simple as you'd think. I'm definitely not a metal fabricator, and, just as an example, those "stars" are not thin cut outs but heavycast metal, I'd guess one the size of your hand might weigh at least 8 to 12 ounces. You've got chain drives, motors, etc. etc. dozens of different shapes, a duck pond, etc.

Hell, I can shoot at beer bottles at 100 yards and do, but it ain't the same as a real shooting gallery.

Here's a link to some Evans (a later competitor, I believe) shooting gallery info which will give you an idea of the targets. Click on the link for some of the "high resolution" details in the upper right and it's pretty interesting, at least to me.

Evans shooting galleries

quote:

Originally posted by Stonecreek:
Gato: The information about the Mangels shooting gallery is fascinating. I'm sure that the collector value of a genuine Mangels is significant, but looking at the prices they bring, couldn't you build something similar for less money? I'm sure you've looked into that, or at least considered it.

As an additional thought, one can hold flowers in a Mason jar or a Tiffany vase. I'd prefer the latter.

Agreed. The Mason jar is much better suited for my whisky.

Yeah, to each his own, I prefer to sip my whiskey out of Waterford (mine are Curraghmore) but I have just used the bottle when one of my cowboy buddies throws the cap away, usually on Jim Beam.

Pssst: Didn't know I collect crystal, did ya?

A gallery on auction:

http://www.vcaauction.com/show...id=678&auction_id=41

Interesting items. I'll look into it, but that one is like a section of a full scale gallery. Too bad Las Vegas is so far from me. Thanks for the tip.