***Posted on behalf of Gonzo FreakPower by MSSMagnum***

Please take a look at the pictures below. The bolt belongs to an old single shot 22LR. It's my father-in-law's, who got it about 55 years ago as a mail-order gift from his grandfather (in Canada). There's no names of any kind anywhere on the rifle, not even numbers as far as I can tell. The barrel has a very slight contour, staying fat almost the whole way to the muzzle but finally tapering a little. Loading is done by sticking the round into the breech, then closing the bolt.

Just to the right of the the bolt's travel guide, which sticks out on the bottom, there's a seam in the body. This is where the body separates as you pull on the knurled knob at the end of the body to cock the rifle. It's quite a loading process: stick the round directly into the breech, close the bolt and then cock it by pulling that knob.

Any information about what kind of action this is would be greatly appreciated. I just want to know what I'm shooting, and if it's possible to clean up the trigger. You might wonder if it's worth the expense, but this thing, despite the horrible trigger, shoots incredibly well. I feed it PMC Scoremaster and it will put shots into a 1/2" at 50 yards all day long, and 100 yards isn't much wider.

The trigger guard looks vaguely like that on a Remington 510, but the rifle is not from the 5xx series and doesn't look like any Remingtons I'd recognize.

It's a Cooey, made in Cobourg Ontario by the millions in the '40s and '50s. There isn't a Canadian farm boy who hasn't had one..and probably still does. Mine cost $14, in about 1960; they trade for about $75 now. I think the one in the pic is a Model 64; the smaller versions were Model 39s. There was a tube magazine repeater version as well. Cooey sold out to Winchester sometime in the '70s.

I think they were about the safest training rifle a kid could have, because you couldn't fire it without the very conscious act of pulling that cocking knob. I remember using one when I was small enough that I figured that knob was really hard to pull... ...but I could sell (skinned) rabbits to my Grandfather for 2 cents apiece, and .22 shells only cost one cent apiece, so I was making money with that Cooey hand over fist!

First, thanks for posting this Mike.

And thanks for identifying this rifle. I couldn't believe my eyes as I plugged away on the range. I knew it wasn't anything fancy, about as basic as a rifle can get. As accurate as it is, $75 is CHEAP. I wonder what you'd have to pay for a new one that will shoot so well with cheap ammo.