Rat Rifle

I wonder how many youth rifles are sitting in a corner behind someone’s bedroom door or gathering dust in a closet. These are usually chambered for one of the .22 rimfires but can be in archaic rounds as .25 Stevens rimfire, Remington .267 Rimfire, or .32-20 Winchester and such. Millions of them were sold during the end of the nineteenth century up until the early 1960s.

True, many manufacturers are offering so-called kid’s rifles today, such as the Cricket, Savage Rascal, Ruger American Compact, and other shortstocked rimfires and centerfires to cater to this segment of the market. That’s good and as it should be, but when you see one of these old singleshot rifles and pick it up you’ll understand the difference. It’s apiece of long-gone history. These types of guns were actually used to teach safe gun handling and also put meat on the table.

Remember the old story about giving the kid This one was rusted into its seat and had to be helped with an impact driver. Below center: The stock screw goes into the stock’s escutcheon deeply before contacting the barrel stud. This is why removal techniques like penetrating oil are useless. three cartridges and expecting him to come back with three squirrels or rabbits? I’d be hard pressed to do that myself.

Even so, this kind of training does favor the "sit still and let the game come close before taking a shot" mentality, something I believe that the so-called long range "hunters" of today should be schooled in. Many of these guns required loading the chamber and then pulling back a cocking knob before a shot could be fired. The more modern Cricket shares this feature. This is for safety and is very effective. Kids of those days weren’t interested in killing zombies or spraying and praying shots into the woods.

They were very concerned with safety. God forbid that you let an errant shot loose or exhibit poor gun handling. Your peers would never let you forget it. No kid wanted to be labeled as unsafe; it just wasn’t done. We still need that type of training now as ever before. Sadly, some kids can find a gun and pick it up without even a modicum of safety training. We all know what can happen in that instance.

I’ve been having a little trouble with pests around the homestead and decided to get one of these rifles to alleviate the problem. Of course, I have plenty of .22s, some of them expensive with excellent sights, that would do the job just as easily if not better, but I wanted one of these rifles. That’s enough reason for me. I recently picked up a Stevens Model 15-A for a reasonable price and was well pleased with its condition and accuracy with open sights.

However, I wanted a scope mounted to help my aging eyes and also to gather some extra light during dawn and dusk when these critters are most active. The rifle weighs five pounds two ounces with the scope I mounted, has a 24-inch barrel, and a straight shotgun-style butt stock without a plastic or rubber butt pad. Length of pull is a child-like 13 inches. The chamber doesn’t have a feed ramp and cartridges must be inserted directly instead of just thrown in front of the bolt. Sights are rudimentary but not bad.

At the rear is a square-notched blade adjustable for elevation via a sliding, notched piece recognizable to anyone who

Notice the rust. Above center: The barrel stud showing rust in need of removal before putting the gun back together. has ever sighted in a ‘94 Winchester. In front, the dove-tailed, undercut, black bead can be tapped for windage. For inexpensive sights they offer a pretty good sight picture, at least for short range. This is suitable for the critters that concern me but I opted to add an optic. I had a couple of 4X Simmons scopes built for .22s.

The place I bought them was practically giving them away and I already had this idea in the back of my mind for a rat rifle. These scopes probably should be given away but they would fit my purposes exactly. Also, these scopes weigh scant ounces, getting a diminutive rifle to just over five pounds and I didn’t want to defeat my purpose by mounting a heavy optic on my little rat rifle.

Besides, I am only planning on shooting inside 25 yards and I’ve had a similar optic mounted on a .22 Magnum that kept zero for almost 40 years. I began the project by taking the rifle completely apart due to some areas that had rust. I cleaned thoroughly and checked for broken or Below center: Bolt in closed position. Notice that the bolt is curved. malfunctioning parts. Long-neglected rifles likely need some care and a little lube and Loctite can make a positive contribution.

Test firing proved that a little TLC was all it needed. Someone had already refinished the stock so I left that alone. In case somebody is howling about destroying the collector value, there is no collector interest here. Disassembly Make sure the gun is unloaded and remove the bolt, which comes out easily by holding the trigger and pulling back on it. Clamp down the rifle and turn the large screw on the bottom of the stock counter clockwise to remove it. Easy, right? Well, not in this case.

I didn’t have a wideenough screwdriver bit to match the screw and it was extremely tight in its seat. I thought about using some penetrating oil and applying heat to break it loose but neither one of those techniques would have worked and potentially could have caused damage because the screw threads through a stock escutcheon attached to the barrel far away from the reach of oil or heat. It might be possible to heat the barrel enough to warm the seat, but I wouldn’t advise it. Heat and oil are an anathema to wood.

All this would have done it mess up the stock. Instead, I did what any red-blooded American gunsmith would have done: I picked up my four-pound dead blow hammer and an impact wrench. Years ago I purchased an impact driver from Brownells (631-290-000AK) and an adapter (080-430-025AK) allowing the use of screwdriver bits. This impact driver is somewhat smaller than the ones for automotive use and perfect for the gunsmith. A couple of whacks with this baby and my impossible screw came loose.

After I got the action removed from the stock I found rust was the source of the problem and set it aside for clean up.

22 rimfire. Above center: The cartridge must be inserted into the chamber. Just tossing it in and closing the bolt doesn’t work. Another safety feature for youngsters. Bolt Disassembly/Reassembly The round cocking knob and mainspring retaining bolt will screw off by turning counterclockwise, easily done with a good pair of pliers padded with scrap inner tube. There is very small purchase on the back of this little bolt. Be very careful not to misplace the mainspring retain- Bottom: Trigger, sear, and stud.

You can’t get simpler than this. Gunsmiths beware. ing washer and the rebound collar as this leaves you with the bolt body which houses the ejector and firing pin. The ejector goes through the hole in the body and can be drifted out rather easily. It holds the firing pin which can then be removed without difficulty. The Steven’s rifle had come apart rather easily so I checked it more closely.

Sure enough, the retaining pin had broken off right at the base of the seat where the broken piece couldn’t be grasped by any kind of tool I had. I thought I’d get smart and pulled out the smallest Easy Out extractor in my kit. I drilled and fiddled, heated and sprayed penetrating oil, and froze the bolt, but I ended up with was a ruined bolt body and a bill from Numrich that makes this rifle almost worth more than I paid for it. But, I decided, I would persevere.

This piece was rusted in and stuck like an Alabama tick. Did I break it when I removed the pin or was it just a problem that had already happened waiting there for me to find it? Who knows. There is no way to determine if something like this is going to happen since this part can’t really be inspected until it is taken apart, so gunsmiths must beware before they set a bill for services. These rifles are inexpensive (cheap) to begin with.

If you try to work one and end up buying parts that add almost the original cost of the rifle, is it worth it? Depends. I know I will never acquire one of these again unless I can get the price down further. That being said, I still like them and know I’m going to get more. Perhaps I just like the punishment. Scope Mounting While waiting for my new parts, I started the process of mounting a scope and decided to mount on the barrel instead of the receiver even though this mount could be used on the receiver. I went

I used a level to keep it straight. Note the TIN-coated drill. I left the date stamp intact. Brownells supplied the drill and bottom tap. ahead of the chamber and set my mill to drill 0.015" deep, checked with a dial indicator on a magnetic base so I was sure of its specs and had plenty of clearance to not drill through the barrel. An 8×40 #28 Ti N coated drill bit from Brownells (361-651-028) made quick work of drilling the holes for the mount screws, followed up with an 8-40 bottom tap (748-002-840).

A TDC (Top Dead Center) tool (871-100-000) kept the mount holes straight and in line with the bore and a dovetail scope base (080-029-844) ideal for non-grooved .22 receivers completed the mount. The bottom tap is necessary to bring the threads all the way not the same used when drilling the actual hole. Blow the hole clean with compressed air and make sure to not break this little tap off. Keep backing it out every turn or so to clean out the chips.

If you have to apply very much force to get it to turn, you’re finished. I decided to only drill two holes for my mount (the mount has three) as there is hardly any recoil from .22 Short and the weight of the scope isn’t a factor. If you have taken the bolt apart without missteps, put the little mainspring retaining washer back on the end of the mainspring retaining bolt.

The rebound collar goes back into the striker and the mainspring goes back over the retaining bolt from the threaded end, put through the hole in the striker. Start the bolt into the seat in the bolt body until it holds the spring in place, then hold the end of Top I am not recommending this scope but it has worked OK so far. Bottom ) into the blind holes on the barrel. Since the holes were only 0.015" deep, the tap didn’t have to cut far.

It was generously lubricated with WD-40, which I have found works as well as anything else for jobs like this. For tapping, use a thin oil,

He was working with anew Cricket .22. His headgear isn’t mandatory but I know it helped on this cold, windy day. the retaining bolt with a pair of padded pliers and screw it tight, turning the bolt instead of the retaining bolt. Be careful when putting the striker into the bolt body because there is a small indent that matches a seat in the striker so the striker is held from turning. 22 Short hollow points. The rest I used was wobbly and I know the rifle can do better.

This is easily "minute of rat." After tightening the bolt, replace the cocking piece and insert the bolt into the receiver. Check to make sure the striker can move and is held by the sear when cocked. It is a rather crude system but very solid. It would have been that easier if Numrich had sent a bolt that actually fit my receiver. I don’t think that’s too probable, since there was, in all fairness, many variations of this rifle. I got a straight bolt handle while the original was bent.

It didn’t make any difference as far as mounting the scope goes, but the position of the bolt handle would not allow me to fully close it. Out came the old needle files. The bolt handle locks the bolt as there are no lugs. Go extremely slow with the filing. A couple of strokes between checks is best as it’s much easier to take it off than to put the metal back on. The bolt should fit very snugly. It wasn’t really much of a chore, but just one more problem I experienced with this gun.

One good thing is that most parts for this rifle are available. I used Numrich as a source but there are others. For a customer’s rifle, I would have to think long and hard about what kind of trouble I could get into when starting work on it. An inexpensive rifle is not worth putting very much money into unless the customer doesn’t care, such as with a family heirloom. Usually you can tell what is wrong if the gun doesn’t operate properly as there aren’t too many parts.

A broken ejector or a blunt firing pin could be a culprit but if the retaining bolt breaks in half just hope there is enough left to twist it out. If I ever have to take a bolt apart again I will start with a caveat about the charge. And, if I ever take one apart again I will be dousing it with penetrating oil, heating it, etc. I’m going to be safe rather than sorry. This little rifle will account for many vermin. It doesn’t need a scope to fulfill the function it was intended for but I am pleased with the results.

I like fooling with .22 rifles although they can be a pain. It’s sad that many of these little rifles rest behind kitchen doors or buried in the closet and never used. Find them, clean them up, and make sure they function properly and safely, then sell them to the parent of a young boy or girl. Give the kids three .22 cartridges and tell them to bring home the game! AG