Gary, you mentioned your own 22 pistols. Are all of them

HANDGUNNER NOV/DEC 2013.

was larger than the normal "Buffalo Scout", maybe full Colt SA size. Made before 1970, I'm certain and remember it. Besides the priss factor it looked a lot like a real Colt and had a perfect fitting basket weave leather hip holster. I found it acceptably accurate. It was shiny blue with walnut-ish two piece grips (I think) and had a gold plated cylinder, trigger, hammer, cylinder pin, and maybe a couple action pins too. It had an extra cylinder marked .22 MAG. When I got to be 12-13 yrs. old they let us loose out in the country with .22 handguns provided we only carried "rat-shot" cartridges. As kids we could live with that, for a while, and merrily popped away at mice, rats, wood bees, and hungry sparrows in the barn. We were able to expand the cartridge selection to CB caps a bit later. This allowed us to truly begin terrorizing squirrels, turtles, and rabbits. The CB's taught us a lot about shooting, usually you could SEE the bullet in flight! A pack of (100) cost us $1.25, Western brand (not Super-X).

We grew bored with this and being mischievous began sneaking out REAL .22 ctgs., and hid them in the barn. I remember sneaking out the .22 MAG cylindered gun (I habitually shot .22 LR from the MAG cylinder) and a yellow box with red X. Super-X 45 gr. JHP, man did it make my ears ring. It also sprayed my forearms with stinging powder spray. Boy it had to be powerful! I felt 10 ft. tall so armed. Much later we found CCI marketed some blue capsule "Rat-shot" in .22 Mag. It was actually pretty effective to around 20 ft.! But very expensive. It was my reckoning, by seat of the pants testing and how long it made my ears ring, the .22 Mag. was the LOUDEST cartridge there was.

Later in life I found the 45 gr. WMR in a revolver seldom breaks 1400 fps but the real jacketed bullets do perform way beyond any heel type .22. They expand pretty reliably and seem not to shed jackets too bad either. The .22 WMR holds a special place in my youth. No telling how many Whitetails have fell to so chambered Marlins. No, really no telling, as it is highly illegal, although proven effective.

I've never seen another FIE like that. Mine was stolen when I was 17.

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autos to revolvers. This one is the scoped S&W 22 Magnum

A 22 conversion unit on a S&W model 39

My most accurate 22, a Peters-Stahl 22 Conversion on a 1911 that locks up tight as a bank vault and is super accurate.

Somewhat rare, the Ruger semi auto with the AMT 8" heavy barrel on it. Very accurate.

Another accurate one, the Buckmark Bullseye 22 LR

This gun was used to set records for the military and in the Olympics by Huelet "Joe" Benner. It is a Hi Standard Supermatic that Joe gave me years ago.

A pre 17, 5 screw S&W 22 LR that I picked up in an estate sale a while back with plans to fancy it up a bit.

A S&W model 41 in 22 LR with red dot sight.

My Rock Island Armory 22 Magnum I just got for Christmas.

Colleen's favorite for hunting with her Jack Russells. A S&W model 34 in 22 LR.

A Kel Tec PM30 in 22 Magnum

A little Hi Standard 22 Magnum I carried in a cowboy boot for years.

There are probably more That I can't think of right now. I had a nice collection of Colt ACE 22 LR in full guns and conversion kits, But somebody thought they were worth a lot more than I did and he now has them in his collection.