(GunReports.com) — For a test of vintage bolt-action 22 rifles in the February 2013 issue, Gun Tests had the loan of two old-timers, a Remington Nylon 12 and a Winchester Model 69A. The staff tested with three types of ammo, Wolf, CCI Velocitor, and Blazer, all in Long Rifle persuasion. Both rifles were supposed to handle Shorts and Longs too, so GT shooters also tried a few of them. Both rifles fed Long Rifles, Longs, Shorts and also CB caps perfectly. The Winchester’s longer barrel made lots less noise with Shorts and especially the CB caps than the Remington. The report of CB’s out of the long-barreled Winchester was just a click. Are these old rifles worth looking into? Here’s what Gun Tests found.
Remington Nylon 12 22 S, L, & LR, about $350
Made only from 1962 to 1964, the Remington Nylon 12 bolt action is a rare bird. This one had suffered a misfortune in storage, having got enough humidity on the metal to produce spotting on the bluing. Not much can be done, short of spot rebluing to hide the damage, total rebluing (which could detract from its collector value), or leaving it strictly alone.
The stock had a few scratches, but was sound. The rifle had apparently never been fitted with a scope. It had grooves on the receiver for 22 scopes, and it also had one of the finest and simplest rear sights we’ve seen, fully adjustable and providing an excellent sight picture. Gun Tests chose to test it as it was, no scope.These rifles go for about $400-$500 in excellent condition. It’s a pity this one had slightly damaged bluing. Would the owner sell it if asked? No. Read the rest of the article to see why.
Winchester Model 69A 22 S, L, LR, about $400
This old rifle had been upgraded with a few nice touches, including checkering. It sported an ancient 0.75-inch 4X Weaver B4 scope in Weaver Tip-Off mount, all in excellent condition. The scope provided a nice clean set of crosshairs. The rifle’s bluing was excellent, with very slight wear marks at the muzzle. The left side of the action had been drilled and tapped with four holes for an aperture sight, two of them apparently misdrilled and plugged with flush screws. The barrel was pristine inside. The magazine was released from the rifle by means of a button stuck into the wood on the left side of the rifle. A bit clumsy to insert or get out, they fed everything extremely well.
Unlike the Remington, the Winchester needed no preliminary cleaning. We ran a patch through the bore and took it to the range. The trigger pull of the Winchester was vastly superior to that of the Remington, with a crisp break of 1.9 pounds. With its perfect barrel, superb trigger pull and scope-sighted advantages, we expected the Winchester to group better than the Remington, but it did so only with the Wolf ammo. Read the rest of the article to see why.
