.22 LR WINCHESTER MODEL 62A

I was taught rifle marksmanship at a young age by my father and clearly remember being nervous to shoot in front of him, as he was, and still is, one of the best shots I know. I was started on his Ruger 10/22 Bicentennial, which he had scoped with a Tasco 3-9x, and once in a while we’d let a full magazine loose as quickly as possible, just for fun.

- PHILIP MASSARO

However, it was mostly precision training – shooting for accuracy. But it wasn’t that Ruger rifle of his that I liked best. Dad had this weird little pump rifle, like you’d see at a shooting gallery at the fair, with a hammer and a large nut that allowed the rifle to be taken apart. The first time he showed me how you just held the trigger back after the first shot and pumped the gun quickly, younger me thought that was one of the coolest things ever seen. But I also found that the little Winchester pumpgun was seriously accurate, and a ton of fun to hunt with.

Of all the models of Winchester rifles that come quickly to mind, the Model 62A is probably near the bottom of the list. I mean, after all, with competition like the Model 70, the Model 94, Model 73, 1885 and 1886, and the list goes on and on, a pump rimfire probably isn’t going to stand apart. But what a wonderful little rifle this 62A is!

The Winchester Model 62A was the last in line of a series of slide-action, tube-fed rimfire rifles, which began with the John Browning-designed Model 1890, leading up to the Model 1906 and the Model 62. Capable of handling .22 Short, .22 Long and .22 Long Rifle cartridges, the svelte little rifle was easily handled by a young hunter or shooter, yet it was built nicely enough that an adult would and could carry it confidently. Using the various serial number lists available on the internet, Dad’s rifle was manufactured in 1943, the last year of manufacture until World War II had concluded. All in all, there were approximately 410,000 rifles produced – between the Model 62 and 62A – beginning in 1932 and ending in 1959.