doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Fudd buys a Griffin & Howe Springfield M1922 .22LR

I've just received a (cough) rather charismatic Springfield Model of 1922 M1I (Armory-upgraded M2) .22LR, sporterized to order for a customer by Griffin and Howe in 1958. The rifle is a beefy, heavy-barrelled charmer; its lines, to my eye, are unimpeachable, if slightly incongruent: It looks like someone decided they needed a full-sized African stopper rifle for shooting belligerent ruffed grouse straight through their brain-boxes at ten yards. With a Lyman rear peep. The crazy thing has a barrel-banded front sling-swivel attachment point, a jewelled bolt, and a checkered steel trapdoor buttplate concealing a socket for a magazine. Among other features. Nothing this crowd ain't seen, I imagine, but I've never held something like it in my hands before. I feel like I'm custody of an artifact.

It's sort of the Marilyn Monroe of mid-century .22LR sporters, by my lights. A one-off, and a bit much to carry around, but I ain't gonna complain.

Well-assembled blondes aside, what might be of more interest to this archivally-bent hive-mind is the wad of paperwork that came with the rifle. It fills a letter-envelope beyond standard postage rates, and it's a summary of the entire ordering process, bi-directionally, with each of G&H's replies signed by Phil Johnstone. Receipts, work-order numbers, conversations about the suitability of the customer's supplied stock for customization... Echoes of a gone-away world, no doubt dictated, typed, and signed in ink. Mailed with stamps someone had to lick. My eyebrows are still sailing over my forehead.

The rifle's had only two owners, prior to me: the man who ordered the custom work to be done on his supplied rifle, almost sixty-five years ago, and the gent he willed it to upon his demise in 2017, and who just sold it to me, who's not put a round through it since it went to him. Because, as James McMurtry would put it, he's gettin' on in years.

Any interest in seeing pictures? Of the rifle, its paper-trail, or all of the above? Because I'd like to record this critter's existence for posterity, and this seems like the proper place to do so. Even if it's primarily a shotgun forum.

Please....

Definitely interested in pictures

Yes, photos please.

What does it weigh?

I don't know how much it weighs; my scale only goes to 2000g. But I'm curious enough that I intend to borrow a postal scale from work next week. It's certainly heavier than any of my 12-gauge shotguns.

I wonder if the original purchaser had it built to match a full bore Springfield Sporter he had so he could use it to polish his marksmanship with .22 cartridges?

Does the paperwork yield any clues?

No mention of that in the correspondence. Only an allusion to a centrefire hunting rifle he was thinking of having built next.

Edit: I pointedly asked the second owner, who was a close friend of the man who commissioned the customization, and he almost immediately replied, "I believe he had the Springy done up because that was the thing to do in those days."

Woof.

You are aware of the hive mind, and, question if it wants to see pictures?

Really?

Let me know if you need help getting them up here.

I have a Remington 581 lefty gun, that is part of a tug of war at the moment. I want to sell it, and replace it with a righty, BUT, my son wants to keep it. Never mind, that we both have Remington auto loading.22s, that seldom see the light of day.

He is not left handed. I don’t get it.

Best,
Ted

Really. Figured I should ask politely before spamming the forum with an avalanche of pictures of something it's not quite about. I don't recall seeing many rimfire posts in this sub-forum.


You're very kind. I should be able to manage it, once daylight and time conspire to permit. Thank you.

I'm quietly smiling at and laughing about your left-handed Remington 581 dilemma, because I'm a former ambidextrous prone target rifle shooter. If your son wants to keep the thing, I say let him do so. Might be more personal than practical.

Let’s see,

Custom? Check.
Classic? Check.
Single barrel? Check.
Sporting? Check.

I suspect you have the bases covered better than most, regardless of caliber.

You know, my dad and brother left me with a pile of guns I don’t use and will never use. I was just ‘sort of hoping not to be that guy….


Best,
Ted