"22 Rifle . . ."

Recently in a visit back home, I acquired the family .22 single shot rifle. I did a little research, it is a Springfield Arms gun. Springfield Arms is a common name but appears in the late 1920s to early 1930s. I am pretty sure Sears and Roebuck sold the guns. So I concluded the gun originally belonged to Uncle Ham. Joe Morrison, one of Uncle Ham's children gave me the gun.

When I first used the gun, it was at our house in New Roads. It was in the back closet and apparently John Jr. had used it a lot. The cocking mechanism had failed and somebody, John probably, had used some wire to devise a way to cock the gun. It did not take much pull to cock it.

I must have shot a thousand rounds through that gun at Poule Deaus, water ducks, in False River behind the house. No matter that people lived on the other side of the lake, but in those days there were not a lot of camps on the other side as there are today. Nor were there many boats and water skiers. There just were not that many people around in those days. I am sure today people would be shocked at someone shooting a .22 on False River. And in fact it is against a city ordinance to shoot a gun inside New Roads city limits. Not sure the parish authorities have caught up that kind of gun control yet, too many hunters in and around the country side.

We thought nothing of doing that as kids. We roamed around with our Benjamin air rifles, .22s and later shot guns across the country side. Our parents did not see any harm in it either. They are the ones that gave me the Benjamin air rifle. And Red Rider Daisy BB gun before that. That was life in small town rural America.

I fired that gun until the wire gave up and I could not cock it anymore. Back into the closet the gun went.

It seems John Jr, my older brother now long deceased, retrieved the gun and had Stienberg's in Baton Rouge repair it. The parts are common enough, I did a web search and found them. Anybody could have done it with ease. The little rifle sits in my closet now days. Stienberg's is no longer in existence; the Lipsky family, the owners of Stienberg's, are probably one of the nations largest gun importers. They only sell wholesale now days to other gun dealers. Baton Rouge's oldest and best sports store is but a memory now days replaced by Cabelas or other mega outdoor fitter stores. And Joe Lipsky sells to them.

Yes, I bought a box of 50 rounds at Walmart but I have no where to shoot the rifle. It is just another family heirloom, not of great value except to us. Perhaps sometime in the future I will return gun to the plantation where it really belongs.