A10
OUTDOORS
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, March 24, 2021
SHOOTING THE BREEZE
THE SINGLE-SHOT .22
T
he .22 today is
largely seen as a
great plinker and
small game round, and
there is merit to saying
so. It truly isn’t overly
powerful compared to the
ever widening lineup of cartridges
available to us nowadays. But
this wasn’t always the prevailing
wisdom.
I happen to know of several
families which would’ve doubt-
lessly went down under for the
want of food if not for their fam-
ily .22 rifl e. During the Depres-
sion most folks used the even
more anemic .22 short for rab-
bits, birds and squirrels since cash
money was scarce as hen’s teeth.
These rifl es were mostly cheap,
single-shot bolt actions and could
use the short, long and long rifl e
ammunition choices.
Learning the fundamentals
of good shooting such as trigger
squeeze, breath control, sight pic-
ture and making every shot count
has always been the bailiwick of
the single-shot .22 rifl e. There are
no quick follow up shots to cover
a poorly or hastily placed fi rst
shot. Practice, therefore,
is more meaningful as the
temptation and ability to
just burn through shells is
removed. In a time where
.22 bullets are expen-
sive and rare to fi nd, this
is certainly another redeeming
feature.
Accurate as the day is long,
these rifl es were also known
to have served as close range
deer rifl es in a pinch, which the
Depression certainly was that.
A .22 is duly illegal to use these
days for such employ, and poach-
ing is partly to blame for our
declining deer herds. I don’t wish
to celebrate their use in these
regards lest I encourage anyone to
try to do so, but merely to admire
another aspect of the usefulness
of a well-placed 35- to 40-grain
bullet in the desperate feeding of
families back when. Jack O’Con-
nor, long time editor at Out-
door Life magazine, even spoke
of doing so on one of his South-
west forays back in the 1930s. Of
such he said that only head shots
at extremely close range were
advisable. Then there are the tales
of using .22s to hunt pigs in the
Southwest, bears in the North or
African game.
We have to draw the line
somewhere. For every story
where such eyebrow-raising feats
were successfully pulled off , there
are doubtlessly an overwhelming
majority of others where things
didn’t go so well. However, there
are plenty of good things a sin-
gle-shot .22 is qualifi ed to do. If
you’re lucky enough to have one,
cherish it. Keep it clean and in
good repair, pass it down if you
can.
The .22 rifl e in the accom-
panying picture belonged to my
great-grandfather and will go
to my son Andy when the time
comes. That will be fi ve gen-
erations of use. Lord willing it
will last another fi ve generations
after my son. Long live family
tradition!
Are you a single-shot fan?
Write to us at shootingthebree-
zebme@gmail.com!
Dale Valade is a local coun-
try gent with a love for the out-
doors, handloading, hunting and
shooting.
Contributed photo
This single-shot .22 rifl e belonged to columnist Dale Valade’s great-grandfather and
will go to his son Andy when the time comes.
O utlook
SENI
R
We thank Tootie Cernazanu for being the
sponsor of our entree. It was a super-duper meal!
Baked chicken, baked potatoes, sea-foam salad,
Rose Coombs
and raspberry surprise. As Lawrence Welk would
say, it is “Wonderful, wonderful!” And if you were following the menu,
you might say – but, but. Yes, there were some changes made. Instead of
sweet potato fires, we had baked potatoes. (Would you believe that head
cook Pam washed the potatoes in the dishwasher? How creative!) I was
looking forward to the pecan bars, but the raspberry surprise by assistant
cook Laura was delicious too! And I know that we will have brownies next
week because I saw the packages of mic in the kitchen! Hooray, hooray!
We had 47 meals go out the door, thanks to Carlos and Tom who made
the home deliveries and Ginger and Carla who did the pick-up deliveries,
and Pam who got all the names checked off in their proper place. Thanks
to all who help do this good work.
The snow barely got off the ground and here come the tulips and
daffodils, poppies and narcissus. Then we got more snow. But it didn’t stay
long. At one point this winter, the snow measuring board on top of Dixie
said 7 feet! Yeah! So we can really start planning the garden now. Even
though it will be 2 months until the ground warms up enough to plant.
One can always dream.
I was going to have a lovely day doing all the things that were on the
calendar: Bible study, senior dinner, counseling, prayer meeting. But,
‘The best laid plans of mice and mend do oft go astray.’ Got up with
a horrible sore throat and as the day wore on, I could not talk above a
whisper. So instead of all those nice things I had planned to do, I made
an appointment with the doctor! Rats. Phooey. Piffle. Just remember that
all things work together for good. Just because I don’t know the reason
does not mean that it is a bad thing. And that’s hard for us independent
humans to believe, right?
Found this quote in a book about the Kennedy assassination, referring to
the people who worked on the case: “The experts had trained themselves
out of their common sense.” Now think about that for awhile! That’s what
us ol’ fogies keep saying. People have lost their common sense. How did
that happen? Where did it go? What can we do to get it back?
On a less serious note, here are some sayings I’ve seen on t-shirts: #1
Handyman’s Rule: cut it to fit, neat into place. #2 Keep Calm and Carry
Duct Tape.
1 Corinthians 15:33, 34 “Do not be mislead: “Bad company corrupts good
character.” Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning;…”
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