Cooey M82 – Canadian .22 cal Trainer

The Cooey M82 was a contract built trainer rifle for the Canadian military during the Second World War, they have been discussed in various places around the web which suggest that upwards of 30,000 were produced. They are a single-shot, bolt-action, .22 calibre rifle, and are quite accurate.

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...CooeyM82-1.jpg

The photos attached below contain a number of details such as,
Markings:
“Cooey M82 22 CAL” Top of Receiver Rear
“C /I\ 67” inside a lozenge shaped mark at top of chamber area
“B2326” serial number at heel of grip
“C/I\” forward of serial number at heel of grip
“C/I\” found on bolt handle

Action: The loading and extraction of a dummy .22 cal round, note there is no feeding ramp or guide, each round must be placed in the chamber by hand and the bolt closed on top. The extractor can be heard to “click” over the rim of the cartridge upon closing the bolt.
After loading the rifle must be manually cocked by pulling rearward on the striker knob when ready to fire. There is no dedicated safety on this rifle.

Once fired, the bolt is opened and drawn to the rear, the extractor withdraws the spent case and the spring loaded firing pin acts as the ejector, ejecting to the shooter’s right. Working the bolt very slowly can cause the round not to eject or fall back into the action, a quick, short snap, works best.

Sights: The rear open sight is intact with elevation adjuster, while the Cooey rear aperture sight is not present, but would fit at the rear of the receiver in place of the square plate and screw. The front sight is a blade type with a set of protectors held in place with a flat headed machine screw and hex nut.

Muzzle: The muzzle end of the stock is rough cut wood with no special effort to further finish it.

Stock: The stock is otherwise well made of hardwood with a pleasant pistol style grip that fills the hand well. The end is finished with an unmarked steel butt plate secured with two screws.

Details on this rifle:
This Cooey M82 Trainer is part of my shooting collection that I acquired a few years ago, it is in pretty good condition overall. It is almost 100% original with the exception of a Mossberg S-130 rear target sight and the bit of stock inletting to fit the mount.
I purchased this rifle privately for well below market value, about the same as typical civilian Cooey 75 rifle which shares the same basic design. Upon my purchase the Mossberg sight was installed but missing the sighting aperture and windage adjuster, and the bolt would bind in the action, but could be worked carefully by rocking the bolt.
The rear sight components were sourced as an entire replacement assembly from eBay for about $30, this sight does co-witness with the rear open sight and can be swung away without a loss of zero to provide unobstructed use of the original iron sights.
Addressing the bolt was another issue, inspecting other Cooey rifles made it obvious that someone had modified the bolt to automatically cock on closing. The poor workmanship on the modification, which entailed filing away the “bump” on the striker, caused the bolt to bind when operated with the knob. If the bolt was drawn to the rear by hooking a finger near the bolt head and pulling it would cycle and cock on closure.
I spent some time deliberating on the solution, whether I should attempt to smooth out and perhaps reprofile the crude modification to the bolt, with possible failure, or to source a new bolt. Searching online for a replacement was met with immediate luck as I was able to purchase a C/I\ stamped bolt for about $40. Changing the bolt resolved the issue without any fitting or fiddling, it was a simple 10 second swap.
Included in the photos are details of both bolts, the proper bolt has a smooth bump to prevent the sear from picking up the cocking piece on bolt closure, while the modified bolt has this section filed flat.

Shooting this rifle:
The rifle has a noticeable weight for the caliber and is easy to steady while shooting prone. The trigger is a long single stage which breaks at about 4 lbs, side loading of the trigger can cause it to drag on the stock, making it exhibit a bit of irregular creep. If pulled squarely and smoothly, the trigger released the shot well. Attached in the photos is a target that was shot prone, unsupported at 25m. I believe that with a full rest the rifle would turn in very tight groups and blame the flyers in the groups on my shooting.

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...DSC00636-1.jpg

Conclusion:
This rifle, while not the most exciting, is very satisfying to shoot, manually cocking the action each time does make the shooter slow down and generally be much more deliberate in firing. It functions flawlessly, works well with any 22 LR ammunition, and turns in very nice groups with standard velocity ammunition. The Canadian market on these rifles varies wildly, ranging from $150-$450 listings, in various condition, from excellent original to shortened, scope equipped sporters.

If there are any questions or comments on this rifle, or what I’ve written, please post below.

Thank you for reading.

Nice rifle. I have a few of them in my collection. The stocks on all of mine are walnut. I believe yours is as well.
I have also seen these rifles with a parkerized type of bluing as well as the typical bluing. I have one with the parkerized type finish and I had another that I sold. I have also seen one other with the same finish. All 3 were within 100 of each other in the serial number. Whether a certain armory or division had them done or whether they were done by Cooey is uncertain. It does say in a Cooey ad though that metal parts for these were custom blued so maybe Cooey did this if there was a special order.

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...dnw1gfqg-1.jpg

I don't know why people are so surprised that these shoot really well, lots of these old guns do. They make little ragged groups all day with questionable ammo. Mind, the ammo we had when I was young is by far better than much of the garbage produced today.

The do hold the formula for accuracy, a simple overbuilt action, with a heavy barrel, and good rifling process. I personally think the surprising bit is that these rifles are old, and along with the civilian Model 75 and 60 cousins, have fired millions of rounds, and generally have been not well cared for. Growing up they were a common fixture in nearly every rural household, but were never regarded a valuable item or treated with the care of the 30/30 Winchester '94 deer rifle, they were shot, loaned, rusted, and knocked about. Despite all of this, they stood up well, still turning in good groups, even after their extractors snap off and firing pins wear out.

Cooeys are probably still the cheapest .22 rifles in Canada and they have a craftsmanship just not seen in many modern builds.

The old ammo was a better type too, a bit better quality and the rust stop dry lube kept the barrels in a better condition...

The M82 always reminds me of early teen years in the Cdn Air Cadets where I got to lug one on our squadrons rifle drill team. They were old, painted in what was probabbly brown and black house paint with tight white vinly slings. Except for the bolts being removed, they were not deactivated.

I have an old model 60 that was left over from my father's youth. It is the tube fed repeater cousin of the M82 and can handle .22 short, long or long rifle. It was the only gun in our house growing up. It can still out shoot my more modern .22's. Even with more interesting toys in the safe, is a favorite to bring to the range becaue of its surprising accuracy.

Guess what is due to replace the British No8 rifle...........in 2016

Essentially the modern grandson of the Cooey from what I see.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lima

Except for the bolts being removed, they were not deactivated.

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They also took some and put a wood dowel into the small behind the trigger guard on some, to simulate the FN pistol grip. For drill I suppose...