Not sure which variant of the M1922 this is...

[obijohnkenobe]

Hello everyone. Glad to find this forum. I like military .22 training rifles (among many other things), and have a few in my collection. I've only seen 4 M1922s 'in the wild' in my life (at gun shops)… a collector transferred two through my gun shop years ago and I bought one off of him, a pristine M1922 M2 with a '37 barrel date and two mags (5- and 10-round) plus a single shot adapter. I've seen one beat-up M1922 at a gun shop years ago... and happened to run into this one yesterday and bought it. I believe this is an original M1922 NRA rifle. It has the original magazine that protrudes from the floorplate, but it doesn't have the dual firing pin bolt... but the bolt is in the original M1922 configuration. The forend is lightly and finely checkered, and it's not a grooved stock. The bore is pristine and the metal is at least 90%. It has a 3-digit serial number.

Am I right about the model? The front sight and bolt face are what confuses me.

Information

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[m1903rifle]

You have a M1922 rifle with a M1922 M1 bolt.

[obijohnkenobe]

Thanks for your reply. Do you think the scope mount holes in the front receiver ring are Armory-done? There's another set on barrel about 1.5" behind the front barrel band. With the stock and buttplate, was this a rifle built for DCM/civilian sales?

Anyone want to venture what the value might be? I paid well under $1K for it, that's why I had to buy it... I need another rifle like I need another belly button, but it seemed like too good of a deal to pass up. I had found a Winchester 67A in pristine condition for well under $200, was getting ready to leave with it, and happened to glance over and see this peeking from the end of the rack. As I said, I've only seen four of these 'in the wild' in my almost 60 years, and now I've bought two of them.

Anyone else like military .22 trainers? I have a High Wall Winder musket take-down in .22 Short as well as my other M2 and an Australian SMLE .22 trainer that was effectively unfired/NIB when I bought it in the '90s (and I haven't fired it). I had read about these as a boy, with folks like Townsend Whelen converting the M1922s to .22 Hornet and I always thought I'd love to have such a rifle, but don't think I could stand converting one today... I have enough Hornets now anyway. I also have several Win 52s (pre-A, A, C, as well as one of the USRAC/Winchester sporter repros), along with a Kimber 82 Government Target. I think I have spent much of my adult years buying the firearms that I lusted after as a boy... now I need to find the time to go out and enjoy them.

[reddogrun]

I have the same Springfield Sporter 1922 also with a 3 digit # 57x dated 6-22 with Armory installed Lyman sights.
My rifle has checkering on the wrist and forend. with scope blocks . The checkering and scope blocks where not done in the Armory but sent to a Gunsmith for upgrades .To the best of my knowledge your Rifle was built at the Armory and a gunsmith revised the front sight from the Armory post to a Globe and added the checkering. The Bolt appears correct.
I am pleasantly surprised to see another Sporter .22 . Armory Sporters seem to be .30 cal and where Sporterized by gunsmiths like Griffin & Howe. Those guns seem to have had more work done on them as an upgrade. High end stocks, etc. I can only guess that there are only a few rifles made my the Armory have not been not altered or upgraded.

[browningautorifle]

Nice looking rifle, we'd love to see the others you speak of as well...that you have...

[ArtD]

That is a nice Model of 1922. Is the bolt of the M1 bolt serialized to the rifle? Nice that it still has the correct magazine. That by itself is a $500.00+ value. Also appears to have the correct Lyman 48B rear sight, (1/MOA per click elevation adjustment) . The front Lyman 17 is an upgrade. It should be a standard 1903 front post. Easily corrected if so designed.

The D&T'ed receiver is likely not done at Springfield. Although, Brophy's books mentions that rifles could be ordered, D&T'ed for the Winchester A5 scope, I believe the holes were D&T'ed only on the barrel because of the difficulty in drilling the hardened receiver ring. The rough holes in your receiver ring kind of reflect those concerns.

What is the LOP? It looks like the stock might have been shortened slightly. It should be 13.75" from front of trigger to back of buttplate, center.

Since only 211 M1922's were assembled in 1922, it is more then likely your rifle was made in 1923. The 6-22 barrel is original to the rifle. What condition is the bore? Most pre-1926 barrels have pitting due to the highly corrosive rimfire ammo of the time. I have two M1922's, both with 1922 barrels. One has pitting it's entire length, the other, just a little past the chamber. Surprisingly, the one with the extensive pitting still shots 1" groups at 50 yards.



Art