Click-clack gun

[airedaleman]

Earliest evidence of my interest in firearms goes back to a couple of photos of 4-1/2 year-old me taken in the winter of 1943, with my cousin's 22 (he was overseas then). My wife came across the pictures last week, gave them to me, and I - naturally - promptly mislaid them. A couple of days later I stopped at a pawn shop, and there in the rack was a duplicate of Mick's 22. Long story short, I walked out with a Springfield Model 87A. Total price 85 bucks. I don't care for autoloading 22's (I think with a rimfire there should be some participation on the part of the shooter...) but this gun struck my fancy, as I remembered very well the odd cut-outs in the receiver. Checking on the web after I got it home, I learned of the nicknames "gill gun" and "click-clack gun." These guns will shoot shorts, longs, and long rifles as a straight pull repeater, and long rifles as an autoloader. When used as an autoloader, the bolt does not go back into battery until the trigger is released. The lag is quite audible, hence the "click-clack" tag. Kind of reminds me of the Model 8 Remington I had years ago. Apparently the vents and bolt lag were a response to the dirty-burning 22 ammo encountered before WWII. (Barrel is marked with five full patent numbers!) Apologies for the long-winded narrative. Anyone else shoot a click-clack gun?

 

[7mmsavage]

I had one, but sold it not too long ago. A friend watched me shoot it and told me something was wrong with it, that the bolt took a long time to move forward. I had to show him that it was part of the design. I'd never heard about the vents actually being functional. I always thought maybe they were just a gimmic based on the country's fascination with jets, and rockets, and science fiction during the time it was made. It always looked kind of Buck Rogers to me. Now you've gone and made me regret yet another rifle sale.

 

[Vaarok]

Look around for an 87M, they're even more fun.

 

[airedaleman]

Vaarok, I don't think I could afford one! Interesting variation...

 

[barnbwt]

"Earliest evidence of my interest in firearms goes back to a couple of photos of 4-1/2 year-old me taken in the winter of 1943"
Hate to be that guy, but "pics or it didn't happen" (hey, you asked for it!)

TCB

 

[kBob]

At first I thought I was having a stroke for I was sure I had replied to this topic......

Then it occurred to me that I am likely not the only one to cruise here and at Rim Fire Central......

SO without further ado here is how I responded over at the place pictures are harder to post but .22 info is not cluttered up with Mosin Nagants and .243s...

Minus the RFC specific info of course.......



I am currently "working on" one, playing with a new stock and trying to decide what to do with it about the metal finish and such. My Click Clack is a Savage 6DL-N I got for Christmas as a kid. I was mad at my Dad when I found it under the tree for it was not what I asked for. As the years went by I became glad Dad had bought me the Savage rather than what I asked for as first it was a better rifle as far as accuracy went and second the darn thing would shoot anything which meant that if all I could afford where shorts, that's what it got and it still worked. I think they were and are great .22 rifles.

-kBob

 

[airedaleman]

Okay, here it is - something you'll never see again. A four-year old with a 22 on a residential sidewalk in Lyndhurst, NJ

 

[airedaleman]

And here's something you may pray that you never see again. Yours truly
70 years later with the pawn shop click-clack gun. I believe it's in somewhat better shape than I am.

(OMG! My finger is on the trigger in both pictures!)

 

[yzguy87]

Awesome story!

And nice t shirt too

 

[Dr T]

It was the first gun I ever fired. I was 5 or 6. Dad carried it in his ranch truck for snakes and whatever. Unfortunately, the gun and the then-current truck (a 1966 F100 with a 352 cu. in. engine and automatic transmission) both got burned up in a range fire in 1969. Fortunately, Dad escaped with 2nd degree burns and I only had a shirt and skin that was a bit scorched. We always shot it in "bolt-action" mode.

My older brother found one recently and every time I go down to the ranch, he takes it out for a bit of fresh air.

 

[doubleh]

I have one of the "click-clack gill guns. It was my Christmas present when I was 12 years old. I was a skinny kid and can remember thinking it was kind of heavy compared to my my Dad's Remington Mod 12 I had been shooting. I think I received it to keep me from wearing out the Remington.

I carried that gun several hundred miles as a kid. It still resides in my safe and will be passed on to my son. The Remington is right beside it and will go to him also. Once in awhile I take them out and shoot them just to revive my childhood memories.

Thanks for the picture. Always good to see someone as old and beat up as I am but still going.

 

[Snowdog]

Wow, I had never even heard of such a thing and here I thought I knew firearms.

Thanks for the story and the info!

 

[kBob]

When I was a kid ( and we were not busy driving off dinosaurs) someone in our bunch decided the click clacks had a "Russian sear" there is of course no such thing, but looking back makes me wonder if some ones Dad had brought back a PPSh or PPS from Korea causing someone to confuse the open bolt slam fire system with the Savage rifle's "Click Clack." On more than one occasion while using follow through and my not immediately releasing the trigger upon a shot a kid would announce that my rifle had jammed. When I released the trigger and the bolt snapped shut they would frequently add "its OK now though"

Took mine out yesterday to shoot.

This thread is thus responsible for reminding me of why I did not use a completion standing position like in 50 ft indoor rifle with the click clack......yesterday I chocked up on the forestock with the action screw in my palm and the trigger guard touching my wrist to get that elbow tucked in and proceeded to drop a hot case into my palm. Ouch.

-kBob

 

[bannockburn]

airdaleman

Great story and great photos to go with it. Thanks for sharing it with us.

 

[The_Guy]

Just inherited a ranger 101.16. Sears store brand made by savage/steven's. It is the only .22 I have that will accurately shoot Super Colibri's.

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

Greta pictures and a very cool story. Thanks for sharing it.

 

[chicharrones]

And here's something you may pray that you never see again. Yours truly
70 years later with the pawn shop click-clack gun. I believe it's in somewhat better shape than I am.

Great photo! View attachment 674824