Channel: Brownells, Inc.

Category: Sports

Tags: .22 long riflemodel 42amodel 46a.22 riflemossberg.22 target riflewards.22 lrwestern field.22 shortpre-wwii rifleswards telescope sight model 10disassembly for cleaning.22 long.22 rifle designmontgomery wardearly rifle scopebrownells from the vault

Description: Caleb shows us a sweet little .22 rimfire rifle, the Western Field Model 46A. The 46A is in fact a Mossberg Model 42A sold by Montgomery Ward (remember this vaunted catalog / retail giant of the past?) under their Western Field house brand. The bolt action Model 42A / 46A was produced only in 1937 and '38; the "A" indicates extra action tuning for smoother operation. It'll shoot .22 Short, .22 Long, and .22 Long Rifle ammo fed from its box magazine. Despite the gun being a simple .22, Mossberg's workmanship is excellent, and that's a real walnut stock! Caleb's Model 46A is set up as a target rifle, with a very looonnnng, old-fashioned single-power "Wards Telescope Sight Model 10" clamped to the side of the receiver. And how about a scope with NO windage or elevation knobs? Caleb explains how you CAN make those adjustments. When it's time to clean a Model 42A / 46A, just remove one screw from the underside of the stock, and the entire barreled action lifts out. Caleb speculates a bit on who might have used the Western Field Model 46A / Mossberg Model 42A in this configuration. A simple design, yet very well made and ACCURATE, too. Some retail brand history: Montgomery Ward started in 1872, 20 years before its more famous competitor in the mail order business, Sears, Roebuck & Co. Both companies began opening brick-and-mortar stores in the 1920s. Sears also had a house brand for firearms called J.C. Higgins. How many of us learned to shoot on - or have inherited - a Western Field or J.C. Higgins gun?