Have 22 will Travel

Walter J. Wolfe

My late mother, Rose Clagett-Wolfe, gave me my fathers’, Harry H. Wolfe, Jr., Winchester model 62 L. or LR 22 rifle, manufactured in New Haven Connecticut – see 1990 photo. This pre-WWII 22 model sold nearly 99,000 rifles from 1932 to 1940 so judging by the gun’s serial number (14,197) my father probably purchased the rifle around the mid 1930’s.

Anyway, this rifle has traveled around during its approximately 76 year history and has been responsible for many a varmint’s departure. Here are some of the places/times the 22 was employed:

Dad and Older Brothers Shooting

Before I came on the family scene, Dad and my older brothers, Harry AKA “Boy” and Charles Richard AKA "Rick" hunted rabbits, squirrels and other game on the Ridge Road and later Greentee Road properties, especially during the Great Depression and then during WWII helping to put food on the table. However, Rick recently recalled a time when and he and Boy were shooting at targets on the Greentree Road property. One time when Rick was returning from checking the targets, Boy fired the rifle several times near Rick to scare him which were close enough that Rick could hear the projectiles whizzing near his head. I got a subsequent conformation from the shooter himself regarding Rick’s recollection which he said occurred on the Ridge Road property near the Tom Bones farm; however, Boy (Harry) couldn't  remember the exact reason for this potentially aggravated assault except to say he and his intended sibling target were habitually in a state of “tit for tat.”

Skunked
Then there was the time when my older brothers Boy (Harry III) and Rick discovered a skunk in a trap during the early 1940’s. Sidebar: They taped muskrats, rabbits, etc. during WWII for meat and to sell the furs. Anyway, Uncle Ed Clagett and his wife, Aunt Bobby, was staying with mother and dad that skunked week-end so Ed was called upon to kill the skunk with dad’s Winchester 22. By the way, since mother wouldn't allow Boy & Rick in the house with their skunk-stinky cloths, she made them both strip down to the buff outside in the winter cold.  Of course, their skunk-clothes were immediately torched.    

Rattle Snake Targets in Florida
During the early 1950’s, Dad loaned the rifle to Les Bell, Sr (owner of Bell Laundry & Dry cleaning in Bethesda) which Dad managed for nearly two decades. Mr. Bell, who had retired to Florida by this time, used the Winchester to dispatch rattle snakes in and around his property; his wife, Winnie, was snake-petrified to walk outside the house! When the 22 returned to7221 Longwood Drive several years later, I was examining the weapon outside, cocked the pump-action lever and pulled the trigger. A shot rang out. That was my first experience with a basic rifle safety rule – never, ever leave a round in the chamber. Of course, I never told a soul about this mishap which occurred when I was about 10-years old.

Reverend Caulfield Assassinates Loud Crows
Rick also recently told me that Dad loaned the rifle to Monsignor Caulfield, Pastor of St Jane DeChantle Catholic Church in North Bethesda, adding that his assistant pastor, Father Byron, was miffed because the good monsignor was shooting annoying birds through his bedroom window including through the screen leaving the summer bugs an opening. I wonder how many bullet holes were in the window screen.

I Got to Shoot 22 On The Farm
My turn with the rifle occurred on the farm Mother and Dad bought in 1964. There I learned (under the tutelage of …) to work the farm including plowing and other ways of preparing the soil for planting; “haying” and related chores. One of the impediments to my work was running tractors into groundhog holes which sometimes damaged the equipment and once me. Thus I began to hunt the varmints with the 22, putting a sizable dent into woodchuck population thereby reducing the number of dangerous den-holes.

One rather strange use of the weapon during my farm-days was to rid the backyard oak tree of a gaggle of grackles. My dad ordered this critter combat. With mother holding my legs, I leaned upside down out of my second story bedroom window and knocked off enough of the guano producers that after a week they left.

My Son Takes a Dirt-Hag

Shortly after my father died in 1979 – they had sold the farm two years prior - my mother gave me Dad’s travelling 22. It wasn’t used for varmint duty for another several decades until about the summer of 2005. As I recall, I was at a 7:30 PM St. Paul’s Church Honduras Clinic Ministry Committee meeting giving the monthly report when my cell phone rang. Long story short, it was my son, John, asking where to find and how to use the rifle to slay a sizable groundhog that was digging his home under our storage shed (we are living on 14 ½ acres in the upper Montgomery County.) When I got home from my meeting that night, I learned my son successfully took care of the problem And,a few years later, I pulled the 22’s trigger to send a koi-eating pest to its demise.

Beans for Bullets
 My sister, Rosemary tells the story about our father seducing her young son, Andrew, to eat Lima Beans that was served with dinner at the farm. You see Andy hated Limas, so Dad bribed the boy to eat some beans; for every lima bean Andy would eat, Dad would give him a bullet to shoot from the Winchester 22 rifle. Rosemary's son managed to swallow seven of the repugnant vegetable. True to his word, Dad took Andy into the field to shoot seven bullets. However, the irony is, Dad let Andy's older brother, Chip shoot the rifle also - Chip liked Lima Beans.

So, dad’s Winchester model 62 is still with me (year 2013) still in great shape; no telling where or who it will be in another 78 years!