The Remington 33, an old gun that shoots like a new gun

[David LaPell]

Back some 20 years ago, a friend of mine who forgot more about guns than I remember, had an old .22 single shot rifle, the Remington Model 33. This gun was hardly a kid's gun, it was man sized, but later on I found an old article written back in the 1950's that the Remington Model 33 had been put out there as a cheap alternative to the Winchester Model 52, even though the sights were nowhere near on par, Remington apparently spent a couple years working on the barrel and it enjoyed a little popularity, then came Remington's later .22 single shots and of course there was the Model 34 bolt action with a tube magazine.
When I bought the gun and shot it even with it's open sights we found the gun to be an incredible shooter, capable of accuracy better than any .22 rifle I had ever owned at the time, and I had owned more than a few. So we decided to mount a scope on it, which was easier said than done. We had to relieve a little metal off the bolt handle and I had to use taller mounts. The worst part was trying to find a scope because the height was critical. At the time I went with an old Weaver 4X that for its age had incredible clarity, and I used that for years with great success on small game well out past 60-70 yards. I found for years the gun just loves running standard velocity ammo and have taken more game with it than anything else I've owned. Later I found a Weaver 3-6 with clarity that rivaled the 4x on the gun so I swapped out the scope and have had this one now for about 15 years.
Overall I've done little more to this gun except when the stock dried out a bit, I gave it new life with five coats of Tru-oil. The wood on the gun is what it left the factory with in 1934. Over the years it's taken rabbits, woodchucks, and more squirrels than I can possibly recall. While it might not be a match or target gun, all things considered and the age of this gun, it's been better than so many other .22 rifles I have owned.