Bearcat
- Thread starter L Ross
- Start date
richhodg66
Well-Known Member
Those were real neat little revolvers. We had one I shot a lot of a small kid, think six or seven. Over the years, it must have gone down the road with a lot of other of Dad's guns, I sure wish he'd have kept it.
RicinYakima
High Steppes of Eastern Washington
In the early sixties, at least in Appalachia, they were "the" barn varmint gun. I don't remember them being that much more accurate than the H&R's and Hi-Standard revolvers, but everybody wanted one. Most I remember seeing were dirty and has been shot a lot but always worked.
Maybe because we all had TV by then and were influenced by the many Westerns on the tube.
Maybe because we all had TV by then and were influenced by the many Westerns on the tube.
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CWLONGSHOT
Well-Known Member
My pop always wanted one. He had a early SS flat top.
I looked for decades saw many but none where rite till I found this one. It was priced right but had no box but its a pretty early gun.
I looked for decades saw many but none where rite till I found this one. It was priced right but had no box but its a pretty early gun.
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Petrol & Powder
Well-Known Member
I always felt the Bearcat was cool little .22 rimfire. I encountered the H&R's far more often. Not sure why, maybe cost? Most folks that got a .22 Single Action seemed to gravitate to the Single-Six. I think the Bearcat got overshaddowed by it's bigger brother.
Outpost75
Active Member
That describes my experience also. I had a Hi-Standard in high school and later got a Bearcat and toted it around the woods for years. When I retired I gifted mine to neighbor's daughter as high school graduation gift and it has happily returned to farm duty.
CWLONGSHOT
Well-Known Member
Agreed I ment to mention it. As much as I like they are lost in my hands. SS is better.
Bret4207
At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
I just looked at an old one in a gunshop nearby. The finish was ratty and the gun in overall condition near "Poor". $495.00 they wanted!!! I like them, but my little Smith Kit Gun is way more accurate than any I've fired and prettier to boot! OTH, I wouldn't leave the Kit Gun in the barn...or a Bearcat either!!!
Cadillac Jeff
Well-Known Member
Dang it, ya know what I don't even have a 22 revolver.
Hmmm
I like rugers alot too !
Hmmm
I like rugers alot too !
CWLONGSHOT
Well-Known Member
C
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CZ93X62
Official forum enigma
The little critters are still in production--the second ideation of the Bearcat, anyway. MSRP is $819 for a blue-steel variant with fixed sights and 4.2" barrel. I have enough 22 LR sideiron and a 22 WMR as well, so a Bearcat doesn't fit a hole in my safe, but they are handy as can be and the Remington-pattern grip fits my hand far better than the Colt plow-handle ever did--even the little Bearcat grip.
Winelover
North Central Arkansas
I just corrected that myself, recently. Short barreled double action CA Pathfinder. Less expensive practice for all my short barreled DA centerfires.
Most double action 22LR revolvers are almost twice as expensive as a semi auto. Hold less shots and are slower to load. That's why I own three semi auto 22LR's. Plus, semi autos are inherently more accurate, with only one chamber. The only advantage of a 22 revolver, is not having to bend over to pick up spent brass.
Not a fan of SA revolvers. Especially, those that only have six chambers.
Petrol & Powder
Well-Known Member
I don’t dislike single action revolvers, but they don’t scratch an itch for me. I own a couple of SA revolvers and have had a few more previously but DA revolvers are more my speed.
I agree with Winelover, getting a .22 rimfire revolver that shoots well can be a difficult task. You must get 6 or more chambers cut correctly and identically. The timing must be right for all chambers. The recesses for the cartridge rims (which affects headspace) must be the same for all the chambers and the forcing come needs to be correct, something that manufacturers of rimfire revolvers seem to neglect. I’m not saying you cannot find a good rimfire revolver, I’m saying the quest to find a good rimfire revolver is not easy.
There are good rimfire revolvers out there and I’ve seen them, But they are harder to find than a good semi-auto rimfire pistol. It’s just easier to make a good rimfire pistol than it is to make a good rimfire revolver.
I agree with Winelover, getting a .22 rimfire revolver that shoots well can be a difficult task. You must get 6 or more chambers cut correctly and identically. The timing must be right for all chambers. The recesses for the cartridge rims (which affects headspace) must be the same for all the chambers and the forcing come needs to be correct, something that manufacturers of rimfire revolvers seem to neglect. I’m not saying you cannot find a good rimfire revolver, I’m saying the quest to find a good rimfire revolver is not easy.
There are good rimfire revolvers out there and I’ve seen them, But they are harder to find than a good semi-auto rimfire pistol. It’s just easier to make a good rimfire pistol than it is to make a good rimfire revolver.
Missionary
Well-Known Member
A good friend and church member passed on 20 years back. Bought several of his firearms the Pastor sold for the the widow.
One is an H&R model 999 Chromed 9 shot. I detest chromed firearms so loaned it to my FIL to dispatch racoons his 3 acres was infested with.
Got it back 5 years ago and have never yet shot it.
Have a MRK 2 Ruger auto bull barrel target and my dad's old Red Disk handled MRK 1 (1951) if I want to fire up something with a .22.
One is an H&R model 999 Chromed 9 shot. I detest chromed firearms so loaned it to my FIL to dispatch racoons his 3 acres was infested with.
Got it back 5 years ago and have never yet shot it.
Have a MRK 2 Ruger auto bull barrel target and my dad's old Red Disk handled MRK 1 (1951) if I want to fire up something with a .22.
L Ross
Well-Known Member
When I was a kid trapping for spending money, I'd have thought I died and went to trapper Heaven if I coulda had this little Bearcat as my trappin' pistol. Picture a 14 year old kid finding a 25# boar coon, toe caught in a #1 Victor Stop Loss muskrat trap. I used Grandpa's old Marbles belt knife to cut me a 2 foot long club outa the biggest willow I could find, maybe 2 1/2" at the butt. I hit that coon as hard as I could swing that club. His front legs splayed in the mud of the Black Crick and he popped right back up and hissed at me. Thus commenced the battle of the coon in the mud. Eventually, unconscious, (the coon not me), I dragged the mud encrusted boar into the water and stood on his chest until long after the bubbles stopped coming up around my LaCrosse hip boots. Then picture a wet, muddy, heavy coon, and a few rats filling an Ash pack basket, with muddy water running down my back into my butt crack as I trudged the two miles back home with my catch. I was a poster child for Fur Fish and Game.
Upon skinning that greasy bugger I found the top of his melon to be one big hematoma but no skull fracture. I had to wash the mud out of the hide, then flesh him, stretch him on a basswood stretcher board, and sold him for the extravagant sum of 3 dollars. I'd get 8 bucks for a big mink, and 75¢ for muskrats.
Upon skinning that greasy bugger I found the top of his melon to be one big hematoma but no skull fracture. I had to wash the mud out of the hide, then flesh him, stretch him on a basswood stretcher board, and sold him for the extravagant sum of 3 dollars. I'd get 8 bucks for a big mink, and 75¢ for muskrats.
Petrol & Powder
Well-Known Member
So, you think a little .22 handgun would have been useful? 
Winelover
North Central Arkansas
Reminds me of the possum, I drowned in a garbage can, in Detroit. Couldn't use a firearm in the city limits. Max, my shepard/husky mix was tossing it around in the driveway. He was good at catching vermin in the middle of the night. Even treed a groundhog on the differential of my motorhome.
Petrol & Powder
Well-Known Member
One of the few single actions I own. I found it in a small rural gun store over 30 years ago.
Has the bicentennial inscription on the barrel and a spare .22 magnum cylinder.