In the past couple of years after handling a friend’s Springfield 1922 trainer beautifully rebuilt by Griffin and Howe I’ve gotten interested in military trainers. I found a nice Springfield 1922M2 built in 1937. It’s heavy but fun to shoot. Recently I’ve found an early 1924 Winchester PreA Model 52 Slow-lock that was their attempt at a US military .22 contract but Springfield already had it so winchester wisely redesigned the .22 M52 into a sporter/civilian target rifle. As the stock on my rifle has been altered and it’s not a true collectible any longer, it’s only a shooter so I’m repairing some damage and refinishing the stock. This rifle has the finest rifle trigger that I’ve ever shot. I can only imagine what a fast-lock M52 would be. I did find a nice lyman 48J to go on it. Here are my two rifles. I haven’t put them up against each other as I’m redoing the 52. As soon as I get my stock done and get it put together I’ll put them on paper.

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Never had much interest for military trainers in 22. That is one nice rifle that you have.

My wife bought a Mossberg model 44US to practice with. Only thing is, magazines are difficult to find....
I have a 144LSB that shoots very well, but mags are the same issue.

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I sold a 1943 "Property U.S.Gov't" Mossberg semi auto .22 rifle to a friend in the '90s
It was a fine little rifle.

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Think that I’m done on the stock except the bbl band screw is buggered but I’ve found a replacement. Turned out nice, photographs dark but has a lot of figure.

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Installed a 1903/03a3 Timney trigger in my 1922 M2. I had to remove a little of the trigger assembly where it wouldn’t quite go all the way into the recvr. Now my M2 has a 2.5 lb trigger pull with very little movement in it at all. No felt takeup or over travel. Almost a single set trigger. I might tear it down again to do some adjusting to add a bit of takeup. Need to shoot it more though before I mess with it.

The USAF now uses the M-16 with a conversion kit to 22LR for training and even qualification at times. They use basically what is a reduced size military style rifle target. I have seen these in use from a distance. They are not much compared to the old trainer versions for sure.

I have seen two examples of the 98 Mauser 22 trainer, they are fairly scarce, in full original condition. A friend in HS owned one and it was very heavy for a 22.

I have owned several M-2 guns over the years.

The military 22s have gotten pretty expensive over the past 20 or so years.

I did 30 years in the Air Force. Retired in 2008. I only saw .22 conversions used when Carter was president I now have five Mossberg 22s. Some might be considered trainers, not sure I would. They are good shooters.

The AF has a long history of being innovative when it comes to various weapons. I would suspect that the majority of actual 22 military trainers come from the time period around 1925 plus or minus 10 years.