Some of the old ones can't be beat even today.
Some people (not me) grew up hunting with their single shot .22's for table meat. I remember some of the old guys around home talking about carrying their .22's to school with them in the morning. The rifle's were leaned up in a corner and not touched till leaving school at the end of the day. Then they'd walk home and try to kill a couple/three squirrels, or a rabbit on the way, for supper when their dad's came home from the fields or the coal mines.
I remember my dad telling the story of his dad walking out of the house one morning with his little single shot Western Field bolt action and 6 rounds .22 shorts (shorts were not only cheaper in those days, they are still quieter and less likely to spook the other squirrels in a hickory tree.) When his dad came back that afternoon he had 4 squirrels, 1 rabbit and 1 ruffed grouse. Everyone killed with a head shot.
That was the only shot dad made on squirrels. Head shots, so you didn't mess up the meat. And it was a sure kill.
My old Win. M52B was made in 1935 (stamped on the bottom of the barrel). When my father-in-law would say, "Hey, let's shoot the .22's in the back yard." I'd grab the old Winchester and walk outside with some Remington Thunderbolts. He'd look at that rifle and say, "Why don't you use one of my .22's, it's no fun when you bring that rifle." We'd stand around out back of the house and shoot dandelions, honey bees on the dandelions, acorns off the oak trees at the edge of the yard/woods, just about anything small/tiny that we felt was a challenge.
Don't discount the old ones. Some of them are as awesome today as they were almost 100 years ago. If they were taken care of by the owners over the years.
It was 6 shots, 4 squirrels, 1 rabbit, 1 ruffed grouse.
