doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com OT Skeletonized survival rifle

Back in 1969 I worked one summer for my uncle who was building a house for his daughter and her husband, who was a veterinarian. Her husband loved to hunt 'coons with hounds. He showed me a .22 RF all metal single shot rifle he used for shooting the 'coons out of the tree. It had a skeletonized buttstock that was bent steel tubing, AIR. There was no wood anywhere on the rifle. I had/have never seen another exactly like it before or since.

I have searched the internet gun sites for one, but always struck out. There are similar ones out there for sale but all I have seen are new made, like the Chiappa, etc. It may have been designed and built as an airplane pilot's survival rifle.

Does anyone know who might have made this gun back in the '60s? I cannot remember a brand name for the life of me. It was not a Marble's Game Getter. Of that, I am sure.

It was a Garcia Bronco, Stan:



Available in .22 and .410. Built by Rossi in Brazil, my opinion only is they were truly awful little guns, there were many better options for a gun you were going to count on long term in the field:



My 73-74 Garcia catalog claims they were made in Brazil. This guy, wrote an article that claims something else:

https://gunsmagazine.com/our-experts/the-bronco-22-lr-survival-rifle/

Best,
Ted

Or a Quackenbush.

https://lsbauctions.com/rare-quackenbush-junior-safety-rifle-nickel-22lr-17-single-shot-1896-1919/

Or a number of others. I think maybe Stevens made one, but I am not sure.

James Grant wrote a book on boys rifles and bicycle rifles that probably lists others.

Thanks, y'all.

From what I can remember it looked like the Bronco, but a lot of water has gone under the bridge in the last 56-57 years. Lots of other stuff, too.

I'd rather have one that shoots a .22 over and a 20 gauge under like a Savage Stevens 24C for camping or survival. I always wanted one when I was a kid just for the heck of it.