MOSSBERG WENT TO WAR - WITH A .22

Shooting a Model 44 U.S.

- Art Merrill

Mossberg produced a lot of .22 rimfire rifles, but perhaps the most important were those used to train American military recruits during World War II. Mossberg adapted its civilian .22 Long Rifle Model 42M to military use in 1941 as the Model 42MB, a good many of which went to Great Britain to serve as a stopgap while it designed the Model 44 U.S. specifically for America's military.

During the twentieth-century, O. F. Mossberg & Sons, Inc. earned a reputation for reliable utilitarian firearms. Comparable to models from giants like Winchester and Remington, Mossberg's guns undersold the big guys, but not by inferior workmanship. When lifting a vintage Mossberg barreled action out of its stock, I found clever, minimalist designs engineered to reduce complexity and therefore manufacturing costs. A further benefit today is that Mossberg's many older, simpler designs allow owners to necessarily intuit disassembly and troubleshooting, as owner's manuals are lacking.

For the U.S.'s war effort, in addition to producing parts for other makers' combat arms, Mossberg manufactured the Model 44 U.S..22 Long Rifle training rifle from January 1943 to August 1944, delivering nearly 58,000 rifles to the War Department. The M44 U.S. soldiered on in a marksmanship training role for the U.S. military long after World War II; I recall shooting the rifle in navy boot camp in the early 1970s. The M44 U.S. also served concurrently with the improved Mossberg Model 144 U.S. - essentially the M44 U.S. was upgraded in 1950 to make it a full-on, match-grade rifle with the latter still in arsenal inventory in 1989.