I bought a very nice 1957 SA22 two weeks ago and love it. I've wanted one since I was a teenager but they were always out of my price range. While I lusted over the SA22s at Sears in the early sixties it was the JC Higgins Model 25 automatic that I bought instead. $29.95 rather than the $78.95 Browning. I've been casually searching for a deal for years and finally got rewarded. One thing I really like about my purchase is that it bookends my first firearm purchase, a 1957 Colt Colteer single shot 22. When I was 15 my parents wouldn't allow me to own a real gun. I had a Daisy pump but it didn't scratch my itch. While visiting relatives in 1962 near Pensacola, my cousin and I were shooting pigeons off a silo with his Colt. He said he had just ordered a new 22 automatic and would sell me the Colt for $5. We hid it under the spare tire of my dad's car for the trip back to SC. My parents never knew I had it. I was 15 at the time and bought the Model 25 when I was 18. I figured that 60 years was long enough to wait so at 75 I now have my Browning. I replaced the missing barrel spring and plunger and everything is great except for one small detail, the wheel sight doesn't have numbers. I'm thinking that it's an aftermarket wheel. I've read that the wheels are very rare and when one surfaces on ebay that it's very expensive. It would be great if it turned out to be a rare modification made by FN on a small run of SA22s! Probably a pipe dream. I guess I'll continue to look for a numbered wheel.
