Explain Cooey to an American

[J_mcrane]

I was at the gun show yesterday. I'm pretty familiar with most manufactures. But, Cooey is new to me. Canadian I assume?


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[elkdump]

Google " Cooey Firearms" it will all become quite clear in a timely fashion,

More timely than if I type it out, at snails pace, using my trigger ginger to type,,,

[Salavee]

Think Winchester from about the '70's on.

[crosman177]

What's your email. Send me a pm and I can send you a pdf of the Cooey story.

https://www.amazon.com/Cooey-Firearm.../dp/091931628X

[bubba300]

This is to good not to share,found it on another forum
Some Things I Have Learned About Old Cooeys


In putting together a match at our club over the last few weeks I have spent a lot of time thinking about old Cooey .22's. I put together a few thoughts that I'd like to share.

If it says H.W. Cooey on the barrel, it was made before 1961.

If it says anything about Winchester, it was made after 1961.

The long barreled ones shoot better with standard velocity ammo.

The shorter barreled ones shoot better with higher velocity ammo.

Once you get a second Cooey, they start to multiply...kinda like hamsters.

Old rusty ones shoot better than those that you have lovingly preserved for your whole life.

If you have spent hours sighting in a Cooey and then notice that the front sight is bent, its OK, don't straighten it and start over, leave it for the next generation. You've done your part.

If there is a strong wind blowing you will need to use Kentucky windage. If you lose your rear sight elevator, you can slip a dime under your rear sight. This is known as Canuck elevation. Proper Canadian etiquette and protocol requires that the Queen's head be facing up when using Canuck elevation....... unless you are from Nova Scotia, in which case having the Bluenose facing up is also permitted.

If your single shot Cooey doesn't extract fired cases, don't be disappointed. This is part of its "character and charm". If it takes two extra seconds to pick the case out with your fingernail, remember a Cooey 39 was never intended for bear defense.

If you have a perfect shot lined up in the sights of your Cooey, you probably forgot to cock it.

If you have cocked it, it will probably misfire due to the cheap bulk ammo you are using.

You never see anyone using Lapua or Eley match ammo in their Cooey.

A Cooey can be a perfectly viable canoe paddle. They can also grind coffee.

A long boot lace makes a perfectly acceptable sling for a Cooey.

A Cooey single shot can shoot .22 short, long, long rifle, BB cap, CB cap, .22 shotshells, .22 acorn blanks, acorn blanks with .22 airgun pellets and probably nail gun blanks, (but I haven't tried those yet).

A Cooey doesn't need batteries. There is also no USB port. I think they must be solar powered.............although they also work fine in the rain........hmmmmmm...

Most of the old Cooeys never had serial numbers. No wonder the long gun registry never worked. Thank you Mr Cooey!

The Cooey I got 43 years ago will be with me 'til I die.

When you see a beat up old Cooey at a gun show, treat it with respect, someone probably had to die for it to be there.

If you are thinking of turning your Cooey into a Tacticool Cooey, consider your actions carefully. We don't want any previous owners turning over in their graves.

If you miss what you thought was a perfect shot, it's not the cheap bulk ammo. It is just the ghost of the previous owner playing tricks on you.

If you think Cooeys won't ever be valuable, then don't read old magazines that had ads for cheap surplus Lee Enfields and Garands.

Colt Pythons easily sell for 4 or 5 times their original price today.

So do Cooeys.

If your Cooey could talk to future generations, what would it say about you?

Don't forget to hug your Cooey today

[saskbooknut]

Cooey also assembled and finished Iver Johnson shotguns in Coburg, Ontario from 1932 to 1939.

Just about every young shooter in the early 60s started with a Cooey .22 rifle.
I had a well used model 60 Cooey .22 repeater, bought for $5 from a mechanic that worked for my Dad. I had to promise that my Dad would never know where the gun came from.
My second gun was a Cooey single shot 12 gauge shotgun.

They were common, cheap and reliable entry-level firearms.

[JimPS]

Originally Posted by bubba300

This is to good not to share,found it on another forum
Some Things I Have Learned About Old Cooeys

Colt Pythons easily sell for 4 or 5 times their original price today.

So do Cooeys.

If your Cooey could talk to future generations, what would it say about you?

Don't forget to hug your Cooey today

All good points.

My Cooey cost my mom and dad $12 or $13 in the day.

I wouldn't part with it for 10 or 100 times the original price. Maybe my grand kids might consider it though - long after I'm gone.

[covey ridge]

bubba300

Thanks for your post Things I Have Learned About Old Cooeys

[crosman177]

I've sent the Cooey book story to a few people. If anyone wants to read and enjoy it. Feel free to pm me email addy.

[West O'5]

Great post Bubba,thx!

[58thecat]

Great about sums it up...we all got a few that never let us down.

[fishduck]

Originally Posted by saskbooknut

Cooey also assembled and finished Iver Johnson shotguns in Coburg, Ontario from 1932 to 1939. \.

Its "Cobourg". Also my home town. My grandmother worked at the Winchester factory for years.

[covey ridge]

It may be an old shooter's tale but I heard that Winchester was not able to compete with Cooey so they just bought them out?

A Cooey was my first .22. It cost my father $10.95 at Woodwards in Calgary. Unfortunately I no longer have it, but my neighbor gave me an ugly model 75 with a rusted barrel and white paint dribbled on the stock. With .22 short hollow points, it still shoots way better than I do.

[covey ridge]

Another old shooter's tale I heard for the reason most rifles have their rear sight elevator missing is that nearly all Cooeys shoot high. The reason for this was that the owner of the company had a fascination for fairly long range shooting and built most of the .22s that way. Because he was an easterner, he never thought about the amount of closer range gopher shooting that westerners would do. Just something I have heard more than once!

[petew]

Still shooting a Model 60 I got for $7.00 . It has turned into my wife's favorite 22. A single shot 12ga Coey was like a right of passage into bird hunting when I started. Nobody ever knew how to fix a Coey because they never broke .

[jetboat175]

I got my first cooey in the late 1960's. A guy pulled into our farm and needed gas so my dad gave him some and he gave my dad a single shot cooey 22. At the time my dad didn't want anything but the guy insisted he take it so my dad gave it to me and I was thrilled. The bolt nob was broken off so my dad brazed a ball bearing about the same size in it's place and it's still on there today. I have alot of fond memorys with that gun and I will eventually pass it on to another family member. Cooeys were an inexpensive gun but thery were tough.

[skidderman]

I believe the stocks at least for a period of time were made by women who got their skills from manufacturing for the war effort.

[bubba300]

I had a single shot with the long barrel when I was a kid and we had a tube fed bolt and they were both excellent shooters.My older brother ended up with them and his son sold them quite a few years ago I found out just awhile back.Not to happy about it but what can you do.
We had a old Hiawatha tube fed bolt also , not sure who made them but seems to me they were just about the same as a cooey.It was a great shooter also.Asked my brothers what ever happened to it and no one knows so I think my Dad must have sold or lost it .

[nekred]

I love the old cooey's

we had a semi cooey that had the sear worn down so it fire the whole mag in one trigger pull...

I still have my first one given to me when I was 6 along with the old scope on it.

I also have a long barreled Hiawatha that is very accurate...

[saskbooknut]

Sorry for misspelling the name of your old home town of Cobourg.

It was actually spelled Coburg in the John Belton book - Cooey Firearms Made in Canada, 1919-1979, when referring to Iver Johnson arms.

I was in Cobourg this summer for a brief visit, but did not remember the correct spelling.

[bb356]

Originally Posted by West O'5

Great post Bubba,thx!

yup

[Twobucks]

My amateur gunsmith/designer grandfather welded a .22 Hornet bull barrel inside a 12ga Cooey and bored it out to .22k hornet. With a fat ugly cheek piece epoxied on to get your eye level with the scope and did it ever slay. Hundreds of crows in Northern Quebec in the 50's and a whole pile of groundhogs in Southern Ontario in the '80's.

Ugly and deadly.

That Cooey was a beauty.

[colroggal]

Originally Posted by Twobucks

My amateur gunsmith/designer grandfather welded a .22 Hornet bull barrel inside a 12ga Cooey and bored it out to .22k hornet. With a fat ugly cheek piece epoxied on to get your eye level with the scope and did it ever slay. Hundreds of crows in Northern Quebec in the 50's and a whole pile of groundhogs in Southern Ontario in the '80's.

Ugly and deadly.

That Cooey was a beauty.

Now you're just giving me ideas

Colin

[covey ridge]

Originally Posted by Twobucks

My amateur gunsmith/designer grandfather welded a .22 Hornet bull barrel inside a 12ga Cooey and bored it out to .22k hornet. With a fat ugly cheek piece epoxied on to get your eye level with the scope and did it ever slay. Hundreds of crows in Northern Quebec in the 50's and a whole pile of groundhogs in Southern Ontario in the '80's.

Ugly and deadly.

That Cooey was a beauty.

Yep! It would be ugly! What was wrong with the action that the Hornet was attached to?

[saskbooknut]

Cooey collector's Holy Grail ?

How about a 36 inch barrel 12 gauge model 84 single shot
Or a 28 gauge Model 84 single shot
Or a Canuck .410 bolt action
Or an old flat bolt Bisley Sport model .22 single shot in top condition

Eaton's 6.5 mm MS conversion Carcano - a truly sad excuse for a hunting rifle

Knowing the high numbers that were produced, early Cooey firearms rarely seem to appear in any nearly "collectable" condition.

[Okotokian]

Originally Posted by elkdump

Google " Cooey Firearms" it will all become quite clear in a timely fashion,

More timely than if I type it out, at snails pace, using my trigger ginger to type,,,

pssst... Elk.... Ctrl+C, then Ctrl+V

[covey ridge]

I do not know the collectable value of most Cooey firearms but I think I would just like to have at least one or maybe more just because.

[Curly Bill]

Not that I'm very old (28) but I found an old rusty gun in between the gun safe and the wall in my grandfathers gun room, I was about 10. Turned out to be a single shot cooey .22. Grandpa says "no idea where that came from but that's a good first gun so here ya go" still have it today.

[unimog3]

It was my first gopher getter!