“...and that its lifter was removed making it able to only fire a single shot at once.”
As a kid I wanted a tube-fed semi-auto .22 like all my buddies. My dad said the single-shot we had was better to learn with. Safer, and taught better shooting (hit it on the first time).
I wonder if the lifter was removed for a young shooter just learning? A youngster would also be more prone to leaving their rifle behind. (Well - once anyways!)
Mine taught me the same thing. I so much wanted a semi but I started with a Stevens bolt action 410 and an Ithica single shot lever action .22. Both made me appreciate a bullet. After all, .22 was almost 50 cents for a box of 50! We did get to shoot almost as much as we wanted but we only got to carry 10 rounds in our pockets when we hunted and never got to bet more than one box down from the shelf. .410 was a lot more expensive so it was bought by the box and rationed out.
We were taught to conserve resources by two people who grew up in the Depression. That memory stuck with them and it stuck to me.