Some guns are special

Bajadoc · Sep 6, 2017

I just finished cleaning and waxing two special guns. One belonged to my father. It is a Winchester Model 12 shotgun. He had it as a kid and used it around the farm to hunt phesent and duck. The other is a 30-40 Krag made in 1899 that my grandfather used around the farm to hunt dear and elk. Both men have long since passed but they kind of live on with these rifles. Sometimes guns are more than just shooting implements. Do any of you have special guns that keep your long since departed relatives in memory?

olcop · Sep 6, 2017

Some guns

Yep, I've got my grand father's 12 ga and my stepdad's .410 bolt action---plan to pass them onto my son in a short while.
olcop

tops · Sep 6, 2017

I had my Grandpas 1925 L.C. Smith. I have already given it too my son. We squirrel hunted, rabbit hunted with dogs and would shoot birds when we stumbled on them. He was an exceptional hunter and shooter. Larry

Muley Gil · Sep 6, 2017

I've got my granddaddy's .22/.410 over/under Stevens. It was the first gun I ever used for hunting.

I've also have my dad's .38 M&P. That was the second handgun I ever fired.

Ray · Sep 6, 2017

Answering your question: Yep, a double barrel Sauer und Sohn 24 gauge shotgun. I guess it´s a rare gauge in the States but down here they are common.
It´s a 1914 made gun.
Regards, Ray

jbtrucker · Sep 6, 2017

I have my Dad's JC Higgins Model 20 12ga. he gave to me back in the 80's . Have a 1960's picture of him and my uncle Frank with a long string of Rabbits

Mike SC Hunter · Sep 6, 2017

Yes. I have my Dad's mdl 12, 2 bbl set. 27" cyl. bore and 32" full solid rib.....I feel he's with me every time I use it.........

Frank46 · Sep 7, 2017

Actually none of my firearms came from family so no memories there. However a general foreman who was my supervisor and I did some horse trading a bunch of years ago. He got my Saur 38H in 32 auto and I got his 1911A1 Ithaca 1943 with a cigar box full of ammo. Dave passed away a few years ago but when I handle that old 45 I always think of him. He was a WWII vet who was in tanks and the 45 I have was his service pistol. He authored a small novel with much info about himself and his activities during his time in the army. Truly the greatest generation. Frank

TTSH · Sep 7, 2017

Bajadoc said:
Do any of you have special guns that keep your long since departed relatives in memory?

Absolutely I do! My Grandfather's Smith & Wesson 3rd Model Perfected Single Shot .22 LR with the 10-inch "Olympic-chambered" barrel, which he won in competition just about a century ago, is our number one family heirloom.

My father's two Smith & Wesson handguns (all he ever owned and shot beside the above) are also right up there too: His Model 41 in 7" and his beloved Model 28 in 6".

Both have been cared for by him and throughout the years since with museum-grade diligence and are in pristine perfect condition.

Dad also had some long guns which were bequeathed to his grandsons as he had always wanted. They still own them today.

Ivan the Butcher · Sep 7, 2017

Sometime in the 1920's My grandfather went to the town butcher and bought a whole ham, had 4 steaks cut from the center. The small end that was left he gave to and elderly former deputy sheriff that lived in a shack on an alley (as was grandpa's custom). One day in gratitude the old man gave grandpa a hammerless H&R top break 38 S&W.

Fast foreword to the late 30's and my father's family was destitute. The food supply was down to a meal consisted of a small match box of black walnut and a single piece of plane white bread. In the back yard a rabbit was grazing under the walnut tree. My grandfather grabbed the only gun he owned the hammerless H&R and carefully aimed and shot the rabbit in one shot.

About 8 or 9 years ago I talked dad into trading me the old H&R, he wanted 2 boxes of 32 ACP. He gave me the only box of 38 S&W ammo he had, a partial box of Remington, and the 5 in the gun. On top of the box in the beautiful script of my grandfather it said $1.58 April 1,1927 The box was tied closed with dental floss. I slid the floss aside and went to place the 5 rounds in the box, this brought the total to 49 rounds. The gun and ammo are in the cigar box my grand parents kept it in since the 20's.

Thanksgiving celebration is at my house (no condo) every other year, about every 10 to 12 years I start by passing a plate with one piece of white bread and a small match box of black walnut. I tell this story, then we give thanks!

Ivan

The gun is not a very valuable one, but I consider it one of my priceless artifacts!

Jebus35745 · Sep 7, 2017

My Dad wasn't a shooter but picked up a German Luger in WW2. I finally started to shoot it recently, always wanted to. Good memory, Larry

gdnagle · Sep 7, 2017

My father wasn't a firearm guy but did have a Stevens Model 56, no value here except that he owned it and everyone in the family that hunted has used it. My Uncles were hunters but I never got any of theirs, or my grandfathers. They were sold by the last Uncle that lived, always passed down, girlfriend that had no interest in them before I found out she was getting rid of them. Still would like to keep this Stevens plus all my firearms in the family but no one else are interested in them. Guess they'll go to the pawn shop when I'm gone.

Hope I don't look down from above and see what they do with them or how much they under price them. If they turn them into a firearms buyback I will haunt them for the rest of their lives.

chief38 · Sep 7, 2017

Yes,
my Dad was into guns also and I inherited his small but worthy collection. When he retired as a Fed, he sold the lion's share of the collection and only kept the basics which I cherish now.

M29since14 · Sep 7, 2017

I will always regret that I have none of my Grandpa's guns. I am sure they are rusting away somewhere where the present "owner" pays no attention to them and couldn't care less.

We spent a fair amount of time shooting when I was a lad. His interest in pistols (mainly the .45 Automatic) is probably what got me started as "a lifelong fanatic."

Fortunately, I do have two of my Dad's guns that are special for me. The link between him and his Sako .222 is something that, for me, will never change.

BAM-BAM · Sep 7, 2017

As I've posted in the past I have all my Dad's service and target guns...... Dad was never much of a long gun guy/hunter.

Funny story; when I was about 10 we were at what is now the cabin; the farmer had one of those "summer/shoot the deer in your crops permit"; but it's really a meat thing for them.

After milking one July evening we drove over to the other farm to shoot a deer in the corn crop..... we get there and the farmer has brought his son's scoped .222 but forgot the magazine..... asks my Dad if he would take the shot as his eyes aren't that great and the deer herd is about 150-200 away.

Dad loads his "single round" .... uses a fence post as a 'rest"........about 30 seconds go by and....... bang.....................deer drops...... we pace it off at about 180yd (IIRC).......deer is dead.... no sign of a bullet hole in the shoulder or neck................????????..... died of fright????....................his shot hit just behind the left eye; almost invisible. .

He spent at least 15 years on the Department's Pistol Team; but was never much of a rifle guy or hunter..........but did encourage me to shoot and join the High School rifle team.

federali · Sep 7, 2017

12 Gauge Bayard

I have my grandfather's 12 gauge Bayard, double barrel shotgun with exposed hammers. He died in 1958 when I was 14 and handling that gun brings back his memory. The gun was featured a number of years ago in the American Rifleman "favorite firearms" column.

Model 19 6" · Sep 7, 2017

My fathers pre 64 model 70 30-06. my grandfathers Winchester model 1911 shotgun, my great grandfathers stevens double bb; 12 ga, and my fathers Model 19 6".

TTSH · Sep 7, 2017

M29since14 said:
I will always regret that I have none of my Grandpa's guns. I am sure they are rusting away somewhere where the present "owner" pays no attention to them and couldn't care less...

Although I do have the one S&W pistol (mentioned above) that my Grandfather won in competition, I'll always wonder whatever happened to the rest of the guns he owned.

Last year, I got the opportunity to ask my uncle that question (hadn't seen him in decades) and he didn't know. The assumption is that my grandfather sold them off at some point for reasons unknown since they didn't go to either of his two sons... my Dad (R.I.P.) and my uncle... or to any of his grandchildren, as best as we can tell.

A much more interesting mystery is whatever happened to my Great-Great-Grandfather's Civil War musket?

We know he bought it after the war because I have the records.

I've done my best to trace back family history and see if there is any possibility that a long lost cousin somewhere might still have it.

But so far, no luck.

SteveA · Sep 7, 2017

My Dad still has his father's guns. Weren't too many of them as he died in 1933 when my Dad was 7. There's a 2 9/16" chamber Model 12 16 gauge, a 1906 Winchester pump .22, and a Smith top break .38 S&W he carried in WWI as a backup to his rifle.

Cyrano · Sep 7, 2017

This is my great-grandfather's deer rifle; a Colt Lightning medium frame in 38-40. It has a fancy wood stock, checkered, with a pistol grip. The grip cap is a 50 cent piece dated 1883, so I guess the rifle dates from then. I tried to letter it but Colt had no record.

Some guns are special

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