Anybody have any old guns with a family urban legend? Here's mine.

[P&R Fan]

I always remember my Dad telling the story behind this revolver. It's an Iver Johnson Arms and Cycle Works topbreak in .32 S&W. My Dad told me it had belonged to his Great-Uncle, who had been a police officer in our hometown. It was his "Belly Gun". That was the first time I heard that term, and as a kid it seemed so cool. The story was, one hot July night, he was in the bad part of town, and he'd been bashed over the head with a pump handle and killed. I don't know how Dad ended up with it, but it was probably through my Great- Grandfather, who died when I was three years old. My Grandparents also had told me this story.
In my home county every year they have a tribute service for all the LEOs killed in the line of duty. My Great-Great-Uncle was not on the list, which I assumed was an oversight. I had seen his grave near my Great and Great-Great-Grandparents, and saw the date of his death was 10 July, 1910. I went to the local library and looked at the micro-film of the newspaper for the following day. All this time I envisioned an interesting story, resulting in my contacting the PD, and then having the paper do a story, complete with picture of me and the revolver. There it was in the next days headline: "Local police officer dies of tuberculosis".
To say I was shocked is an understatement. This story was in my family for generations. It had never been questioned. Unfortunately, I did this shortly after my Dad passed away, but when I showed his Mom, my Grandma, she said that was the story she heard all her life. It kind of took some of the luster away from the gun, but I thought it was interesting that a story could be passed down for generations and be totally false.
I took this gun out in 2000 and shot a cylinder full through it and it worked fine. I even carried it once......just because.
Anybody else have an interesting urban legend story about a gun that turned out to be somewhat less than truthful?

 

[revho]

I guess I have one. My Grandpa has pistol that was once owned by a famous bank robber. I have never seen it. It resides in a safe deposit box with it's holster. It does have a historian notarized letter with it explaining it's origins supposedly. My dad has seen it before. My Grandpa is now 91 and in less than good health. I probably won't get to see it before one of my Uncle's inherits it never to be seen again.

Seeing that in writing makes me want to go and try and see it this spring if I can.

 

[Frailer]

I don't have the gun itself, but we do have a family legend in which a gun is involved. My 4 x great grandfather accidentally killed his wife when he was dismounting his horse and his gun went off.

That particular legend was never *proven* false, but I'm not sure anyone ever believed it...

 

[jimmyj]

Hi, P@R Fan:
That Iver Johnson B/T .32 is just like the one my Mother carried in Her apron pocket forever. Mom was convinced that it was powerful enough to stop a bear.
After I entered L.E. I upgraded Mom to a nickeled Model 36 2" RB with pearl grips. One of my Sons have it now.
Jimmy

 

[Skidawg]

Rumor has it my Grandfather brought a Luger home from WWII. I remember seeing the holster but the actual pistol was put into my uncles safe because my mom did not like guns. It has not been seen or spoken of since.

 

[LouisianaJoe]

My grandfather was a police officer in the 30's. He was attacked on duty and he later bought a S&W and he cut the barrel and hammer off. he used this as his backup.

I have it now.

 

[David LaPell]

I don't have any but my wife's cousin has an old US Arms .38 S & W breakopen that was used by his grandfather when he was a cop in Troy, NY. Apparently it was during the prohibition days and there was the tale of one shootout. The old gun wasn't his issue gun, but his back up gun and somehow the little wheelgun came into play.

 

[whitecoyote]

My grandfather was a police officer in the 30's. He was attacked on duty and he later bought a S&W and he cut the barrel and hammer off. he used this as his backup.

Now that's a cool revolver LouisianaJoe!
Caliber? .44 Russian?

 

[Sebago Son]

Family Guns and Legends...

My Grandfather was a Justice of the Peace in a tiny little Adirondack Town of Northern New York. He often was called upon to act as a constable as well... he carried a pair of long barreled Colts, one in each pocket of his overcoat. I saw them once as a very small child. I think they were .32's....

My Uncle Harry was the High Sheriff of Saratoga County, NY during the late Prohibition days... Last summer I saw a photo of him taken in the late 20's or early 30's with what looked like a 5" S&W .44 HE3rd. Dad handled it as a young man and swears it was a .44. Wish I could track that gun down....

 

[cp1969]

Rumor has it my Grandfather brought a Luger home from WWII. I remember seeing the holster but the actual pistol was put into my uncles safe because my mom did not like guns. It has not been seen or spoken of since.

That's the same story I've got. My father brought home some kind of pistol but ended up giving it to his brother because my mother didn't like guns,either. Apparently my father had had enough of them, too. He never fired another gun to my knowledge. The same cousin who has that gun now also has my grandmother's pistol. She supposedly used it to scare off an intruder. It apparently shot high--the bullet was still lodged in the transom of her kitchen door. The intruder made an about-face and high tailed it.

 

[ElToro]

i have the model 1894 32 win spcl that my great uncle, Earl Roe, likely bought with his mustering out money from the navy in WWI. he was born in 1895. anyway, born and raised in Hollister CA his whole life and was a hunter and serious rockhound. well story goes one day he shot a deer and set his rifle down for somereason to chase it or follow blood or whatever. ended up getting all disoriented and never got the deer and then couldnt find the rifle. spent all day hiking over the mountain looking fot it. lucky for me he finally did find it.

 

[Cyrano]

P@R Fan: Story or not, that's an interesting gun; it's the first model of IJ hammerless. They didn't yet have a hammerless frame; they used the hammer-style frame and just pinned a sort of shroud over the hammer. It also has the very early type of latch which has only one knurled finger piece, and that's at the front of the lever, not the back.

No wise to shoot smokeless in an IJ that old (about 1895±).

 

[dkees]

My Uncle Gene spent a lot of time in taverns during the Great Depression. Our family legend has it that he carried a small revolver, said to be a .22, that he lost in a card game. He wanted the gun back but had no money to continue playing or to buy it.

Somehow or other the new owner challenged him to take the gun and if he could open his mouth and shoot in one cheek and out the other without hitting his teeth he could have it back. Well, that's exactly what he did! This was witnessed by a neighbor of my grand parents who said there was not much blood but some individuals still got sick.

Uncle Gene did have strange dimples, on one cheek was a small indentation while on the other there was a nasty looking bulge with a dent in the middle.

I swear......................

 

[Herknav]

My great-great grandpa made the Cherokee Strip Land Run with a 2-horse team, a double-barrel 12 gauge, a box of shells, and 50 cents in his pocket. My grandpa had the shotgun.

My wife's family has an FN 1900 that was supposedly liberated from a deceased Japanese officer.

 

[K.38]

My uncle has my Great Grandmothers Iver Johnson .38 S&W topbreak that her Dad gave her as a schoolgirl in about 1892 or so. She would take the stage coach down to Colorado Springs from Cripple Creek to go to school. He told her a proper lady should be able to take care of herself. I don't know if she carried it around Colorado Springs or just for stage coach ride a few times a year.

 

[crsides]

My wife's grandfather passed away in 1973. Shortly after, her grandmother came in the den with a box - looked new, but old graphics. I opened it up and there lies a brand new H&R 32 snub nose, nickel plated. I looked up at her and she said her husband who was a longtime leader in the church had bought it for the preacher back in the late 20's early 30's. Seems an irate husband was looking for the preacher and he came to my wife's grandfather who purchased the gun for him. Preacher later returned the gun, unfired.

Oh, yeah ... wife's grandmother said she walked out on the porch and shot it into the backyard 50 yrs ago just to see if it would work. All the chambers were brand new, except one ... and the barrel of course. You could see light thru the bbl, just barely.

Charlie

 

[6thtexas]

I've got my g-grandfather's nickeled plated, MOP gripped S&W .38 top break. He got it when he ran a saloon in Hopkinsville Kentucky sometime shortly after the turn of the 20th century. i have never fired it as it doesn't lock up very well and the barrel looks like the inside of a chimney after cleaning.

I also have a S&W .38 Spl. M&P 5" that belonged to my dad's half sister. Supposedly some cousin had carried it in Tennessee when he was a constable or a deputy sheriff. Aunt once said that he had killed three men with it but I never got any more details. It is in great shape and it goes to the range with me once in a while.

 

[bshepherd]

I have my Great Grand Father's .38 S&W Regulation Police. The story is as follows. He worked as a railroad engineer with the Southern Railway in Alabama. About 1920 he was the engineer on a train that took someone to a State Mental Facility. The crazy guy got it in his head that it was my GGF's fault. He apparently got out and threatened to harm my GGF and his family. My GGF got a carry permit and this revolver. .

I also have his pocket watch, union card and bylaws book, Book of Common Prayer, daily devotional book, family bible etc. My Dad was named after him as was I.

If anyone has an upper sideplate screw in nickel for an I frame please let me know, I will pay well for it.

 

[ldausmc1369]

Legend Gun

I have a nickel Model 15 that allegedly supposedly with which the high sheriff in a county just across the state line shot a miscreant 6 times and the miscreant survived. He never again carried that revolver and purchased a Browning Hi Power which he carried up until his demise from a heart attack. I purchased both guns from the widow several years ago. Wish now I'd have documented the Model 15 and the story that went with it.

 

[mjr]

My uncle has my Great Grandmothers Iver Johnson .38 S&W topbreak that her Dad gave her as a schoolgirl in about 1892 or so. She would take the stage coach down to Colorado Springs from Cripple Creek to go to school. He told her a proper lady should be able to take care of herself. I don't know if she carried it around Colorado Springs or just for stage coach ride a few times a year.

I certainly hope she didn't carry it onto school property. We all know how wrong that would be.