Estate Disaster.....do not read this!!!!!!!

[heckinohio]

Local called. Neighbor has a bunch of guns to dispose of.......estate. Every gun that was big enough to accommodate some kind of scope mount had been scoped. Many holes drilled and tapped into a bunch of miscellaneous non military rifles, shotguns and handguns. Never seen such a mess.

I bought all the handguns with no scopes. Nine.........and one Browning .22 ATD which has a scope mounted in original Browning provided screw holes.

There is an engraved S&W 6" light barrel .22. Complete coverage. I can't think it to be a factory job........wouldn't that be blued instead of raw metal showing through?? It also has the feel of a file or sandpaper.....first class work.....

The absolutely new 6.5 29-2 had three holes added where the rear site had been. There was a lanyard stud added into the bottom of the grips with glue??? There was a strip of tape down the back strap. Under it was a punched (??) divot about 3/32 x 1/16...off center at an odd angle....??????

And, a nicer but not new 27-2 5" with display box & tools. Is 5" an oddity for these? For whatever reason, the booklets for any and all guns were stored in a separate drawer and it was blind luck that the seller's wife managed to make the connection and came up with the 27-2 instruction folder, but nothing else so far.

I can't come up with a clever closing remark......

PJH

 

[AJ]

Local called. Neighbor has a bunch of guns to dispose of.......estate. Every gun that was big enough to accommodate some kind of scope mount had been scoped. Many holes drilled and tapped into a bunch of miscellaneous non military rifles, shotguns and handguns. Never seen such a mess.

I bought all the handguns with no scopes. Nine.........and one Browning .22 ATD which has a scope mounted in original Browning provided screw holes.

There is an engraved S&W 6" light barrel .22. Complete coverage. I can't think it to be a factory job........wouldn't that be blued instead of raw metal showing through?? It also has the feel of a file or sandpaper.....first class work.....

The absolutely new 6.5 29-2 had three holes added where the rear site had been. There was a lanyard stud added into the bottom of the grips with glue??? There was a strip of tape down the back strap. Under it was a punched (??) divot about 3/32 x 1/16...off center at an odd angle....??????

And, a nicer but not new 27-2 5" with display box & tools. Is 5" an oddity for these? For whatever reason, the booklets for any and all guns were stored in a separate drawer and it was blind luck that the seller's wife managed to make the connection and came up with the 27-2 instruction folder, but nothing else so far.

I can't come up with a clever closing remark......

PJH

Have heard it said many times "Do what you want with your guns" This is an example of that. Now who ever ends up with them must be willing to accept them as is or walk away.

 

[Retired W4]

I hope you got them for a good price. Otherwise it sounds like a lot of grief for a nice 5" 27-2.

 

[pharmer]

......The absolutely new 6.5 29-2 had three holes added where the rear site had been. There was a lanyard stud added into the bottom of the grips with glue??? There was a strip of tape down the back strap. Under it was a punched (??) divot about 3/32 x 1/16...off center at an odd angle....??????

And, a nicer but not new 27-2 5" with display box & tools. Is 5" an oddity for these? For whatever reason, the booklets for any and all guns were stored in a separate drawer and it was blind luck that the seller's wife managed to make the connection and came up with the 27-2 instruction folder, but nothing else so far......

These 2 sound like "salvageable" items. The 27 is good as is, a replacement rear sight will clean up the 29's most serious problem. You already went $$$ deep on the other guns but it sounds like they went below market value so....Joe

 

[stansdds]

Some people just love drilling holes into things.

 

[Bullet Bob]

Sounds like the original owner enjoyed the stuff he bought, and now he's beyond caring what someone else thinks of his work. Good for him.

 

[AJ]

Some people just love drilling holes into things.

A friend of mine bought a Winchester 52 for parts. I convinced him not to part it out. The Serial Number was 282, and it still shoots well. The down side is that there are about a dozen different holes drilled in the receiver for scope mounts and iron sight placement. Rife was made in 1920, and no he won't sell it to me.

 

[Hair Trigger]

And, a nicer but not new 27-2 5" with display box & tools. Is 5" an oddity for these?

PJH

Not really, although it is a very desired configuration. 3.5" and 5" barrels were catalog standard lengths until 1979, when they were discontinued (as well as the 6-1/2") in favor of 4" and 6" lengths. If it's not badly butchered, I'd hang on to that one for sure.

 

[scout II]

 

[smith17]

My spouse inherited her dad's guns. WWII bring back P-38, early Remington 1100 in .410, Winchester Model 12, Colt Ace with a 3 digit serial number. He scratched his name in each receiver area with a nail or dremel tool. It will break your heart.

 

[Autonomous]

They were someone's personal property, so they were free to do as they wished.
But.
The idea mostly accepted in the wooden boat world is you are only the steward of a rare and historical vessel.

 

[AJ]

They were someone's personal property, so they were free to do as they wished.
But.
The idea mostly accepted in the wooden boat world is you are only the steward of a rare and historical vessel.

Lots of folks do not think that way.

 

[.38SuperMan]

The guy enjoyed his guns and what he did with them was his business. If a gun comes up for sale that has been abused, drilled or whatever, just walk away and don't buy it if you don't like it.

I feel the same way about people that street rod old cars. It's ashamed they don't restore them to their original configuration but it's not my business. They're free to do what they want with their property.

I was a professional commercial photographers and had several friends that were press photographers. I treated my equipment with respect and never abused it because it was what I earned my living with. My press friends just threw their cameras and lenses in a bag with no lens caps just to bang around and scratch the elements, dent the barrels and scratch the finish off. It made me ill but wasn't any of my business so I never said a word about it.

 

[tlawler]

R.I.P. Bubba!

 

[rct269]

Methinks your press friends may very well have been treating their employer's cameras and whatnot with disrespect---while your pride of ownership (and good sense) saved yours from such.

Methinks also they must have been very good photographers in order to keep their jobs in spite of such disrespect.

Maybe a good whack upside the head with a rolled up newspaper from their publisher might prove to be beneficial in convincing them to change their ways. I'm thinkin' it'd get my attention!

Ralph Tremaine

 

[heckinohio]

Of the 35 or so guns, probably 25 had scopes on. None of the handguns I bought did. I left the 29-2 behind. Price was $900. w/wooden box but no contents other than the blue pads. If someone here is interested, I can still get it.....??

We looked in a basement workshop to see if we could find the rear site. Owner must have hired the work as there was no evidence of a drill press, vertical mill or ??? whatever one must have to do this extensive amount of drilling & tapping.

I guess to each his own. Whether to 'improve' or to 'maintain' would be to one own choosing.

My main interest is Lugers and machine guns. In Lugers, if you look at one crossways, you have created instant junk......in machine guns welded and painted green and most anything else is just fine.

PJH

 

[RKmesa]

I for one, would love to see some photos of that engraved 22... please? Engraved 357s and engraved 22s are my primary passion.

 

[Retired W4]

R.I.P. Bubba!

There will be another to take his place.

 

[heckinohio]

Richard, will get some photos.....hang in there!!!.....most of the time, my computer refuses to recognize my camera. Past couple days has been one of those times.

PJH

 

[2152hq]

Maybe the guy was a DIY gunsmith and just used the Black&Decker method for Drill 'n Tapping.

The engraved .22 S&W,,it sounds like it was engraved 'thru the bluing'. Something that some engravers will do at times. But the results are generally as you state "...It also has the feel of a file or sandpaper.."

Engraving when completed almost always leaves behind some roughness to the surface. The cuts leave small burrs here and there that can be sharp.
Some work is excessively sharp and ragged. That is the result of the gravers not being sharpened correctly as a rule.
When working on a polished surface, the roughness can be polished off,,carefully. Not over done it's not noticeable and shouldn't be. There should still be some 'feel' to the work and not be slick smooth.
Some burrs can be picked off individually with a hand graver and that's all that's necessary.
Engraving thru a blued surface doesn't allow the engraver to do any of that extra polishing work to smooth the surface down.
That'll polish off the orig bluing that they wish to remain in the first place.
So they are stuck with the rough, shirt-snagger finish.

D&T holes can be filled so they don't show and the surface refinished.
But the investment will sometimes be higher than the overall value of the gun when the initial cost of the piece is included.

The engraving can be lightly polished down to carefully remove the snaggle-tooth feel and no more. Then the whole thing reblued.
It'll make it more presentable as a whole.
It won't improve the quality of the actual engraving style, pattern, etc of course.
Again investment in the work vs return is to be considered.