Old Winchesters - What's the appeal?

[BigBill]

Nothing wrong with any military surplus rifle too.
I prefer the Swedish mausers and the south American German made 7mm mausers. I like them all but the 6,5mm & 7mm mausers you can shoot very accurately all day.

 

[Jessie]

Vasily Zaytsev had 242 Confirmed Kills...look at the woman who made him look like an amateur:



Of course, Simo Häyhä, Nicknamed 'The White Death', had 705 confirmed kills (505 with rifle, 200 with submachine gun) in less than a hundred days!

I'd kill a lot of people if I was named Simo Hayha, too!

 

[Vegetaman]

Ever hear of the Mosin that won the west?

No... But I hear it's been quite effective in the East.

Don't under estimate the Russian Mosin nagant rifle too. Most were pretty accurate too.

I love mine. Ammo is highly affordable, and it shoots very tightly with its iron sights. I can't really complain about it at all.

 

[rburg]

Steve McQueen could make anything "cool" by using it.

So how's yer supply of spendin' cash? Long ago I was collecting Gil Hibben handmade knives. And at a gun show I picked up a funny looking knife. It was clearly a Hibben, but one side of the blade was screwed up by an attempt to sharpen it. Didn't matter, it was a genuine Hibben.

So Hibben hisself lives down the road a piece in La Grange. And he was helping promote a KenPo karate shop opening not far away. And of course promoting himself and his factory made fantasy knives. So I got to the shop and there was a line standing there to get his autograph on the boxes of overpriced stampings. So when I was up to about 3 from the front, the guy up there asked about his hand made creations. And Gil's wife said the guy 3 back had one in his hand. That was my ticket to move up in line. And I didn't have 1, I had 3 I wanted to know about. But he instantly focused on the one that I felt was the least interesting. It was the one with the damaged blade.

And his questioning started with "where'd you get this one?" So I told him as best I could. He kind of smiled and said its a steak knife (funny, eating steak is one of my favorite things). So he told me a story about it. He made 3 sets of steak knives up to that point. He knew for a fact that 2 of the sets were intact. But the 3rd one was Steve McQueen's, and he was certain my knife was from that set of 16. After his death, the household belongings scattered to the winds. Presumably stolen by the household staff (I've heard they'll steal the silver, too). When I told him I paid $10 for it, he laughed and said it was worth a lot more given the connection to McQueen.

But the commies are probably happy just having "meat" for dinner, not necessarily steak. So if you're happy with the commie rifle, just any old knife will probably suit you too.

 

[feralmerril]

Years ago I worked with a retired army sgt. Besides world war two he had fought in korea. He told me a bad incident he was in. A solider came out of a hole and was aiming at him. He said he knew he was dead! The rifle misfired. (Would that have been a Mosin Nagant?) Anyway they killed him and my friend took the rifle apart to see what happened and he said it had a broken firing pin!

 

[BigBill]

I don't know either. That's why I bought a pair of Mosins for sub-$140 each out the door (both 1943 Izhevsks). Let other people with money to burn go for them "collectables".

These are collectables. These once were only $89. I've seen them for $250/$300 lately. The hex receivers and laminated stocks are much higher cost wise. It's fun owning, shooting, touching a real piece of battle history.

 

[TheHobbyist]

What's special about an ole' Winchester? Everything.

I currently hunt with one dated to 1898 (IIRC), in 30-30.

There is a reason. Hopefully, with any luck, it will help me feed my family this winter too. YMMV

 

[Straightshooter2]

I have an 1892 Winchester made, according to the Cody letter, in 1904. It has the octagonal barrel and it's a .32-20 which is rather hard to find ammo. It has somewhere between 5-10% of the finish left plus the stock and forearm are dented and the forearm has a horizontal crack. It's still the most beautiful gun I own!

Oh and I have 5 Mosins including a '33 hex receiver. Them I would sell...the Winchester will be passed down.