Why do people embed coins in their rifle stocks??

Oh, to be Sultan!
I was also told it wouldn’t be as bright as set in a ring or pendant. But, as you can see, being glued in a stock wouldn’t hurt those five dollars worth of stones!

Like the coin, an inlayed bit of stainless steel or brass scrollwork in a stock might be nice too.

Or not. Whichever the heart desires!

bearcreek said:

Humans have been decorating their weapons since the first cavemen were debating hickory vs. ash clubs. Now it's 1911 vs. Glock or AR vs. everybody, but we still like to decorate our weapons, or pay someone else to do it.

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Ash the answer is ash.

I don’t know, Alder makes a good one too.
I made this for my Caveboy. He broke it climbing a pine, when I went to cut it down so nobody got impaled, it pulled right out!

I have some leather ties and turkey feathers for it.

"... pay the boatman..."
One of the stories I've heard from old timers (I'm 70 now) was some - especially lawmen - would insure their burial by incorporating cash or 'value' into their arms. Which may be a legend of the days of yore. Men have always (always?) decorated or embellished or personalized arms; be they swords, various types of 'hitting' implements, and firearms. Even now, those who own arms want good looking wood for stocks, grips that suit the shooter or such. Coins are probably easier and cheaper than checkering. Not to mention it is a relative cheap way to cover knocks and faults in wood.

I like the commemorative date aspect as well.

indy1919a4 said:

So over the years I have seen where folks have embedded coin in the stocks of their rifles.

I suppose I understand it when you got an older Milsup rifle that has a empty spot in the stock for a unit identification disk. It can seem a good idea to fill that hole with something round (AKA a coin).

But I have seen a few sports rifles where people have gone out of their way to embed coins in the stocks...

So I ask ... WHY does someone do that.??? For what purpose.. ??

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Coins for the Boatman, in case something goes wrong with the shooting session.

I got a great deal on a GI M1 carbine years ago that someone with "differing tastes" stripped the stock, painted it "monkey-poop green", and inlaid some type of masonic coin or medallion in the stock. IMO, it was hideous. It looked so bad, I hid it in the closet and refused to do anything with it until I replaced the wood. Fortunately for me, I have a friend who is a M1 carbine collector and a mason with lots of extra stuff, so we made a trade and now that carbine looks like it should. We both know I got the better end of that deal.

Haven’t done coins but did these ROA grip ornaments from cartridge case rims. Wasn’t there a rifle brand that had the same idea imbedded in the bottom of the forearm.

Why do people get scrollwork or engraving on their guns? Why do people put mosaic pins in their knife handles? Why do people put stickers on the covers of their laptop computers?

I get what the OP is saying though. Why, specifically, a coin and not any number of other things? That I can't answer, except that a coin is nice & round, plus "hardy" enough to withstand the abuse a gun may endure.

Why do new engineers take a perfectly functioning product and make design changes that make it inferior to what it was before the change?

They want to personalize, despite creating a less valuable end result.

Not completely different that a guy that buys various parts to assemble an AR then proudly shows off the rifle he “built”.

Maybe it's a deer rifle and the owner had the coin in his pocket when he took the biggest buck of his lifetime. My dad had a 50 cent piece in his pocket the day he married my mother and he carried the coin in his pocket every day until he died. I still have the coin.

Average folks installed a coin as a decoration, wealthy folks went to Tiffany and had the company decorate the guns for them.

https://www.guns.com/news/2014/11/1...ffer-plenty-of-history-lots-of-bling-7-photos

For the same reason people get pistol grips with punisher skulls or flags and other such stuff engraved in them. They like it.

Riomouse911 said:

Winchester’s do too.

Stay safe.

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Meant Winchester. Had Colt on the brain.

M

I’ve certainly had worse things on my mind....

Stay safe!

Then there are the WW2 “Sweetheart” pistol grips.....

I

SW351C said:

Ash the answer is ash.

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It's firmly established millennia ago that hickory is the superior mammoth killer, and that's that.

Armybrat said:

Then there are the WW2 “Sweetheart” pistol grips.....

View attachment 944088

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That took some talent on someone’s part.

Why do people pierce their lips, tongues, noses and naughty bits? Why do people dye their hair green? I guess because it’s easier than embedding a coin in their foreheads.

whughett said:

That took some talent on someone’s part.

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Photo under clear plastic. Plexi I think, again I THINK it came out by then.

I used to make clear or colored grips sometimes for my paintball markers, never did a photo tho.
Actually I still have a plate of plexi, i should make a few more scales.

Armybrat said:

Then there are the WW2 “Sweetheart” pistol grips...]

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If a 1911 must have plastic, may it protect the Vision of Beauty That Waits. Amen.

LoonWulf said:

Photo under clear plastic. Plexi I think, again I THINK it came out by then.

I used to make clear or colored grips sometimes for my paintball markers, never did a photo tho.
Actually I still have a plate of plexi, i should make a few more scales.

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Correct!

whughett said:

Haven’t done coins but did these ROA grip ornaments from cartridge case rims. Wasn’t there a rifle brand that had the same idea imbedded in the bottom of the forearm.

View attachment 944014 View attachment 944015

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I'm usually not a fan of embedding or engraving, but that looks great.

No coins, but I imbedded a small brass medallion in the forearm of my rifle and shotgun so I could pick them out of a rack at a Cowboy Action match. And may have forestalled others from taking my firearms. My Dad had a small gold shield on the bottom stock of his Model 12 trap gun for the same reason.