A gun for nostalgia purposes

[longhair75]

I bought a .410 shotgun today. While walking through Cabela's today i saw one of these on the used rack:

I have a picture on the front of my small refrigerator of me and my then future brother in law from March of 1964. I was ten years old. He and my sister took me with them on a picnic out in the country. We flew kites and had a lunch. Then, he took his shotgun out of the trunk of the car and spent a couple of hours teaching me to shoot at cans he was throwing. This was the first time I had shot a gun other than a trip to the rifle range as a cub scout.

He and my sister were married shortly thereafter. Years later, he took his own son out to teach him to shoot at age ten, and gave him that shotgun at the end of that day. I called my nephew while I was buying the gun, and we talked about the good times with his dad.

I may never shoot this, but just the memories we shared today were worth the money I paid for the shotgun.

 

[Fred_G]

Always nice to think about good times in the past! Congrats on the new gun! I have an old Marlin 336SC I WILL not sell, for sentimental reasons.

 

[The Sarge]

I'll do a forward nostalgia for you.
I restore old milsurp rifles and pistols for my Grandsons, Son In Laws, Daughters, Brothers, Sisters, and Friends.
They cherish them today and I have the pleasure of thinking about that person as I work on it.

 

[ApacheCoTodd]

I found one of these (no choke on mine) lost and forgotten in the safe this month and toyed with selling it but it just seems to need to be kept by me. What a great behind the door - dispatch the snake sorta gun.

 

[Standing Wolf]

Well done, longhair75! Thanks for the story.

 

[TNboy]

I like to get back to the basics every now and then. I like to pull out a .410 single and head out for a little squirrel hunting or better yet take a kid with me and let them take a squirrel or two. Watching that is a lot more fun than shooting myself.

 

[Armchair Bronco]

Nice move. The first gun I ever shot was a Mossberg 183. Not sure of the final-letter designation, either a "D" or "T". It had the screw-on choke like the one pictured above.

It was my Granddad's gun, and I was heartbroken to learn after his death that he had given the gun away to a family friend many years ago. I inherited his Krag .30-40, but I've always had a soft spot in my heart for that old Mossberg. We use to take it out to "The Lake" just outside town (near Laramie, Wyoming) and shoot at fence posts, beer cans, and the gophers who were chewing up his garden. When we'd go camping near Woods Landing, Wyoming, I'd take that gun everywhere with me in the forest along with our trusty dog "Goldie". My Granddad made me promise that I'd never chamber a round until I was ready to shoot. I'd usually head out from the cabin with a handful of three-inch .410 shells in my pocket. "Goldie" and I would hike around for an hour or so near the railroad tracks above the beaver pond, then head over to the gravel pit about a mile away. When we got there, I'd line up a couple of old and rusty coffee cans and blast away. I always tried to keep at least one shell in my pocket "for emergencies"...and one time I think I saw a small black bear not far from us. "Goldie" looked pretty jumpy, and I was happy I still had that shell.

But we ran back to the cabin as fast as we could. Just in case.

What a great gun. Nice find!

 

[Jim NE]

Love your gun! And love old bolt action shotguns.

My dad gave me an old Steven's Buckhorn bolt action .22 rifle a few months ago. He'd bought it new as a teenager back in 1935 or 36. I'm sure it was the bottom of the line, or somewhere near that status for Stevens way back then - definitely nothing fancy.

Then I saw it's near visual mate in a 20 Ga. shotgun a month or two later in a pawn shop. It was the Stevens 258a shotgun made in the 1950's. It was in good shape, a near match to the Buckhorn in style and configuration (other than obviously being a shotgun) and it was only $95, so I had to have it.

I keep it in the closet with my Buckhorn, just like Dad used to do back when I was little. I like having them there. I take the bolts out of both guns and keep them in the gun safe, just in case my little boy is like me when I was his age - sneaking into the closet to look at Dad's guns when he's not home

Thanks for the post. I love reminiscing!

 

[Ryanxia]

Good story. The story behind guns is often worth as much as the gun itself

 

[ferretray]

Nice move. The first gun I ever shot was a Mossberg 183. Not sure of the final-letter designation, either a "D" or "T". It had the screw-on choke like the one pictured above.

It was my Granddad's gun, and I was heartbroken to learn after his death that he had given the gun away to a family friend many years ago. I inherited his Krag .30-40, but I've always had a soft spot in my heart for that old Mossberg. We use to take it out to "The Lake" just outside town (near Laramie, Wyoming) and shoot at fence posts, beer cans, and the gophers who were chewing up his garden. When we'd go camping near Woods Landing, Wyoming, I'd take that gun everywhere with me in the forest along with our trusty dog "Goldie". My Granddad made me promise that I'd never chamber a round until I was ready to shoot. I'd usually head out from the cabin with a handful of three-inch .410 shells in my pocket. "Goldie" and I would hike around for an hour or so near the railroad tracks above the beaver pond, then head over to the gravel pit about a mile away. When we got there, I'd line up a couple of old and rusty coffee cans and blast away. I always tried to keep at least one shell in my pocket "for emergencies"...and one time I think I saw a small black bear not far from us. "Goldie" looked pretty jumpy, and I was happy I still had that shell.

But we ran back to the cabin as fast as we could. Just in case.

What a great gun. Nice find!

Our stories are similar. I remember running the woods around Lake Michigan with my .410 bolt gun and my dog Blackie. I was in hog heaven!
Think mine must of been a Stevens or Mossberg of some sort. The dog was a Lab/mutt mix. First and best dog I ever had. Miss em' both.

 

[Buck Kramer]

My first shooting experience was on a New Haven 183T (almost the same thing) very cool gun to shoot with. I've been looking for one since.

 

[ledheplin]

I've got one of these and it was the first gun I had ever shot. I got it from my great grandfather and I can dust trap all day with it. Don't think I'll ever get rid of it!

 

[230RN]

I bought a gun for purely nostalgic purposes.

Remington Model 512 Sportmaster .22 with tubular magazine, exactly like the very first "real" gun I ever fired back in 1946-48 or so.

Like this:



No serial number. Cost me $60.... Compare to the $14.95 when new:




Terry, 230RN

Can't give pic credit on these pics. Posted for educational purposes.

REF:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remington_Sportmaster_512

 

[gp911]

My first shotgun at age 9 was a bolt-action .410 missing the magazine and front bead. I threaded a tiny screw from one of my toys in place of the bead and carried that thing all over the place. The screw flew out eventually, think I had it in a little too far... Sadly my older brother claimed it as his own a few years later and cut the barrel & stock down, totally ruining the gun. He cut it too short and then cut the whole gun up & buried it. Still bothers me...

 

[hso]

Great!