grandpa's lemon guns!

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Does anyone here have any firearms from either their grandparents, unclue, father, etc that are just flat out undesirable or terrible firearms? Can't get rid of them due to sentimental value, but they're not adequate enough for you to know what to do with. Anyone run into this issue? My grandpa left me an old Spanish paramount .25 (which I sold primarily because it was A dangerous weapon to shoot), a Bauer .25 (which is actually a pretty nice inheritance), and a Universal M1 carbine 2nd Gen.

The m1 carbine is a fun gun to shoot but the damn thing is constantly jamming and is not fitted with usgi parts, even though it has a single recoil spring- but usgi ones don't fit.
 
Yup, sure. A few shot-loose doubles or single-barrel 12 ga. And I think one of those Iver Johnson (or knock off) top-break revolvers in .32 Absurdly Short Rimfire or whatever, too rusty and gummed up to function.

The nice ones outweigh the lemons, though.
 
My Grandfather was as poor as a mouse, and his guns show it. They are junk to others, but priceless to me. He was a South Jersey duck hunter, and spraypainted his hardware-store brand 12 guage double green, and made a replacement forend in about 2x the bulk of the original, the better to be gripped with mittens when shooting in sleet, etc. He also had two rusted copies of S&W top break .38 S&W revolvers that were junk when they were new and have not improved since, and a single shot Remington .22 rifle that looks like it was carried disassembled in the anchor locker of a boat and used to poach muskrats, because it was carried in the anchor locker of a boat and used to poach muskrats.

He also left his own fathers shotgun, a Damascus barreled Ithica with external hammers, and his own Grandfathers fowling piece, a nondescript 12 guage percussian muzzle loader. And lastly he left a musket that was used by another father of the family two more generations back to shoot a Redcoat at the Battle of Brandywine. That pretty much sums up the family heritage in a nutshell, as illustrated by the guns owned. Oh, a .41 rimfire revolver than an uncle carried to the gold rush. Also rusted and not functional but historic to me anyhow.

Interestingly enough in 1939, my Dad at age 12 had somehow earned $25.00 and bought a used LC Smith side by side that he shot ducks with his entire life. It has no finish, has honest wear, is as solid as a bank vault, and shoots wonderfully. It's also priceless to me.


So Grandpa left me rusted stuff that's priceless and Dad left me something nice that's priceless.


My own grandkids are gonna do better... :D


Willie

.
 
My Grandfather was as poor as a mouse, and his guns show it. They are junk to others, but priceless to me.
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Absolutely. I have my grandfather's old Winchester 37 Steelbilt 16-gauge. I'm the 3rd Paul to have it. It's old and the finish is all brown and it probably wouldn't bring $100 on Gunbroker but $10k wouldn't buy it and you can believe that.

I may drag it out soon and go shoot some squirrels for old time's sake. :)
 
I agree with everyone thus far. The firearms passed down from reletives are valuable in a sentimental way that no amount of money could take them from our hands.
 
Show picture's please fella's This is a good Thread and I know it mean's a lot and would be cool to see:)!
 
Willie Sutton. You have an incrediable rich heritage. How many on this forum would have such a collection of artifacts from so many generations back.
 
Show picture's please fella's This is a good Thread and I know it mean's a lot and would be cool to see!
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I agree. I don't want to hijack the thread, but a new thread of inherited guns that would mean little to most but the world to the owner would be a great idea.

I'll start it when I get home if someone doesn't beat me to it. Good idea. I'm surprised someone hasn't done that already.
 
My grandfather only had 3 guns, an M1 Carbine, a S&W Model 10-5 snub-nose with its original blue box, and an Arisaka 99 he brought back from Okinawa. The first two are very nice. The latter is beat to hell on the stock but mechanically perfect with a pristine barrel. They made him remove the striker and bolt knob before they let him ship it back, but in the modern Internet age I managed to locate the parts to restore it. He got to shoot it before he passed away, which was something he'd always wanted to do.

When he passed away in 2009, I got the M1 Carbine and Arisaka. My father still has the revolver.

I just can't love the 10-5. The trigger is poor, even after installing a new hammer spring, and it's snub-nosed so it has a very poor sight radius. My one revolver, a circa 1955 M&P 4" with the target trigger, puts it to shame. But it was his, so it will never leave the family.
 
Ha! Too funny of a thread. Yes I had a hand me down marlin 60 .22 rifle. My gramps used it to scare off a burgler in his garage in Detroit back in the eighty's. Gramps has been gone awhile now. Dad tried cleaning the barrel and broke something involved in chambering a round. This was awhile ago. I wound up with it. I then used it as a trade in to bring the price down on a revolver. I think I got about $25 bucks off the revolver for it. It didn't have any real sentimental value. Gramps wasn't a gun guy nor pops really. It only sat in a closet. Bought cheap barely used.
 
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Arkansas Paul said:
I agree. I don't want to hijack the thread, but a new thread of inherited guns that would mean little to most but the world to the owner would be a great idea.

I'll start it when I get home if someone doesn't beat me to it. Good idea. I'm surprised someone hasn't done that already.
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Hijack all you want my friend! I would love to see what everyone has to offer
 
Here's a great pic of the guns left to me by me late Grandfathers:


:(



Well, some fellas is lucky and some fellas aint.

Anyway, more pics please!!!
 
I just aquired my Grandfathers guns, that he told me that he got from his father inlaw, a'94 winchester from the 20s, a couple old colts , and for this thread two iver johnsons one of which is in pieces and a GECO .22 from germany that has a stock made from a 2x4 or other piece of lumber. still shoots :)

Dan
 
Sam1911 said:
Yup, sure. A few shot-loose doubles or single-barrel 12 ga. And I think one of those Iver Johnson (or knock off) top-break revolvers in .32 Absurdly Short Rimfire or whatever, too rusty and gummed up to function.

The nice ones outweigh the lemons, though.
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Yeah I have an old NEF single shot shotgun that isn't safe to shoot, and some guns with parts missing, and some with Damascus steel barrels. Not getting rid of them though.
 
My grandfather sporterized a Gewehr 88 into a beautiful Mannlicher rifle. It still takes deer even today. He also managed to pass along a S&W Regulation Police and 1909 Argentine Mauser. Neither of the latter 2 were pleasures to shoot, but they belonged to 4 generations of the family.

My father since passed along all 3 along with his own rifles. My son will inherit them all and then my collection. We are a family of shooters and hold the tradition in the highest regard.
 
"Willie Sutton. You have an incrediable rich heritage."

A nice way of saying my kin have been too cheap to toss anything out for generations...... ;)

Firearms can be a totem object, which bring our minds into focus about things in our past. They are one of the few objects that do this, but there are others. I still carry my Grandfathers Stanley stainless steel thermos, so old it has a real cork as a stopper, when hunting and fishing. It was always with us, and to not have it with me would be... unnatural. He's been gone since 1974, but he still sits with me in the boat as I drink my coffee. Firearms are the same way... there's nothing like rubbing your fingers gentlhy over walnut and wondering if the oil in the grain was put there by your great grandfather. It pays to keep these thoughts close.


Willie

.
 
Yes...

I have an old J.C. Higgins bolt action 20 gauge that my grandfather handed down. I will shoot it sometimes (it's a great rabbit gun). But, it isn't worth a whole lot in monetary value.
 
I've got an old Ward's Hercules Model 10 single shot 12g with a hunk missing out of the buttplate and the barrel cut down to 19" due to a big bulge it had in it beyond that. The metal has been rattlecanned Rustoleum satin black. It's a mule kickin pos that'll make a 8" 00 pattern at 7 paces. Basically useless but still locks up like a vault.

I keep it because my wife's grandpa traded to my dad for $3 and a pile of scrap metal when they were very young men. Fast forward 30 some years to when I was 12 and it had a full length barrel it was the first real gun I ever shot.
 
i've got my grandfather's Raven .25 Auto. it's junk, but i'll hold onto it. i've also got a Revelation 20 ga single shot that my father got for christmas one year when he was a kid. also junk, but will also be kept.
 
NeuseRvrRat said:
i've got my grandfather's Raven .25 Auto. it's junk, but i'll hold onto it. i've also got a Revelation 20 ga single shot that my father got for christmas one year when he was a kid. also junk, but will also be kept.
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Funny. When my grandfather passed he had 4 .25's. My uncle took the colt, and my cousin and I were left to split the other three (I got 2, he got 1). He ended up choosing the raven because it was bigger and cooler looking than the Bauer .25 and the Spanish paramount I chose. I was maybe 16 at the time and a bit jealous. Turns out he got the short end of the stick by trying to short me xD
 
I got my grandfathers and great-grandfathers shotguns. Both Springfields, both 12 guage SXS doubles. The "newer" one (grandpas') is modern steel and internal hammers, great grandpas' is a damascus barreled rabbit-ear hammer affair.

My Dad got the .22 rifles and Browning .22 autoloading pistol.
 
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