Have you ever thought about the history behind your guns?

[tamaneko]

And I mean its personal history, what it was used for before you got it, especially if you own a lot of older C&R firearms or built them from parts kit(especially AKs).

I'm just curious, as I've yet to own a firearm but want to see what your perspective behind it.

 

[foghornl]

Yeah, I often wonder where my US Rifle Cal .30 M1 was before it came to be mine. Same with my M-44 Mosin-Nagant and Yugo SKS...ahh if only those C&R rifles could talk . . . .

 

[littlegator]

I have a Win 94-32 w.s. mfd in 1929 that I inherited from my dad, who inherited it from my grandpa (on my mom's side). They used to go hunting and fishing in northern Utah together back in the day.

 

[Gord]

Yup... got two M44s, a 91/30 and a CZ-52. I only wish they could talk.

 

[Novus Collectus]

I have a low serial number M1903 made in 1911 that was used by the army until the 1950s (I believe it was re-arsenalled sometime in the 50s according to some cartouches). As far as I know Sergeant York used it in basic training and a Marine used it in Guadacanal....who knows.
The unkown history makes it an exciting gun, but I still want to know who held it and which battles it may have been used in.

My Swiss K31 has the name of the person it was issued to under the butt plate, but I haven't researched it yet. Not many milsurp actually have the name, rank, division served and the address of the one it was issued to and that is awesome.

 

[Cannonball888]

Not too long ago, the realization struck me that most of the mil-surps I own have most likely taken lives but justfiably. I don't know how I would feel about owning a murder weapon such as Oswald's Carcano.

 

[News Shooter]

Every time I shoot my little USGI M1 Carbine I think about how many Chinese overcoats its bullets must have bounced off of

 

[Animal Mother]

I think part of the whole appeal of collecting milsurps is the idea of the history behind them.

I'd love to know what my Japanese Type 38 has seen down its sights or where my 1939 K98 Mauser has been, likewise for my Allied weapons. I specifically look for early war milsurps just because the possibility that it saw some amazing things is greater. I actually shy away from refinished or rearsenaled guns because of that.

An old gun that just sat in depot storage for 60 years is just an old gun in my book. However, give me a beat stock that was dragged through the mud of Stalingrad and has a bullet hole through the sling and so long as she's a straight shooter I'm in love.

 

[Davo]

Yes I have, the cool thing about the K31 is that you can check the buttstock, and find who actually carried it!

 

[woof]

I posted this story about six weeks ago:

Great-great Grandfather's Rifle

The Savage Model 99 in .250/3000 was bought in the mid 1920s. My grandfather was 40 years old when he bought it. His business was doing well and that, combined with the fact that this rifle would put much venison on the table seemed to justify the considerable cost. My dad was seven years old at the time and remembers being allowed to look at the prized rifle. In 1942, before leaving for the war, he was allowed to go deer hunting for the first time using the 99. He took a fine 8 point buck in the hills of western Pennsylvania where the family had lived since before the American Revolution.

In 1955, when I was five years old, my grandfather sold his business and retired to Florida. he gave the Savage to my dad. Ten years later I took my first deer with it. In the mid seventies my dad's heath prevented him from hunting and he offered the Savage to me. But I declined feeling that it should remain there with him, and it did till he died in 1980. That's when the Savage came to live with me. I took a deer with it almost every year, and when my son was 16 in 1990, he took his first with it as well.

I would guess that there have been at the very least 50 deer taken with this rifle over the years, probably closer to double that. I will keep it for awhile yet, but my six year old grandson already knows that one day it will be his. I figure that within the next ten years he will take his first deer - with his great-great grandfather's rifle.

 

[BridgeWalker]

For me, I like the idea of a weapon with history, but I'm also a little icked out by the fact that my rifle may have/is likely to have been manufactured using slave labor, or in the case of some, to have been used in mass executions. Ditto surplus ammo. Of course, this is all theoretical, since I don't own any milsurps yet, but I plan to shortly.

Won't stop me owning them; it's not like I'm encouraging slavery--the people and systems involved are pretty much dead and gone--and it's just an object, neither good nor evil, just fun and useful.

Still, I don't like to think about it too much. Or maybe I do, but I like to think that using it for target practice somehow redeems it, gives it a better use. Nothing wrong with a battle rifle being used to kill people in battle, and I'm cool with that, but weapons have been put to much more nefarious uses including some (weapons that is) tat might end up in my hands.

 

[230RN]

During the age when everyone was sporterizing milsurps, mid-60s or so, I had a 1918 Amberg Mauser converted to .30-06 with a Springfield barrel and I cut down the old Mauser stock to a deer-rifle profile with a Schnabel forend. Did a pretty good job on it.. Bent the bolt handle down myself, drilled and tapped the barrel myself for a pair of iron sights I mounted on it.

The old stock had the initials E.W.L. carved on it, and I always wondered about the German soldier who might have carried it.

I later put a brand new regular sporter stock on it.

And I still have the old stock.

And I still wonder who E.W.L. was.

 

[Notch]

As a collector of CnRs I always wonder where the firearm has been and what it "saw".

 

[HonorsDaddy]

I really dont understand why anyone would be bothered by how something they currently own may have been misused in the past.

These are guns we're talking about. Yes, in less enlightened times than now, people knew and expected that a gun which was carried daily was one which was expected to be used by its owner - to kill people, game or both.

Being weirded out about that is silly in my opinion. Its like being weirded out because you found out that the land you now live on had a murderer walk across it 100 years ago.

 

[CajunBass]

I've got a couple of Chinese T-53 Mosin-Nagants, that I wouldn't be surprised to find out had been carried by someone "on the other side" in Viet-Nam.

 

[Gator]

Sure, that's one of the attractions of old guns. I think a lot of gun owners are also history buffs because of their interest in "where its been".

 

[Floppy_D]

Gator: Sure, that's one of the attractions of old guns. I think a lot of gun owners are also history buffs because of their interest in "where its been".

My wife is a history major, so she finds fascination in my milsurps. When I get a new one, she digs up the history on it just for the sake of conversation.

 

[Wheeler44]

I own a Lee enfield manf. in 1904. Considering the shortages of rifles in the early parts of the war there is a very strong possibility that it saw "action" in WW1.

Through markings on the rifle including a new serial # I know that this rifle was given/sold to the "Irish Free State" and probably again saw "action" during the Irish Civil War.

It is safe to say that this rifle probably was fired at an enemy or two during its service life.

Does that weird me out or in any way make me uncomfortable? No.

I know , again from markings, that this rifle was arsenal modified a couple or few times to make it "standard" i.e. a more efficient tool for killing enemies.

Whenever I carry this old rifle in the woods I am thankful that the previous owners built it to be an efficient tool ( detachable 10 rd. magazine, smooth as butter action) because if I need to use it to defend against an aggressive critter I want that efficiency.

I haven't, however spent much time wondering which battles it may have been in or which regiment it belonged to because there is no way of knowing, with any certainty, and I prefer not to speculate about it.

Wheeler44

 

[RPCVYemen]

I have a Schmidt-Rubin K31 that has a tag under the butt with the name, rank, group, birthday and hometown of the soldier it was originally issued to in 1942.

Mike

 

[Werewolf]

I know the exact history of each and every gun I own.

BECAUSE...

I don't buy used guns. Something about used guns just turns me right off. The thought of owning one makes me cringe.

Which is wierd because most of the cars I've bought over my 55 years on this earth have been used.

 

[Rich K]

Only one, an 1898 Krag made at Springfield Armory.
I have often wondered where it has seen service, and who carried it. What kind of warrior were they, and what stories it could tell.

 

[Akusp]

My wife recently asked me to show her my collection of milsurp firearms. She admired most of them for their character but almost dropped a Lee Enfield no.4 Mk.1. She actually teared up and said "it has blood on it..." I thought she meant literally and asked her where... she said "no... whoever carried this rifle died." It really shook her up. She said that she's never experienced anything like that before but she won't touch that rifle anymore. She's never been into shooting but isn't anti either.

 

[The_Shootist]

History

The only one I'm a bit squeamish about is a Zastava Model 70 - semi-auto pistol in .32ACP. Came with ALOT of holster wear.

The fact that it came from the Balkans recently, looking like it was "carried alot - probably used alot" convinces me it was used in anger, and not necessarily it a "fair fight" type of situation.

 

[eliphalet]

Woof,
Great-great Grandfather's Rifle

Great story, thanks for sharing it again, I missed the first time

 

[Black Knight]

I never gave it much thought on my new guns but it has crossed my mind on a few of my used ones. I bought a 12 Gauge Remington 870 Wingmaster from an estate sale of a guy that worked at the facility I work at. The old gentleman who passed away was a Viet Nam era Green Beret (the real thing not a phony). Through others that knew him and the gun, it was used mostly for hunting. This is one of my favorite long guns in my collection.