Heirloom Gun Stories

I think it might be in reference to the video the OP linked.

 

Family.....

When our Mom passed away 12 years ago, stepdad was giving certain things to the three boys - all half brothers - as mom was had married three different gents in her lifetime.

The 22 LR Derringer, given to her by my father, just prior to the wedding day, was given to me. My younger brother threw an absolute FIT!! As I calmly reminded him, this was a present from MY dad to OUR mother....prior to him even remotely being thought about.


Next story involves a Mauser 98, that I shot my first deer and younger brother also shot his first deer with. The rifle was owned by HIS grandfather. When his grandfather passed away, my stepfather (little brother's father), was in charge of the estate. 7 to 8 months go by and I inquire how the estate process is going. Stepdad advised that the house was sold, one vehicle left to sell, and the Mauser. NONE of the siblings in the immediate family wanted the rifle. I stepped up to the plate...and said that I would take it. I proposed a trade - either a Remington 700 in 270 or a nice shotgun. I was planning a trip to Montana in about a month...and the trade would be made then.

Trade was completed, but I may have got the short end of the deal. The Rem 700 and shotgun stayed at stepdad's house and the Mauser came home with me. During my 16 hour drive home, my little brother had spoke to his dad (my stepdad)...and the subject that the Mauser was now in my hands came up. Needless to say, my little brother was absolutely pixxxxxed!!! at me. Called me every name in the book, etc, etc.

Again, calmly told him, that when he moves out of California, the Mauser and the Derringer are his....free of charge. But the move part is the key...as both are illegal to own in his state of residence.

I sometimes wonder what is truly easier...

 

I wish my dad had better taste in guns. He left me a Mossburg model 200-KA, and a shoe box full of Butler derringers. I'm glad to have them, but it would have been a bit nicer if it was a shoe box full of Korths!

 

I have an American Bulldog pistol. It is in marginal condition. The last time it was shot was when my father was a boy. The family dog disappeared and returned with rabies. It was called back into service to unfortunately dispatch the their pet. This was in the late 30's, early 40's.

I just bought an Ithaca 37 Deluxe Deerslayer from a family that needed money. I found out the gun was their grandfather's, bought new in 1966. He used it at deer camp and did the cooking for the group. After he passed away, the gun disappeared for a long time. When they were cleaning out the house as the grandmother had to go to a home, they found the gun behind a stud in the closet, hidden from prying eyes.

I have become the keeper of their legend now.

I am going to write the story down on good paper in ink and stick it in the buttstock, so when my grandkids get it, they will know how it got into the family.

 

^^^Why exactly are both illegal to own in CA?

 

Later 'Gator

I might have one later, if I get all the facts together.

 

No import of the 98's allowed, last time I checked.

Derringer not in the state prior to law change either.

 

I'm not aware of this, mind pointing me to the correct law?
As far as I am aware, Darrengers are completely legal as long as it's not one that accepts a shotgun round and I didn't know there was any law on the books regarding Mauser Rifles.

 

I have two such stories. One gun has already been passed on to the next generation. I'll tell it's story.

My uncle (mom's brother) and my dad were very close friends back in the 50's. They hunted together and worked together on the farm. My uncle lived with mom and dad for a while also. When he got old enough my uncle joined the navy to see the world. He had not seen much of it to that point as his father (my grandfather) had abandoned him and my mother and my grandmother and 3 other girls to remarry a rich woman from Cincinnati who apparently knew him from the time he was signed as a pitcher for the Reds. That left mom and the family in dire straights. My uncle was often given 2 .22 rounds and told to bring home dinner if that tells you anything. They couldn't afford more ammo than that. They had it hard.

So to escape the life of a poor hillbilly my uncle joined the navy. Grandma had landed a job making enough to support herself but no more so that left the kids on their own and they each made their way.

My uncle spent his time in the navy stationed in San Diego. He fell in love with the southern California lifestyle of the early 1960's as you might guess. He was a regular on the strip. And he was industrious. Before long he owned a string of gas stations and he was making a lot of money.

He would come home to visit pretty often. He always stayed at our house. We had some wild times too like the time we drove the old Willy's jeep over the river bank and up and down the river for long distances. Getting out was fun but I still don't know how we survived going down that river bank going in. It was extremely steep.

We still didn't have a lot even though we weren't starving or anything. But buying a shotgun for one of the brothers was just not in the cards for us at the time even though we did have a trap range in the back yard. Dad said he was just borrowing that trap machine for a while and that he would re-sell it when he got tired of it and he did.

But my uncle thought we should have a shotgun for us brothers. He tried to give it to the middle brother knowing we would all have access to it. It was a Mossberg 20 ga., bolt action with the variable choke. To us it was a work of art even though in truth it was an entry level shotgun for everyone else. Dad refused to let him give the shotgun to my brother though. He said he was too young.

After trying desperately to change dad's mind my brother finally asked him if he had his own money could he buy it. Dad, thinking like all hillbillies do, said anyone with their own money had the right to do with it as they pleased. Dad had forgotten my brother had gotten a total of $5 from various sources for his birthday. That was actually a pretty good amount of money for us kids. He offered my uncle the $5 and as quick as he said it my uncle said, "sold". Dad argued a while but he knew he was beat. The shotgun became ours.

It was used for squirrel hunting after we finally were old enough to use it. As we got older my parents got much more prosperous themselves so guns were all over the place by the time my brother got married and left home. He had other guns and left the shotgun behind. So did my other brother. When I got married (still in college) dad decided that I needed some protection for my new wife and our home. So he talked me into taking that shotgun. That was about 35 years ago.

When I had to move because my wife got transferred my daughter moved into our house in the woods. It was no place for a young woman to live alone without protection so I did what dad did for me. I gave her the Mossberg. She still has it but it was gone for a while. Someone broke into the house and stole it. My daughter played detective and found it and the rest of the stuff she had stolen. So it's back with her now. I made sure she knew how important that shotgun was to me. My uncle is gone now and dad has been gone for over 20 years. I made her promise to keep it and pass it on to her kids someday (if she ever has any).

So it may not be an heirloom quality gun but it's still important to me and my family's history. My daughter will treat it well.

I also have a .22 that belonged to a neighbor I would have sworn was Santa Claus at one time. But one story at a time. That Stevens 15-A will hopefully go to my son so both my kids will have a third generation family gun. Actually the rifle will be a fourth generation gun come to think of it. That neighbor was practically part of the family. I miss the hillbilly ways. I really do. I have a really good relationship with my neighbors now but we don't count on each other like we did way back when. That's too bad really. It made for the best of friendships.

 

I don't really see quality as having much importance. For example, same grandfather as had the 1911 in the video also had an EIG .22 SAA clone. It's a cheap ****ty gun that my dad said he paid $15 NIB in the 60's when he gave it to my Grandpa. He carried it and shot it often enough that the chrome is peeling in spots and the timing syncopates like a jazz solo. I have much nicer guns but that EIG will be preserved and handed down just like the Ithaca because in a sense they are worth more to me than any gun I could buy myself.

 

Dad liked his S&W revolvers. He had them stuck everywhere as he got older and he didn't out hunting much. I don't think he even kept any long guns after a certain point. Dad was a quail hunter and it really hurt him when they became extinct in our area. He had a well trained bird dog and a lot of practice in shooting clays and suddenly there was nothing left to hunt. I was kinda glad to see it (I was a very young kid at the time) because it meant I didn't have to pick the meat off those skinny bones and spit out balls of lead by the dozen. My teeth still hurt thinking about it. I wish I had dad's 16 ga. Remington though. He loved that shotgun.

 

I have a ppk and holster that my father brought back from WWII (the big one (war)) as they would call it. I wound up with the pistol. My brother has Dad's original footlocker that the pistol and other relics were kept in until my mother's passing. I was never told the war story behind the pistol. Mom never let Dad tell us his war stories. He always respected her wishes, never sneaking in a story when she was not in the room. Grandma would cry when they spoke about the wars, WWI, and WWII. The wars took a heavy toll on our family back then that they carried with them all of their lives.

 

I have two; the easy one is a Model 71 Deluxe that my Dad had as long as I can remember, and that goes back to the '40s. 4-digit serial number, first digit is 1. It was his only centerfire until the mid-70s. I saw him use it to take the head, except for one ear, off a snowshoe hare once. Other than that all he used it for was whitetails, and one antelope (picture that!) After the antelope episode he proposed that my brother and I pick out a suitable rifle, then draw straws to see who got the .348 and who got the 16-ga Model 12. We got him a Model 70 in .243 with a decent scope, I won the draw.... and the pick was a no-brainer for me.
The other is from my grandfather, who I only saw a few times in my life before he died in '54. I didn't know he had anything to do with guns until a few years ago. His youngest son, my uncle, asked me if I would like to have "Pa's old gun." Well, of course.... it turned out to be a Remington 12-ga, Model 1889, 1893 manufacture. The only story to go with it was that "Pa" opened duck season with it a little ahead of time once, and didn't get away with it. One hammer is stuck back, the forestock is original but the buttstock is crudely homemade (there's probably a story there, but no one will ever know now), and of course the barrels are Damascus. It's only a wallhanger, but it's MY wallhanger and at least I know a little of its history.

 

When we visited my great uncle he heard I was a gun guy and showed me his small collection. I fell in love with his .22 rifle and mentioned somewhat jokingly "if you ever think about leaving this to someone I'd take really good care of it!". When he passed my parents went to sort out his estate and called me. "There's a .22 rifle here with a tag that says it's yours." I'm honored he entrusted it to me and glad I said something to him.

 

Does it have to be family?

Three years ago my very best friend and range buddy passed away,,,
She had lots of guns but one that always went with her,,,
Was a 4" nickel-plated S&W Model 34 revolver.

Jackie got the revolver on her 11th (?) birthday,,,
Her father took her to a gun store and told her she could have any .22 she wanted.

When I commented on her good taste she chuckled,,,
I asked her why she chose that particular gun,,,
Her reply was, "It was shiny."



Her brother came to settle her estate,,,
I told him I would like to buy that revolver,,,
I really wanted it as a memento of my friend.

He just handed it to me and said, "It's yours."

I have another dear friend who knew Jackie as well as I did,,,
His daughter (Chrissa) was the only young child Jackie could ever tolerate.

I've cased the Model 34 along with a 3" Model 36 I later purchased,,,
That cased set will go to Chrissa when I take the dirt nap,,,
Along with an explanatory letter that I have written.

So maybe these two pistols will become heirlooms for her future family.

Aarond

.

 

No import marks on the Mauser - imagine it is a bring back - no papers.

For the Hi Standard Derringer, at the time, the C & R, private party, etc, etc......was not listed as legal here:

http://certguns.doj.ca.gov/

He will move one day.

 

Barn Gun

My Dad had a great friend, a businessman. When I was age 13, in 1973, the friend gave me his father's Ithaca 12-gauge side-by-side double. He said he did it because my Dad had raised his kids in the outdoors. (Dad wasn't a hunter, more of a football and baseball guy.)

The shotgun was pitted beyond all measure on the outside, only slightly on the inside. It had one small dent in the barrel. The beautiful engraving of ducks in flight was severely worn. The stock was a little bit loose. Dad's friend said the shotgun had been hanging above the outside of a barn door for 50 years.

Dad bought me some steel wool, some sandpaper, some bluing solution, some walnut stain, and some varnish. I spent days in the garage sanding, staining, and varnishing. The result was one ugly, worn, old shotgun.

I still have it 41 years later. At one time I had a gunsmith put some fiberglass in it to tighten the stock. I've shot high-brass loads and slugs, and aside from a slight aiming problem it's still in service. I might take it squirrel hunting this year or next.

No -- it is not for sale.

GT

 

Family Heirloom Gun

My granddaddy introduced me to hunting, and would take me squirrel and rabbit hunting most of the time when he went. I learned on the Ranger (Sears) .410 single shot bolt action, that had been passed down through the family. He promised , and later gave me this gun.

After he passed away, my uncles and cousins got granddaddy's shotguns and the coveted Browning .22 short semi-automatic rifle.

Later on, when I visited grandmother, she said she had something of granddaddy's she wanted to give me. It turned out to be a Colt New Pocket Model (1906) .32 Colt Long. I smiled inwardly, when I noticed the small caliber. Granddaddy had been basically a shot gunner, and this was the only handgun he was known to have owned. He was said to have toted this .32, when he was threatened by the New Orleans " Mafia ".

I still have this little Colt, and is to be passed down through the family, upon my death.

 

I have my father's single shot .22 which was made in Germany and imported by some sporting goods company in Chicago; probably in the early 1920s. His father had borrowed it from the local veterans group where they used it (along with another rifle just like it), for indoor shooting matches in the basement of their hall. My dad put it to use during the Depression, putting rabbit meat on the table when times were tough. I can remember seeing it years later in a display case at the veteran's hall and thought it looked somewhat like an Italian Carcano.

I had pretty much forgotten about that little .22 rifle until some years ago when a close friend of my dad gave it to me as he was cleaning out a back room and found the two rifles (but minus their respective bolts), in storage there. The rifles were going to be thrown out because of the missing bolts but he had remembered how much my dad used the rifle and thought it was appropriate that it should it stay in our family (I believe my dad's friend kept the other rifle for his kids as well). Sometime later the two missing bolts turned up and now the rifle is back the way it was when it served my dad's family so well many years ago.

 

I got two... here's the better of the two.

This old Colt was my Grandpa's. He started onwer-operating his own truck/tractor trailer rigs back when they were chain drive and saw it all. Union beefs, hijackings, strong arm stevedores and long shoremen and just plain, old school "highwaymen". He moved through a couple-three revolvers in his day until this one came his way. He liked its slimness and reliability. Outstanding accuracy was just a side benefit. The wear on the grip is from lots of carry up behind his belt buckle. Like so many back then, he wore his buckle one loop off to the side to not having it rub on the shiny parts of a rig - or hot rod - while attending to the moving parts.

Later, It fell to the Ol' Man and he had his own share of head buttin' with Unions (fiercely independent shop, we had) and ne'er do wells...

When he died during my last bit in the Army, all his firearms fell to me for sibling distribution and I kept this and the Marlin 39.

During my last few years in, I carried this overseas twice - after filling out a State Department re-import card - and my sister sewed special internal pockets in some of my clothing and jackets for it, and in a couple cases, an extra magazine. It accompanied me well and usefully in places like the Horn of Africa and points east.

Later, after I retired, it and those clothes wrapped me like a warm blanket on a couple of contracting gigs. The Balkans, Africa and bits further East. Again, more than just a placebo regarding my own personal safety.

So, Grandpa's blackhearts, the Ol' Man's darker pick-ups and deliveries and later my own professional misadventures... This rascal's really looked after us. Funny in the end, call them what you will - we all held it against essentially hijackers of one form/motivation or other.

Todd.

 

Sweet story, Todd. My Father in Law passed away and left me a couple sweet firearms. One of them a Colt 1903 Pocket Hammerless that had been carried by 3 generations of my Wife's kin...he carried it, his father carried it, and his grandfather bought and carried the pistol the pistol. Not much to look at but it started a fever in me for those old Colts and I now have 4 of them total including a custom pistol in the same .32 caliber.



Point shooting with a 96 year old pistol at 21' and I thought I could feel the history with every shot. I keep it locked up in the safe now but I'll still shoot it now and again, keep it all original, and pass it along to my Nephew, his grandson, when I pass.

When I was young I had a Dan Wesson 15-2VH revolver that was the very first gun I ever bought for myself. That was back in the late 1970's and I learned to hand load for that gun with my Father in Law. He loved the gun and we shot it often. In my travels and as a young musician I ran out of money several times and his daughter and I needed money for food so I pawned it 'cause I was too proud to ask for money and we were living in a car. He always regretted that...the loss of that particular gun and the circumstances bothered him some for many years.

The day after he passed away we were down at the farm and making arrangements and dealing with it...my Mother in Law told me to round up all the guns in the house and secure them/unload them as there were gonna be visitors surely and we didn't want anyone to pick up a gun and accidentally shoot someone. Every gun in the house was loaded and I knew where all the hidy holes were in the house and the barn. She told me to start upstairs under the bed and work my way down and around.

Under the bed I found a Dan Wesson box with a note on it with my name. Inside was a near perfect Dan Wesson 15-2VH with 4" and 5" barrels and shrouds and the gap gauge and barrel wrench. An exact replacement 35 years later....



I also inherited several other great guns including that S&W M19 in the box with the Dan Wesson and a 3 screw Ruger Blackhawk .357 mag. Gaad I miss that old man. I think of him every time I shoot them and always will.

VooDoo

 

I got my Grandpa's Remington 11 in 16 gauge.

 

Anti-gunner's heirloom

My good friend Dick Willingham passed away over a year ago. He was a liberal Democrat and a delightful person, but was not interested in guns or hunting at all. After he passed, his widow gave me this box containing an old Whitneyville .22 revolver that had been his grandfather's gun.

It just goes to show that folks who are not interested in guns can still treasure them as heirlooms.

 

My father gave me these when he started having symptoms of alzhiemers, not wanting to mistakenly giving them away to someone else. I have two model 70's that are unfired. one in .225 and the other in 30.06 ( from the late 60's ) The Colt is a 1909 Army in .45 long Colt, given to him by a friend's

 

FIRST: the story passed down in my wife's family is as follows, On September 19, 1900 the First National Bank in Winnemucca, Nevada was robbed. the robbery was attributed to Butch Cassidy and the wild bunch. After the robbery they split up and each separately headed for Texas. Butch headed mostly west and near the Utah border needed a new horse. He stopped at my wife's great grandfather's horse ranch in Clover Valley, NV, to get a new horse. But he didn't have any money! So he traded his sidearm and his old horse for a new horse. The gun was handed down in the family until it ended up in one of my wife's uncles hands in Phoenix. He was batchelor and put the gun in a safe deposit box for safe keeping. When he got old he hired a live-in house keeper to take care of him around 1990. She forged his signature on the bank paperwork, took the gun and pawned it. GONE!

SECOND: Around 1976 I became good friends with a man I met at church. Around 1980 he had financial troubles and offered to sell me an old gun he had for $200. I agreed with the understanding that he could buy it back for the same amount. He passed away around 1990. Recently I got the gun out to look at it. I discovered that it is a Cold Single Action Army pistol. The serial number indicates it was made in 1879. I plan on handing this down to my oldest son.

THIRD: When I was in high school (1960) I bought a used Wards Western Field .22 single shot bolt action rifle for $6.00. Also plan on handing this down to a son.

That's it for me.