Heirloom Gun Stories

[White Walker]

My grandpa, James Mett Shippee, had a revolver that he got from his dad, Levi Merritt Shippee. Levi, who was born in 1848, later held down the job of running the Missouri Pacific Railroad depot in Green Leaf, Kansas. One day somebody notified him that there was a kid down at the depot who was shooting holes in the walls, floor and ceiling of the place. Levi went over and took the pistol from the kid and told him that he could have his gun back when he was old enough to have one. The kid, whose last name was Dalton, never came back for it. That pistol is now in my Aunt's house in Seattle, Washington. She's afflicted with Alzheimer's now and her son, who is a liberal and who hates firearms, will probably let me buy it from him if I approach him about it. All my mom could tell me about the gun is that she believes it's a .44 of some type. If and when I get it, I'll gladly post pictures of it here.

 

[Agsalaska]

Ive told this before too.

My dads side guns were all stolen from my uncles barn in 1995 or sold to a gun dealer in 1993 by my grandad as retaliation I guess for putting him in an old persons home. He brought home a Luger he ripped off a German but sold it in 1993. My dad(his son) who died of cancer a year later, never forgave him. Crappy story.

As for the gun I do have, my grandad on my moms side was much older and an officer in WW1. When he was discharged in 1920, he either bought his service gun or bought it new out of the PX when he was leaving. It is a Colt 1917 45ACP. Anyway he moved to Texas and died in 1951. When my grandma died in the 80s my dad found the 1917, loaded, in the top of his closet as we were cleaning out the house. He unloaded it and put it back in the unmarked box and it went into storage as one of many forgotten items that needed to be divided up by my mom and her sisters. However I had not forgotten even though I was about 8 the only time I saw it.

Last year my mom called me and told me she had a surprise. I went over to her house and she had the 1917 for me. It is a 1919 production Colt in 99+% condition. I used to sell guns years ago and like most of you have laid eyes on thousands and thousands of guns and I have never seen a 1917 in this condition. It looks practically brand new. My guess is my grandad shot it once or twice and, in 1927 when he got his house, loaded it and put it where we found it 60 years later.

 

[Sniper56]

Lost Colt

My grandfather had an 1873 Model Colt Peacemaker in .45 LC made in 1905.
He carried it in WW I and when he passed away my uncle got it and he died several years ago and the gun was never mentioned by any family.

Right before Christmas my son called me and said he found something while visiting his cousin at Thanksgiving in Ohio (the cousin lives in his Dad's old house). My son did not tell me what it was but said he was bringing it home Christmas.

On Christmas Eve we were opening gifts and he gave me mine. It was my grandfather's 1873 Colt 45. My cousin found it in a box of his Dad's things,he has no gun interests and wanted me to have it. It's finish was worn but it was smooth and tight action. My son brought me some shells and we shot it Christmas Day. Still very accurate. Made my holiday.

 

[ApacheCoTodd]

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

Sad... But with a very pleasant undertone. So often that scenario goes one of a couple of worse directions.

 

[ridgerunner1965]

my gpa on my moms side gave me a stevens tip up pistol in 22lr when i was maybe 12 or so. he told story of how he used it on his trapline in wisconson when he was a kid. he had saved up money from skunk hides to buy it. he would check his traps in the morning on the way to school and shoot any skunks or coon he caught and then collect them on the way home.

i used the pistol on my trapline just as he did when i was a kid.my mom made ne a nice leather flap holster for it which i still have.

i once sat on his front porch and watched him shoot a groundhog or woodchuck as he called them, at about 50 yrds with a 22 short right in the head. i still remember him resting the pistol on top of a fencepost and making that shot. i was amazed but he did not really seem to think it was a big deal.


later when i was a adult he gave me his dads old 32-40 winchester hiwall.he used to let me shoot it when i was a kid. he cast his own bullets and greased them with beef tallow and used black powder to load them with a old lyman tong tool.

he said for many years it was the only rifle on his farm and was used mostly when butchering hogs and cattle.he never was a hunter as a adult as he said farming with horses really did not leave any time for hunting. he did tell the story of how he loaned it to the hired hand to hunt with.

one time the hired hand was out hunting and a flock of low flying geese flew over. he said the hand aimed at the first gander in the v formation, shot and the last one crumpled and fell to earth. he said "you know what boy?" "we ate good that night!"

i sure miss him and my gma.

 

[ridgerunner1965]

another heirloom story.

a couple years ago my dad came home from a trip back to the place where he grew up with his dads mod 97 win shotgun. back in the 60's his sisters husband had purchased it from his dad to hunt pheasant with. it was in pretty rough shape, stock taped up, finish all gone and would not fire. he asked me to look at it and see if i could get it fixed good enought to shoot.he had a lot of memories of hunting with his dad .he was about 80 yrs old at this point.

well the gun was way beyond me doing anything with it at my skill level. i took it to a local smith for restoration and when i got it back it was fully functional.we got new wood from boyds and he reblued it.the kicker was he did not make it look like a new gun. he made it look like a 100 yr old gun that it was that had been taken really good care of.

at thanksgiving dinner that year i presented it to my dad. the look on his face was priceless.he is a ruff old cowboy but i think he almost shed a tear.

he tried to give to me when i left but i said no you may need it for varmints and such.

he is still going strong at 82.he breaks a few young horses every year and rides every day.

 

[statelineblues]

I wrote about my heirloom in 05/2009 here:

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=450477

 

[freyasman]

A couple years ago, I received a Colt SAA in 45 Colt, that had originally been owned by my great-grandfather on my mother's side. He had a reputation as a family "black sheep", and a bit of a hell-raiser in the areas around Seguin and El Campo, TX. It was given to my father by my maternal grandmother back in the 70's with instructions to give it to me when I was old enough. After my parents split up, my father handed it off to his father for safekeeping, and it sat on my grandfather's wall in Iowa in a shadowbox made by one of my uncles for 30+ years, until it was given to me finally, with a bit of ceremony, a few months before grandpa died. From the serial number, it was made in 1901, and is safe for modern ammunition. It has resided in my safe since, and I recently bought a box of ammo for it, and will fire it soon. I am also sending off to Colt for the factory letter to accompany it.
The best thing about it, is that it has made me aware of an entire branch of my family that I had never really spent any time around, or known anything about, due to family grudges, leading to long-term estrangements.

 

[Farmer Dave]

My dad left me a WWII mauser broom handle 7.63 mauser pistol. I don't think he ever fired it and it came with the papers from US Army authorizing him to bring it back from Europe when he came home in 1945. It sat in an old file cabinet wrapped in an oiled rag from late 50's until it came home with me in 1999. I'd love to get a hold of reloading dies, brass, etc. for this beautiful little semi-auto. I have 50 rounds of new, never fired ammo, but I'm leary of the fact that it's vintage late 40's factory ammo.