Dave McCracken
Moderator In Memoriam
Mom was a staunch Catholic and Conservative, a pillar of the community and as law abiding as they come. So when she dabbled in illegal weaponry, I was astounded.....
It was the mid 70s. I had moved back to Md from SoCal and was working at the same Lab as Mom, and lived near the farm.
Mom loved bargains, and if she still lived, she'd watch Antiques Road Show every week. Heck, she'd be on it. Weekends meant her Pinto was seen parked at yard and farm sales. Mom would pick up things we could use, things that just struck her as pretty, and a few items that she thought she could turn a profit on.
One such trip got me a Rickenbacker Hawaiian steel guitar and a Fender Harvard amplifier. Ever even hear of a Harvard vs their more available Princeton? They didn't make many, and if I had hung onto that one it'd be worth serious money now. As it was, both were sold to a dealer the following week for something like 1000% profit. She got back what she paid and we split the rest.
So, when Mom told me one Monday morn on the way to work she had bought me "A little shotgun" I thought she meant a 410.She hadn't mentioned it to my father, I guess she wanted me to have it.
After work that day, I stopped in to say hi to Pop and get the shotgun. What the heck, I figured, if it's a 410 I'll find something to do with it. A free gun is a free gun.
It wasn't a 410. It was a 20 gauge Savage/Stevens SxS that someone had hacksawed the barrels off just past the forend and the stock just past the grip.
It was a classic sawed off shotgun and as illegal as H*LL! Pop came into the kitchen just as I finished explaining this. After a very short period of time, I took the barrels off, went down behind the barn to the manure pile and buried them there. That calmed us, knowing the effluents from 5-7 horses would reduce that metal to rust in short order. Besides, we never had heard of G-Men digging up manure piles looking for illegal arms.
That left a forend assembly and a receiver that was in decent shape. A few small rusted areas on the receiver but most of the case colors still on though not bright.
I took the remainder to a gun smith I knew. I thought he might want it for parts. After looking it over, he stated that he could get a barrel set and a stock. The idea of returning this to working order was one I liked, so a simple deposit got the process started. A month later, he called and said it was ready.
The results were impressive. The new barrels were 28" and nicely blued. The triggers and trigger guard were also blued, and the rust was gone from the receiver. The forend wood has been refinished in a satin gloss and matched the new stock. It had a solid pad to lengthen the LOP a bit and looked good.
At that point, I had maybe $50 more in it than what I needed to pick up a used Savage SxS, but the feeling I got from rehabbing this relic was well worth it.
A few sessions with the hand trap and a couple birds hunts showed me it was a keeper. So naturally I sold it. Got a few more bucks for it than I had in it and split the difference with Mom.
As long as she lived we could always laugh as the idea of Mom, trafficker in illegal arms....
It was the mid 70s. I had moved back to Md from SoCal and was working at the same Lab as Mom, and lived near the farm.
Mom loved bargains, and if she still lived, she'd watch Antiques Road Show every week. Heck, she'd be on it. Weekends meant her Pinto was seen parked at yard and farm sales. Mom would pick up things we could use, things that just struck her as pretty, and a few items that she thought she could turn a profit on.
One such trip got me a Rickenbacker Hawaiian steel guitar and a Fender Harvard amplifier. Ever even hear of a Harvard vs their more available Princeton? They didn't make many, and if I had hung onto that one it'd be worth serious money now. As it was, both were sold to a dealer the following week for something like 1000% profit. She got back what she paid and we split the rest.
So, when Mom told me one Monday morn on the way to work she had bought me "A little shotgun" I thought she meant a 410.She hadn't mentioned it to my father, I guess she wanted me to have it.
After work that day, I stopped in to say hi to Pop and get the shotgun. What the heck, I figured, if it's a 410 I'll find something to do with it. A free gun is a free gun.
It wasn't a 410. It was a 20 gauge Savage/Stevens SxS that someone had hacksawed the barrels off just past the forend and the stock just past the grip.
It was a classic sawed off shotgun and as illegal as H*LL! Pop came into the kitchen just as I finished explaining this. After a very short period of time, I took the barrels off, went down behind the barn to the manure pile and buried them there. That calmed us, knowing the effluents from 5-7 horses would reduce that metal to rust in short order. Besides, we never had heard of G-Men digging up manure piles looking for illegal arms.
That left a forend assembly and a receiver that was in decent shape. A few small rusted areas on the receiver but most of the case colors still on though not bright.
I took the remainder to a gun smith I knew. I thought he might want it for parts. After looking it over, he stated that he could get a barrel set and a stock. The idea of returning this to working order was one I liked, so a simple deposit got the process started. A month later, he called and said it was ready.
The results were impressive. The new barrels were 28" and nicely blued. The triggers and trigger guard were also blued, and the rust was gone from the receiver. The forend wood has been refinished in a satin gloss and matched the new stock. It had a solid pad to lengthen the LOP a bit and looked good.
At that point, I had maybe $50 more in it than what I needed to pick up a used Savage SxS, but the feeling I got from rehabbing this relic was well worth it.
A few sessions with the hand trap and a couple birds hunts showed me it was a keeper. So naturally I sold it. Got a few more bucks for it than I had in it and split the difference with Mom.
As long as she lived we could always laugh as the idea of Mom, trafficker in illegal arms....
