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Question Of The Month. (February 2019) (Old Gun Shooting)

carbinemike

carbinemike

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Howdy,
This is a monthly series of questions topic for everyone to join in on the discussion. Some of the later questions may have a poll, and some will not. Don't be shy now, go ahead and post an answer and vote in the polls...

What is your oldest firearm that you still get out and use at least once per year? (Bonus points for sharing a favorite memory)

Thanks go to @Ernst for inspiring this months question.
 
I'm not a hunter. I do get out to shoot 8-10 times a year at a friends ranch. I have a couple of 22 single shot rifles I take at least once or twice each year. They are both about 70 years old, one is a Winchester there other a Stevens. I take others but those are two of my favorites. I take one of them with me each time I get to an indoor range as well, but that only happens a couple of times per year.
 
Gee, that's a tough question. I try to shoot all of my guns at least once a year. Sometimes that doesn't happen though. I don't remember shooting the Fal in the last 8 or 10 months, so I guess it gets shot the least. It's a beast though.

I try to shoot my Grandmothers 32acp S&W snubnose at least once a year. Lots of memories with that old gun. I enjoy shooting it because when I do, my Mom brings it with her and we get to shoot it together.

Maybe I should pester my uncle to shoot my great grandfathers 25-20 Marlin lever action this year. It was the first rifle that I ever shot. And the rifles first shot was to kill a man that had been making threats to my grandmother and her brothers and sisters and Great grandpa Will didn't take kindly to it especially after he went to tell him to knock it off and the guy shot and killed his dog right in front of him, so he went to Montgomery wards and bought the gun and a box of shells and went back to the guys house, knocked on his door and killed him right where he stood later that evening.

Gr. Grandpa Will served 2 years in the state pen and that was also due somewhat because nobody in the community liked the guy either, including the judge. He basically only sentenced Gr. Grampa light because he couldn't just let him go scott free for killing him. Yes, the family got to keep the gun, and it's been passed down 3 times now with strict instructions that it be kept in the family.
 
Yeah, well, he had already made threats to the kids, and that's why great grandpa was standing on his property in the first place. Shooting the dog was over the top. He told him he'd better make things right with the lord because he was going to kill him.

Well, he went and bought the gun and a box of shells and went straight back to the guys house and did it.

My family was like that. They didn't tell you twice and meant what they said.

This was my Great Grandpa Will and my Grandmother was the baby in the picture. For all I know, the black and white dog laying in the background beside of G. Grandmother Lucinda may have even been the same dog in the story. I don't know. But you don't threaten a guys kids or shoot their dog unless you're looking for trouble. Sometimes trouble comes looking for you.

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Water Monkey said:
1953 M1 Garand I built with period correct parts including stock wood in honor of my wife's father who served in the Korean War. Shot it for about 50 rounds. Cleaned her and put her back in the safe.
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Ya know, we sit here in front of our computers or on our phones and talk about a lot of different subjects. You have a rifle their Monkey that is a part of history. Sometimes I think of what those guys went through with their M1, gone for years from family to a foreign land. Slugging through jungles or living in a foxhole eating K rations for what must have seemed like a lifetime.

Anyways, you have a piece of history there and I am sure it is in good hands.
 
John A. said:
Yeah, well, he had already made threats to the kids, and that's why great grandpa was standing on his property in the first place. Shooting the dog was over the top. He told him he'd better make things right with the lord because he was going to kill him.

Well, he went and bought the gun and a box of shells and went straight back to the guys house and did it.

My family was like that. They didn't tell you twice and meant what they said.

This was my Great Grandpa Will and my Grandmother was the baby in the picture. For all I know, the black and white dog laying in the background beside of G. Grandmother Lucinda may have even been the same dog in the story. I don't know. But you don't threaten a guys kids or shoot their dog unless you're looking for trouble. Sometimes trouble comes looking for you.

View attachment 19926
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Right there are some hard working folks. I can't even imagine what they went through day to day just to get by. Tough folks that worked hard and didn't complain about it.
 
A Springfield .22LR single shot bolt gun made in 1936.

It was given to my dad when he was a boy. He and his family lived on and owned Cabbage Key Island in the Florida Gulf. It is now a very famous resort spot.

Every summer we spent a couple weeks on the island visiting my grandparents and aunts/uncles/cousins. When I was about nine I finally got to shoot that rifle. We threw off the dock coconuts that we collected from under the palm trees and as they floated away we shot at them on the water. A miss was obvious and a hit was no splash. Good times. A box of ammo cost about forty cents. This was in the late 1960s.

It is the oldest gun I own, other than a Civil War falling block rifle that I have never fired.
 
Glad to inspire a question about old guns.

My oldest one that is regularly shot is a 1959 Chinese SKS which severed it's early life in Vietnam throughout the war. If it could talk I'm sure we would all be intrigued by the stories. Carries some war scars but still fully functional including an original bayonet.

One other, longtime retired but still functional, is an old Colt Army revolver in 41 Long Colt. The 41 Long Colts were produced between 1877 and 1939. This was my father's gun and currently resides with my brother on our family ranch. If I remember correctly it was made in 1897. I remember shooting it as a boy, many decades ago.

Regards
 
It is about time I take my Eddystone M1917 "Enfiield" sporter to the range, come to think about it. It has been well over a year. It was my uncle Bob's gun given to me by my other uncle Dave whom had inherited his brother's guns when he was killed in an auto accident in 1960. As I was named after his brother Bob, Dave thought it fitting I have this gun since our initials are engraved in the mag floor plate.

My uncle Bob was sort of like me and liked to "tinker" and modify guns. It is quite likely he personally modified this one as well as a Mauser K98 sporter (1939) I also have from him. Mods include the self-checkered Monte Carlo stock and engraving, the sights have been removed and rear milled off, bolt handle shortened to clear the scope, a compensator added (I forget the brand) and Weaver scope and mounts added. Aside from maybe the barrel, I doubt there is any great value in the gun but it is priceless to me! I plan on replacing the tiny little scope if I can ever find a replacement 1" ring adapter as the Weaver that is on it is 3/4". Maybe cut the 26" barrel down to 22" or so. The Mauser is currently on the work bench as it was more able to mount a bigger scope than its 4x20 and is also receiving a little bit of trigger love.

Since the gun probably hadn't been fired since 1960, I gave it a good once over and was delighted to find a perfect, shiny bore. Later examples of M1917 surplus arms were used for parade and ceremony duty and had bores shot out from the use of blanks... Our first trip to the range was fed from Korean war surplus enbloc bandoliers. A 95-year-old gun shooting 55-year-old ammo after sitting for 50 years! :) It just occurred to me this gun is now over 100 years old! And I still have plenty of the now 60-year-old '06 to shoot through it!

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m1917magplate.jpg
 
Bobster, that's quite the heirloom ya got there. That's the kind of memories we take to our final resting place. Thanks for sharing the story and the pics.
 
Id say my oldest that actually gets most use is double 16ga. Its a J Stevens 335 , circa..1919 - 1929, i believe it to be about a 1920 ? Records at stevens long gone. Anyhow she is wonderful American SxS , 26" f/m barrel setup, tight as a tick and slick as owl snot. Its my fav pheasant and dove gun, ive used on quail also but a little excessive for,plantation birds up close(unless ya like em powder puffed and crunchy), great on dog driven rabbits too. Maybe not,the prettiest to some but i love this gun. It was not a family piece, it was a rescue from a typical youngin who wanted something "more modern" , it was,quickly apparent no amount of talk would convince that hang on to grandpas gun or,regret would work. When the discussion came to how about make,it a cool sawed off !!! I pointed to the used 0201191634.jpg 0201191735.jpg pumpers he picked a very nice synthetic 870 express I believe . Win Win all,happy have good day young man.
 
Well would ya look at that?

DJ this is mine and it's the kissing cousin, but WW2 era, and marked as a Ranger, from Sears.
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It was sawed off long ago. The guy that sold it said he was the deputy that arrested Charlie Manson. I don't know whether that was BS or not but it's a good story.

I know when they arrested Manson they had guys from two or three different forces on the job.

Anyhow I fiberglassed the broken stock plus made a new firing pin for it. Took it all apart and put it back together a couple years ago.
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I love to shoot this old gun and I have had it out to the range several times since it was rebuilt.
 
You're a brave man for having all those parts out caddman. No amount of money would pay me to do that.

I always was too scared to take mine down that far.
 
@CaddmannQ l really like your shotty looks good, even better ya went thru and rehabed it. When i picked the 335 up, I order a set of,firing pins and springs straight away and installed the new kept the,originals for,battle spares or patterns if needed. When you made yours did you do any heat treat or no ?? Ive heard both ways done curious how they holding up. I received a book when,I was, about 10 yrs old it was the digest of exploded firearm drawings ive also been bold about tearing guns apart ever since. Ive used these folks a number if,times if,anyone in need of obsolete parts they are good folks http://www.wisnersinc.com/about-us/
 
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John A. said:
You're a brave man for having all those parts out caddman. No amount of money would pay me to do that.

I always was too scared to take mine down that far.
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There's two difficult parts about getting it back together, and if you use a temporary slave pin for alignment and make a special tool to help with the assembly, you can do it.

@Djcala
I ground that firing pin from a high speed steel drill bit but I did not harden it further.

I'm really happy with the way it worked out.

If you look up my Ranger thread you can see all the work I did on this gun including the fiberglass bedding.
 
John A. said:
You're a brave man for having all those parts out caddman. No amount of money would pay me to do that.

I always was too scared to take mine down that far.
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John, in the days before digital cameras on tablets we would sketch a drawing of the parts as we disassembled a gun. For bigger parts like a hammer would actually trace an outline of the part. The disassembly process would be numbered and notes written. Today, just take a series of pictures of the disassembly process and follow the pictures "so to speak" as you put it back together.

One thing I've always used was a couple of old plastic ice cube trays to store the piece parts. Simply start on one end and keep the parts in sequence as you disassemble the gun. Later, if you remove a part to work on it just put some place holder object in that compartment (like a button). You will never misplace a part and your disassembly sequence is always preserved .

Old school I know but still works. Never be afraid to try!

Regards
 
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