Rescued guns

[olafhardt]

I once found a model 69 Winchester 22 with light rust and a chipped stock at a gunshow the guy acted l
ike it polluted his table. I already had one and knew it to be excellent. :cbpour: What could I do? I felt so sorry for it. I bought it to rescue it, honestly. I know some of you must have bought guns to rescue them. Tell us your stories.

[3006guns]

Bought a Webley MKVI and a type 14 Nambu, $100 each. Carefully cleaned the years of neglect off of both and they're great shooters.

I have several badly neglected .22's, bought at a police auction. Nobody wanted them because of the surface rust. A little 0000 wool with oil and they look very good indeed. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder".

[NuJudge]

I once had a co-worker come up to me and offer me a nearly S&W Model 586 revolver he owned. I told him I owned several already and told him he could get a much better price than I would be willing to pay. He persisted by simply saying, "How about $200?"

What can you say but, "Sold!"

[Guesser]

Bought a beautiful P-14 Enfield from a "dealer" at a gun show, he had bought it from a kid thinking it was a 1917 Enfield. This dealer didn't know there existed such a godawful contraption as a P-14 in "303 WHAT????? "That kid screwed me"! was his thought. I asked how bad he had got taken and he told me $65.00. I offered him his money back and he took me up on it. That was in 2003 or so, it is a great shooter and I had the appreciation of the "dealer" for taking the "303 WHAT?" off his hands without him loosing any money.

[jhrosier]

I bought a rusty Ruger Blackhawk in .41 Mag for a quarter of its book value.
There was mostly surface rust with some pitting but the bore and chambers were perfect.
It had been a brand new gun that was stored in the cellar by a fellow who died and it wasn't discovered for several years.
I crossed my fingers and sent it to the factory for a refinish.
It came back looking like a new gun and I had spent less than half its' value.

Jack

[exile]

My sister called me once from an auction and said "there is a rifle here, it says "Winchester Model 70" on it, do you want it?" I said, "How much?" She said "$ 200". I said "Yes". She said that the guy running the auction brought it out and laid it down in wet grass, she picked it up. She said that he told her they get these old rifles all the time, no big deal.

She brought it home, serial # in the 66,000 range, which would place it as being made about 1948, 30-06. It was full of cosmoline, the guy at the gun shop I took it to to get the cosmoline out said it had never been fired.

I think the reason everyone passed on it was that it had a small chip in the stock that had been repaired. Anyway, it stayed with me for about five years, then I sold it to a friend who could not live without it. Wish I had not. That's my story, pretty much the only deal I have ever gotten on a firearm.

exile

[David LaPell]

A friend of mine who has a little gunshop knows my passion for old Smith revolvers, especially ones that could use a little TLC. He had this Outdoorsman .38-44 that had some barrel wear on the outside and some pitting, but he only wanted $400 for it. Someone took a set of smooth Smith grips and trimmed the bottom so that they were flush with the frame. I went through and very carefully cleaned the gun, getting alot of rust and grime off of it. I went through a couple of grips before I settled on these Maples from Ahrends. I tried out my 170 grain #358429 bullets and 12.5 grains of 2400.

http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss57/Smith29-2/Outdoorsman1.jpg
http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss57/Smith29-2/Outdoorsman2.jpg
http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss57/Smith29-2/Outdoorsmanmaple.jpg
http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss57/Smith29-2/Outdoorsmantgt-1.jpg

[10 ga]

I have cleaned up more than enough abused MLs. I have a rep as being able to get them to shoot again. After 2 years in a corner and not cleaned it's a challenge. Start with PB blaster, breakdown, clean n reassemble. then scrub the bore and hand lap same, then firelap the bore, then proceed to see how good they shoot. Usually pretty darn good. PRB usually for 48 or slower twist stuff and heavy "belted" or buffalo boolits for faster twist. Only a few that ended up as wall hangers or "survey" stakes. 10 ga

[firefly1957]

Stevens crack shot I had to put a barrel liner in it I do need to make or build a better set of scope mounts I have a OLD Wasak 4X scope from Rochester N.Y. on it with the adjustable mounts. Actually I rescued the scope $2 at an auction then looked for a suitable rifle.
And several muzzle loaders that people did not clean properly.

[mooman76]

I got two. My father-in-law found a shotgun in a cornfield that had rusted on the ouside so bad you couldn't real the ingraving on it but the inside barrel only had a few specs of rust. I cleaned the rust off and you could read it again. A Stevens I forget the model but it has a 29 inch barrel and is a good shooter. I had to make a forearm for it too. This was about 35 years ago and I still have it.
I P/U a BP pistol at a gunshow. Someone had fired it but never blued it and left it that way. I bought it if nothing else for parts or a wall hanger for $15 amd it was a flinter. It looked so good when I got it done I hated to shoo it but I had too. Looks good still and some day I'll have it on a wall but not till I move out of here.

[Jal5]

3 pistols from WWII that my uncle had brought back home from the war and they sat in my Dad's damp basement for many years- P38, Mauser, and a Bayarde. The Mauser and Bayarde are 32 ACP and the P38 is 9mmLuger. One was rusty on the outside but the barrels were surprisingly good on all three. Lots of oil and 0000 wool and they don;t look too bad now. None had a firing pin. I purchased two pins from Numrich and found a guy who made a pin for me on the third one from specs given to me by another guy who owned one. All 3 turned out to be pretty good shooters and are a lot of fun at the range- everyone wants to shoot a piece of history.

[Kraschenbirn]

Not exactly a rescue but a few years back I picked up a truly bubba'd Model 12 off a consignment auction for $100. Some nitwit had tried to drill & tap the receiver for a side-mount scope base and broke taps in not just one but TWO holes. Same nitwit (I assume) had also installed an adjustable butt-plate but somehow managed to overtighten and strip the mounting screws. Bore was essentially in good shape but muzzle crown looked like bubba might've, at some time, used a rat-tail file for a cleaning rod.

Brought the gun home and broke it down for parts. Refinished, with the stipped holes in the butt properly repaired, the stock and forearm set brought almost twice what I'd paid for the whole gun. The buggered barrel got cut back to 18 1/2", reblued, fitted with a set of combat sights, and reassembled to the original mag tube (also refinished) to provide a short-barrel option for my own M12. Plus, I ended up with an almost complete set of spare internal parts, too.

Bill

[fatelk]

I love old guns like that. I was offered a couple old guns for $50 a couple years ago by an acquaintance who was settling an estate. One was a Pre-12 Remington model 12, the other a butchered Mosin Nagant, both covered in rust, and the .22 had a broken buttstock.

They both look pretty decent now. The Mosin got an ebay stock and the Remington is one of my favorites. I carefully fixed the stock so you can only see the crack if you look close. The bore is pitted but it still shoots good. It's a neat old 100yo rifle. "Collector value" may be gone, but my kids like to shoot it.

[mpmarty]

Years ago a girlfriends father gave me a 410ga pistol, break action single shot. The firing pin was rusted into the standing breech to where it wouldn't move. A bit of penetrating oil and some pushing and shoving and it freed up nicely. I then removed it and polished the hole and pin before putting back together. This was in the mid sixties and I went dove hunting with that little pistol. You could walk right up under the doves in the trees as long as they didn't see a shotgun they just sat there until I raised my arm and then they took off like a dog had flushed them. A "buddy" with a gun shop told me it was an illegal weapon and talked me out of it in exchange for a Colt Python even up.

[olafhardt]

Really have enjoyed your replies, I just got my first computer and got online this past December. I have. discovered I Am Not Alone. We are numerous and we vote. Our thoughts are not cast in stone but our boolits are in glorious, silver lead. We are old farts who will not be gas checked. :groner::lovebooli

[gerrycan]

A friend showed me some pieces of a Martini Henry he had were disassembled .Hegave me the metal bits in a plastic icecream pail and said take it to smith I think it needs afiring pin.My smith would not look at it because it wasn,t registed so I offered my pal $200 for the bits . Accepted I returned to the smith for registration and reassemble and for about another $260 I ended up with a gr
eat example of the Zulu era Martini Henry 577/450[now 45/70 due to corrosion]Gerry.

[edsmith]

I was winterizing a house for a real estate co. it was a rental that had to be repaired before it could be rented again, in a trash can was a m12 rem. 22 pump, stock was broken off no rear sights, a wood screw was holding the slide grip on,it was cracked,it would not chamber a round, the extractor holds the round in place to enter the chamber,it was worn, I bushed the extractor,put new wood on it, got a rear sight from nurich,bead blasted it,duracoted it,looks new,shoots just fine.the chipmunks around here hates me. thats good cause the little devils got into my genrator and chewed and stripped every wire in it.

[Crash_Corrigan]

I was working in North Las Vegas one day providing emergency road services etc and I got a call for a flat tire.

When I got there the customer turned out to be an elderly gent and we got into a discussion about guns. He then brought out a 1929 Winchester Model 94 in 30-30 and a Baker side by side double barreled shotgun.

He had decided that he was too old to go shooting anymore and he already had an excellent home defense shotgun in a Winchester Model 97 Pump and he wanted to sell me these guns for the grand total of $100.

I never had reached for my wallet so fast in my life. The Baker had full choke 30" tubes and a broken safety. I had the barrels cut down to 18 1/2 inches and left the safety alone. I do not trust safeties as the best one is behind your eyes.

This shotgun will reside under the back seat of my Honda loaded with double ought buckshot and have a bandolier of ammo next to it.

The Model 94 was in pretty good shape and it shoots very well with handloaded and home cast boolits. Accurate out to about 150 yds and does very well on the 100 yd steel gongs. It is a fun gun and in it's present condition should bring somewhere in the neighborhood of $900 to $1100. I could care less as I plan on keeping it for plinking and such.

[evan price]

Savage-Springfield Model 120 single-shot .22 rifle. Was missing rear sight completely and someone had tried to isntall a sling swivel and drilled ***** in the buttstock and filled it in with Bondo.
After cleaning it all up, properly plugging and refinishing the hole in the stock, a lot of 0000 steel wool and some JPW it looks purty good. A set of rimfire rings and an old BSA 4x32 I took off another rifle for better optics and it shoots darn good. All told I think I have $40 in that rifle.

[JeffinNZ]

Bought a Stevens Favorite as a wall hanger for next to nothing. It was nothing to look at a had no foreend. For a hoot I shot it. 55 yards, sub 1 inch. Made a foreend and shot bunnies with it.

[3006guns]

A friend showed me some pieces of a Martini Henry he had were disassembled .Hegave me the metal bits in a plastic icecream pail and said take it to smith I think it needs afiring pin.My smith would not look at it because it wasn,t registed so I offered my pal $200 for the bits . Accepted I returned to the smith for registration and reassemble and for about another $260 I ended up with a gr
eat example of the Zulu era Martini Henry 577/450[now 45/70 due to corrosion]Gerry.

Your smith wouldn't work on a 100+ year old rifle because "it wasn't registered"??? Was he afraid it was some sort of assault rifle??

You need a new smith with a better attitude!

I was offered a S&W 5" chambered in .38 Smith and Wesson for 60 bucks. Most bluing turned brown with "Osterich Poliezi" (Austrian Police) stamped in the frame, but a gorgeous bore and chambers. Other than a thorough cleaning and inspection I did nothing to restore it. That little gun will pop desert jackrabbits at 60 yards using a one handed grip every time if I do my part. It has become my dedicated "dispenser of bunny mortality" ever since.....

[Wayne Smith]

A friend showed me some pieces of a Martini Henry he had were disassembled .Hegave me the metal bits in a plastic icecream pail and said take it to smith I think it needs afiring pin.My smith would not look at it because it wasn,t registed so I offered my pal $200 for the bits . Accepted I returned to the smith for registration and reassemble and for about another $260 I ended up with a gr
eat example of the Zulu era Martini Henry 577/450[now 45/70 due to corrosion]Gerry.

Gerrycan, I'm betting you are in England? I does help us understand your situation if you post a general location in your profile.

[mroliver77]

Gerry is one of our "Down under" friends.
Jay

[geargnasher]

I rescued this old Savage 219 from the depths of my Dad's closet, many years of neglect and being left with an uncleaned barrel by an owner prior to him (he got the gun at a pawn shop in 1968) had pitted the barrel, and the exterior is just a rust patina, probably less than 10% of the original blueing showing. I cleaned it up, firelapped it, and shot the group in the pic with a 311041 and a medium charge of 748 at 50 yards, believe it or not the gun doesn't lead at all, even after many rounds, and the groups stay as consistent as I am.

I thought about refinishing it, but decided some old guns are best just oiled, cleaned, and used.

Gear

http://www.castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=24079&d=1280378396

[3006guns]

Jay, thanks for clearing that up. I didn't realize that Gerrycan was "down under". Now the gunsmith's concern makes sense.......no matter how silly it might be.

[gnoahhh]

I recently was given a Remington Model 12C by a co-worker who just wanted to be "rid of a nasty old gun." It's in pretty sad shape, but complete. Bad butt stock that'll need replaced, prown patina (rust) over most of the exterior, bore looks like it was last cleaned in 1940. Before parting it out I decided to test fire it. Lo and behold it feeds flawlessly and has "tin can" accuracy. I guess now I'll refurbish it and have the barrel lined. It'll look good next to my other one.

[Char-Gar]

I walked into a gun shop in Farmington New Mexico about ten years ago and their was a like new Dixie left handed flintlock Tennessee rifle hanging on the wall. I thought it was pretty neat and the owner asked if i wanted to buy it. I said, yes but I didn't have much money. He told me he bought it from a guy for very little as a wall hanger thinking it would never sell. I offered him $65.00 and it was mine.

[Harter66]

I'm not sure I've any that aren't "saved".

There's the 06' that simply won't shoot factories.
The model 14 and 760 I bought on the sidewalk in front of the pawnshop.
The 1865 Rem Army,looked like 500 miles of washboard under the seat.
The 12ga Montgomery Wards pump with that godaweful choke/compesator thingy.
The $25 Colt 38 in a sock with 3 chamber mouths that were oval.

[Link23]

i got a marlin model 88 for 5 bucks at a yard sale, i thought it was a BB gun and when i took it home to look at it, the whole link system from the trigger to sear was gone, so i got online and found it so for around 25 bucks i got a GREAT little gun, man i love 22s

[Longwood]

I don't know if you can call it a rescued gun.
About 50 years ago, I was working at a gas station and a guy drove up that was moving to California and needed some gas. He said he had an old 22 rifle he would trade for 20 gallons. When he took out a Winchester model 52 that had obviously been used a lot, [smilie=w: I nearly peed my pants and quickly filled his tank and gave him an extra five in an old Jerry can I had on hand. If I recall correctly, the gas was about 35 cents a gallon then.

[midnight]

I don't know if this qualifies as a "rescue" but about 15 yrs ago I was at a junk yard picking wheelweights. 10 cents a pound as I recall. As I was leaving, a guy came up to me and said
" are you interested in guns" and I said yes. He opened the trunk of his car and pulled out two guns. One was a Win 1894 mfg during WWII. It was in a canvas case and that was in a leather scabard. Very little bluing left, but no rust at all. Wood had almost no finish but otherwise was perfect. The other gun was a Win 97 16 Gauge Modified mfg in the 50s.Had almost all the blue and stock finish. How much? $100 each. Sold!!.
Looking back, I can't help wondering about the origins of those guns.

Bob

[Longwood]

I don't know if this qualifies as a "rescue" but about 15 yrs ago I was at a junk yard picking wheelweights. 10 cents a pound as I recall. As I was leaving, a guy came up to me and said
" are you interested in guns" and I said yes. He opened the trunk of his car and pulled out two guns. One was a Win 1894 mfg during WWII. It was in a canvas case and that was in a leather scabard. Very little bluing left, but no rust at all. Wood had almost no finish but otherwise was perfect. The other gun was a Win 97 16 Gauge Modified mfg in the 50s.Had almost all the blue and stock finish. How much? $100 each. Sold!!.
Looking back, I can't help wondering about the origins of those guns.

Bob
A few years ago a friend of mine made arrangements to pay for a shotgun that a guy he worked with was selling. The guy brought it to the street in front of his house and as soon as the deal was done, a couple of cops pulled up and arrested both of them. He was charged with accepting stolen goods even though he had no way of knowing the gun was stolen.
I asked him since they were obviously following a known thief, why the cops did not arrest the guy with the gun before he got there but of course there was no SENSIBLE answer to the question.
When they come to confiscate your guns, you could possibly be arrested if you still have them and they are stolen.

[Wayne Smith]

My brother volunteers at a gunshop in California. There was an old gun there, browned patina, beautifully made, that clearly had a damascus 16x2.5" left barrel but nobody could figure out what the right side was. It had been sitting there for over two years and it became a topic of conversation between the owner and my brother. The owner said "Paul, send it to your brother, he'll figure out what it is!"

I now have a beautiful combination gun, 16gax2.5" left side, 10.5x47mm right side, right side fluid steel. In fact, JMtoolman has just made me a new mainspring for the price of a mold and the lock is on it's way back to me. That, a set of CH custom dies, a NEI punkin ball mold, and a Mountain Mold for it that I designed on his website are all the 'money' I have into it!

[Sprue]

In November I ordered an FAL off the internet and had it sent to a local gun shop. While paying for the FAL I noticed a little snubby in the cabinet and asked to see it.

Low and behold it was a 2" Pre 10 Model 5 screw. Having a few bucks left over I put it in lay away and went back the next day a brought the jewel home.

I asked the dealer how long he had had it and his reply was, " about 3 weeks". I was astounded.

[Trey45]

My uncle went home to Michigan for a visit and found his childhood Stevens 22LR rifle in rough shape in the basement. He brought it back with him and dropped it off at my house for me "do what you can for it please". A month or so later I had found the parts it needed online, cleaned it, got the rust off, and had it in working condition again. As best as I can remember it was a tube fed model 57, not a clip fed. The bolt stayed back until you released the trigger then the bolt would strip another round and chamber it. It's a real shooter now. My uncle picked it up not too long ago and dropped off a Savage 16 gauge in pieces. I'll get it working too eventually.

Does that count as rescue?

[Bret4207]

I was looking for a 410 for bunny hunting. For some reason the old lightweight 410 singles of my youth are no more to be found. What I did find in the far back dusty corner of a gunshop was a Stevens 410 bolt action that weighed about 5 lbs. The stock had obviously been fallen on, probably by some guy hunting bunnys. I think I gave $30-40.00 for it. A little glue and some clamping, some sanding and finish and I had a nice little 410.

My dad owned a bar in addition to the gunshop. He got in some of the most god-awful junk guns you ever saw. The one that sticks in my mind is a 12 ga single shot that a guy stored in the "Ski-boose" of his trapping snowmobile rig. Well, he forget it was there for a few years. It took days to get that thing to break open. And then it took days to get the rust off the internals. I remember dad gluing the stock back together and wrapping it in surgical tubing (wish I had some of that!) and letting it dry for a couple months. In the end I think we spray painted it dull black and charged the guy like $10.00 for probably 25 hours of messing with it. He was happy, dad was happy, I learned not to forget guns in Ski-booses.

[Artful]

Was at a gunshow an old guy (and I'm over 50, I should talk) was trying to sell a an old nickle plated S&W I frame 32 - he was dealing with a guy at a table who was trying to steal it from the old guy (it is missing a side plate screw) so after the old guy gave up on the dealer I paid him what he was asking for it. Not big into 32's but it's a cutie.

http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/5517/dsc05833wg9.jpg

I thought good enough to eat

[pls1911]

Marlin levers.. where ever I find 'em ugly and cheap, so long as the barrel is straight.
93's, 36's, 336's mostly.
Most bores are much better than the outside.
Old black walnut refinishes easily, repairing only mating surfaces to tighten the fit, and major missing chuncks or cracks. Dents and scratches from experience are normally ignored, leaving each piece's individual charactor intact.
Never found one that wouldn't shoot very decently when carefully cleaned up.

[Bullwolf]

Loved this thread, long time lurker - first time poster.

Quite a while ago, maybe 15 or 20 years back some folks on the Ranch had come across this old custom rifle. It was a re-chambered Mauser action, and the barrel was marked 300 magnum.

I had the opportunity to purchase the rifle for 150 dollars. The rifle only had a front sight, no rear, and had no scope, or scope mounts.

The story I was told, was that someone at the horse stables brought it to a friend to be looked at because they could not close the bolt on a loaded cartridge. I bought the rifle, and it came with a with a box of factory 300 Weatherby Magnum shells.

The couldn't close the bolt on the rifle because it was chambered in 300 Winchester Magnum, not 300 Weatherby Magnum.

My local gunsmith set it up with some nice rings and a good scope. He also bore sighted the rifle, and test fired it for me for safety.

I shot a box of factory 180grain Winchester Mag through the rifle to dial in the scope and yep, it's a shooter!

It is one of my favorite rifles to this day. It has a really nice used look, and feel to it.

After sighting in the scope at 100 yards, I was rewarded with this neat half dollar souvenir, that I had taped to the center of the target. It still sits on my reloading bench to this day.

- Bullwolf

[olafhardt]

l started this thread and you guys seem to understand "rescued" perfectly!! :popcorn::bigsmyl2::lovebooli:redneck::Bright idea::awesome::guntootsmiley::CastBoolitsisbest: