message in a stock

[gusbratz]

i was cleaning my model 14 .35 rem and suddenly thought i wonder if anything is under the butplate. now sure what got into me. i pulled it off and sure enough there was an old piece of waxed paper that said "golden crust" on it wrapped around some super heavy duty matches. there was also a paper wrapped around a pencil. i was pretty disapointed to find no message on it. so i wrote where and when we bought the gun and todays date. maybe somebody will find this little time capsule again someday. wonder how old it all was.
http://i1211.photobucket.com/albums/cc437/gusbratz/Interesting%20stuff/PTO%20012_zpsfb79ver7.jpg (http://s1211.photobucket.com/user/gusbratz/media/Interesting%20stuff/PTO%20012_zpsfb79ver7.jpg.html)
http://i1211.photobucket.com/albums/cc437/gusbratz/Interesting%20stuff/PTO%20013_zpsqhxa5wcp.jpg (http://s1211.photobucket.com/user/gusbratz/media/Interesting%20stuff/PTO%20013_zpsqhxa5wcp.jpg.html)
http://i1211.photobucket.com/albums/cc437/gusbratz/Interesting%20stuff/PTO%20016_zpsjnluwxrh.jpg (http://s1211.photobucket.com/user/gusbratz/media/Interesting%20stuff/PTO%20016_zpsjnluwxrh.jpg.html)
http://i1211.photobucket.com/albums/cc437/gusbratz/Interesting%20stuff/PTO%20015_zpsiuewo0fs.jpg (http://s1211.photobucket.com/user/gusbratz/media/Interesting%20stuff/PTO%20015_zpsiuewo0fs.jpg.html)

[whisler]

Someone's homemade survival kit.

[RKJ]

I read an article recently about that same thing. I think John Taffin wrote about a hunt he and some friends did not long ago. It seems one of his friends had bought an old rifle and in the process of cleaning it took off the butt plate and there was a message in there, it had the original owners name, where he bought it, the date he bought it and how much he paid for it. There was also the name he had given the rifle. I thought it pretty cool and want to do that with a few of mine that I've had for some time. I'm hoping my Grandsons or maybe Great Grandsons find it and think of their Pa.

[Mk42gunner]

I found the iron sights for a Savage Model 219 in the buttstock once.

Looks you found the unobtainium -- strike anywhere matches. I wonder how long that stuff has been in there, it has been a long time since I saw a pencil with that checkered texture.

Robert

[w5pv]

An old trick to water proof matches was to dip them in airplane glue.the pencil I never have seen one like that one and what purpose it served I don't know unless he used the graphite to lubricate some parts on his gun.I do use the graphite in a pencil to bubricate different parts on my guns and sprue plates and such.Once you get a coating going it is easy to maintain.

[waksupi]

An old trick to water proof matches was to dip them in airplane glue.the pencil I never have seen one like that one and what purpose it served I don't know unless he used the graphite to lubricate some parts on his gun.I do use the graphite in a pencil to bubricate different parts on my guns and sprue plates and such.Once you get a coating going it is easy to maintain.

This is why the pencil may be needed.


https://youtu.be/d-OCKxSqTHw

[elk hunter]

I too found matches in the buttstock of a Krag sporter I bought. They're still there. The only other thing I found was a picture of a woman, circa 1900, under the buttplate of a drilling. Unfortunately the last cartridge of the cartridge trap in the toe of the stock had removed her face. I always look as you never know what you might find.

[Smoke4320]

I too found matches in the buttstock of a Krag sporter I bought. They're still there. The only other thing I found was a picture of a woman, circa 1900, under the buttplate of a drilling. Unfortunately the last cartridge of the cartridge trap in the toe of the stock had removed her face. I always look as you never know what you might find.
are you saying she had been "rubbed out"

[Thumbcocker]

My grandfathers family used to put their name on a piece of paper under the butt plate on their guns.

[stubbicatt]

I've often heard the expression, "if this rifle could talk..." Well, this rifle can speak a little better than most. :)

[Harry O]

The very first 1892 Colt in 41LC that I bought was in poor shape. It had the original grips, though. I took them off when thoroughly cleaning the gun and found some scratching inside the grips. There was a name, the words Cripple Creek, and a date.

The date was about 6 to 9 months after the gun was built (based on the S/N). I had relatives that were going to gamble at Cripple Creek that summer. I asked them to check out the name. They went to the historical museum and asked. Turns out the name was from a foreman that worked there for a few years before a strike (from payroll records). There was a violent strike in the mines there and there was no record of the foreman after that. Interestingly, there were three small notches carved in the metal at the bottom of the handgrip.

There are a lot of possibilities with the given information.

[blackthorn]

The matches look like the old Eddy Match "Bluebird" matches. The ones I used to get were heavier duty than the "Redbird" type. I have not seen the Bluebird matches for likely over 35 years, but I can still buy the Redbird ones. That said, the new matches are much flimsier and weaker than the originals.

[TenTea]

That said, the new matches are much flimsier and weaker than the originals.

...must be MIM.

[flint45]

Ibought a old Winchester model 86 at a yard sale acouple years ago in excellet condition .50-110 with 3 boxes of org. western brand ammo also in excellent cond. all for only $50.00 bucks they were asking $100.00 but got em done to fifty.when I got home Ibroke it down to clean it and when Ilooked under the butt plate there was4 old but excellent cond. $1000.00 doller bills!!!...Iam a liar butt I can fantasize right never found anythig.

[Thumbcocker]

Wonder if that female panther ever go used to Ole Hatchet Jack.

[Wolfer]

Years ago I would put old hunting license in the butt of my guns. I had forgot about that until now. Wonder if I have any now?

[161]

I have an old gunsmith friend who gave me several 1920 and 30s hunting license he found in shotgun stocks.

[quack1]

It's possible the pencil found by the OP was there to be used to fill out a Pa. deer tag. Would work much better than trying to use a bullet tip to write with. Model 14 and 141's were popular deer rifles in Pa., maybe where his rifle came from.

[RKJ]

The very first 1892 Colt in 41LC that I bought was in poor shape. It had the original grips, though. I took them off when thoroughly cleaning the gun and found some scratching inside the grips. There was a name, the words Cripple Creek, and a date. That story reminds me; I've got a S&W 66 that when I pulled the grips off had a SSN scratched into the r/s grip frame. I recall when the talk was to do that for ID purposes.

[Hardcast416taylor]

If you were leaving a message using that pencil you had better not make any mistakes since there seems to be no eraser.Robert

[Jal5]

I have a German P38 pistol in 9mm. A WWII GI gun my uncle brought home. I was surprised to find an Americans name etched into the flip side of the grips. When i mentioned that name to my uncle shortly before he died his face lit up. " i remember Jack. I won that pistol from him in a **** game".

[Lloyd Smale]

one of the m1 carbines I had back in the 70s had a soldiers name and service no. wrote on the but stock under the but plate. didn't care much then but I wish I had it back so I could contact the family now.

[10x]

When I pull the original sights off of a gun and put other sights or a scope on, a hole gets drilled under the butt plate and the sights get wrapped in dacron and plastic wrap and inserted. That way if I decide to go back to factory sights they are always with the gun and I don't search for days through the parts bin.

[FLHTC]

I found an original receipt to a Marlin 336 rolled up in the butt stock that was dated 1959. Just a name, date and price of $52. No store name, no customer info other than a name and it was probably never used in a crime. For decades life was like that, now suddenly guns are the problem? Naaaa!

[BrentD]

My great uncle's 97 Winchester has hunting licenses from Montana beginning around 1917 and going up to the early 1920s. I have added a few more every once in a while.

I always pull the buttplate on any rifle I buy used. Never know where you will find treasure.

[yovinny]

I found a note in a Swedish Mauser stock years ago, but it was just the owners name & address.

On a more interesting note, many years ago I bought a bunch of old web gear from an estate sale.
Most was WWII, but the oldest piece was a Kraig cartridge belt from the Spanish American war, that had 20+ rounds of what I first took to be blanks in the loops.
On closer inspection at home, the 'blanks' were actually fired cartridges with notes that were rolled up and inserted into the cases. Each note was identical and only had a single name, date and location written on it.

The only good reason I can figure for this, is that the original wearer wrote a note and inserted it into a fired cartridge to keep track of each time one of his brothers in arms was killed in action.

That belt has been kept as I found it and holds an honored spot in my collection.

Cheers, YV

[BrentD]

yovinny,
Have you ever tried to trace the names to troops that saw duty in the Spanish American? They should be relatively easy to trace and find out if your hypothesis is correct.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

156879This is the grip of my French M1873 ordnance revolver, with the penciled name "L. Lebrun". It was a nation of near-universal conscription, L is a commoner initial than in English, and the surname is as common as "Brown", which is what it means. So I doubt if anything more could ever be found out.

But the evil Sergeant Markoff in the movie "Beau Geste" was Sous-officier Lejaune in PC Wren's book and the 1926 movie. They changed it for a movie made in 1939 because the French were on the side of the angels, and Russia wasn't yet even accidentally so. "Jaune" means "yellow", and I have always wondered whether Wren, himself a former legionnaire, changed names to protect the guilty.

[yovinny]

yovinny,
Have you ever tried to trace the names to troops that saw duty in the Spanish American? They should be relatively easy to trace and find out if your hypothesis is correct.

No, once removed and unrolled, their super fragile and almost illegible. I removed a few, but once I figured what it was and saw the pattern developing, I stopped and returned the ones I had already removed the best I could.
I didnt really see much point to damage them to try and make a list of names, especially since I have no idea who the original wearer was anyway.

[BrentD]

Hmm. If no one looks and knows, then the names and history ate lost just as if they tossed in a landfill.

Maybe if you have a good museum or university history dept near you, perhaps you could enlist some help. Just a suggestion.

[nvbirdman]

I found a piece of paper with a message on it in a fortune cookie once.
On a serious note, matches for survival and pencil and paper for last will if you run out of matches?

[BrentD]

In those cases where there is survival stuff under a buttplate and not in a purpose-built trap, I always wonder if they will have their screwdriver handy when the time to use it comes. Would it not be easier to just carry the matches in one's pocket? :)

[Ballistics in Scotland]

All right, it wasn't logical. Perhaps it was the principle.

[FLHTC]

Leaving some type of info in the butt stock must have been quite common back in the day. The 336 I had was deliberately drilled to accommodate the receipt and I'm guessing that was the proof of ownership back then.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

The Swiss K-31 straight-pull rifles often have the name and street address of the reservist to whom they were issued under the butt plate. I have two of them, and both had the tag. They are a thin, flexible piece of translucent plastic with the information written on in pencil. They also have a hole in one end for a butt plate screw to pass through and hold them in place. Except for the information they are so similar that I believe it must have been an issue item and a requirement.