I wonder if we should have a subject called "My fathers gun"....

[jimb16]

I think many of us have an heirloom firearm that we still use today that brings back special memories of our fathers/uncles/ special friends. I think many of those stories would be very interesting.
Mine is an old model 219 Savage single shot hinge action 20 ga. My father taught me to hunt rabbits and squirrels with that old single shot. To this day it still goes out in the field from time to time. What is special about it is that it also has a second barrel; a .30-30. I load light cast loads with a 150 gr Loverin design and get very good accuracy at 50 yards. I occasionally use them for squirrel in the right situation. Over the years, I did have to restock it but that was because the repair my father made to the wrist finally gave up. I couldn't retire that fine old single. Some day, It will pass to my son, and hopefully to one of my grandsons. I just hope they appreciate the family history that goes with it.
BTW, that old thing killed a lot of rabbits in its time. One year my father and I had a competition. Between us we got 43 rabbits that year. He got 22 with the old 12 ga single and I got the other 21 with the 20. I have to give a lot of credit to my mother. I don't know how she came up with that many recipes for rabbit!

[Kraschenbirn]

My Dad's Winchester Model 12 stands in the safe right behind where I'm sitting. Purchased new from a Western Auto hardware store in Salem, IL in 1937 (I found the sales receipt folded up in one of the pockets of the original canvas/leather take-down case) it passed to me in 1962 when he upgrade to a Browning A5. I rarely shoot it anymore but it's taken down a lot of birds...both clay and live...in the last 65 years.

Bill

[Tracy]

I have my Dad's old Winchester Model 42, .410 shotgun. It might have been his first gun. When he was still a kid, Dad got a bigger gun (possibly a 12 gauge Model 12) and decided he didn't need that little .410 any longer, so he traded or sold it to his cousin. Cousin's dad bought it from him and gave/sold/traded it back to my grandfather, who kept his mouth shut about it until Dad was old enough to fully appreciate it, then he gave it back to my Dad. In his later years, it became Dad's favorite gun.

[Thin Man]

My father owned a Model 70 in 30'06 that he used for deer hunting. I used to beg him to include me in his hunting trips but he always said I was too young and to be patient. I was 10 (almost 11) years old when he died from a heart attack so we never got to hunt together. My mother had a cousin keep all of my father's firearms until I turned 21 (the age of emancipation at that time) and I took in all of them. I hunted with the 30'06 a few years but never did score a deer with it. My interest in firearms grew as did my collection and I started carrying other rifles for hunting. Came the day when a doctor told me I had heart disease that may require surgery sooner or later. That year I carried my father's rifle and took a nice buck with it. When that deer fell I looked up into the sky and spoke a quiet prayer to my father and sat recalling our all-too-few times in the woods together. I semi-retired that rifle and now am looking to pass it to our youngest daughter's husband so it can stay in the family lineage. That family has one son who has a Lifetime Sportsman's License for our home state (my gift to him) and this grandson is already (at age 6) speaking about going to the woods with his father. Now it is up to me to help this happen.

[JSnover]

If there was such a thread I'd add two: A Remington 341 and a Ward's Western Field 740 (Marlin 336). Dad taught me how to shoot them when I was 7 or 8 (had to wait till I was 12 for the 30-30) and gave them to me before he passed.

[John Guedry]

At the age of 17 I inherited my grandfathers 12 ga. "crack barrel". He bought it the year after he and my grandmother got married (1900). The brand is "Ntro Hunter". I'm told that was a brand made for small stores.I have shot it several times,but no more.

[Fitz]

I am one of the lucky ones I have dads whole collection of weapons , Three generations worth, all of them have their own story that goes with them and will be handed to my oldest son when i am gone.

[Bazoo]

My dad was a felon. So I didn’t get any guns until I was 18 and could legally purchase my own. My son has the interest though and at 3, wants to go hunting with me already. I take him walking in the woods and scouting.

[Walks]

I have My Dad's M12s in 12gaMag & 20ga. Along with His Fathers WARDS WESTERN FIELD 20ga & M1917 Sporterized in .257Robt's. And the Colt OP 6" bbl that He bought about the time I was born. Most of His guns were stolen in a burglary in 1974 by His future ex step son in law. And I have both Grandmother's Pocket pistols; an H&R .38S&W and a S&W Lemon Squeezer in .32S&W with factory mother of pearl grips and nickel plated. Shot both those in Cowboy sidematches.
All my siblings are gone now, lost My Son too. His Sister is only interested in black plastic 9mm's. So I guess these guns and My others will go to some dealers for cheap or maybe some will be picked thru by the Wife's relatives.

Killed my 1st Deer with that .257Robt's, as did My Brothers before and after Me, My Son too. Many Dove, Quail & Pheasants fell to those old scatter guns. The Colt Official Police killed many a Jackrabbit. But now...................

[Jedman]

My Dad wasn’t a hunter or a fisherman and didn’t eat game or fish. When he has a young adult he did buy a Winchester M 67 to shoot rats at a local dump and that was his only use for a gun.
He gave the rifle to me when I was about 12 and I begged him constantly to take me out to where I could shoot it since we lived in the city. I have had a fascination with guns since I was very young and the M 67 was my first real gun and by age 14 -15 I had already done some buying and trading and owned a 12 ga. High Standard pump and a 20 ga. single shot , plus a Arisaka M 99 in 7.7 Jap. I kept the Arisaka for several years and never had any ammo for it so it was sold or traded so I could buy something else.
I still have the Win. 67 that was my fathers only rifle and not sure who I will leave it to that would appreciate it for what it is.

Jedman

[Green Frog]

I guess the most significant guns in my collection (for purposes of this conversation) are a couple that came down through Dad’s Mother’s family. They are a Springfield Musket and a Colt 1860 Army revolver that were carried by named ancestors of my Dad. Others I got from Dad may be more useful, but those two are the most significant.

Froggie

[dondiego]

I have my father's guns and his dads Win. Model 97. I never knew him though.................there are so many stories I could tell. I have the guns that my father bought me in Texas when I was 10 years old.

[Harter66]

Well I'm an only . I have my grandfather's, Mom's Daddy , very early M10 that he carried as a Kern county constable. My son carried it the only season and hunt he got to make with my Dad . So that's kind of cool .

I was recently given my Dad's Dad's M70 in 06' . My Mom hunted with this rifle from about 1978 to 2010 , lots of hunts with her 1979-92' . I was too young but Dad hunted with his Dad and that rifle many years in California and Utah .

Mom gave me Dad's M12 Winchester . I hate that 32" barrel but it fits like a glove and there's nothing but the bead above the action . The M70 was built the year Dad graduated HS and the M12 within weeks of his birth . Dad and I hunted a little off and on he with "The Widow maker" and I with a kind of special 1914 built M12 with letters and reciepts explaining why it has a 1968 SN .

I have a A5 Mag that Dad bought at a yard sale kind of on a whim . I've had a lust for one for .....well a long time . When he proposed a swap for my 1894C I took it . Mom says she's not done with it yet . I expect it will be a family joke for at least 30 yr .

Dad always wanted a 257 Roberts and a couple of 95 Mauser actions fell in our laps and he got it finally. He never got to shoot it . I have it also kind of a bitter sweet deal there . He did have a 25-06' that he shot quite a bit and I killed my first deer with . 1972 700 BDL Varmint Master, not a great gun to pack but when the business was ready to be done it did the job with style , grace , and deliberant decisive results. I had it out the other day it's not as heavy as I remember. The bolt and Monty Carlo are still on the wrong side but since he didn't have an eye on the left side so that didn't bother him any :) . I've learned to shoot right handed almost as well as I do lefty so its all good .

[charlie b]

My mom hated guns and most field activity. Parents were both sports nuts and both coached teams in the high school they taught at. Dad did have my grand dad's service 1911 (yes, 1911, not A1) and I inherited that when he died. It was wrapped up in a rag in his trunk with all his service stuff. I don't shoot it much. Neither one of my kids are interested in guns at all.

My father-in-law is the one I shared my love of guns. He inherited a bunch from a man who mentored him as a kid. My wife and I kept a few of those. Interestingly enough, he didn't shoot much until I got him interested in reloading and casting. That prompted him to build a pistol range on his property where we spent many long weekends working on bullets and loads.

There are too many to list but the one that stands out is the Python he gave me for Christmas one year.

[15meter]

I started this thread a while ago:

https://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?428123-The-one-rifle-you-will-never-sell-and-why

Similar idea, some neat stories popped up.

[rintinglen]

Sadly, neither of my fathers guns came down to me. His shotgun, an old Sears pump made by Noble, was confiscated and destroyed after my Baby brother shot himself. His other guns he had sold off when he got sick.

I do have my grandmother's old Remington 22 zig-zag derringer. It is no longer functional, my Uncle having removed and lost the firing pin assembly to prevent my Cousin from doing anything too stupid when he came back from Vietnam addicted to heroin. But I do have the stories of my Grandmother (all 4' 10" of her) using it to run off an overly-insistent tramp, and killing an injured dog when my big, strapping, ex-lumberjack Grandfather was too tender hearted to do it. The depression made you tough, I guess.

[hc18flyer]

My Dad wasn't a hunter or fisherman. And my Grandfather on my Mom's side died crossing a fence with a 20 gauge shotgun, wten she was 3 months old, so I was very lucky to get a .410 single shot was I was 14. My brother and I were very fortunate when an older family friend 'adopted ' us as hunting partners and showed us the ropes. I thank him every chance I get! So no, I don't have any guns from my Dad.
hc18flyer

[Texas by God]

We were dairy farm poor, Dad was too busy working to ever go hunting much. I do remember being the "bird boy" once as Granddad Jacob, uncle Elbert, and Dad sat by a stock pond( we call them tanks) hitting an occasional dove with their 12 gauge side by sides. Dad also took me squirrel hunting but deer were scarce back then- if you saw one, you called the neighbors! It was a big deal. Turtle shooting was how we practiced marksmanship, Dad didn't believe much in plinking- taught not to "waste" shells during the Depression.
Until I left home at 19, Dad's gun consisted of a Model 235 Stevens side by side hammer 12 gauge("Old two- row") we called it, a Winchester 94 30-30, and the gun all five of us kids learned with- A Remington 511 .22 bolt action.
Dad gave me the Winchester about ten years ago, and his Nylon 66 a couple of years ago. In his 70s, he acquired a few more. A S&W model 66, the Nylon, a Marlin .218 Bee, and a Brazilian 20 gauge sawed off("18") shotgun were his go-to guns until he got too feeble physically and mentally to handle them.
Thanks for starting this thread, it's good reading as the stories come out!

Sent from my SM-A716U using Tapatalk

[rbuck351]

I ended up with about 15 of dads guns starting when I was about 12. I first got a M8 Rem in 30 Rem and a M10 Rem in 12 ga. When he passed I got the rest of his guns. Four of these have special meaning, a Russian Tok 7.62 x25, a Walthers 22 Olympic target pistol,another M8 Rem in 35 and his favorite hunting rifle, a M1917 Enfield he bought around 1935. All of these have stories about how he got them and will be passed on to my two sons with the stories. The Tok and the Walthers were brought back from his trip to Germany with the 4th Armored during WWII

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Several--but just one story today. My dad had a nicely used Win. Mod. 37 .410 shotgun he bought from a gunsmith. We used it around his ranch to knock off various varmints including the occasional rattler, but most memorable was the harvesting of California Banded Tail Pigeons. These are wild, a recognized game bird, almost the size of a bantam chicken, and they had a strong attraction to a grove of wild cherry trees near the barn.

The birds would sit in the distant fir trees until desire overcame caution and one or two would fly in and begin eating cherries. After a few minutes a major flock would descend on the trees, about which time I'd fire off the .410 and add another to the dinner collection. One bird would feed one person, so 4 or 5 were enough for a family of 4. All shots were at a distance of perhaps 50 ft., and a miss was rare, but sometimes leaves and branches got in the way. I spent many a pleasant summer afternoon shooting pigeons, but sometimes had to leave my sport to tend to other chores.

On one such occasion I remembered something I had been assigned to do, and leaned the shotgun up against a fence post. There was a very friendly, mild tempered Hereford bull contained in a pen on the other side of the fence, and while I was absent he decided to investigate the strange object. Apparently he sniffed it, decided it wasn't edible, and in so doing he knocked it over onto the ground and stepped on it. The only damage appeared to be a bent and twisted trigger guard. To say that my dad was unhappy would be an understatement, but he home gunsmithed it a bit and got it straightened out.

About 20 years later I went off to gunsmithing school for a year and took the Mod. 37 along as a school project. I completely reblued it, refinished the stock, and when I returned it he declared that it looked too good to use. When he passed away I took it, still have it, but have never again used it as they've become a desirable collector item. I've added a 12 and a 16 gauge to the collection. They also made a 28 Ga., but that one never interested me.

DG

307177

[MSD MIke]

Old Remington bolt action 22lr made in the 1940’s. Dad still talks about working all summer to buy it. $17.00 I think. I tim shoot it from time to time and it’s accurate and functions just fine.

[gwpercle]

My Dad hunted his whole adult life with one gun . A 16 gauger bolt action J.C. Higgins . bought in 1945 when he got out the Navy , from Sears Roebuck & Co.
He used it to hunt everything in South Louisiana ... small game like rabbits , squirrels , possum and coons . Birds ...Bob-White quail , doves and Woodcock , Crows and I know of one Wood Pecker ... Ducks and Water birds .. all the different ones that you can hunt in Louisiana including water chicken . Large Game , deer and hogs .
He always said he had meant to buy a better shotgun afier the War shortage was over ... but shortages are never over so he just kept on shooting the bolt action 16 ga.
When he shot at game ... he 99.9% of the time nailed it . I only saw him shoot at one crow and not hit it ... he fired and then told me ... (I was standing next to him with my 1 barrel 410) ... " Shoot it" I threw up my gun , lead the fast moving crow like daddy had instructed and pulled the trigger ... the crow folded up and crashed to earth ... stone cold dead !
I don't know who was more proud of my making that shot on that fast moving crow ...
Me or my Dad

I have a sneaking suspicion that Dad may have missed on purpose ... just so I could take a shot on that speeding crow ...
Gary

[KMac]

I have the only gun my Dad had for my life. Dad has Alzheimer’s and it turned him from a sweet likable guy into a mean, belligerent jerk. After he threatened to kill my BIL I went and got his pistol. It is a sweet S&W model 67. I took it to the range and it misfired every trigger pull. Took it home and stripped it all the way down for a cleaning and a little piece of what looked like spring steel was under the plate. I guess it was interfering with it firing. Took. It shoots sweet now. That was my Dads home defense pistol for the last 40 years and he never shot it. It would have gotten him killed if he ended up in a SD situation.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Like I said a few posts back, I have several firearms that could fit into this category. Another that comes to mind came from my Mother's side of the family. Her father was a school teacher/principal in a small country town in Colorado. He passed away at the early age of 35, leaving a widow, two sons, and a daughter. The daughter eventually became my Mother, and the sons were my uncles. Let's call them Uncle #1 and Uncle #2.

Things were never prosperous for them, especially in those times which were at the beginning of the Great Depression. My maternal grandmother took the three children and moved to Kansas to live with her father. He owned a small farm with a two room house, and specialized in raising watermelons. His wife had passed away early in their marriage, and after many years of living as a widower he was glad to have some domestic and farm help. He was already an older man, and not in good health. Other than the annual watermelon crop he had very little income, so what he did have was now supporting five people instead of one.

They were what you folks in the South would call Po' Folk. Very Po'. All of their clothing was at least second hand, much of it supplied through the mail by my grandmother's half-sister who lived in California. Her husband worked for the railroad moving luggage carts around the depot and onto passenger trains, and by comparison they were wealthy. Cornbread made up a large part of their daily fare, and they carried chunks of it to school for the midday meal in little buckets that had previously contained lard. The farm house only had one window, but my Mother related that was all that was needed, as one could tell if the sun was shining or if it was snowing through the cracks in the board siding. It was bitterly cold in the winter. Their diet was lacking in so many necessities that my Mother developed Ricketts, a condition that caused her discomfort and sometimes pain for the remainder of her life. She passed away in 2014 at age 96.

Times were tough, but the worst of the bad times came one summer when the melons were almost ready to harvest. A hail storm with golf ball sized stones pulverized the entire crop in the field. Then, along came FDR and the Works Projects Administration, and both the boys were able to become employed. This was closely followed by WW II. Uncle #1 joined the Army, and Uncle #2 spent the war working for the Lockheed Aircraft Corp. building P-38 fighters, and later bombers. Well, of course, my Mom married my Dad, and then I came along, as did one brother. That was also during the war, and I'm a 1942 model.

I guess it was around 2007 after my Father had passed away, and I was asked to visit my brother and family in the Colfax area of California. My Mother, who had sold her mountain home, was living with my Brother and his wife and she wished to give a large china cabinet to my daughter. Also living there was Uncle #1 who needed a bit of assistance in caring for himself. He asked me to come into his bedroom, and after we settled into chairs he related much of the story about their life during the Depression and how hard it had been on a day to day basis. Then he said, "I want you to have this." He got a Savage Model 29 .22 Cal. pump action rifle from his closet and handed it to me. It was well worn and had that "patina", but wasn't rusty. The bluing had turned a uniform brown. The bore remained in good condition. Then he said that he and his brother had pooled what little money they had been able to earn by working for other farmers, and had purchased the rifle mail order from a Sears & Roebuck catalog for $7.50. They had taken turns hunting with it. He looked directly into my eyes and said, "If it wasn't for this rifle there were lots of nights us and your Mom would have gone hungry -- but instead we had rabbit."

It was a couple of years later when Uncle #2 found out that Uncle #1, gone to a nursing home, had given me the rifle. He wasn't very happy about it, and hinted broadly that I should give it to him, as after all he was half owner, and that he'd like to give it to his son. I have to admit that I had an ethical struggle--should I give it to Uncle #2 or keep it, as it was given to me by Uncle #1 who was also a half owner. Finally the scales tipped toward keeping it, as it was also connected to my Mother's history.

If I can remember to do so I'll take it out of storage, take a couple of photos, and post them here at a later date.

DG

307178

[Wayne Smith]

My Dad was a farmer in Maine, growing corn. He had an ongoing problem with the deer eating his crop, and he did work with the game warden for several years trying various ways to keep the deer off the crop. He was farming my uncle's property about a mile and a half from the house. His hired man (and college student) had a Marlin 336 30-30 and he sold that to my Dad. Dad bought a box of ammo and set the rifle in a corner. He was over at the uncle's place, up in the barn, and saw deer in his corn. He drove home, got the rifle, loaded seven rounds, drove back to the barn, climbed the barn, and proceeded to fire seven rounds at those deer, about 70 yards away, who stood there ignoring him. He climbed down from the barn, drove home, got the box of ammo, drove back to the barn, climbed the barn, and proceeded to fire the rest of the box of 20 at those deer, who still ignored him.

He took the rifle to a gunsmith in Bangor who bent the hammer and mounted a scope. He went to the neighbor who had a junk yard and bought an old sign and put that up on the edge of the field across the road (Rt 100/11). That was about 70 yards away. He sighted that rifle in and practiced. It put many a deer in the freezer and the game warden did not like it, but could do nothing as Dad called him every time he shot a deer protecting his crops. He and Larry, the hired man, were deadly on woodchucks as well.

One year Dad had the home farm in hay and a neighbor, Mr. Hall, was harvesting the hay. We were eating lunch and Larry comes running in saying, "Getch, where is the rifle, there is a woodchuck out there!" Dad pointed to the rifle, Larry took it and ran out. We waited, expecting to hear a shot, but heard nothing. Pretty soon Larry comes back and says "I'm sure glad you put a scope on that rifle, Getch. If not Mr. Hall would have lost a battery. I looked at that woodchuck through the scope and saw two little red ears sticking up!"

When I was 16 I started reloading and reloaded Dad's ammo. He used it for years. When I was in college in West Virginia and he was living east of Front Royal, VA he called me and complained that something was wrong with my ammo. I told him we'd check it out when we were home for Thanksgiving. Friday after Thanksgiving he took a grocery bag, put a two inch solid black dot in the middle of it with a magic marker, and we took it out and hung it on a tree about 50 yards from where he had his truck parked. He picks up the rifle, rests it on the truck, and looks through the scope, and looks through the scope, ... and looks through the scope. "We did put a black dot on that bag, didn't we?" I allowed as how we had. "It was in the middle, wasn't it?" I allowed that it was. Bang, Bang. Two holes, half an inch apart, and inch and a half above the bullseye. "Dad," I said, "there is nothing wrong with my ammo. You need new glasses!"

I have that rifle upstairs today. It has a Lyman sight on it now, and the holes for the scope mount, so it is not a pristine waffle top. But it is still accurate.

[compass will]

Dad had a Marlin 93 (dated around 1921) his father gave him. Story has it when you graduated from Penn State forestry collage they gave you one, but no way we can prove it (neither went to collage). I was shooting it around 13 years ago at lever action silhouette matches with my own jacketed cast loads and it shoots nice.
I had Dad come to a match with me one day, but after the 22 match (I gave him a goldenboy) and the Pistol cartage match (he used my 45 colt) he had enough and decided to go home. really wish he had hung around and finished the rifle match with his old 32.

I also got a 336 in 30-30 from him that was grand moms. it dates to 1948 first revision. I was shooting that in silhouette also.
I also got a Remington model 14 in 35 from Grand pop. He used to say it was a great PA gun because it held 5 rounds. 4 to clear the bushes away and one to hit the deer.
But to my family these guns were tools. They were all banged up from falling down mountains and almost polished silver from wiping them with who knows what.