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.

[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