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/sho...r-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