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Offline Dawg25385

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Passed Guns and Their Stories
« on: December 29, 2016, 04:17:40 PM »
So we celebrate Christmas on my side of the family on Christmas Eve, always have, and always at my Grandparents house. It’s very special for Grampa to host. Well they’re getting up in age, and my grandma’s health is deteriorating rapidly. So as we finished up with opening packages, my Grampa stands up and says ‘well I have something to say’. He starts to get emotional, and says ‘we’ve been talking, and have agreed its time to do something we’ve been putting off for quite awhile.’ Of course, we’re all like WTH is going on!? And grampa walks into the back room. He comes out with a rifle. His 300 WinMag. And he starts to tell us that the time has come for him to pass along his hunting rifles, since he won’t be using them any longer, and he wants us to have them (myself, and my uncle, since my dad doesn’t shoot or hunt). The winmag goes to my Uncle. Next trip out, he brings his Remington 7400 30.06, and hands it to me. This is it here.

 
Next trip out, an old lever action 300 savage, to my uncle. Then, he comes out with his beloved Winchester 94, 30-30. At this point he’s bawling. He holds it out towards me, and says that his dad gave it to him when he was 12, which would have been 1943 I believe. Was really tore up about it, obviously it meant the world to him. We hugged and he cries for close to a minute. Absolutely gorgeous gun. Excellent condition. This is it here.

 
Next trip out, he is carrying a small revolver. He said it was his grandfathers. It’s a US Revolver Co 38, circa 1915-1920. He said when he was a boy, he always knew it was in the sewing table drawer. He then handed it to me.

 
So it was a really amazing moment, I knew of these guns, but it was surreal of him to give them away. Especially the 30.30, as I knew how much it meant to him. He said half a dozen times, ‘now you take good care of that.’
 
 
 
 
But there’s more to the story. The next morning, my wife and I packed up from my folk’s house, and were ready to hit the road to go spend Christmas Day with her side of the family. We’re just about to pull on the freeway, and my dad calls me. ‘Are you on the freeway yet?’, no I say. ‘Can you pull over real quick?’ he asks. So I do, and he tells me that grampa had just called him, frantic. He was having immense separation anxiety over the 30.30, was up all night, etc. He was ashamed to say, but he needed it back. So, I turned around and took it back to my dad, to give back to grampa. I told him, ‘dad, this is and will always be grampa’s rifle’. So, grampa has it back, but whenever he decides, I’ll take care of it, and it will always be in the family.
 
Thinking about it, I’m not sure if I’m connected like that to any of my guns, or any material thing like he is to that rifle… Probably the only one that I couldn’t ever part with is my other grampa’s Savage Model 24 I got it when he passed.
 
Anyway, thanks for reading. Wanted to tell that story, about some really cool old guns with lots of history.                         
 



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« Last Edit: December 29, 2016, 04:41:27 PM by Dawg25385 »
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Offline Bob Smith

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Re: Passed Guns and Their Stories
« Reply #1 on: December 29, 2016, 04:38:55 PM »
At some point in time that old 30/30 and all the memories it holds will be in your hands to protect and one day pass along. What a nice story Kyle.
« Last Edit: December 30, 2016, 02:47:45 PM by Dawg25385 »

Offline stlaser

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Re: Passed Guns and Their Stories
« Reply #2 on: December 29, 2016, 05:13:31 PM »
Super cool!

I have one of those stories too where there are some tears shed over a gun passing from one generation to the next. Thinking maybe there should be a thread about guns handed down........
« Last Edit: December 30, 2016, 02:47:58 PM by Dawg25385 »
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Offline Sammconn

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Re: Passed Guns and Their Stories
« Reply #3 on: December 29, 2016, 07:02:10 PM »
Awesome story. Glad you shared!
And when the time is right for him to pass it to you again it will be yours to be the keeper of and pass along one day.
« Last Edit: December 30, 2016, 02:48:21 PM by Dawg25385 »
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Offline Dawg25385

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Re: Passed Guns and Their Stories
« Reply #4 on: December 29, 2016, 07:08:30 PM »
That night I asked him how many deer he's killed with the 30-30... he kind of grinned and replied "a few". Which is to say, a lot.


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« Last Edit: December 30, 2016, 02:48:32 PM by Dawg25385 »
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Offline Flyin6

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Re: Passed Guns and Their Stories
« Reply #5 on: December 29, 2016, 07:45:32 PM »
Guns are nearly eternal with respect to how we pass them down and associate fond memories with them.

I give my boys a gun every Christmas. Kat doesn't mind, but the girls are concerned now that the boys closets are looking like Arms rooms. If you go to my wife's face book page you can see me teaching the middle pre-ranger how to shoot his new Canik 9mm pistol he got for Christmas, and the little pre-ranger with his Ruger Charger .22

When the boys get around the safe or gun cabinet, they are always talking about who gets what when dad kicks the bucket. Prevents me from selling them too.

Nice story Kyle, great Grand dad!
« Last Edit: December 30, 2016, 02:48:41 PM by Dawg25385 »
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Offline cruizng

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Re: Passed Guns and Their Stories
« Reply #6 on: December 30, 2016, 08:21:13 AM »
Kyle, Great story. Like Don said with many of our guns it is the memories they link to while using them. I still have the Rem 700 30.06 that my Grandfather gave me many many years ago. I still remember sighting it in and the hunts we went on together.

My grandfather made a couple of hand made (out of heavy plywood mind you) gun cabinets that he kept his guns and supplies in. We were always amazed as young kids when he would open them up and show us what he had locked up. I can still remember the smell of Hoppes. When we grand kids got old enough he made a gun cabinet for us. I still have mine and still have the original key to it. It doesn't have any guns in it but still cool to have.

When my Dad passed away many years ago I had the unenviable task of separating his guns and shipping them to us kids and step kids. He only had one thing in his will and that was an old shotgun that his dad had given him that he wanted to go to me. The rest he wanted doled out equally. I tried to separate them equally by value but there were several that my Grandfather wanted to go to specific Grandkids because he had given them to my Dad. So a Remy .243 went to my brother and a sporterized Springfield 30.06 went to my sister etc.. So yeah... guns a SPECIAL..  :D

« Last Edit: December 30, 2016, 02:49:01 PM by Dawg25385 »
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Offline cudakidd53

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Passed Guns and Their Stories
« Reply #7 on: December 30, 2016, 08:39:21 AM »
Please post a picture(s) of the firearm along with the story of its lineage here.  If possible, a picture of its previous owner/with or without said heirloom would be a great touch as well!
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Offline cudakidd53

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Re: Passed Guns and Their Stories
« Reply #8 on: January 02, 2017, 06:46:45 PM »
Remington Model 11 - Passed to me by my Grandfather who taught me to shoot and is responsible for my interest in all things outdoors.  I learned to wing shoot with this gun and it made such an impression that the first quality shotgun I bought was a Browning Auto-5.  He had it repaired just prior to giving it to me as it developed a tendency to do full auto mag dumps, hard to control when you aren't expecting it!

The photo below is one I took the first fall that I had possession of it - limit of pheasants that I'd shot on the farm I lived on at the time.  Was able to drive home fast from work (Hour drive) fly in the driveway, change and grab the gun and turn the dog loose and usually "see" a limit of birds before dark on a 600 acre place with a railroad track running through it.  Needless to say, the birds had some pressure from other than me, but being able to start in the middle of the tracks and head either direction, I had the ability to "break the pattern" the birds were used to, and where I could start, was in the middle of the best cover and where they were feeding and work them to where the cover crapped out.  I printed that photo as part of a Masters class in photography and gave it to my Grandpa Ken, who proudly hung it in his Ozark home until his death 10 years ago.  It now hangs above my desk at the house - wife doesn't like it so much, thinks it's morbid.......I tolerate it as our living room has another pair of birds that I mounted taken with it and a deer head, so I guess I'm wise enough to pick my battles!  :facepalm:
« Last Edit: January 02, 2017, 07:20:19 PM by cudakidd53 »
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Offline Bear9350

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Re: Passed Guns and Their Stories
« Reply #9 on: November 12, 2017, 08:52:16 PM »
Was going to post on the wdydt thread but then remembered this one.

The Wisconsin 9 day gun hunts starts next Saturday.  It always runs the week of Thanksgiving.  Starts the Saturday before and runs until the Sunday after Thanksgiving.  I noticed the local sporting good store had some ammo on sale.  I could get 5 boxes of 30-30 for about $8 a box after rebate.  I've been thinking for a couple years that I should get my uncle's old 30-30 out one of these years and decided this was the year.

My uncle was also my god-father.  He passed away right before my 12th birthday.  I was at an age at that time that I was able to help him do a lot of simple tasks around the house for a while as he became weaker from the cancer.  After he passed, his daughters who were significantly older then me wanted me to have one of his guns.  I got his Winchester model 94, 30-30.  Every one of my uncle's got one from my grandpa when they were old enough to hunt. 
12 year old me shot it a couple times before deer season but I have never hunted with it.  That was the last time that gun was shot until today.

My dad's side of the family all hunt together.  Every year we make a drive "out east".  It's some family land that butts up to some public land.  It's where my grandpa hunted, and where my dad and uncles starting hunting.  We don't hunt there much anymore because the deer have moved from the big woods to the more fielded areas.  Every Wednesday afternoon we go head out there and make a drive.  Rarely do we chase any deer out and we get one even less.  After the drive we gather on the "ridge", open up a bottle of black berry Brandy (because that is what they use to carry in their flasks), toss the cap to the bottle over your shoulder and pass the bottle around until it is gone.
Us younger guys listen to the older guys tell stories about the guys who are no longer with us.  At some point somebody will fire a shot off for each one of those members of the hunting crew who are gone.
I'm not sure how much I plan to hunt with my uncle's 30-30 next week.  It's really not at home on the open farm fields we hunt on now.  But I know I will be carrying it when we head "out east" Wednesday afternoon.

Offline cudakidd53

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Re: Passed Guns and Their Stories
« Reply #10 on: November 13, 2017, 07:01:06 AM »
Great idea and story - may this be the year you connect with a deer and your past all in one shot!
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Offline Superwhdm

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Re: Passed Guns and Their Stories
« Reply #11 on: November 13, 2017, 07:16:09 AM »
I wish I could contribute to this thread, its a good one.  I never knew a grandfather on either side of my family tree.  Never was taken hunting or fishing.  It’s kind of something I struggle with.  I will see to it that I survive long enough to provide that kind of resource to not only my kids but theirs.  It’s so important to hand down knowledge and meaning within a family.  Its one of the things that makes a family just that.   
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Offline Flyin6

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Re: Passed Guns and Their Stories
« Reply #12 on: November 13, 2017, 08:32:49 AM »
^^^^^ So true!
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Offline cj7ox

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Re: Passed Guns and Their Stories
« Reply #13 on: January 12, 2018, 04:14:34 PM »
My grandfather, who taught me how to shoot, hunt, and most things outdoors, passed all his firearms to me. A couple are significant. A Marlin Model 1898 12ga pump shotgun, which was his grandfather's. This gun is missing an ejector (he had it apart when he needed to replace the extractor, which had to be hand made by a gunsmith due to no availability of parts. When he went to put it all together again, he couldn't find the ejector. LOL).

The next is his deer gun, a Springfield M1903 that he purchased from an Army Major he served with in 1950. This rifle was "sporterized" with a Monte Carlo stock, and in 1951 (while stationed in Germany) he had a gunsmith mount a scope on it. This is actually a historically significant rifle, because it is one of 2500 M1903s that were modified to accept the Peterson Device (the device converted it to fire .30cal pistol ammo in full auto), but because of its modifications for hunting is not worth much outside of sentimentality.

My favorite, though, is his Colt M1903 .32ACP pistol. He carried this pistol daily as a US Army Counter Intelligence Corps agent hunting down Nazis during the occupation of Germany after WWII, in Japan, and throughout the Korean War. That pistol went everywhere he did until he died.

Handling these weapons makes me feel like a part of him is still with me. It's not the material value of the item. I think it's that these items were used so often, and cared for so lovingly, by their previous owners, that they absorbed a bit of them. So, every time we pull those things out, we are touching a bit of them, and a part of them is still here with us.
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Offline Nate

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Re: Passed Guns and Their Stories
« Reply #14 on: January 12, 2018, 04:45:17 PM »
would you happen to have a pics of these gems sean?
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Offline cj7ox

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Re: Passed Guns and Their Stories
« Reply #15 on: January 12, 2018, 05:06:40 PM »
The rifle and shotgun are back home in Alabama. I'll try to remember to take a pic of the pistol and post it.
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Offline Nate

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Re: Passed Guns and Their Stories
« Reply #16 on: April 26, 2018, 10:03:50 AM »
So i got 2 shotguns and 1 rifle from my grandfather.

The 2 shotguns:
1. Remington sportsman 12ga pump magnum.  If i remember correctly, i think he got this gun somewhere around the early to mid 80's

2. O. F. Mossberg and Sons model 185D 20ga bolt action shoutgun.  Just doing a little googlefu, this gun was manufactured somewhere between 1947-1950.  I hunted with this gun in the 80's.  This thing is in some serious need of love from a gunsmith, the action and barrel are loose, the bolt catch is really worn, and it looks as though 1 of the mounting screws came loose at some point and damaged the wood.  So i will have to get her into the gun dr and see what he says, hopefully i dont have to retire this beauty.

The Rifle:
1. A marlin glenfield model 60 .22lr W/ the 17/18 round magazine (its a felony to own this gun in NJ).  It looks like its in dang good shape, just needs a little love with the cleaning products.
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Offline Atkinsmatt

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Re: Passed Guns and Their Stories
« Reply #17 on: April 26, 2018, 12:14:59 PM »
I have one of those Glenfield Marlin model 60's.  Mine has a Squirrel on the hand grip right behind the trigger.  It is a tack driver.  Great guns passed along there.
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Offline Nate

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Re: Passed Guns and Their Stories
« Reply #18 on: April 26, 2018, 12:46:43 PM »
I got the one with the squirrel as well
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