[41mag]

Mine is a 1884 Model Springfield..45-70 cal.
From there I go all the way up to 1958 for my eldest handgun.A Ruger 357.

Any old people around here with something ancient?

 

[Aslan]

I have an old winchester saddle ring carbine in 38-40 (38 wcf) that I beleive is an 1894 model.

(I don't have the gun with me at the moment and am having a brain fart)


that's the oldest rifle I have. I do have an old sears & roebuck .410 bolt action shotgun that is from the mid forties.


:devil:

 

[84 C4]

My Marlin 336, don't know how old it is, bought it used. But I do know that my other rifles were purchased brand new.

 

[BigJon]

My great-grandfather's Colt hammer shotgun. The firing pins dropped out long ago, but the lockwork, including springs, is as tight as a drum. It's a 12 guage, and I've even considered sending it off to Briley to have it sleeved in 20 guage so that I could shoot it again. Haven't done it because I am still using my grandfather shotgun, an L.C. Smith Ideal grade in 16 guage. That one too will be retired to the safe before long so to wait until my son is ready for it.

Regards,
Jon

 

[RIKA]

Colt 4 3/4in 45LC SAA made in 1897. Gift from my Dad. Colt
4 3/4in 38-40 SAA made in 1903. Gift from a friend now deceased. Both are valued keepsakes that I shoot once a year at Christmas.

RIKA

 

[Hard Rock]

1863... it's a Colt .36 caliber revolver.

Mike

 

[mrostov]

My oldest firearm is 104 years old.
M96 Swedish Mauser, 6.5x55mm, built in 1900.

 

[Clint Boyer]

My oldest residing in my safe at this moment is a 1949 model 94 .32 spl. That makes it......what....55 yrs. old.

I had my Dad's 1901 Colt army for awhile. It was refinished sometime in it's past to nickle finish. It was also sold to my Dad as a .357 mag. Needless to say, with those loads ran through it, it wore out pretty quickly. Whoever had it before really hammered it. We checked into restoring it at one time but with the refinish and the damage done with the heavy loads, it became a wall hanger. I don't know what happened to the gun since Dad's passing, he must have traded it off.

 

[Half elf]

I have a "Dixie Gun Works" flintlock that my father and grand father assembled back in 1957, after seeing Fess Parker play Davy Crockett. My personal oldest is a 1968 Enfeild Ishapore2-A, and my first pistol a Browning Challenger II. I belive it was manuf. in 1974, I received it in 1977.

 

[Magnum88C]

I guess my oldest is a 1943 Izzy M91 Mosin, so that'd be 61 years.

 

[John in AR]

...Both are valued keepsakes that I shoot once a year at Christmas.

RIKA

Rika - regardless of what some may say about "pointless" guns, that's like having your grandfather's pocket watch or whittling knife. Very nice and personal.


To answer the question, mine are all fairly new. Came out of the army in 1982 and found that when my parents divorced and sold the farm, when I got "home" to my mother's new house in town, I found none of my guns. Naturally, nobody knew what happened to them.

Had:

Marlin Golden 39A, (that was a real tackdriver)
Marlin 25,
Ruger "Standard Model" 6-inch .22 autopistol,
12-gauge shotgun,
.36 1851 (copy) "Navy" revolver
.44 1860 (copy) "Army" revolver
.45 "Kentucky" rifle

(The blackpowder guns were all kit-built.)

Never saw any of them again; no word on what happened to them. Just "gone". Hadn't thought about them in a long time now; kind of sad.

:sobstory:

So all mine now were bought in the last 20 years or so.

 

[RIKA]

John in AR,

I am reminded of what Col. Charles Askins wrote in his biography. His father died and when he returned home he found that his mother had sold all of his fathers guns. He had nothing to remember his Dad by except memories.

On the bright side, you are creating a heritage for your sons through your spending time with them and teaching them now. The firearms that you leave them will be a tangible part of the memories of a fine Dad and friend. You are a lucky man.

RIKA

 

[41mag]

Raider,My grandfather told me that he remembered that when he was about eight a man traded that Springfield rifle to my great grandfather in exchange for some carpentry work gramps did for him.I still have about a dozen rounds of the ammo that,supposedly,came with the trade.
I'll never give up that rifle.It's a link to my past.
A valued keepsake indeed.

 

[Garand]

My oldest guns are a 1905 Winchester M97 takedown in 12 gauge and a 1905 Winchester M94 in .38-55. I shoot both in competition, Cowboy Action.

 

[Terry G]

Mine is a 1884 Model Springfield..45-70 cal.
From there I go all the way up to 1958 for my eldest handgun.A Ruger 357.

Any old people around here with something ancient?

I have an 1884 Sringfiled Trapdoor that somebody Bubba'd up by cutting the forend off to make it look like a carbine. It still shoots good. My next in line would be a Martini-Henry from 1888. It gets progressive from there with a lot of WWII types. I love old guns.

 

[andy]

I've never given a damn about keepsakes

I never had any such, and don't want any. Guns, or otherwise. There's too much crap to keep track of the way it is. You don't own things. They own YOU. You have to secure, maintain,practice with them, learn lots about them, etc. working stiffs have to keep such crap to a minimum, or never get a thing done.

 

[Garand]

For those of us that actually have better paying jobs than a Porta Potty cleaner, we can afford to indulge ourselves in our hobbies. Nothing worng with practicing, you should ask your wife's permission to borrow her guns and let you try it sometime. Things only own you if you let them, they are inanimate objects, they don't have lives. As for you being a "working stiff", will the woman that actually supports you agree with that statement?

 

[Terry G]

Re: I've never given a damn about keepsakes

I never had any such, and don't want any. Guns, or otherwise. There's too much crap to keep track of the way it is. You don't own things. They own YOU. You have to secure, maintain,practice with them, learn lots about them, etc. working stiffs have to keep such crap to a minimum, or never get a thing done.

Keepsakes don't have to be things that tie you down, just memorabilia that brings back good memories. Your videotape of your daughters dance team performance, or how about that 7MM Spanish carbine your son bought you for your birthday with pay from his first job? No memories like that at all? I pity you.