Family Heirloom Firearms

[C-dub]

Mxrdad's thread about his shotgun got me to thinking. How many of us have family heirlooms like this?

I have my Great Grandpa's Winchester Model 1906 pump .22lr rifle. We think he bought it new in 1918, the year it was made, or maybe the next year in 1919. Anyway, it was supposedly the first gun fired by his daughter, my Grandma, and her son, my Dad. I was the first gun I fired and the first rifle my daughter fired. It will eventually go to her and then on to one of her kids.

Currently, I am the fourth generation to have this rifle, but five generations have fired it.

[JustSomeOldGuy]

[goose]

That story is pretty neat. A treasured heirloom for sure.

[jason812]

Unfortunately I don't have anything as cool as a model 12 but I do have my great grandfather's 9 shot 22 snub nose revolver. He bought it to keep in his pocket on his mail route. It's a neat little gun and it might not be worth much to anyone else, to my brother and I it is priceless. One day my 6 month old son will get it.

[Lynyrd]

I have my great grand father's shotgun. Single shot 12 ga, 30" barrel, full choke. Massachusetts Arms Company, and dated on the barrel Dec 11, 1900.

[Lena]

I will share with you mine, really have 2 dad's Armand Swenson 1911 45acp and now my story:
Before WW2 my parents were married, mom wanted to get dad a present, she had $20, she went to Ft Worth with a classified ad from the paper on a bus for $1 bought dad a double barrel shotgun for $18 and $1 to get home, rolled up the gun in a sheet to bring home, it was used then but like new, now it is all brown patina, 30" full and full barrels. Dad had a stroke and gave it away, it took me 3 years to recover it same condition as it left my prized possession an engraved hammerless with extractors, PARKER two digit serial number in the 20's. This was the 1st 12 ga I ever shot, I still shoot it some, the last dove I shot was with this Parker.
I still have part of a case of dad's original shells 9 boxes in the wooden case, Winchester Super X 2-3/4" 3-3/4 x 1-1/4 x 6, paper hulls, he shot 6's at everything. I still think of a case of 20 boxes not 10.
The Parker locks up still rock solid but there is no more room left on the top lever for more wear.

[rtschl]

My Grandpa gave my Dad his 1903/1904 .38 S&W 6" Special from when he was a part time deputy. My Dad recently gave it to me to give to my youngest grandson - 5th generation - with the caveat that it has to stay with the family. I'm going to clean it up and put it in a display box with information about the gun and about my Grandpa.

[puma guy]

Thanks for that story about your that nice Winchester pump .22, C-Dub . It isn't a family heirloom because his grand father had no guns other that his service revolver as an NYPD Det and really wasn't an outdoorsman (My dad developed his love of the outdoors on his own), but I have his Fox Sterlingworth 12 ga. side by side double barreled shotgun. As a teenager while rabbit hunting with his beagles in the Adirondaks my father met a gentleman named Jack Leavitt who was a champion shotgunner and local outdoors commentator on the radio. My dad had a Montgomery Ward single barrel 12 ga that he used while hunting with Jack when he had holidays from college. After his graduation from Texas A&M my dad returned to NYC and Jack told him he needed a better shotgun, so when he had had made a little money Jack took him to A&F to get the Fox and had the gunsmiths custom fit for him. The cast and drop all done by their gunsmiths. (I think of Andy C's post about how important it is to properly fit a SG). I had the hang tag when I was a kid, but lost it. I met his mentor when he visited us in Texas many years later and that's when I learned from Jack that while they fox hunted one Sunday morning in Connecticut where Jack lived my dad had shot a fox with the gun and after a wonderful day in the field returned to Jack's home where they learned the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor. My dad was Texas A&M graduate and Corps member my dad but allowed himself to be drafted into the Army and Jack used his shotgunning skills to teach future aerial gunners the theory of leading a target until an accident on the range took his left eye and he returned to his business enterprises. Soon after his training my dad decided to take his officer's commission rising to the rank of Major in the CBI theater. He and Jack remained friends for a lifetime. I only got to use the Fox one time on a quail hunt and it was almost too short for me by that time. I have it now and though the LOP is far too short for my long arms and I can't shoot it I cherish it.

[chuck j]

I have several , all in my family were bird hunters . I was given my grandfathers Iver Johnson Champion 410 when I was 8 years old . Walked thousands of miles with this old shotgun . Dad and I reblued and refinished the stock when I was about 10 years old .

[txglock21]

This topic is kind of a sore subject with me. My Grandfather was in the Army in WW2. While fighting in France, a German soldier ambushed my grandpa. They fought hand to hand. Long story short, my grandpa killed the German and took his Luger. When he came back home, he brought the Luger with him. I don't know if he was allowed to do this or not, but he did. I always admired the gun even though it was hard for grandpa to talk about it. He always told me that when he died, it would be left to me. Well after he died, my dad took the gun. It was not mentioned in the will, so basically my dad got everything that was not specifically mentioned. I was ok with that, but I told my dad many times that I was supposed to get it and that I should get it if he died. He was fine with that. Fast forward about ten years, my dad found out he had colon cancer. He lived about 5 years after he found out. A few months before he passed, we were going over all his will, accounts, insurance policies, etc.. getting things in order because he knew end was near. I asked him where grandpa's Luger was and told me that it had rusted up and wouldn't work so he sold it. I loved my dad very much and knew he was dying so I didn't raise a stink, but to this day, I'm still a little mad at my dad for that. Even if it was just a little rusted piece of metal, I still wanted it for sentimental reasons. Thanks for listening to me rant!

*Edited to add: I do have a 12 gauge from my Navy grandpa on my mom's side.

[C-dub]

Stories like this are exactly what I had in mind when starting this thread. Keep them coming everyone.

TxGlock21, very sorry to hear about your Grandpa's Luger. My dad almost ruined the Winchester I started this thread with. He thought about boring out the head space so that a .22 magnum would fit. He started to, but ran into difficulty and, thankfully, stopped. He scared the daylights out of me when he first told me about doing this because he initially said he was trying to do it so it could fire .223 rounds. Suffice to say, thanks to whatever the difficulty was that caused him to stop, the rifle still works most of the time and only fails to eject a case about 10% of the time. While not as upsetting as what happened to your Grandpa's Luger, I can only imagine my disappointment had my dad continued with his attempt and rendered this great little rifle either completely inoperable or unsafe to the point of being dangerous and am thankful he gave it to me before doing any further damage to it. I wish you had been able to secure that Luger before your dad sold it.

[chuck j]

Franz Stock 32acp (top) dad bought in the early 1930's . 1903 Colt pocket model (bottom) , don't know when he got it but know it was used . Learned to shoot a handgun with these two .

[Jusme]

This topic is kind of a sore subject with me. My Grandfather was in the Army in WW2. While fighting in France, a German soldier ambushed my grandpa. They fought hand to hand. Long story short, my grandpa killed the German and took his Luger. When he came back home, he brought the Luger with him. I don't know if he was allowed to do this or not, but he did. I always admired the gun even though it was hard for grandpa to talk about it. He always told me that when he died, it would be left to me. Well after he died, my dad took the gun. It was not mentioned in the will, so basically my dad got everything that was not specifically mentioned. I was ok with that, but I told my dad many times that I was supposed to get it and that I should get it if he died. He was fine with that. Fast forward about ten years, my dad found out he had colon cancer. He lived about 5 years after he found out. A few months before he passed, we were going over all his will, accounts, insurance policies, etc.. getting things in order because he knew end was near. I asked him where grandpa's Luger was and told me that it had rusted up and wouldn't work so he sold it. I loved my dad very much and knew he was dying so I didn't raise a stink, but to this day, I'm still a little mad at my dad for that. Even if it was just a little rusted piece of metal, I still wanted it for sentimental reasons. Thanks for listening to me rant!

*Edited to add: I do have a 12 gauge from my Navy grandpa on my mom's side.

Sorry to hear about the loss of not only your dad, but also the heirloom.

I have a sad story regarding a couple of heirloom firearms. My maternal,grandfather died in 1981. He had his great uncle's Colt 44-40 single action Army, revolver. My uncle, his son, got that gun, which I had no problem with, but I told him that if he or any of his heirs decided to get rid of it that I wanted first refusal. My uncle has three daughters. Fast forward to 2005 when my uncle passed away, I asked my aunt about the gun, and she said that their oldest grandson had it. I asked him about it and he said that he had sold it about 2 years earlier at gun show to buy a rifle he wanted.
The second also belonged to my grandfather, an Ithaca model 37 16 gauge. It was given to me at his death and I loved that gun. unfortunately, I was not financially able to purchase a gun safe back then, and some low-life(s) broke in my house in Ft. Worth, and stole it one day in 1986, along with a few other guns I had, but that were not as precious to me.

I still search pawn shops on the off chance that it will turn up, but no luck.

I will be getting my paternal grandfather's 22 rifle and single shot shotgun upon the death of my dad's brother.

I do like the thread and look forward to other photos and stories.

[mupepe]

I have two that I would consider family heirlooms.

I have a 1962 Winchester Model 70 in 30.06 that was my Grandfather's. The story I used to always hear from my dad was that it was the rifle they took with them when they went hunting in the mountains in New Mexico. They got lost for 3 days with it.

I also have an SKS that my dad managed to bring back from Vietnam that I plan on passing to my son.

[cmgee67]

I have my WW2 grandpas model 1894 Winchester 30-30. It's a pre 64 model. Not sure on the actual years but it's almost sixty years old at least. Still shoots great and is as clean as a used gun can be. This was his prize rifle and the best one he had. He also had a marlin 30-30 he gave to my cousin but it's not as nice. I was his favorite. He harvested idk how many deer and hogs with this gun and it wouldn't surprise me if it was his home defense gun. He never owned too many firearms to many knowledge but here's the story.

I was at home one day when I was about 10 or 11 I guess (22 now) and he showed up at our house. I remember being in the garage he coming up said hello and went and talked to my mom then came out went to his car and has something in a case. I knew it was a gun case and couldn't figure out what he was doing with it. He came and set it down on the table in the garage and unzipped it and it was shining like a diamond to me and he said this is my Winchester 30-30 I want you to have it, you have to promise to take good care of it for me and if you want to hunt with it go ahead but I wanted you to have and I love you.


Still makes me get wet on my eyes a little bit. He died about 2 years later. I wish he would have lived longer so I could of actually talked to him and heard those old stories but I was too young then. I cherish that old gun and once a year or so I'll take her out of the gun safe and go run a box through that old kickin mule of a gun but I love it because he loved it and because he cared enough to save it and give it to me. I still may take a deer or hog with it one to say I did but right now she stays inside. I do get her out everyone and then and work that lever action. You talk about makin ya feel cool