Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Old Damned Guns

So before I get started, I just want to apologise for the formatting of these pictures. I sent them from my phone, then went to my computer to write this post. Long story short, there's some formatting issues.

So I met an old friend today, and she mentioned her grandma's gun. Being a gun nut, I became very interested in what she was saying. Apparently her grandmother used to shoot competition skeet, and my friend inherited her gun. She also mentioned that it had an extra barrel. I asked if I could see it, and she brought out a crumbling old canvas and leather soft gun case. I couldn't believe what I pulled out. It was a Winchester model 12 chambered in 20ga., and it had a modified choke forend and a full choke forend. The bluing was pretty much gone (about a 40% finish), and it had a healthy coating of surface rust, but the bores had no pitting, and all of the rust looked cosmetic. I told her that it was a really great gun, but it badly needed cleaning, and that I'd be happy to do it for her. It took about 2 hours to clean, but it polished up beautifully. Like my Grandpa's model 12, it had seen some hard use, but it's still in great shape. Before I cleaned it, I called my dad and asked a few technical questions about the gun, and we searched it's serial number. It was made in 1913, and the receiver and both barrels all have the same number. My father informed me that you couldn't just order a second barrel for the model 12, because it had to be hand fitted, so having 2 matched serial number forends probably adds significant value to the gun.

And while I was there, My friend's husband gave me another gun.

His dad was playing as a boy in upstate New York in the summer of 1927. He found this rifle on a pile of wood in a field. As it was obviously non-functioning, he brought it home as a play gun. It passed to his son, and now has passed to me.

It appears to be a civil war era Springfield muzzle loading rifle. It's badly rusted, and it's a carbine. parts of the stock are dry rotted, and I have no idea what to do with it, but It's pretty cool that I'm probably holding a piece of the civil war in my hands.

So here's my questions: Any idea on a value for the model 12?

And what exactly should I do with the (?) Springfield?

1 comment:

Pawpaw said...

That's a pretty Model 12, and with two barrels. Tell your friend that she has a wonderful heirloom.