What firearms would you have bought if you had been alive one hundred years ago

While I'd like to believe I would own a fine double and and custom Mauser 7x57 and an 1886 Winchester .45-90 and perhaps a colt 1911 pistol. The facts are I have a fair idea of what my various family members owned who were alive back then and I'd likely be in a similar boat. Most of my family owned a shotgun and a hardware store .22 some owned a centerfire rifle if they owned more than one firearm and the few pistols owned were revolvers as far as I have been able to find out, various .38's but likely a .22 or two are among them. Rifles were all over the place couple savage 99's one I know was .250 savage from a diary entry, there was a Winchester and Marlin chambered for .38-55 and .30-30 respectively, a sporterized bolt action I can't identify and an 1895 Winchester. A few old pictures from hunting camps show a variety of shotguns all appear to be 12 gauge and other than a variety of hardware store doubles and single shots the stand outs are 2 Auto5's (possily remington 11's) and a model 12. The only ones to survive and end up where I can locate them are my grand fathers uncle's model 1912 manufactured 1918 and single shot .22 cooey although that breaks our 100 year mark.
I have a feeling I'd have owned either a Marlin 1893 30-30 like my great grand father or a Savage 1899 with tang aperture sight likely in .250 Savage(his brother) for a rifle, a Remington model 11 12 gauge, a Smith and Wesson .38 and a hardware store .22 and would have been considered quite the gun nut among friends and family similar to now.
 
94, Tobin double, Model 12. Oh wait! I have those now. What happened?! Is it 2018 already? :p

I do have a 1918 Model 94 in .32WS, a Model 12 built in 1914, and a Tobin double (no idea when it was built).

Two out of three. Not bad, eh?
 
There was a time when you could buy a Thompson machine gun at you local hardware store, they were invented and introduced in 1918
 
Back then, and makin' equivalent money as I made in this lifetime & livin' in the same zone? Too easy. I'd have Winchester 94's in 25-35, 30-30, 32-40 & 35-30 along with Model 92's in 25-20, 32-20, 38-40 & 44-40. A few Remington rolling block target rifles with Pope barrels would be on the list along with a decent British side by side 12 bore Paradox hammer gun. A few Winchester 86's would be there as well.

Fer pistolas, I would go Remington 1875 and 1890 models along with S&W top break revolvers and include a Mauser C96 or two along with a couple Colt 1911's.

Me trap gun would most likely have been a Winchester 97 & I definitely would have some nice Lee Speed & Mauser bolt rifles to boot.
 
Hard time finding one of those back when.
I thing a few nice 1866 henery' s or Winchester, steel frame factory engraved of course and the nicest 2 barrel Marlin special order rifle I could find , a nice H&H big gun and some high end Stevens walnut hill and Winch HI wall target rifles, and I would have kept my Marlin/ Ballard 38-55 target rifle, and a few colts of course, maybe a couple smiths and lugers,
Overall, I think I would have keep the hi end guns I have sold over the years.
P.S. But if we did not have a crystal ball, the same as I did way back in the old days , a 12 ga pump, and a Winchester 67, because no money for fancy stuff.
Odd Shot said:
Fn fal


lol
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A lot of dreamers in this thread, and that's ok too.

The fact of the matter is that a 100yrs ago people didn't have a lot of disposable income for toys. Guns were for the most part considered as tools. One BG rifle per household and that one didn't cost a lot.
 
SuperCub said:
A lot of dreamers in this thread, and that's ok too.

The fact of the matter is that a 100yrs ago people didn't have a lot of disposable income for toys. Guns were for the most part considered as tools. One BG rifle per household and that one didn't cost a lot.
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It’s just like today, if you could dream it, accept the risk of failure, you could try and do it. A lot of people pulled off bigger dreams by far on average a hundred years ago than they do today, like homesteading the utter middle of nowhere or moving continents blind. I’d also offer a thread about “If you were alive a century ago, what would you buy?” is by definition dreaming. :)
 
SuperCub said:
A lot of dreamers in this thread, and that's ok too.

The fact of the matter is that a 100yrs ago people didn't have a lot of disposable income for toys. Guns were for the most part considered as tools. One BG rifle per household and that one didn't cost a lot.
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I was thinking exactly this as I was going through the various posts
I still own and shoot some of the rifles that were in my family 100 years ago , one is a Snider Enfield , another is a Lafeachaux 16 gauge underlever shotgun , another a Chance and Sons vest pocket pistol.
i have only killed birds with the 16 but have shot targets with the other two!
i plan on taking a deer with the Snider next year however .
If dreaming only I would likely be shooting a Lee Speed .303 back then and English and possibly well built Italian shotguns, same as now LOL!
Cat
 
A nice new Winchester Modell 1886 in .50-110 would be nice,but since big heavy rifles black powder were on their way out,most likely would have purchased one of the Model 1894 carbines using the then almost new smokelees or as it was called back then,white powder.
 
Mostly the same rifles i own now. I have 19 rifles that are over 100 years old a few well older then that ( pin fire revolvers and muzzle loaders). Mostly lee enfield/metfords a few mausers and also winchesters.
 
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