Nice old rifles I have known.

I still have my first rifle, an old DWM single shot 22. Nothing special, but it means a lot to me. I have others of course, but nothing can replace that one. When I was a kid, I remember an old Maxim machine gun being mounted on the basement beam in our house. Always loved that one, but good old dad sold it... He asked me years later, how I came upon this fascination with firearms. I just had to look at him and say "Really...?"
Growing up with a WW ll RCAF vet as a father, the memorabilia etc.
 
gunrunner100 said:
I still have my first rifle, an old DWM single shot 22. Nothing special, but it means a lot to me. I have others of course, but nothing can replace that one. When I was a kid, I remember an old Maxim machine gun being mounted on the basement beam in our house. Always loved that one, but good old dad sold it... He asked me years later, how I came upon this fascination with firearms. I just had to look at him and say "Really...?"
Growing up with a WW ll RCAF vet as a father, the memorabilia etc.
Click to expand...

Hello Chris, long time. I sold my first gun, no regrets, made some little girl happy! When I was 12 yrs old, I was a paper boy, made doe, bought a brand new Cooye 39 .22 from the Marshall Wells hardware store for $6.00. I had drilled holes in the stock at one time to mount a cheap side mount scope on it, later filled in the holes, painted it black, it sat on my gun rack for many decades, then into the safe (back row) when safes became the thing. I put it on my table at the Brandon gun show a couple yrs ago (safe was getting jam packed), think I marked $40. on it. A young father and his little daughter came by the table quite a few times and looked at it, I could tell that they wanted it in the worst way. Finally the Dad said: I'd sure like to buy that rifle for my daughter, but I only got 10 bucks and my wife is gonna scream, la la la......... so, I figured making a $4. profit was quite all right! I said: sold! They went away as happy as could be and I had tears in my eyes! :)
 
Last edited:
Lots of these fine old rifles likely seem a bit quaint to shooters who have grown up on scoped, minute-of-angle rifles. Lots of these old guns were valued as much for their ability to point well as anything. Power levels weren't a huge concern, either. My Dad and uncles swore by the .351 Winchester as a fine deer round in a quick-handling rifle. On paper, it's pretty anemic, but they shot moose with one every year, at 50 yards.
My Grandpa swore the best deer rifle ever made was the .25-20 Winchester, followed by the .38-55 black powder loads. The "white powder" .38-55 was far too powerful, much better suited to moose, as was the .30-30, he thought that was too much for deer as well. Mind you, if he ever shot a game animal past 25 yards he never did mention it to anyone. His idea of the perfect moose rifle was the Model 1886 Winchester in .40-82. I have yet to prove him far wrong.
 
I see a bunch of humor in this thread. Younger crowd talking about the old rifles and the
small calibers that were used for big game. Don't forget big horse power back then was the 235 in line Chev and then the Big 292 came out. Ford said poop on that and upped the anti to the Big powerful 300 six.
It was no different with the firearm era.
Fun to watch and learn who did what with what was on hand.
Great stories and a fabulous history.
For the old gents and gals who contribute their experiences to this CGN, I'm muchly obliged and all the best Canada Day to you. Teaching us whipper snappers so we can pass it forward.
Many thanks and cheers.
 
Another oldie I have, for Varmint shooting, an old custom Winchester High Wall in 219 Donaldson Wasp. The scope matches the rifle vintage and the caliber, a 10X JUNERTL.

WinchesterHighWall219DW-1.jpg


WinchesterHighWall219DWcloseup.jpg


Easy to form brass out of 30-30 and for an old classic it does shoot well. Seems to have a preference for an 'appropiate' bullet, the 50gr Hornady V-MAX:D:cool:

219DWprevioustests.jpg
 
kamlooky said:
I see a bunch of humor in this thread. Younger crowd talking about the old rifles and the
small calibers that were used for big game. Don't forget big horse power back then was the 235 in line Chev and then the Big 292 came out. Ford said poop on that and upped the anti to the Big powerful 300 six.
It was no different with the firearm era.
Fun to watch and learn who did what with what was on hand.
Great stories and a fabulous history.
For the old gents and gals who contribute their experiences to this CGN, I'm muchly obliged and all the best Canada Day to you. Teaching us whipper snappers so we can pass it forward.
Many thanks and cheers.
Click to expand...

Funny you mention horsepower Lukey, with Grampa's 32 Chevrolet we were driving on the weekend, the 194 cu inch straight six boasts a whopping 36 horse power and I doubt it is rated that at the rear wheel. d:h:

The old fellah I mentioned selling his big 50-70 and 40-65 bought a 25 Rem with the proceeds before moving up here and never looked back. I suspect he had a way of hunting I will never get to learn, only one of his pupils survives now and sadly alzhiemers is running a horrible muck there.:(

I should note at the homestead there was quite a variance of cartridges used:
25 Rem
250 HP
30 WCF
303 Savage
30 USG
303 British
32 WCF
32 Special
348 Win
38-55
41 Swiss
44 WCF

There was only one Mauser in the mix but that family moved away in 1913. Have the picture of them with it but no idea the chambering, suspect a 8x57J but that is speculation. Regardless what they used the folks I have done my research on were very good at hunting and kept many hungry familes fed so like it is today, I bet back then they were also sitting around the wood heater sipping their strong Norge coffee and bickering about which gun was best.:p
 
Im still lookin for a Trapdoor Carbine but expect I may come across a few at the next Kamloops show in April. I have come across a Henry Martini that was barrelled to 303 Brit. No markings on the receiver so does not look like a rebarrelled version but more like something that was made up to use the parts up. There is a Martini chat going on where pics of both my Henry and BSA Martinis are shown. I have the devils own time getting pics into these sites but a fella there helped me thru. I love shooting history.
 
My grandfather said he first hunted with a 38-55 and later got a 30-30. He thought the 30-30 was a real flat shooter. Killed several moose with it before he knew it wasn't powerful enough.
His deer hunting partner used a 25-20. Said he wounded several deer but might of just been poor shooting.
Grandpa was shot by another hunter using a 38-55 in the fall of 1931. The first bullet broke both his hips. He lost 4 inches out of his left leg. He died in the fall of 1981. He often commented that if the 38-55 was a better cartridge he wouldn't have made it. (He was actually hit 4 times.) I could understand his prejudice given the circumstances.
 
In my memory, I recall seeing 32-40, 40-65 and 40-82 rifles, also the old 43 [11mm] Mauser.
Lots of 25-20s, 25-35s, 44-40s and 38-55s in the woods.

My first "real" hunting partner used his 38-55 to take several muleys in the area we grew up.
He always preferred the CIL loading, since it was considerably faster than was the available Winchester loading. [1600 fps vs 1280 fps]

303s and 300 Savages were around, as were lots of 30-30s.

I remember the first centerfire rifle I ever shot, a very nicely sporterized 7x57.
These and the 8x57 were seen, but rather scarce, since they were basically a handloader proposition.

Another one that I saw several of were rifles chambered in the 6.5x54 M/S
Dominion produced ammo for them, and that long, 160 grain RN bullet penetrated like crazy. IIRC, the bullet started at an advertised velocity of 2260.

I can still smell the powder of some of those old rounds when I close my eyes, lol.

They were certainly less complicated times!

Regards, Eagleye
 
Eagleye said:
I remember the first centerfire rifle I ever shot, a very nicely sporterized 7x57.

Regards, Eagleye
Click to expand...

Damn, you bring back memories!
As you know, the owner of that 7x57 was a very good, non professional gun smith. I knew him very well and he enjoyed showing me that rifle, as he had it tuned to a tee. He worked on the ejector until you could drop a cartridge in the chamber and the bolt would close on it almost as easy as does a push feed.
I can't remember what brand of Mauser it was, but it was slick.
For something do, he made another complete stock for it, out of birds eye maple.
He had three sons, all professional people, in fact the oldest was my accountant for years. None of the boys had any interest, whatsoever, in guns.
He died at too early of an age and I didn't even ask the son about his guns!
I thought it sounded too goulish to ask a son about his dad's guns after the dad had died.
When I got around to it, it was too late.
 
303EppsFan said:
My grandfather said he first hunted with a 38-55 and later got a 30-30. He thought the 30-30 was a real flat shooter. Killed several moose with it before he knew it wasn't powerful enough.
His deer hunting partner used a 25-20. Said he wounded several deer but might of just been poor shooting.
Grandpa was shot by another hunter using a 38-55 in the fall of 1931. The first bullet broke both his hips. He lost 4 inches out of his left leg. He died in the fall of 1981. He often commented that if the 38-55 was a better cartridge he wouldn't have made it. (He was actually hit 4 times.) I could understand his prejudice given the circumstances.
Click to expand...

how the heck did he get shot 4 times?
 
Donny Fenn1 said:
how the heck did he get shot 4 times?
Click to expand...

He said he had a pair of brown jersey gloves on and a red mackinaw coat and hat. He recalled putting a hand out to move some brush and then being punched in the hip. Was hit in the left hip, then lower abdomen,glancing shot on left ribs, same on left bicep. Fortunately first shot turned him a bit.
Goes to show how fast some guys can cycle a lever gun.
No major blood vessels hit,lots of bone splinters(he had several operations). He was carried out of the woods by his hunting party after the person responsible walked away and left him.
Sorry for the hijack. Back on topic my neighbour showed me his Colt Lightning in 44-40 some years ago. He stopped using it as it "blew the deer up too bad". He subsequently bought a pump in 30 Remington.
 
H4831 said:
Damn, you bring back memories!
As you know, the owner of that 7x57 was a very good, non professional gun smith. I knew him very well and he enjoyed showing me that rifle, as he had it tuned to a tee. He worked on the ejector until you could drop a cartridge in the chamber and the bolt would close on it almost as easy as does a push feed.
I can't remember what brand of Mauser it was, but it was slick.
For something do, he made another complete stock for it, out of birds eye maple.
He had three sons, all professional people, in fact the oldest was my accountant for years. None of the boys had any interest, whatsoever, in guns.
He died at too early of an age and I didn't even ask the son about his guns! I thought it sounded too goulish to ask a son about his dad's guns after the dad had died.
When I got around to it, it was too late.
Click to expand...

Bruce, He's the man!!
I had him fix a couple of 22's I had that needed minor repairs.
Used to drop in and chat with him quite a bit.
Always left with the feeling I had learned something!
Regards, Dave.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom