I was gifted a fine vintage .22 rifle a few days ago.

[aarondhgraham]

A few months back a dear friend of mine passed away,,,
Her only remaining relative is her brother who lives in California.

I stored her many rifles and handguns until he could make the drive to pick them up.

Long story short my friend was on the rifle team in high school,,,
She had mentioned this was her rifle for competition,,,
She also showed me her several trophies.

Anyways I offered her brother what I thought was a fair price for the rifle,,,
He just said, "It's yours. Consider it a payment for storing the others."

I was flabbergasted!

It's a Mossberg 340-KC with target sights,,,
While it's very dusty and crusted with 25 year old oil,,,
The stock is in very good shape and there is no rust on it anywhere.

I think I will name her Matilda,,,
It's a name of Germanic origin and means Powerful Battler.

Just wanted to share (brag about) my good fortune,,,
Every time I see this rifle hanging on my wall,,,
I will think of my dear departed friend.

Aarond

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[Quick_Draw_McGraw]

Sorry to hear about the loss of your friend, but its nice to see that your good deed was rewarded.

That rifle looks to be in great shape. An hour or two of cleaning and it will look great. Also what a great reminder of a friend. That's what I love about guns, if properly maintained they can last for decades and be shared with the people you care about.

 

[flatwins]

That is, in fact, a fine rifle. Condolences and congratulations all in one!

 

[NikatKimber]

Awesome gun, and even better background on it.

 

[YakBasser]

SuhhhhWeeeet...........

 

[Biggsly]

Sorry for the loss. That is a beautiful 22.

 

[dlbleak]

aarond, i saw your post on the firing line forum. guns with history are always fun but guns with history of a dear friend are even better. since this is thew rimfire forum, i guess you can't talk about the schweet nickel s&w 34 you recieved also.....congrats

 

[HerkyBird]

Positively gorgeous. That is an amazing story. If you don't mind me asking...what is a rifle like that worth?

 

[aarondhgraham]

Hello dlbleak:

I usually post the same things here and at thefiringline.com,,,
The good people here have already heard about the Model 34 I inherited.

My friend's brother knew how close we were,,,
He really had no specific desire for those two fieryarms,,,
So he gave them to me as I had a reason to want them and will not sell them.

Hello Herkybird:

Actually my friend, the listed value isn't that much at all.

The 2010 Standard Catalogue of Firearms lumps about 20 models of Mossberg rimfire rifles into one posting,,,

Bolt-Action Rifles
Model 10 Model 25 Model 340M
Model 14 Model 25A Model 341
Model 140B Model 26B Model 342K
Model 140K Model 26C Model 346B
Model 142A Model 30 Model 346K
Model 142K Model 320B Model 352K
Model 144 Model 320K Model 450
Model 144LS Model 321K Model 432
Model 146B Model 340B Model 50
Model 20 Model 340K Model 51
Model 51M
Model 140 B
Exc. V.G. Good Fair Poor
100 80 65 45 20

This one does have a Mossberg brand after-market peep sight that I was told is valued at around $60.00,,,
So according to the book the gun is valued at around $150.00 to $175.00,,,
One gentleman from rimfirecentral.com offered me $200 for it,,,
I thanked him for the offer but declined to sell the gun.

I took it out this past saturday,,,
The wind was up so distance accuracy was poor,,,
But I was hitting as well with the Mossie as I was with my CZ-452 Military Trainer.

In function those two rifles are very similar,,,
They are both bolt-action, mag fed, with 24" barrels.

I have one 2-rifle case they fit in,,,
They are going to be my dedicated rimfire silhouette rifles.

It's nice to have a closely matched pair of guns,,,
For when you take a friend out shooting.

Aarond

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