whats your most sentimental firearm?

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1mathom1

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A four digit Winchester 1894 in .30WCF rifle w/full octagon barrel. Purchased new in 1894 or 5 by my great-grandfather and used to feed the family through many hard years in Idaho, Missouri and finally here in OK.
 

Bluewing

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1954 Armi Gelese 22. it was my mother's. she passed at the age of 82 some 17 years ago. Sis has had the pistol since. a couple months ago she gave it to me.
the pistol is a year older than me and needs some work. it is the Long version. from what i have found on the net it is "kinda" unusual. recommendations on a smith around tulsa?
 

Mac68

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Mossberg 183D .410 bolt action was my great grandpas, now mine and i remember him carrying it and shooting squirrels and rabbits with it when he took me hunting in the 70's.
 

CBCollier

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Boy, my story will not be near as good as some of these. I would say that there were not any gun collectors in my family. Neither of my grandfathers, had any guns that I knew of (except maybe the old 10/22 that was at the lake house for awhile). But....

When I turned 13, my step-dad at the time bought a Browning 22 from a lady at work for my birthday. I didn't think much about it at the time, and neither did he because he wasn't a collector. I just thought it was a neat gun, take down model with very nice wood. I kept it for a long time and it wasn't until I was about 30 years old (after I had it for about 15 or so years) that i discovered that it was a Belgium made Browning and was a pretty desirable 22. I ask my mom what my step dad (they had since divorced) what he gave for the rifle. He said the lady knew he was going to give it to me, so she sold it to him for $75 dollars.

Now fast forward to about 5 or 6 years ago when we had the wildfires that swept through the southeast side of Midwest City and Choctaw, well the 22 was in my house that was burnt by the fire. I was able to get all of my other guns out unharmed, but the 22 was in the top of the closet and got so hot that the barrel twisted and the stock burned off. You want to talk about being sick, that was one of the few things that I lost in the fire that really made me mad / sad to loose.
 

Brandi

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I actually have a few that hold much sentimental value to me for the same reason. One is a Winchester 94 .44 magnum purchased new by my father during the 70's when the first .44 magnum were released. It was the only rifle he owned and he used it for hunting deer, elk and whatever else came along, it worked so well it was all he needed.

The second is an old .410 shotgun, she's in rough shape and so old even the tape holding it together predates my birth. I've debated having it repaired but there's a certain charm to it as it is it's own time capsule. The little .410 was spied by my father when he was a boy sitting in the window of the local hardware store with a sign saying it was used and the price (which I can't remember). My father said he wanted it the moment he saw it. Being one of 14 kids none of then owned many things for themselves and had take turns sharing everything including the mule they rode to school. Two kids at a time and the rest walked the several mile distance to school and back with the next day bring a new set of riders.

My father grew up poor on a farm in rural Oklahoma where the opportunity to make money was almost nonexistent so he had to get creative. He finally settled on hunting coyotes for the bounty at the time so every evening after the farm chores were done and nobody else was using the old shotgun they all shared he would ride the mule out into the night and try to get as many coyotes as possible. After quite a long time and considering the bounty on each coyote was only a few cents he finally earned enough to buy it. He rode the mule into town, put his sack of change on the counter and walked out the happiest kid in Oklahoma.

Many years later my father, now serving in the military, met my mother and they were married. These were the days of the Korean war and then the Vietnam war so my parents were moved from base to base and then my father was sent to Vietnam. My mother spent long periods of times without him and raising us children so that little .410 was allocated to her as her personal home defense gun. Many years later my father retired after 22 years and we returned to Oklahoma all the while that little shotgun, now quite a bit worse for wear, still stayed under my mothers side of the bed until it was decided that it had reached retirement also. Unfortunately it was only a few short years after my fathers retirement that he passed away and when I left home to start my own life that .410, his Winchester 94 and a few others came with me since I was the only one who hunted and shot guns.

The third gun is a little Remington 514 .22 single shot bolt action rifle. I hadn't owned anything other than a BB gun previously but one day while spending the day with my father he was visiting a friend of his. I wasn't too interested in what was going on but I was interested in all of the guns this friend of my father had on the walls and around the room. He was an avid hunter and the dark stained wood walls were covered with head mounts, fish, photo's and the guns. I didn't know anything about any of them but I liked guns so I was studying each one intently. Apparently I drew the attention of my father and his friend because the friend asked if I liked guns and, of course, I agreed. He asked if I had any of my own and I said I had a BB gun (a very sweet Daisy Winchester 94 clone). He pointed towards a corner at the end of a sofa and there was this old .22 rifle and he told me I could look at it so I picked it up and dusted it off. He asked if I liked it and although it was old, well used, had a broken front sight and basically looked like something nobody would want, to me, it looked like the greatest gun in the world.

I stood there holding it and being careful not to touch the trigger or point it at anyone (my father was very strict about teaching gun safety before I could shoot my first BB gun) because I knew my dad would have a fit and that would be the end of it. Then his friend said something like "you like that huh? Well, I don't use it much anymore so I would be willing to sell it to you if you want it, I'll take $10". I was in shock...I didn't know what to say so I just turned to my dad and stared at him. He laughed and said "well...are you going to buy it?", I nodded "yes", and he said "well pay the man". That's when my heart crashed into my stomach...I was a little girl without a penny let alone ten dollars so I sadly said to my dad "I don't have ten dollars" and he said "I suppose I can loan you the money"...at that point I was on cloud nine and I brought it home with me.

When we got home and my mother found out she was none too happy and it took awhile for her to sign off on the idea but after that it was all mine. I didn't know very much about .22's of any kind so my father taught me what I needed to know and said the gun needed work before we could shoot it. That was a real downer, I hadn't even thought about the broken front sight. This all occurred very near Christmas and on Christmas morning one of my gifts was a rifle scope! It was a basic Bushnell 4x scope but to me it was the fanciest scope in the world. My dad said he would have to take my rifle to have it worked on so we could mount the scope and a few days afterwards he took it with him and when he came back it had brand new scope rings and my new scope mounted on it. It was, without a doubt, the coolest rifle that had to ever existed in my eyes and we quickly went out to the pasture to sight it in. Dad set up a target and walked me through how to adjust it for elevation and windage. Once it was sighted in we took turns shooting the target and after a little while he handed me the gun and the ammo and said "be careful, remember your gun safety and have fun". That was it, I was full fledged gun owner at age 12.

The next year was our last and my entire world changed for the worst. My father passed away and without any kind of life insurance we basically went from normal happy family to a single mom with four kids and no income so that .22 rifle meant the world to me. At some point the cross hair wires broke and the gun went into retirement but last year my sister talked me into replacing the scope (which I still own) with another 4x to stay original. I bought a Nikon 4x and mounted it on the gun, gave the rifle a good cleaning and took it to the range. It was quite a day...the old gun isn't so impressive by modern standards, the trigger is extremely wobbly like it was the first day I got it and it still shot like a dream, putting tiny little holes right next to each other in the bullseye. I absolutely love this little rifle. I still remember how my dad would joke about how the scope work on that gun cost 10 times more than the gun did lol.
 

zoomaster1

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My dad gave me all his guns before he died. I got the .22 Savage pump I learned to shoot with. While cleaning up the garage after he died, I found the original receipt from 195? for a whopping $52.
 

7stw

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I've got a few. First is a 16ga a5 my dad got for high school graduation from his dad. Second is a Winchester 94 in 22wmr I hauled hay for free for two summers as a kid for a neighbor to "buy it". Third is the 1897 Winchester 12ga my great grandfather bought new. And last but not least my grandpas pre 64 Winchester in .220 swift with vintage weaver k4 No telling how many prarie dogs he shot with it in the badlands of South Dakota. I still take it every year to pop prarie poodles a few times. Many more guns that I love but these are some of my most prized possessions.


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turkeyrun

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My Dad grew up poorer than dirt, Dad was 8yo when his Dad passed at 51yo. Grandma had an Iver Johnson .410 break open, single shot, 30" brl. used for rabbit, squirrel, snakes and protection. Super tight pattern, plain Jane, but tight action and a joy to shoot. Not worth $$$$, but worth a fortune to me. Granddaughter is almost 16 and just getting where she can wield that long barrel, only draw back to the gun, difficult for the grandkids to handle. But they will all get to use it in time.
 

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