Nostalgia for old guns

I have been blessed with the means to buy a new rifle ever year or two, but sometimes I feel like something has been lost. I remember my grandfather's gun rack. A 30-06, .22, and a side by side double and that was all he ever needed. I remember men in my family that I identified with a caliber or a rifle because for decades that's all they ever shot. "That Uncle Joe sure is a sharp shooter with that .243 he got after the war".... anybody else feel like with the affluence we lose a little bit of the nostalgia for a man and "his" gun?
 

NCHillbilly

Administrator
Staff member
You just described the gun rack of almost every older member of my family: A shotgun (usually a Stevens or H&R single-barrel 12 or 16 gauge,) a centerfire rifle (usually a 94 or 336 in .30/30,) a .22 rifle (usually a Remington single shot or clip-fed bolt-action,) and a short-barreled revolver (usually a S&W in .38 special or .32.) Quite a few of the older men also had an old, original percussion muzzleloader, or "hog rifle" as they were called here at that time. That was the standard utility gun collection, and most folks didn't need or want anything but those basics.
 

Nicodemus

The Recluse
Staff member
Daddy had a single barrel 12 gauge shotgun and a single shot 22 rifle. Late in his life he got a Humpback Browning but he never really liked it and seldom used it.
 
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transfixer

Senior Member
My granddad had a 12ga single , a 410 single , a marlin mdl 81dl 22 bolt action, and a high standard 22 pistol he kept on the tractor for shooting snakes, all he ever had, I've got them all except the high standard.
 
I think it has a lot to do with how a person, old or young, feels about guns. Many who love the outdoors and hunting merely look at firearms as the tools they use while hunting and enjoying the outdoors.

Others like firearms and may liken them to art in form and function. They look at the firearms they own as being as close to their souls as the time spent in the outdoors and hunting.

While I'm within the group who sees firearms as more than mere tools, that's just me. Because I can enjoy opening a gun cabinet and handling firearms on a daily basis that likely makes me perhaps a tad different than many others.

Neither is more "correct" than the other, it's simply different strokes for different folks kind of thing. My Dad only owned a minimum number of firearms my whole life and likely had no idea at what models were in the gun cases stored under his bed.

On the other hand, that day some 50+ years ago that a friend of his led us into his gun room, lined with scores of long guns, my love of guns was born.
 

Cmp1

BANNED
My Dad had many WW2 guns,all matched ser numbers,never forget as a kid watching him clean them,,,,my favs were is broomhandle mausers,,,,both calibers,,,,with stocks and selector switches,,,,
 
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transfixer

Senior Member
The old timers like my granddad owned firearms out of necessity, a means to put food on the table , or for dispatching varmints, with 6 kids to clothe and feed he didn't have the means to buy one just to add to a collection. Of course times have changed, he scratched out a living on a 95 acre farm raising crops and tending to 4 chicken houses.

Most of us buy guns cause we just gotta have one, lol
 

NCHillbilly

Administrator
Staff member
My two cousins got 742’s for their 16th birthdays. $189 at Western Auto. I was so jealous.
I think his 06 was a 742. I agree that to some they are a tool to hunt while some feel something of a deeper connection beyond a hammer for a nail. I guess the men of my youth made a gun seem like more than a tool, but a part of there identity.
 
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My dad had a mod 94,gold plated rec,octagon barrel,comemerative,,,,
I bet that gun represents more than wood and metal to you when you think of your dad. My grandfather farmed his entire life on 100 acres. I think his 30-06 rifle was a fairly new addition. He loved squirrel and quail hunting. Don't think deer even crossed his radar outside of his vegetable garden.
 
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NCHillbilly

Administrator
Staff member
I bet that gun represents more than wood and metal to you when you think of your dad. My grandfather farmed his entire life on 100 acres. I think his 30-06 rifle was a fairly new addition. He loved squirrel and quail hunting. Don't think deer even crossed his radar outside of his vegetable garden.
Around here when I was growing up, there pretty much weren't any deer to hunt, and almost no one deer hunted. The centerfire rifles most people here had were for bear. Almost everybody had a couple bear dogs.
 
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lagrangedave

Gone But Not Forgotten
First deer hunting trip in my life was in Talbot County as it was the only county close to us with a deer season. I carried a single shot stevens 20 gauge with slugs. I got the crap scared out of me by two Vietnam vets in full camo including face paint. They were turkey hunting in the fall with 22-250 rifles...………..the bullets whistled …………...
 

Nicodemus

The Recluse
Staff member
Nic going to Valhalla...…………...


I hope.

There weren`t any deer when I was a youngun and we didn`t get a deer season till I was a big ol` boy. When we did finally get a season, we used our shotguns since nobody in these parts were gonna buy a rifle just for deer hunting. We hunted fall turkeys, "summer" ducks, and squirrels.

To this day I miss hunting turkeys in the fall more than anything.
 
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