Day Off Gun Fun

[44caliberkid]

    This is just an interesting story.   
     I have been known to buy any old Winchester 1897 shotgun that comes up at farm/estate auctions, and goes for a cheap enough price that I can clean/ fix them up and resell them.   Or keep it if I find an interesting one.
    I recently had a free day and remembered an M97 that we bought a couple years ago, gathering dust in my attic stairwell.   I picked it up, the action functioned stiffly and it looked like crap, but nothing that didn't seem fixable.
    The first thing I did was take off the butt plate to remove the stock.   Looking into the bolt hole I saw old, yellowed, paperwork, rolled up and stuck in the hole.   Now there's nothing more potentially thrilling to an antique gun nut than finding paperwork/ documentation in an old gun.   My mind raced as I removed the rolled up treasure, could this be documentation linking the ownership of this gun to some famous character, that would make this piece much more valuable.
    Well, it was two old hunting/ fishing licenses, one from the 1926-27 season and another from the 1929-30 season.   The cost of the license was $1.00 !  Our 1897 owner was 22 years old, 5' 6" tall and 155 lbs.  I am 6' 2" and find stock 1897's to be pretty long in pull and reach to the forearm, so it must have been quite a handful for this little guy.
    It was certainly well used and apparently rarely, if ever, cleaned.  As I disassembled it, every part, recess, crevice, and slot was caked with a rock hard concoction of dirt and oil.
I soaked parts, scrubbed them with stainless steel and brass bristled brushes and in some areas had to scrape away the crud with a screwdriver tip.   I'd say the previous owner(s) never had it apart, just dumped in more oil as she got stiffer.
    Externally, the receiver and magazine tube were coated with an oil product that had turned into a yellow varnish.   Thank God for stainless steel sponge (sold by Brownel's and Frontier Gun Shop).   Squirt on some Ballistol, scrub with the sponge, and varnish and rust comes right off, and doesn't touch the original blue or patina.   It is a truly magical product that I've used several times.
    Amazingly, the bore was still shiny,  and powder residue cleaned out with 4 or 5 patches and nitro solvent.
    Other than some wood cleaner and lemon oil, I didn't mess with the stock, which other than lots of scratches was still in good shape, no cracks.
    After reassembly she cycled smooth and great.   I drove two miles out of town to my "test firing" spot and ran 5 shells through it as fast as I could, went bang every time.
It was an interesting and fun way to spend a day off.   To warp an old cliché, the worst day working on an old gun is better than the best day at work.

[O.T. Buchannan]

44Caliberkid, now THAT is how a day off should be spent!  Thanks for sharing it with us!

[French Jack]

I always heard that even a blind hog gets an acorn once in a while.  Congrats and enjoy turning that sow's ear into a silk purse.

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Sounds like a great day and another fine rescue of a great old gun.

Don't you wish all those old guns you've had  (as well as antiques of any sort ) could talk?

[Ottawa Creek Bill]

Clint,
You didn't say what state the licenses were issued in, it would be interesting to know if this old gun stayed close to home all these years. Wonder what that one dollar license is equivilant to in todays currency?

Bill

[44caliberkid]

They were Iowa licenses, issued in a county about 120 miles N.W. of me.

[Bristow Kid]

Pretty cool find .44 Kid