Inherited two guns.....woo hoo!

So my uncle that I hardly ever talk to calls me up out of the blue and says "Hey, I'm gonna have so and so bring you Papa's old rifle. Want you to have it cause I know you'll take care of it.." I was pumped because there is quite a few dudes in my family older than me, but I guess because technically I am the first grandson with his name, I win....

I was skeptical at first because "so and so" was my cousins white trash boyfriend who my uncle gave it to several years ago "to clean up" and I was more than certain it got pawned and I would never see it....but sure enough, he showed up at my work and handed it to me, filthy dirty of course...

1978 Rem 700bdl in 25.06 with a Leopold 3x9 scope. So of course, blasted it apart, cleaned the daylights out of it and am going to have a custom leather sling made with my grandpa's name embossed into it...gonna be cool to keep around, shoots great too...

gun #2 is a cool story....we have been cleaning up our place after giving the "foreman" the boot...have hauled off/burned/thrown away 2 full truck beds and 3 16ft trailer loads of trash and have finally made a dent. Anyway, while pulling crap off the top of an old florist cooler my bro in law says, hey....there is an old rifle up here....

Back story....supposedly my grandpa had a M1 Carbine that somehow went missing after he passed. We suspected one of the ranch hands made off with it..I had never seen it but my Dad and Uncle would bring up the missing gun from time to time. It would have gone AWOL in 06 which is when he died.

Anyway, my brother in law says "Hey" and immediately my Dad and I both said, is it an M1? He pulls it down and hands it to me, not an M1, but def some sort of WWII era miltary rifle. Dont recognize it though. FILTHY, RUSTED, FULL of dirt dobber nests and possibly missing parts. Bolt action with a detatchable mag that is missing, but the action cycles at least. It says No4MK1 on the receiver.
So a few minutes of research and found out it was a Lee Enfield No4mk1 rifle. So the theory is this is the missing gun and he never had an m1, but if you look at this one with the sporterized stock it has it looks very similar if you arent a gun guy.

This gun was built in 42 for use by the british military and is still widely used/collected by many. After blasting it to nuts and bolts and thorougly cleaning/derusting it, it is mechanically perfect. Barrel cleaned up great and actually shoots really well. Was missing the front sight blade and the rear sight was broken, but found them online and it is ready to rock....





Thought I had better pics on my phone...Ill have to add more later if anyone cares...

Anyway, gonna finish fixing up the enfield and get that leather sling made and have two guns with history in my safe.

That is really, really neat. Congratulations!

Really cool for you. Had a friend in Jr High whose Dad had an M-1 carbine. I liked shooting it and have always wanted one.

As for the 700, you better go have a real good gunsmith go over the trigger and safety just to be safe.

Didnt know there was a problem with the old 700 triggers....whats the scoop?

I've had dreams where stuff like that happens, but reality is---well, reality.

Good for you, cool story.

That is very cool!! Congrats and thanks for sharing

Gotta love inheriting old guns. I inherited a very cool German Officers pistol from my Grandfather after he passed away. It is made my JP Sauer and Sohn, supposedly the parent company that eventually split up to form Sig Sauer. The pistol is a model 38H with Ivory grips, and it has a few of the Nazi eagle symbols stamped on it. I believe it was the first (or one of the first) pistols to have a de-cocking lever. It came with 2 magazines and the original leather officers holster.

There is a crazy, very cool back story to go with it as well but that would take me a while to write up. It is truly an awesome pistol that will never leave my collection. When I looked it up after getting it, I read on Wikipedia that a very famous SS officer by the name of Joseph Sepp Dietrich had one of these pistols that was sold for $43k or something ridiculous like that. I do not think mine is worth anywhere near that much, but I received a few crazy offers from some older gun collectors in a local store I visited to get it inspected before shooting it.

Awesome. That Enfield is a great gun.

I care, add more pictures.

Great story!

I inherited my Grandfathers Winchester '94 in .32. Love that gun! Congrats, sounds like they are in good hands.

When my dad died, four or five of his guns went missing. Unfortunately I had a scum brother-in-law that took them to the pawn shop. Fortunately, I had another brother-in-law that found out about it and managed to get three of them back. He gave them to me, and I really treasure them. I started collecting guns a few years ago and I enjoy buying, selling, and trading. I usually trade for a gun, shoot it a while, and then trade it for a new toy. But the original three are on my "no trade, no way, no how" list. They are a German 8mm Mauser, a Winchester model 94 30/30, and a 16 gauge Lefever double barrel shotgun. Every time I hunt with them, it's like being in the woods with my dad and grandfather. My sons know they are going to inherit them, and #1 son already took his first deer with the Mauser.
Hang onto the old guns that belonged to Dad or Grandpa. The memories are worth way more than the cash value.

like you most of my guns are in hearted all my 1 22mag and my 30-30 the rest were my dads i have my grandfaterh old 16gage but it is not in any kind of sape when he passed my grandmother put it in the cellar wich leaked and the moistly got to the out side the gun was dangers if you jared it to hard it ould go off lol my grandmother ithaca 16gage is the same but she still uses it and i get it when she passes i will have the trigger replaced she is in here uper 80s and for the past 12 yrs or so she has not been able to walk well so he hunts from the kitchen out of a chair. the deer come across the filed and in to the good ever year in New York she would get at least 1-2 deer then she would call one of use to come and dress it out and cut it up for her we never used a butcher we did it all our selfs it is to easy to bones and cut up a dear. when my other grandfather passes I get his guns and well my uncle lives in Austral so he cant have them he has some very nice gunes she suck back after WWII has a semi auto 30-06 a semi auto 12 gage and double barrels early 16 and 18 gages coach guns side by side and full length side by side 10 gage nickel plated 410 snake charmer that what is says on the gun any how a bolt acting 410 with adjustable choke the stock look like someone cut it all up but its factory some pistols he brought back form WWII and Koran War. a lot of it he keeps out of sight i never asked about them as it bring up bad memories i have to pick it up this spring he as the onset of dementia and for gets stuff a lot I have no idea what the rifles he brought back other then one is his M1 when the came back state side he kept his as he was guarding german pows the he went on leave when he tired to turn in his gun they said he had to hold on to it they had no way of taking it at that time so my grand mother picked him up the next morning he was handed order to go to Ft lenerad wood he tired to turn it it but agin the would not take it him to fined some one he couldn't fined them so he kept it no one ever asked about it the other he just booked down and shipped them back home

Congrats on some fine guns with family history. Have several here and though I really like them all and the memories they bring back when I hunt with them. Reminds me I think I might use my Dad's deer rifle on my next hunt. Brings back lots of good memories when hunting with those Family treasures

Remington finally owned to the fact that there was a problem with their triggers, so be sure to have it checked out.

Glad you got them.

When the time comes, return the favor by leaving them with someone who will be sure to care for them and keep them in the family.

Pretty cool! That Remington is a sure bet for a good shooter. The Enfield may surprise you as well. I had one a few years ago, went a bit overboard sporterizing it, took it to Africa for a plains game safari and shot a number of animals with it. Old School Cool!

Very nice!

More pics...


Yea can't wait to get them back out and tuned in...should both be good shooters...

The volley sight can be folded flat and reveals a peep for up close shooting...cool as hell....

Congrats on a helluva clean up job!

Great story.

Well done bringing them back to life.

Dad called me one day "hey we were sifting through Grandad's guns and we set aside a .45 for you."

The "45" is a Remington Rand 1911, circa 1942 I believe. Still runs like a top! They are worth preserving!

Yea, similar story...family member calls and says "hey, my dad told me his neighbor died and his wife is loading up all his guns to take to the gun shop to sell, better get over here if you want anything" so family member goes over and checks them out and calls me and says "yea, all the rifles are already gone, but i picked up a little 22 revolver, but there wasnt anything you would like....just some old military looking handgun...".

Of course, I just knew it was a 1911..."what do you mean a military gun???"

"oh I dunno, one of those old guns, you know, just a standard miltary pistol" ....

"what caliber?"

".45 for sure, but it didnt have a clip"....

"does it work?" ..

"she doesnt know anything, all guns are as is"...

."offer her $xxxxx because if it works, great. If it doesnt, it'll still be a good price and can be fixed"...

So I get it a few days later and sure enough, it is an Ithaca 1911, 1943 build, in damn near perfect working condition other than the finish is worn off. Blew it up, looks brand new, put it back togther and took it out, shoots perfect. I love it.

I did a little reading on it and the first Ithaca's were built on Colt lowers. Apparently Colt gave Ithaca some old WW1 lowers to jumpstart production, and the way you identify them is by the cutouts in the lower behind the grip panels. Mine has the Colt heartshaped cut-outs and the correct serial range for those (some were, some werent). On top of that you can see where Ithaca ground off the old serial number(you can still read it) and engraved the new serial number. I was telling this story to a 1911 guy at a local gunshow and he called BS on me, so I went home and got it, took it to him and he said he had never seen anything like it. Bought an original 43 dated holster from him and he said if I ever wanted to sell it to let him know.

I said, "nah, I like it too much and am a horder, besides, I got a great deal on it and I think thats because the gun gods knew I would take care of it!"

I've heard a lot of stories about guys that die and their prized guns got scattered. I've got a little advice for all of you who are afraid that when you pass, your gun collection will end up at the pawn shop where your loved ones will get pennies on the dollar. I got into collecting a few years ago, and keep a running log of my guns with the descriptions, serial numbers, and accessories listed, along with the estimated value on each. As I sell or trade away a gun, I take it off the list, and add whatever new toy I got. I have two sins, and I noted on each line which son should get which. I keep it with my will.
Then I made up a simple form for each gun with a picture or two, description, and other information, printed the page in color, and put the pages in a three ring binder labeled, "Gun Collection". So it looks like a little catalog, and is a great reference.

Nice...I have a file with pics and serial numbers just in case of theft...but that's a great idea...

Good reading material here. Awesome job on the clean up.

Congrats. I have guns from both grandpas and my dad. Would t part with any of them.