The Village Gun

Gun Watch ^ | 14 November, 2016 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

Northern Wisconsin is gun culture country.  When I was growing up in the 50's and 60's, everybody had a gun or three in every house.  It wasn't always so.  The Depression was a hard time for a lot of people.  My father managed to snag the Springfield model 84-C during the 1930's. He paid $5 for the rifle and $2.50 for the scope. The rifle will feed Shorts, Longs, and .22 Long Rifle interchangeably through the detachable 5 shot magazine. The scope was an old straight tube 3/4 inch 2 3/4 power. It was state of the art in the 30's. It was a Weaver. As I recall, it was a model 329.  Those sold in 1934 for $4.75, with a choice of mounts.  

The rifle was advertised for $9.70 in 1939, so the pricing ratio was about right.

 

Somehow the scope had acquired hole in the tube, just  ahead of the adjustments.  I never changed the adjustments, and it always was right on.  The hole was sealed with a couple of wraps of ordinary transparent tape, probably Scotch. It was a farm boy repair. It was in that condition when I first became aware of it about 1960.

The tape grew more and more yellowed with age, and the scope grew dimmer and dirtier. By 2010, the inside had gathered enough grime that it was becoming unusable. I replaced it. I considered having it refurbished, but could not justify it.  I reasoned that no one but me would have an attachment to that old scope.

My father said that a deer shot through the lungs with a .22 acted the same as if it were shot in the same spot with a .300 Savage.  It ran a hundred yards and died. He told me an excess of 200 deer had been harvested with the 84-C. Most of them were taken illegally.  They were much appreciated in those hard times. Meat was expensive, even on the farm. During WWII, it was rationed. He shot a lot of the deer himself, but he wasn't the only one.  In those times, not everyone had a rifle.

Or maybe not everyone had a rifle and ammunition.  The rifle was a favorite of the neighbors to borrow when they wanted to get some venison.  If the hunt was successful, the rifle would be returned with a front quarter.  Besides being quiet and cheap, the village gun destroyed little meat.  I never shot a deer with the rifle, but hundreds, probably thousands, of squirrels, grouse, rabbits, and various pests from crows to ground squirrels and the occasional raccoon or fox were accounted for. 

I went to Panama in the 1980's. I left the rifle in Wisconsin.  I didn't want to risk it overseas, through import and export.  While in Panama, I visited the San Blas Islands.  Americans were popular there, even with an ongoing "cold war" with the Noriega regime, just before the invasion of Panama in 1989. Little handmade American flags were on top of most of the houses.

An American missionary group had brought running fresh water to the main island. It was a small, flat, corral island. It sat a couple of hundred yards off the coast, in the Caribbean. Houses covered the Island, because there were no mosquitoes.  Mosquitoes cannot live in salt water. The addition of running fresh water improved the quality of life enormously.

I encountered the same village gun system on the Island.  Guns were relatively expensive. The old rules applied. Borrow the gun. If successful, a share of the game went to the owner.  Basic capitalism at work.

As a poacher's gun, the .22 has few equals.  It is quiet, powerful enough, and inexpensive. Food is cheap in the modern United States. Poaching in Northern Wisconsin is rare. If it is done, hunger is seldom the reason.  That is a good thing.

Many memories are attached to the village gun. I learned to shoot and to hunt with it. I don't have a problem with my father and his neighbors feeding their families, even though game was scarce.

The game recovered with modern management practices. Poaching to eat was never the problem, market hunting and loss of habitat were.

I hope to pass the village gun to my grandson.  Perhaps he will find an interest in the old, obsolete, bolt action.  It works fine and shoots straight.  I have been wondering if I should refinish the stock, maybe have the rifle reblued. But the stock dings and wear have been honestly earned with thousands of miles of carry in the field.

I will consider it. Maybe there is time for my grandson to make the choice.

©2016 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.

Link to Gun Watch

[marktwain]

There are a lot of neat old guns out there. I rescued the tubular magazine version of this rifle (model 86) from a gun "buy back" in Phoenix for $40 in 2013.

[NorthMountain]

I have been wondering if I should refinish the stock, maybe have the rifle reblued. But the stock dings and wear have been honestly earned with thousands of miles of carry in the field.

Leave it as-is, IMO. If that rifle could talk, what tales it could tell ...

Maybe those scratches and dents and worn bluing will help it tell some of those tales to your grandson.

[riverrunner]

One of the very reasons 22LR is hard to find it is one of the most useful cartridges out there,.

[A Navy Vet]

"Leave it as-is, IMO. If that rifle could talk, what tales it could tell ..."

Just saw a segment on Jay Leno Garage and was astounded by the money that rust-bucket antiques are selling for nowadays. They had a Dodge Charger Daytona that was nothing but rust with destroyed interior that went for $90,000 at auction. It wasn't even good for complete frame off restoration.

As classic car owner (58 Impala survivor), I couldn't see one part that was salvageable, but collectors are now into these classics and antiques just because they are entirely original. It was so bad that Jay didn't even want to sit in it! You wouldn't either if you saw it.

Maybe there is a growing market for beat up old guns in original condition, also.

[Mat_Helm]

Dear hunting in the high Sierra’s in late October with no snow up at 8,000 feet near Grizzly Lake and Quartz Mountain, where we were raised and taught to hunt by our father, my brothers and I had no luck this season and little sign of deer that were all still up high because of no snow, and we passed the time plinking mid day with our old .22LR bolt action rifles. My younger brother with our fathers Remington Targetmaster Model 33 the old man had since his childhood from Alabama new back in 1940. Our father had lots of guns to hand down after his passing but the USMC Mater Gunnery Sergeant’s bolt action .22 was the most cherished. It still shoots accurate and true. I had an inherited Targetmaster model 510 from my wife’s German /Polish grandfather who grew up shooting in the woods of Wisconsin. We had more fun plinking with these old rifles than anything else during the whole hunting trip.

The fathers model 33 is still all original with most of the bluing gone and 86 years of dings and scratches in the stock. My model 510 was rusted pretty bad so I did re-blue the metal and refinish the stock. We have many other .22’s in our collections (to many to count)from our own younger years and more guns added in our adult years, but we always go back to those open fixed sight single action bolt .22’s when it is time to hunt squirrels or plink with and have the most fun. You feel like a ten year old again and every squeeze of the trigger is as fun as the first. My daughters do not hunt or shoot, but hopefully someday I will pass the guns on to a lucky grandson.

[Lurker]

I was gifted an ancient Remington Model 12-A a few years back. It’s in miserable condition. The rear sight is missing and it’s badly pitted. The rear sight is missing.

But it still shoots. By God it still shoots.

L

[marktwain]

I think just about any 3/8 inch sight could be fitted to the old dovetail for the rear sight.

Lots of them available for around $20.

I like the marbles bullseye sights.

http://gunwatch.blogspot.com/2015/12/review-of-marble-arms-bullseye-sight.html

[Lurker]

Thanks. Someday when I have more money than sense I’d love to have this old thing restored. I got it at a garage sale for $5.00.

L

[Lazamataz]

.22LR is not hard to find. I order 3750rds with no issue recently.

[Lazamataz]

Wait. Hold on. You gave away a .22 rifle and I NEVER EVEN CROSSED YOUR MIND???!?

;)

[marktwain]

I think you have me confused with Lurker, Laz.

[Lazamataz]

I’m perfectly willing to be confused if I get a rifle out of the deal. :)

[Jet Jaguar]

Good read.