greydog;
Thanks for your post, I always appreciate hearing from folks like you who have been in the business and have a better handle on such topics than I do.
To the OP I could only say that in my formative years through my family connections I met many Native hunter/trappers as well as farmer/trappers who lived on the edge of what was called "the bush" in the prairie provinces.
The most common firearm I can recall was the Canadian made Cooey bolt action single shot .22 rifle - most of them likely not having ever been cleaned any more than was needed to make them fire when asked.
After that the two most seen center fire rifles were Winchester 94's - mostly .30-30, but a surprisingly large number of .32 Specials too and SMLE's of one variant or another but usually the older Mk III.
Again if they'd been cleaned since the war I couldn't tell but they went bang often enough to keep the owner's family in meat - usually moose or deer but sometimes black bear too.
Funny though I can't recall seeing a whole lot of Marlins there for whatever reason - maybe because John Wayne carried a Winchester?
Anyway that's just one prairie kid's memories of seeing working guns back in the late '60's for whatever it might be worth.
All the best to you and yours again greydog.
Dwayne
Last edited by BC30cal; 11/23/14.
