Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Guns during the depression - What did your family have?

My father didn't have a Thompson until 1942, Pacific Theater of Operation, got some runners in Detroit in the family as well

Grandpa had a 10ga. double of some sort, I've never heard the brand. It went away, someplace or other, before I was born.

Dad had a Stevens 86D .22 bolt-action tube-fed rifle, which I have now. It will still shoot as good as I can see, the bore is perfect, but no scope rail, and I'd refuse to D&T it. Dad also had an old JC Higgins (High Standard) 12ga. bolt gun, also tube fed, that kicks like a mule and hits about as hard, it's choked TIGHT.

Don't know the exact date but dad took a liken to shootin venison out of season rather than starve out. Weapon of choice was a Parker SxS 12 gauge, and the huntin grounds were out under the apple trees at night. One night he commenced to shootin a big old blacktail buck, but it charged him rather than dropping like it was sposed to. He bent the barrels of that old Parker SxS over the deers rack and the big buck veered off and kept going.

Buried my dad in 1982 old stuff is cool stuff

Hope you found that shotgun and it's resting in a place of reverence above the fireplace.

And many times the 'best' stuff, no doubt it is when the histories are revealed.

My grandmother was a pre teen girl during the depression. They lived in Blytheville Ark. Said they never knew there was a Great Depression cause they was always doing for themselves anyway.

She did say one indicator was my gr grandfather went from an 11 chair barber shop down to 5. She had three brothers, and everyday they were out together sharing a bolt action 22. They picked muscadines, fox grapes, gathered walnuts, pecans, killed squirrels and rabbits. She said the best blackberry picking was on an island out in the middle of the Mississippi River they'd have to swim to it. They were gettin .08cents a gallon for blackberries. Said it went up to .15cents and wooo they thought they was going to get rich.

All in all she said they didn't want for anything. Had chickens running around everywhere and more eggs than they could eat. Had a big garden, kept a few hogs and had a couple milk cows. I think they were probably doing well considering.

We complain today, in reality we are nothing but over-fed swollen spoiled poosies, we have no problems.

I remember as a kid in the 60's my grandfather had an old break action 20 gauge and an old single bolt action 22 LR. I don't know if that is what he used in the depression or if he had others back then.

We have problems, they just have to be kept in perspective. Back then, a major problem would be the corn crop not coming in. Nowadays, the world is ending if the Internet is down for an hour..........

All I know of -
Paternal Grandfather had a 30" barreled 97 Win 12 ga, and bought a Marlin 1893 30-30 and a Mossberg bolt action 22 from "some Russian trappers" The 30-30 is owned by one of my younger brothers, now.

Maternal Great- grandfather had a 2 digit SN Model 1905 Win SLR (which I have) and a Rem model 11 12 ga that one of my younger brothers has

Cool stories Scotty, HH and MS, I only wish I were afforded the ability/luxury to listen to the stories ALL these old guns have to tell, wouldn't converse with humans for years.

Nothing came down from the grandparents, all deceased prior to my birth. My fathers parents gave him and his brother each a 22 single shot Hamilton rifle around 1910. Best Dad could remember was they cost approximately .75 cents each. That an a single shot 12 gauge was what got a large young family through the depression. Most small game was trapped as they had no money to waste on ammo. They lost their savings of $28.00 in the local bank when it went under.

Shotgun was sold to a friend of my father during the 70's. The Hamilton got run over by a farm wagon in the 40's. I restored it for Dad for fathers day in the 1970's. My oldest brother who is now deceased acquired it from Mom after Dad passed. I hope my niece still has it and plans to pass it on. Parents had few physical things left to pass after raising eleven children. But being the youngest of the group I sure have many good memories and stories to pass on.

I have several guns from good friends that I will be passing on to my children and grandchildren. GW

My Mothers father was a carpenter/farmer and had a Winchester 73 that had had the octagon barrel cut to about 17/18". It was a 32-20 and he said it was particularly good on turkeys. My other Grandfather was a railroad paymaster and he had a FACTORY L.C. Smith 12 gauge double barrel pistol. I remember it had a sawhandle grip. Have no idea what happened to it but I know he still had it in the war years. He moved after the war and I never saw it again. Neither one ever owned a handgun. I can't remember that my father EVER owned a gun of any type. He had an accident of some sort as a teenager and a friend was killed and as a result he just never owned a gun. However he was an excellant shot with anything which I credit with his service with the Marines in Nicarauga. His favorite weapon was a Thompson Sub-Machinegun. I watched him shoot one once at the National Guard Armory and he really was good. When we hunted squirrels he just used one of my Ruger 22 pistols that he particularly liked.

that "long tom" i mentioned was made by several manufacturers. It got it's name from a 36inch barrel. Now my grandfather who was about 5ft6 shortened the stock since he didn't have long arms which makes it look wierd. It disappeared years and years ago. Until one christmas some years back, and my nephew admitted he had it. His father had "borrowed" it and never gave it back. It was missing the firing pin, and extractor. The firing pin was not a problem, the extractor was. I was saved when numrich sent me a number of them in different sizes so i could find the one that worked. I got it back operational, and have never fired it.
The remington single shot has peep sights back and forth. One could use it to shoot the heads off of quail if one were of a mind too.

Antelope your words seem to come right out of the teacher's lounge. Yes, I'm generalizing and not all in academia are infected by liberalism. Not quite all. I was a teacher for a couple years before going leaving and going another direction.

We did not start WWII if you recall nor were we anxious to "impose imperialism" on others until Pearl Harbor was bombed into the mud. Another small detail often omitted in selective history's is that, post-war, we essentially rebuilt a good part of the world, meaning those that brought the war on in the first place.

No one said the US was or is perfect; But extending the Blaming America Apology Tour is just phony baloney.

As far as we know...

a Marlin 30/30
Savage 410 Shotgun
Winchester Model 12 Shotgun in 12 Gauge....

PawPaw loved to eat Rabbit and Squirrel, his favorite two dinner fares...

I still have the 410, the 30/30 some A Hole stole out of my truck along with my camera one cold night in Minnesota..

Outside of some health calamity...you are right on.

Just got an old Stevens Favorite that belonged to a great uncle. Cross set it up for 22lr, as it was chambered for 32rf originally. Excited to have my boy use it when he's old enough.

I bought my first gun, a Savage single shot 410 , from the Fuller Brush Man. The gun and a box of shells was $6.00.

Winchester single shot bolt action M67 .22lr. Mostly, it was used to dispatch butcher animals, but it took a lot of squirrels, quail, doves, and rabbits, eliminated some soybean hogging chucks, the occassional fox or bobcat, chicken killing dog, egg stealing skunk, etc.