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

1927 manufactured Win '94. It's still my usual carry gun for walkabouts here in Alaska.... Killed my first deer (ND) with it in 1966 - nothing since, but I'm planning on taking a moose with it one of these years.

And a Damascus steel SXS.. Must have been built right, cuz I was shooting up to smokeless baby Mags in it through high school. I didn't know any better. If it hadn't been stolen, I'd still be using it with BP reloads... I liked that old double hammer/double trigger gun!

I have a story about that gun and how I was frost-bit before conception, which I've told before....

My grandfather had a browning A5 16 gauge, a marlin 36 30-30 and a winchester 67 22lr. except for adding a winchester 9422 22wmr and a s&w k-22 some years later those where the only guns he ever owned even though he was a very avid hunter.
Guess he never got into the whole rifle loony thing

A Pennsylvania flintlock rifle
A Model 12 Winchester
A double gun, Fox I think
Savage 99 I believe in .303 Savage

Almost forgot an old Springfield Trapdoor .45-70. We still shoot it every year
A .32 revolver made by Harrington Richardson

There's been a few in my family, but I am uncertain of their exact history. I know one great uncle had both a Browning Auto 5, and a .405 Winchester, as Dad told stories about them. He shot the .405 at a fairly young age, and folks were amazed he could tolerate it.

One I had some dealings with was this 1896 Krag, that was sporterized many moons ago. I am told my great-grandfather owned it originally. It shot respectably well with 180gr bullets at around ~2200 fps, even tough the bore had a few pits:



It had 7 small notches in the stock when I got it. In 2011 I managed to drop a doe with it:



So I added a notch of my own. I eventually added a Ruger in the same caliber, and worried about the Ruger's stout loads finding a way into the old Krag. So I "handed up" the Krag to my elder uncle. He was delighted, commenting that he'd killed his first deer with it. He was quite amazed to hear that I'd killed a deer with it, and see the loads I'd made for it. He no longer hunts, so I am sure it's already gone to a cousin, and then his son. Both of them hunt & shoot, so perhaps it will continue to serve the family

Maternal grandfather had a Army Colt .45 ACP, Winchester Model 12, 12 gauge and a 30-40 Krag.

Paternal grandfather had a Savage 99-H, 250-3000 and a Winchester Model 1906 22 lr. Also, a single shot 10 ga shotgun and a single shot .410 which I can't remember manufacturers.

Grandpa's 1906 was in bad shape from horse sweat while carried in a cheap leather scabbard he bought in Mexico. Dad had it refurbished and gave to Gramps on his 80th birthday.

A Savage 23A 22LR. Used for almost anything shootable in the Texas Panhandle as well as killing hogs for slaughter and putting down sick animals. My dad learned to shoot very quickly and accurately. The chamber became ringed with the use of 22shorts. I was given my own M23 for my birthday in about 1962; Dad payed about $12 for it. Used, but in excellent condition. I never could shoot it as well as my dad could; he had been an top turret gunner in the Army Air Corp. in WWII.