Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Ever Thought You'd Struck Paydirt

Got a call yesterday from a local Amish fellow wanting to know if I'd be interested in buying an old 30-30 rifle he had. Told him I'd be right there. Of course, I had visions of an old Winchester 94, or at worse a Marlin 336, and figured I'd lucked up on someone needing some money.

Turns out it was a Stevens Model 325, bolt action, and in pretty rough shape. He said he wanted what he paid for it...........$300. Hated to bust his bubble, and didn't want to insult him by telling him he'd been had, so I just told him I wasn't interested, but I'd tell people about it.

So, I'm sure I'm not the only one who has ever thought he had a bargain lined up, then found out it wasn't. Anyone care to share a story?

Yes many times, no stories just now.

Your Amish have phones? Ours don't even have flush toilets.

I think they have one phone used by the whole community.

A few years ago I got to thinking I wanted a used F250 4wd diesel pickup for commuting and hunting. Did a lot of looking around on-line and found several that looked really good in the photos and I began to think I could get a nice one for around 10k. One of the things I wanted to avoid was ripped seams on the driver's side seat and found that there weren't many like that. So I selected four or five to look at and set out on a Saturday morning. Every one of them was an absolute RAG when looked at up close.

I put away that want and found a nice 97 GMC 5.7 4wd for a third of the money. Kept my old F150 and drive it every day, now with 165k trouble-free miles.

Most of them have phones here in central KY. Still drive around in horse drawn buggies, but they have phones.

We have a lot of Mennonites around here. They ain't the cheapest people to buy something from. They'll take you for a ride if you let them.

They may have a phone out in the barn, or out beside the road in a little hut, but they have access to a phone. The Amish and Mennonites are a mixed lot, in that many are just as modern as you or I, they just look different, and live by a different set of rules. In my dealings with them, I've learned a lot that I did not know. Many of them are very gun savvy, while others are dumber than rocks.

Yes, for about a day. The morning news had a piece that a copy of the first book that had ever been commercially printed from back in the 1800's called "The Birds America" by John James Audubon was sold at auction for 4.1 million dollars! Say what? Mom and step-dad were birders and damned if they didn't have that exact book in their book case and it is mine now. Heck, I figure that I'd let my copy go for a measly million or two. A little research and come to find out that there were only four copies of that book printed and that it is much larger than my book and that my book is worth...$3.00.

A guy that I fish with was killing some time at the casino between flights and his slot machine went off with all kinds of lights, bells and whistles. The lady next to him was yelling "You won, you won the big one" and Larry was standing there with illusions of grandeur and an early retirement. He went to get the attendant to confirm his new found wealth and the guy comes by an calmly says, "Yeah, the machine is out of quarters."

There are some Mennonites that I do business with once in a while, and they are as modern as anyone. They use modern machinery to farm, I'm positive they have cell phones, got his number on speed dial. Went by one day and they were making homemade ice cream..... with an electric maker. Other than the lady wearing the long dresses (I've only seen her one time and yes, the dress was almost touching the ground), you'd never know they were Mennonites. Nice, polite, and hard workers.

yeah they have phones here around here. They make little Ezekial sit in the "call house/bus stop" from 6-8am to take messages while he waits for the bus

Have to talk to some barely English speaking 6 year old kid about plumbing parts

And then, you may or may not get your call returned for several days.

Really fuggin aggravating when the stoltfuz is putting in a $10k wood boiler system and you can't get some prefit dimensions.

That yoder was bs,ing you.
Dude probably got that POS for 50 to 100 at the most from some young beardless in the community.

looking to make the most he could off a " english heathen"

Bought an all correct H&R Garland from a guy here at work for 600.00. I didn’t know what I had until I read about them. A decent buy.

Clip-clop- - - -clip-clop- - - - -clip-clop- - - - -BOOM!- - - -BOOM!- - - -Cllippity-clop- - - -clippity-clop- - - - -clippity-clop!

Amish drive-by shooting!
Jerry

Stole it!!!!!
Nice....
Probably a nice arsenal rebuild from 53 to 56 timeframe.
Dudes desperate for cash and wanting to sell firearms.
Priceless.......

I do not hold the Mennonites in particularly high regard, primarily due to their treatment of animals, and specifically puppy mills. They are putting a lot of genetically screwed pure breds into the market place, many ending up as rescue dogs, for reasons that cannot be fixed. Interbreeding seems to be a common M.O.
We have had a huge influx over the last 3 decades. While their "normal" kids go to "their" schools. Their defective/problem kids are sent to public schools. It ain't pretty.
As for bargains, I bought a Nash Buckingham book a couple of years ago, inscribed with a wonderful little story and autograph inside the cover, that I thought might fund my pension all by itself. Like Windfall's story, I was a little optimistic. It is kinda cool, and a good read. Owning it makes me feel like I have a little bit of class.
As far as bargains: I did find a well made stock made out of a really nice piece of walnut for a Colt Light Rifle for a nice price. Turns out that whomever did the bedding, screwed up by just little bit. A little dremel work and new bedding put things right. Local smith and gunshop estimate that the wood and the work would be in the $2,000 range. It looks nice on a 270 that has been my primary "go to" rifle for over a decade.

Was way out in the sticks surveying years ago and found a rock that was way out of place for the area.

It was about 15 pounds and appeared to be metallic.

I got out my magnetic locator that I use to find property corners, and it lit up with magnetism!

A meteor!

Those things are pretty valuable!



Sent it off to the university for testing... No Cigar!

It appears that back in the wagon freighting days, they would use iron ore as ballast and would toss some as needed... (in areas it's not known to be)

You sure know a lot about guns.

I wish you'd post more wile e coyote stuff. Colors and pictures, simple one sentence stories.

Me like funny, i get lonely and sniff my finger when I'm bored.

When I was just starting out farming, I was putting every dollar I had into it, and didn't have much to spend on playthings. Heard about a man who had a few guns to sell, and went and looked at them.............several old Winchesters, a Luger, and a Browning shotgun he'd bought new when he was young. He had then priced very reasonable, and I had every extra dollar of mine tied up in a crop that was still in the field. By the time I sold that crop, he'd sold the guns, and I was chit outa luck. Heard he got $100 for the Luger, and one of the Winchesters was a 92 in 32-40.

That's why today when I hear of someone wanting to sell a gun locally, I go check it out. Tried to buy a 20 double LC Smith that a Mennonite kept out in his barn, but he wouldn't part with it, and what was so funny, was that he had no clue as to it's value. I was there to look at a Mauser he was wanting to sell, and it wasn't worth a $100 because of the rust on it.

Laughing!!!

Seen the same thing unfold in-person. I worked for the Geosciences dept here at the state university APSU. Some guy off the street came into the dept one afternoon and asked if he could show us a what he thought was a meteorite he had found.

I got one of the PhDs from Geology. She was a stratiphrapy and mineralogy expert. She checked it out and was really nice and entertaining to the guy. She asked him if he wanted, she could chip a chunk off and do some testing. He agreed He was so excited lol. We all went outside and she took a rock a hammer and smacked it one time. It crumbled into a hundred pieces like a 4 day old biscuit.

She scooped up most of it and handed it back to him. She says "nope....not a meteorite" 😄👍😂