Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska A Not true sad story...That NEVER Happened.

A Not true sad story.......That NEVER Happened.

Long long long ago I was working in an Alaska gun store, and a really old sourdough showed up just before we opened, he knocked politely at the door, we let him in the shop, we relocked the door, he said he was leaving Alaska and had a few guns he wanted to sell or put on consignment. I had read stories back in the 50's and 60's about him, he built one of the early roadhouses long ago, he guided and trapped. Wrote stories about that he sold to outdoor magazines in the pre and post WW-II years.

Now remember he had a few guns to sell.......He was to old to be able to bring the guns in, so several of us young men went out to bring them in the shop, yep there were a few......I stopped counting at 120 and there were more. I kind'a recall someone said 135 or 136 total.

Well it was soon clear, "WE HAD A PROBLEM". By the time we got them all in the store and started unpacking them, the store had been open for about a hour. So quickly once again relocked the store doors, and put up a hand made sign, "Plumbing problem, closed till noon".

We did not photo the collection, which truly is very sad, for it was an incredible experience to view all of them. We could not photo it as many many many were not legal, and sadly for history we destroyed many of them. But was an education for me about the very things we discuss about survival, and using what you have to survive. If you truly love classic firearms, can you imagine the experience of viewing classic firearms from 1870's and forward, that would bring up to $5,500.00 destroyed because they had been turned into Set-guns, for trapping back when trapping with set-gun was legal.

Are you related to that [bleep] that tries to bowhunt?

I knew another fellow who you probably knew too Dave who had an amazing collection. When he knew he was not long for this world he dumped a big box of set guns and similar into an unnamed creek so his family wouldn’t have to try to deal with them and possibly get in trouble with the law.

I once held and handled a Marbles Gamegetter that had belonged to Andy Simons. Since it had a 14” shotgun barrel and hadn’t been registered during the grace period the BATF refused to grandfather it and wanted it destroyed regardless of historical value.

"Look east across the Susitna River and you'll see the old Valdez Creek gold mine in the foothills of the Clearwater Mountains. The mine was started by the Peter Monahan Party in 1903, triggering a small gold rush and an outpost settlement known as Denali."

I was living in the "Clearwater Country" back in the early 70's when the Government decided to record, photograph, survey, document the settlement known as Denali, up above where the Denali Haul Trail crossed the Susitna River.

Now the building were private property, and the very few there in the summer, were not pleased when the nice people from "The Historical Society" showed up and explained, that no changes to the building could ever be made, and they were being recorded into "The Federal Registry". It was Friday right near July 4'th maybe 1974'ish. They said they would be back early next week to start their documenting.

When they got back the following week, all the buildings accept "Shorty's Cabin" an burned to the ground. And that was the end of that government telling Valdez Creek Miners, how things was going to be.

I would visit "Shorty" for dinner and cards. I was 5'-11" back then and I could not get close to standing straight inside his cabin. Yep....."Shorty" was a colorful sourdough, a good cook, a good miner, and about five foot tall.

I'm in a newer generation than that, and I am afraid of what will be my modern equivalent of "you remember back when you had access to this..."
I love hearing these stories.

For what cartridges were the typical set-guns chambered? 22LR seems like a practical round for close range on small critters. 22 Hornet would likely serve better on wolverine and coyote.

So, set-guns were and are illegal in the U. S. and probably world wide but there was a German state that gave a [bleep] about it:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SM-70

In my youth, we had a neighbor that would deal in cattle on a small scale and I frequently traveled the back roads with him in his old one to cattle truck.

On the seat he had a pair of H&R Handy Guns.....410 pistols......sequential serial numbers......not only were these his protection but we frequently encountered
feral cats along those old farm roads. There wasn't much pattern beyond ten yards but a stray pellet would hit the cat and he'd do a huge leap .....The old guy enjoyed that
immensely .



He offered to give me one of those 410s but my Dad was afraid I'd get into some sort of trouble with it......I have no idea where they went after he died.

Guess I made a set gun yrs back to kill pigs, ft long piece of black pipe, I'd put a 12 gauge buckshot shell in and screw the end cap on over it. had a hole drilled in the cap and a nail for a firing pin mounted on a board with a rat trap set up to strike the firing pin when a trip line was hit. never knew something like that was illegal.

I doubt that I'd be surprised how many have done totally innocent things that are illegal. But until you do something illegal with it, does it meet the intent of the laws? I say it does.

There are a few accounts of the trapper accidently shooting himself to death, from set-gun error. Was common after WW-II that they used cheap "Lugers" for set-guns. One problem was that when they re-baited, and positioned the bait in front of the muzzle........they figured to "re-set" the trigger, but should have only armed the chamber, but had the magazine in the self-loader, and accidently killed themselves.

Set-guns were widely use in early Africa for Lion control work. But harvested ten to twenty hyena's per lion.

Sounds like a great group of Hyenas. Be Well, RZ.

Well with that [bleep] in the white house, I will probably have that old boy beat. One of the old Kenny Lakers who got killed in a gunfight at the waterwell had a turret-mounted 50 Cal machine gun that he used to let off every once in a while. Alaska is a place with lots of old guns and weird people. We will be the last.

when my brother started to bring friends to the ranch my parents owned back then, I stopped using them to kill pigs. Just knew one of them would wander around and set one-off and lose a leg.

When I was growing up is North Western Colorado, the Government Trappers put out cyanide guns to kill predators, they were a pipe with a trigger with a.45 acp with a cyanide capsule, they would rap a piece of rag around the top and bait it with their stink bait, predator would bite it or bump it it would go off in their face or mouth, they were dead right there.

i would see them when rabbit hunting on BLM land, they killed a lot of town dogs, and cats, coyotes. We had to keep our eyes open and watch where we were walking to keep from stepping on or kicking one. Rio7