Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Great grandfather's guns

A lady asked me take a look at some items found in the family home . The old home is being sold . She plans to have an estate sale and sell the entire contents . The guns were found in a closet and she has no information as she believes they belonged to her great grandfather who passed in 1947 .

I had about 15 minutes to examine the firearms that had been wrapped in sheets apparently in a dry area . They where dusty and needed a good cleaning but not rusted . They looked to be well used but the actions all functioned as far as just being hand cycled .

The thing that impressed me is that whoever owned these weapons was and avid hunter and had all the bases covered . The Remington rifle is a Model 8 35 Remington and has notched forearm for number of kills.

Some of these are nearly 100years old im guessing ?

Buy them now.

Make sure a couple follow you home.

I like the L.C. Smith double hammer , would make a nice wall hanger .

A Remington Model 8 fired the first shot in the ambush that took out Bonnie and Clyde.

Buy them!

That's really cool!

Rick n Tenn;
Good evening to you sir, I hope the day treated you decent and this finds you well.

Thanks for sharing the unique batch of firearms with us.

I can't recall the last time I've seen a Vetterli - but the 3rd from the left appears to be that to me. If it is, they fired a bottle neck .41 Rimfire round, though some were converted to center fire later on.

The single shot shotgun looks to be an Iver Johnson - again if I'm seeing correctly.

Here's a copied bit I found on them.

How old is my Iver Johnson shotgun?
If the gun has a serial number with no letter prefix, it was made between 1909 and 1919. If the gun has a single letter prefix, it was made between 1920 and 1929. If the gun has a two letter prefix it was made between 1930 and 1939. If the gun has an all letter serial number i was made between 1940 and 1950.


Hope that was useful to you or someone out there looking at these firearms.

All the best.

Dwayne

Yes sir the markings are Waffenfabrik Vertterli M78 and the barrel looks like it is shrouded .

Thank you for identifying the cartridge . Im going to have another look at the Iver Johnson , it may be older than I thought .

Rick…I don’t have anything as pertinent and learned to add like my friend Dwayne but I did want to just say that I enjoy having a glimpse into the life of a man that I never knew and had passed long before I was born. For us “Gun-guys” seeing the firearms a man had can tell us a lot…..or at least it helps to give our imaginations a “baseline” with which to fill in the many gaps of an all but imaginary man. Whether he was practical or extravagant, rich, poor, middle class, blue collar, a long range man or a up close and personal in the dark woods type of man can all be gleaned from what was apparently wrapped carefully and hidden away. I’ve spent my life fondling old rifles, begging them to talk and tell me their story and the story of the men that carried her before me but I’m still left filling in those gaps with my imagination.

Thanks for sharing those pictures and a little trip down memory lane. 👍🏼 I’m sure you’ll find them a good home and keeping as many together is always good so maybe you should buy the lot.

Best of luck to you and your friend.

They don’t make the old ones any more

Those are some nice old pieces. The older I get, the less "new" guns appeal to me, but the older ones get my attention.

What part of TN is the estate sale going to be in?
And when?