My wife s uncle had died a few months ago,and her and my brother in law are cleaning out the house.he was hoarder for sure.they ve taken carloads to the dump. Donated bags of brand new clothes,all 3x size.
She needed, me to come over right away,they found "gun stuff" and a "live cannon ball".i m laughing now,ok i m on my way.i get there and on the back porch is the "cannon" ball. I show them the stamp,"HEALTHWAYS",12LB.
its a shot put.not a cannon ball. I just thank God they didn t call the bomb squad.i had to have my wife google it to prove what i m saying. Now to the "gun stuff," a trapdoor springfield bayonet,a ww2 gas mask,a springfield cadet rifle bayonet,a civil war artillery sword,with scabbard.
Two short sword bayonets i haven t looked up yet,and a 1906 remington rolling block single shot .22 ,in pieces,looks to be all there,thumb piece on action is broken off.bore looks like a sewer pipe.my winter project.
Sometimes its nice to have non gun people in the family,for some reason,these types of things scare them to death,just get this dangerous stuff out of here,i don t want it in the house.
Over the years i ve gotten a lot of good stuff from guys i work with and friends and relatives,same old story,"Uncle Dave", dies,they go through his stuff,find a box of shells,and old bayonet,an old H& R 12 ga. With a 30" barrel,etc.they freak out,"oh my God,those bullets were in the closet,thank God they didn t go off!!!!" What can i give you for this stuff? Just get rid of it !!!!!
Thanks,i ll take all you find.Mabey one day it will be a Parker in its case,or a pre 64 Winchester super grade,i can dream.
Anyone else get any goodies from freaked out friends and relations?

Father in law passed last year...he had 3 guns hung on the fireplace...I seen him hang them in the mid 70s, I fly down and see.famdammly an grab them up.and haul them home. One pistole from 1790something a rifle from the 1840,s and another from.1854 from England converted to shoot what looks like a third or half a 12gauge round......wth.!

Neat.

Granted i can’t see it, but it is as likely the english 12ga is not “converted”, but rather original regarding the short hull length, and that’d be pretty neat. Historically, the 12ga reigned supreme in England, and common were shotshell designs of varying length according to a gun’s purpose and time period, but all 12ga; rather than producing different gauges of gun.

I hope that while once you knew what it was.....you dropped it! The expressions would have been priceless! memtb me

Might Make sure the muzzleloaders are not loaded. I would venture to guess a good 50% + of original guns brought into the shop were still loaded.

Had a similar experience ckeaning out my wife's grandfather's home following his death. Excepting him (and wifey) they are all staunch card carrying democrats. Guns were found in the attic....oh my!

"We know you like guns (with a slight look of disgust). Pease just take these and get them out of here as fast as you can! Take em! ". The guns were wrapped in blankets...well oiled thankfully.

Original 1800's era Marlin 1892 that looked so nice you'd mistske it for a Turnbul restoration. 95%

1835 Harpers Ferry musket in remarkable condition.

The two rifles were appraised at $2500 and $6000 respectively.

While cleaning the attic out I also found a human skull. The family said he got it in South America as a result of a jaguar kill.

I played the role of helpful obedient in law and cleared all that distasteful stuff out of the house as fast as fast as I could....😏

Lolol.....I have a dummy pineapple grenade and the unit that it connects to for firing as a rifle grenade. My daughter was asking me about it so I explained that pulling the pin with the handle being squeezed and throwing it was how you used it. I pulled the pin and simulated throwing it but it slipped (on purpose) and fell at our feet. She started crying and I felt bad....but damn it was funny.

I had a guy I work with give me a model 12 FWT that he I think he inherited from his brother. Just didn't want it around his kids.

12 pound Healthways Shotput on EBay

Guy I used to work with came in one day and was telling me that they were moving dad into assisted living, he and his brother had already taken his good guns. There were 2 guns left that neither wanted and dad asked him to see if he could get $20 each for them. He told his dad yeah I know a guy at work who does some gunshows (me) I'll get him to get rid of them. So he brings dad's guns in and asked me to see what I could do. I waited awhile and looked him up and told him I sold them for $125 then handed him the cash. He wanted to give me a 20 for taking care of his chore. I told him no it was on me. He was satisfied because he thought they were junk. The bolt action 12ga went to a buddy who wanted it for 75 and that old "war rifle 30-06" a 1917 Eddystone Enfield that was bubba sporterized is mine forever. He told me it shot around corners but it don't just nice tight groups with about any weight loads you run thru it. It allways pays to help people dispose of those nasty guns. Mb

A good friend of mine lives in a large city and was a warehouse manager of a box store. He was always having people come to him and asking him since he hunted if he would be interested in some guns that they had recently acquired through a death or putting a parent in a nursing home. So he would call me and ask if I would be interested in certain guns or just what they were worth. It is amazing what the older generation had stored in their closets.

Wife’s grandparents moved to assisted living and their family asked me asked me to take granddad’s filthy guns stored in the attic. “We know you like things like that...just take them, get them out of our sight!”

I did my duty for the in-laws and was proud to do so. Wrapped in a blanket was an original Marlin 1895 22LR, octagonal barrel, color case hardened, 95% condition. Turn of the century date of manufacture. The other filthy gun was an original Harpers Ferry 1835 flintlock musket. I had them professionally appraised just for kicks. The Harpers Ferry turned out to be a rare variant.

The appraisal was as follows: Marlin 22 - $1,700, Harpers Ferry - $6,900.

Also in the attic was a pristine human skull from a South American Jaguar kill...tooth holes in the skull. Go figure. Grandpa knew the history of that skull. Never knew what became of it.

When I was a kid I was taken over to my Uncle Garfield's (born when Garfield was president) farm to play with his grandson, my cousin. My cousin was playing with a "cap gun" that Garfield had given him. It turned out to be an original Colt .31 caliber pocket pistol. The "caps" were original percussion caps, which my cousin sometimes detonated by hitting them with the end of the pistol's grip. The pistol was in near mint condition except where my cousin had chipped off a piece of the grip. I told my father, who gave Garfield a fair market price for the pistol.

I got a "Parker Brothers" from a widow...... a #2 frame 12 bore choked IC and LM built in 1901. I killed my only two turkey and a few pheasants with the side X side.

Knew a man in north Louisiana that hunted for and collected Civil War relics. He would research and find lesser known battlefields, get permission, and then hunt for relics. He had quite a collection at his house, but had more of his collection stored in a storage facility. His homeowners ins. co. made him get the unexploded cannon balls out of the house.

A retired firefighter lived on the next street over from me. His son in law was my lieutenant. When he passed away they found live mortar rounds in his garage. Had the bomb squad here and the closer houses had to evacuate.

Interesting thread here; reminds me of a buddy who got a beautiful old Parker 12 ga. SxS from a co-worker back about 1974. The guy had inherited it from a great-uncle and wanted nothing to do with it. He threw some ridiculous price at my buddy who graciously helped him out by taking that old thing off his hands for his asking price. Can't recall the price but even back in those days I remember being shocked and back then I didn't know much about gun prices. My buddy got good money for that shotgun about 6 months later when he sold it and said it was one of his best gun deals ever. We even took it out and busted some clay birds a couple times; which I was terrible at with my old 12 ga. pump because of almost no experience. That Parker was the first gun I ever consistently hit clay birds with and would have bought it but when I found what nice ones like that were going for I realized that at that time in my life it was outta my price range.

Kinda lost touch with a buddy who was/is a gunsmith. Knows lots of folks and used to call me every couple months with stuff widows wanted rid off. Good but fair prices on realy nice guns. Much of my sporting collection was built this way.

I was walking around a gun show when I saw a couple come in looking very uncomfortable.

The wife was holding an old shotgun in a way that showed she knew nothing about guns.

I greeted them and asked if there was anything I could help them with. They explained that they had inherited the shotgun and we're hoping to sell it.

I took a look at it and found it was a Parker Trojan in nice condition. Having an idea of what it was worth, I knew I couldn't afford it, so I suggested they show it to the guys at the tables and "shop" it around the room.

"How much do you think we will get?"

I explained that they would probably be offered about half of its retail value.

"Would you like to buy it for half?"

I immediately invited them to accompany me to my bank. It turned out to be a lovely day!

Oh you bad man!

I helped my brother clear a estate once. All i ever wanted to do. The .old guy had died and the wife moved into a assisted living. His garden was a rock collection. Geodes and even some opal. In one corner was a 12 lb cannon ball. Sans primer/ timer but you can still see the giant powder grains inside. It lives stuck into the v of two spokes of a wagon wheel on our drive way. 50 yards from the house.
When found my brother wanted to try shooting it with a 44special we found in the basement. I gently told him NO!

An aging relative gave me a "sawed off shotgun" that according to him, could be used for parts. It had been in the pay window of a dog track for years. To keep it from falling over, some genius screwed a pair of vise grips to the edge of a table and then used them to hold onto the barrel. When he drug it out from under his bed the parts gun turned out to be an original 1897 Winchester solid frame 20" riot gun in very good condition with the exception of plyer marks on the barrel.

I was a kid in Atlanta in 1963. I still vividly remember, a story on Channel 2 News at 6 PM, they were building I 20 downtown near Moreland Avenue. The bulldozers dug up a Confederate munitions wagon. Horse and wagon type deal. There were hundreds of cannonballs and some daggers and swords on the wagon.

It was during rush hour. Businessmen were down there on their hands and knees and pulling out Civil War cannonballs and taking them home. I have always been fascinated by the Civil War. This location was about 12 miles from my house, no way I could get down there on a bicycle and of course, my Mom would not take me down there. I was dying to get in that mud and dig up some Civil War cannonballs, and maybe a sword, and take them home.

At the time I had no idea that a Civil War cannonball could still explode.

I found a 13" Civil War mortar at the confluence of the Necked and Sabine rivers while metal detecting. It's still there. I doubt it would be dangerous, but figured I would look awfully stupid if it blew up, rolling around in the truck bed.

Oh Lort

You had the chance to save some magnet fishing fool from disaster. 😧

Years ago a buddy picked up a beautiful Parker Bros. double from a co-worker who had inherited it. Forgot the exact model but it was a beauty; and we even busted a few clay birds with it and it was superb. The guy who inherited it didn't want it, didn't want it around, and didn't want to know anything about it. He threw some ridiculous price at my buddy and my buddy just said "O.K." and bought it. He had it for a short time and sold it for a good buck. Forgot the price but back then I couldn't afford it but I was in love with it after putting a few rounds through it.

I recall a few stories of folks that blew themselves up with civil war ordinance. Might of been urban legend, I dunno. Have heard a couple media reports that were likely accurate.


I found some minie balls when I was a kid. They didn’t kersplode.

I remember a story from when I was in school. A family in South Carolina found an unexploded cannonball and thought it would make a nice decoration for their hearth. First cold spell they started a fire in the fireplace and KABOOM.

I studied up on demiling that ball i have. One report i found was about a guy in michigan that had a business de milling them. It was about his funeral. One too many. They buried pieces of him. Left a crater in his drive way where he worked. Pictures were graphic.

I left mine alone.

Technically isn't a cannon ball solid and a shell is hollow and filled with explosives?
Same difference with bolts and shells for rifles.
I will have to start a thread on 16 inch naval guns, and maybe on picric acid and other explosives. Read the stuff and found out a lot I believed was wrong.