As you may remember from an earlier thread, Big Bob, my friend of nearly 40 years, died back over the winter. Bob was a gunwriter. Bob was a gun collector. Bob used to sit around with Bill Ruger, Elmer Keith and that crowd swapping tall ones. Bob was my very first hunting buddy.

Bob introduced me to the ethos of "He who dies with the most toys wins." Bob lived it daily up until he died. I was along for his last trip to the gun shop in January. I helped him sneak home a 22 rifle and backed his story to his wife.

My other buddies, SuperCore and Fitz, have been helping the widow inventory Bob's collection. They're pretty sure they got most of it, but we won't know for a long time. Bob had squirreled stuff away in every nook and cranny. A lot of Bob's phone calls to me over the past 30-some years have started with "You'll never guess what I found today." The widow spent months tearing the place apart looking for firearms. Family and friends had their picks. The rest are out now in the hands of Bob's favorite LGS awaiting disposition.

Angus, Moose, and I went to see the widow last night and pick up our choices out of the inventory. The really prime stuff is way beyond our budget. Ours were sentimental attachment pieces. Angus scored Bob's Kel-Tec Sub-2000. Moose got his Mini-30. I got a minty Ruger 44 Carbine and Luigi. Luigi was a novelty piece Bob kept around for its entertainment value. It is a Stoeger SXS Coach Gun in 12 GA modified with rifle sights. For an Ohio deer hunter in the mid-60's this was a wet dream. Bob named it Luigi in reference to a scene in Godfather II. While we were settling up, I told the widow the stories Bob had told me about some of the pieces. Most of them she had not heard.

Bob kept a selection of his long guns in an Early American style gun case. Bob kept them there as decor, and they probably represented the first long guns he collected after he got married. The case was still there, having moved from the separate houses in the time I knew Bob with the contents and their order on the rack unchanged. The pricer pieces were gone, but the 44 Carbine was where it had always been, having caught sight of if first in 1982 before I had ever pulled a trigger. I realized that although the case was familiar as were its contents, I had never touched the latch or the case. That's when most of 40 years came back to me, and I have to say I had a hard time seeing what I was doing there for a bit. I removed the carbine from the rack and locked the case back up, and that was that.

When my brother was dying, he took he out to his gun safe, opened it up and told me to pick a gun. I would like to have had my grandfathers old Remington double barrel, but I knew that he wanted his grandson to have that one. I picked a 6.8SPC AR that he'd put together, one that I knew was super accurate. He also gave my son one of his AR's.

I'll always keep the rifle, and shoot it from time to time, always remembering him. Some people do not have a sentimental bone in their body, glad to know you do shaman.

Losing some of my most cherished mentors has been one of the hardest things about getting older.

Yep, big time. I lost three in one summer a few years ago.

Losing good members here bums me out .

Shaman ,

Good morning ..

Nice story , sounds like Big Bob qualified well into the gun loony catagory . Gone but not forgotten rest in peace Big Bob ...

Shaman, thank you for sharing the memories with us.

Dying is part of living, it sucks, my friends and hunting buddies are passing on. My son will get my guns. He will have to figure out what to do with them. I sold the custom rifles a few years ago, except for an Iver Henriksen 25-06. Maybe he will save some for my grand son. My boy likes to hunt, but isn’t into rifles like I am.

^^^^^^^^^^ This ^^^^^^^^^ memtb

i have some of the same attributes, i never sell anything. That's why five WWII flatfenders are going in the hole with me.
as the firearms, i shudder. There are the ones i have bought, but many others that were owned by friends/family, they all have stories.
i have given instructions to wife and daughter there are a few people not allowed on the property, they for sure are going to want to "help" them take care of things.

I went to a gun auction a while back that was advertised as an estate auction. Some guy passed away and either his instructions were to sell everything or his family just had no interest in guns. It was sad to see a person's life work broken up. He worked for years collected those guns and obviously cherished them. There was a BUNCH and very different (not just all Winchester Model 12s if you get my point). Anyhow it got to me and I have not been to another auction like that. Hope my family has a different view....

I always hate to hear stories about blood suckers, parasites and locusts who swarm to a deceased man's hoard hoping for an easy pick.

Not saying that's the case here, but just saying it to say it.

Just sayin


Hope I'll be able to have time to liquidate stuff as I see fit if my time draws to an end.
I damn sure don't want any greasy paws telling my wife such and such is only worth $200.

My son likes guns and reloads, but doesn't get a chance to hunt that much. I've given him a bunch of guns already, but don't know what he would do with the rest of my stash, 50#'s of gun powder, multiple sets of dies, several presses, etc., etc...

Oh well, maybe that problem is still off in the distant future...

DF

All my stuff is going to second and youngest sons. Oldest has spent his life with his hand outstretched and is not getting another thing. As it is the two will have quite the collections when all split up. Trying to get the middle one interested in loading so he knows the ins and outs of calibers like 40/65, 45/70 for ancient guns and 12.7X44R. The good stuff you Grandson will get some of my most favorite pieces. Grandgirls will be treated. What it’s all about.

There's the gun safe for shooters, and there's the others.

I keep most all the investments in cases to protect them. They get paper tags with the wire twistys on the zippers. You can buy the tags at Staples. Write the make, model, serial number, age on the tags. I keep a tally of description, accessories, what I paid and current values for each weapon in a separate hidden location. When you pull one of the cased rifles out of the safe there's no guesswork what it is, it's right on the tag. Grab the gun sheet that details the value of each and there you go. Nobody is going to take advantage of my widow.

Always amazes me as to how low some members of the human race will stoop for a few bucks. You quickly find out how much honor and integrity relatives, friends and members of a community have. A couple around here that are well known for being the first buzzards to show up at a widow's door wanting to 'help her out'!!!!! My son just isn't really into guns/shooting so not sure what will happen with my shooting stuff, lathes etc?Most of my rifles I have either built, barreled or are not common especially around here. Calibers and configurations not seen or known here as this area is mostly 'just hunters'.

Hope every thing goes well for your friends widow, sounds like he had interesting tastes.

Thanks for sharing and great story, shaman. Sorry about your friend.

Been watching this happen with my father. He calls me several times a year to tell me who died. Very sad. One of his close friends from his childhood and then professional life of over 60 years just passed very suddenly last week.

Shaman, sorry about your buddy. I'm glad you and his other friends are taking care of his stuff and helping out his widow.

I am grateful for all of you who keep your friend's life going on through their prized possessions. It is respect as much as it is love.

I lost my younger brother shortly after his 20'th b'day. Auto accident. We spent a lot of time together slaughtering pheasant. His Remington lightweight Wingmaster 20 ga became my cherished possession.

About four years later some phuggin theif burgled it from my bedroom closet. Pisses me the hell off, still, 35 years later.

Shaman, I am glad you and the boys got some nice mementos of your friend.

Don't worry renegade will square you up man..

Great idea !
I've thought before that it would be nice to have a story to go along with each firearm . Other things also .
I have my first Bow a little orange and white fiberglass recurve that my Grandparents bought my brothers and me 51 years ago , I can still see the spot where I put my initials on mine with a purple crayon . They bought them around 1968 in Ocala ,Florida when they first went there as Snowbirds escaping the cold ohio winter .
I know I would enjoy knowing the history of something I inherited from a love one or friend .

When my Father died it was easy to place the few shotguns he owned to the kids who wanted one.

I got his Rem.1100 20 ga.my brother that is a few years younger at first did not want one then decided he wanted Dad's Savage 820B 12 ga.pump.

The youngest got a Rem.1148 12ga.and he is keeping Grandpa's 1148 16ga.

I also got the newer Mossberg 410 pump and i gave that one to my Daughter for her 2 boys.

When it came time to divide them up i told my brothers that if anyone started anything they could have them all.

It seemed to work.

MOM was pleased.

In this case it's somewhat the opposite. Bob left a son and daughter who have no interest in the firearms. Bob said on many occasions he was leaving it so his wife would have money after he was gone. We're all pitching in and buying what we can --even the relatives. The leftovers go to Bob's favorite LGS and they'll sell them on consignment. The widow is giving us good prices, because she knows it's better than she'll get from the LGS.


Bob's got a sign up in the dining room:



The widow told me she never understood it until after she started the process of liquidation.


Me? The shamanic horde is already going to be split between my sons, and they've decided to keep it intact and borrow out of it as they need to.

Good deal man.

I have a list of who gets which of my guns were I to meet a sudden demise. They aren't for sale.

A friend of mine bought a gun from a grieving widow.it was an over under with bulged barrels that he got took on. Hahaha. He says the price clouded his judgment.

Time to throw a smile in...

When my boy was little he loved to look at my guns. He had his own .22 of course, but dad had a lot more. He liked to ask if he could have one gun or another, as he would say “Could this one be mine?” Guns come and go, so I never committed to anything specific.

Until he asked about Bessie, my first rifle, a model 70 Winchester in .30-06. I knew I’d never sell her. So when he asked, “Could this one be mine?” I told him sure, when I die this one will be yours.

Innocent as hell, he looked up at me and said, “When will that be?”




P

Lol, kids are the best, no two ways about it!

Hahahaha! We have the same story with my sister, who, when she was little was admiring our grandmother's necklace. Grandma told her that when she goes, that will be hers. My sister became very excited, and immediately asked her when she was going. LOL.

Sorry you lost your pal Bob Shaman, it is truly hard to watch them go. I've lost a lot of friends as I have always made friends with older folks as they're a lot more interesting to talk with and actually have something of value to talk about.

My grandmother lived to be 93 and told me on day that the hardest part of getting old was to watch her friends all die. When my Dad died she had had enough of watching her family and friends die, She gave up and passed 3 months later.

I have 1000s of arrowheads that will probably get dumped off at Goodwill.


100,000 miles of walking to pick those somebitches up.




Oh well, least the wife will have a 500$k life insurance payout. No need to worry about plastic remingtons and a couple of marlins.

Sell them before you go.

I have a couple that he will get if he outlives me. 😄
He needs to cut down to 1 pack of pall malls at least.

Sorry to hear about your friend, shaman. As you already know, I carry my father's guns and my grandfather's guns, and have already started passing them down to my children.

. . . or at least spend the next 100,000 miles dropping them in the ground for somebody else to find.

If nothing else, donate them to the county museum and take the tax write-off.

Those injuns must have been a careless lot. No wonder they lost, they probly ran outa weapons.

shaman, my heartfelt condolences on the loss of your friend. Good on you and others for trying to protect Bob's widow from "vultures."

Lots of good stories here.

I hate a thief. Just hate them on a deep, deep level. I wonder if I hate "vultures" more? At least a thief is "honest" in what he does (an ironic and perhaps poor choice of word), and presumably is not stealing from a friend. But some "vultures" are taking advantage of friends or their loved ones. Who in hell does that?!!!

Sorry for the loss of your friend Shaman, but glad to hear how it's working out.

My neighbor (82 yrs old) passed away last fall. Recently, his wife (who he was only married to for the last 15 years) came to me for help with his gun collection. It's a fairly small collection (14 guns), but a few nice guns.
She asked me to appraise them for her. I asked if she was going to give them to his two sons or his grandsons. She told me neither, that she was just going to sell them. I said "oh, are they not into firearms?" She replied that they were, but they were her guns now and she was just going to sell them. Keep in mind that he left her financially secure.

It was at that point that I told her that I wouldn't be able to help her and walked out the door and back to my house.

Pretty sad that.

and confrontations in walmart

I'm a youngster by 24 hourcampfire standards. But my daughter who likes to hunt but is not hardcore into hunting. She's in college she will go shooting when I ask her too. But she will not go out and do it herself. Different priorities for her that's for sure. My wife will hunt when I take her she will shoot when I take her. So in the end I have a whole bunch of rifles majority model 70's. I have no idea what will happen to them if I fell over dead. I have more reloading chit than I guy needs. I have told her there are 3 model 70 to keep her 280, daughter's 270 and the 325 wsm she bought me many yrs ago. The rest give them to whomever wants them.

My brother and I have an agreement about our guns if the other should pass.

Keep what you want, sell the rest. It’s just stuff.

I don`t see where she did anything wrong.I have three kids and thirteen grandkids.Some are into guns.Only my one Son and Grandson ever are here to help out.All the rest of those greedy little basterds will be sniffing around my chit when I croak,but I told my wife only give the two who helped us out what they want.Screw the rest of them.