Yes indeed. Where to begin... I have the first pistol I ever shot. I was about 6 or 7 and Dad had bought a Ruger Standard and he and my Grandfather were on the front porch (in town!) shooting into a pile of newspapers when I decided to see what all the commotion was. Dad squatted beside me and helped me hold and aim. I hit the papers...probably. I also have the first rifle I ever shot; a Model 67 Winchester which Dad had cut down a bit. Then there's a Colt Woodsman which was my maternal Grandfather's and a few others. Plus a few that Dad built which will definitely be passed on with their history.

I have now passed it to my oldest grandson with documentation of when grandpa got it and how I got it and instructions for him to pass it to his oldest grandson when that time comes.

It is a Stevens Marksman .22 single shot that grandpa bought back in the late 19 teens.

My grandson shoots it every time we go to the range and has gotten quite good with it.

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Ele era velho.
Ele era corajoso.
Ele era feio.

Dad wasn't a gun guy nor hunter but did have a Marlin Glenfield 187J 22 lr semi auto rifle, which I have, not sure when or where he bought it just know he had it before I was born in 64'. Plan on passing it to one of the grand kids when they get older.

Gunner

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https://www.instagram.com/41gunner/
41 Mags rule, Baers rock!

The last time I saw my Grandpa I had a feeling it would be the last time, and I also knew that as a son of the youngest daughter I did not figure in the will at all. I asked him if he'd sell me his old Winchester 94 and he said, "No. You just take it with you. Let me look around, I've got a box of shells for it somewhere. I never could get that rifle to shoot anyway." So it went with me. A few years later I was in Raton, shooting the old rifle and having fits with it. Grandpa's comment about not being able to get it to shoot was in the back of my mind so I asked Mic McPherson to give it a try. He lobbed a few rounds at the "banana rock" and told me, "There's nothing wrong with that rifle!". SO I tightened the nut holding the stock and squeezing the trigger and it DID shoot quite alright! Grandpa never got a deer with that rifle, don't think he ever did more than shoot a few rounds through it. But I got my first three whitetail with it. It was built in 1957 and I don't recall where Grandpa said he got it. But as far back as I remember it lived in his closet "just in case".

After he passed away my aunt gave me the old 22 that all the grandkids "rode hard and put away wet". "It's been shot out!" was the consensus and no one else seemed to be interested in it. I hosed down the bolt with brake cleaner, scrubbed the barrel and got it working OK. I tried it on the rams at Raton and once I figured how to hold the tiny barleycorn front sight in the hugemongous rear V sight I managed to knock them down regularly, holding on their heads.

Then there's the old cut down 67 Winchester that Rich Hoch gave me. He'd cut it down for his grandkids and modified the bolt to work with an old Mossberg 4X scope he cobbled onto it with a side mount. That rifle won't group for sour apples, but it's first shot accurate which is what you want with an old singleshot 22 anyway. I took a lot of prairie dogs, muskrats and other vermin with it the year we lived out west. It rode on the floor boards behind the front seat of the car and I carried a few rounds of 22 LR in my shirt pocket. Going down the ditch bank I'd see a prairie dog, reach back for the rifle and poke it out the window then load a shell from my pocket. Got quite a few that way.

Not a one of those rifles is "valuable" to the world around us, but the memories and provenance are where they hold value to me.

I have a 221 Fireball rifle my grandpa had built on a Sako 461 action. He stocked it himself with a Bishop blank. I remember him telling me he picked out the barrel contour to mimic a Winchester Featherweight. Grandma gave it to me after he passed. I took it to Montana six times and shot a lot of prairie dogs with it.

I am very much in with the idea. Unfortunately, I didn't inherit much; my maternal grandfather was the gun guy and he died before I was born and his guns went to older relatives.

What I do have is some firearms that belonged to friends and that suits me right down to the ground.

For instance, Terry M's first handgun, a 4" Colt Huntsman. My first handgun was a 6" Colt Huntsman and we both also had Hunter holsters for them.

Probably won't mean a lot to my heirs, but it means something to me. Terry retained the box and a letter to his Dad.

as my only "Heirlooms" from my old man. He bought his 742 in the late 70's, but it was just a tool. I'll probably eventually sell it. I have a Stevens Model 940 that my mother bought him from Alden's in 1964 for I believe $49.99. I remember we were living in Chicago, and dad went out on the back porch on New Years Day 1965 and shot it up in the air. I might keep it maybe but had no immediate family to leave anything to. Might leave it to my sister's grandsons.

I should sell both of them as my old man used to sell every gun he gave to me. I remember my mother bought me an "American Eagle" 22 rifle. Single shot with stupid sights that were loose and wobbly. Couldn't hit the broad sight of a barn because nobody in my family, uncles included knew diddly squat about such things. And as a ten-year-old I didn't either. The old man sold it or traded it.

I remember the 22 rifle in 1965 cost $19.99 from Aldens catalog mailed straight to the house. I found out later in a Numrich catalog that the 22 was made by Noble. I do wish I had it back, just so I could fix the sights and reminisce about the missed squirrels.

The Old Man did have a Remington nylon 66 that he gave his dad back in the day and got it back when his dad died. I learned my excellent mechanical fine motor skills at about 16 years of age when I totally disassembled the Nylon 66. It took 4 or 5 hours to reassemble. Later in life I had a Rifle Disassembly book, and it described how far to take a Nylon 66 down. it said after removing the barrel and receiver cover "further disassembly is NOT recommended. My sister has that rifle now.

I just had a thought. Digging ditches is all he ever taught me anyway. And by Golly's I got to where I forced myself to enjoy it. It gives you a long time to think by yourself as nobody is going to bother you since they are afraid, they will feel the need to help. Once in around 2005 at 50 years old I had the chance to connect to the city sewer lines. I had to dig 36-inch-deep ditch 200 feet to connect. Put all the pipe in and covered it up. I used a pick, mattock, pointed dirt shovel and square dirt shovel. I dug 10 feet per day after working in the coal mines. Friends said I was crazy and that I should rent a backhoe. Little did they know that I was reliving my youth. Rant over about heirlooms.

Bob