Seeking out a firearm "born" the same year as the owner can turn even the most common of models into something a bit more special.

When Winchester ceased production of the Model 1894 in 2006 many of the millions out there suddenly became more collectable and prices skyrocketed even for the junk. As a teen, my first centerfire was a used M94 30-30. Back then I wasn't interested in when it was made but by the overall condition I know it had to have been a pre-64 that now would be worth many times more than I paid for it - had I kept it.

So now that these are no longer being made I too wanted to obtain a clean pre-64. But I wasn't in a hurry and while waiting for the initial demand to abate I casually began looking for an affordable one and decided to make the search more interesting by targeting one from my birth year.

In 2009 I saw one in a NH gun shop that met my condition and price criteria and happened to be at the middle of my birth year serial# range, likely test fired close to the time I took my first breath. It had normal usage wear to the bluing with a few areas that looked like blood may have removed some bluing. The stock was in original condition except for a couple barely visible notches on the buttstock bottom. The chambering was 32 Win Special which made it more interesting than the mundane 30-30. My search was over.

Anyone have a birth year firearm story or pictures to post?   

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'mavt' - Nice Winchester!

I was about to give up. I have a British 'Jungle Carbine' and an Ithaca mod.37, that bracket my Birth Year, but, not the same.

Then, I checked my Remington model 513 "Matchmaster" and looked-up its barrel code. It appears it was made the month after I was born.

I've always had a soft spot for the "513" because it was what we learned on, as "N.R.A. Marksmanship Program - Juniors", while in the Boy Scouts. The 'Parkerized War Babies', (we had on loan from the DCM), were capable of 'Possibles' with standard .22 ammo, in the early 1960's.

I picked this 'blued' one up about 15 years ago.

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I purchased one of those two months ago, great shooting rifle.

'Capt. Frank' - Can it compete with your Winchester model 52?

I plan on taking the '513' to the Range, for a 100 yard 'workout', the next nice shooting day.


BTW - 'mavt' has the germ of a good idea.

Needs to be taken further .... "A Gun for Each Birthday" !!!

White shoes this time?

"Saddle Shoes" - I do have "Standards", even though the Quarantine would allow me to stay in pajamas.  ;)

Never considered a "birth year" firearm, add a new "reason" to the list...……."but honey it was made the same year as me"!!! ;D

Just be careful about revealing too much. I got a call from SSA that someone made 2 runs on my retirement. The imposter knew more of the identity questions than I did!

I went ahead and signed up earlier than I planned just to keep someone else from getting it.

I have a Colt 2nd series 4.5 inch Match Target Woodsman that was born in 1952, same year as my wife. Don’t have any 1951 guns. Shot it so much the sear broke on it and it languished in pieces in a cigar box for years before I found parts on fleabay. But I got it fixed and running again. Found a minty  4.5 inch MT safe queen but the ugly one was my first MT. I used to be able to shoot the hell out of it but my eyes don’t work as good as they used to. I do a little better with a rifle. Old Colts Woodsmans are the best.

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I've been working on a pre-war Garand project that the receiver is my birth month, but 18-years before my birth year.  The August 1941 receiver was the impetus of the build.

my grandfather gave me a 1972 win m94 in 30-30. i shot countless deer with it, also my first buck and doe. it sat in the safe for about 20+/- years until i sent it to JES Reboring and he rebored it to 35/30-30.

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Is that gifted from grandfather and birth year? That would be double special!

My oldest brother was born in 1956 and he did a lot of competitive shooting for years. His main competition revolver was a Colt Python. When he was in his twenties, he bought a Colt Python made in his birth year of 1956. They started making Pythons in 1955 and only made 300 in that first year.

So, he landed a low serial number second year Colt Python, six inch barrel, that he shot for near thirty years before he died in 2006 of complications of diabetes.

So, I inherited his 1956 Colt Python serial number 1141. I have shot and collected Pythons since I was a teenager, so, this was a great inheritance!

A couple years after he died, I was looking at older Pythons for sale on Gun Broker, as I had done many times before, and found a guy selling a six inch Colt Python serial number 1139! This was two away from my brother's!! I contacted him and told him what I had and we negotiated a fantastic price on buying that one from him. He was very generous in the sale.

So, now I have a set of early Colt Python six inch blued .357 magnum revolvers almost sequential. It amazes me that these two Pythons were probably in the shop and worked on at the same time almost 70 years ago.

That's my "birth year" firearm story.

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Not really a "fire"-arm, but a "gas"-gun. A Crosman "Single Action 6" pellet gun in .22 caliber using CO2. It is a gun my Dad purchased the year I was born, 1959, and the year Crosman started producing them. The Crosman gun of this model was not known to have worked well due to some sealing issues. You might get all six shots off before the CO2 was empty. He was going to use it to shoot gophers (actually, 13 line ground squirrels) in Wisconsin along gravel roads, just for fun. He ended up getting a single shot, more accurate Crosman pellet gun. When I was about 8, it was given to me as a play-gun with a holster. It has the heft of a real Colt and naturally hung low on my hip.

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mavt wrote on May 22^nd, 2020 at 10:05pm:

Is that gifted from grandfather and birth year? That would be double special!

no, i didn't find the serial # till much later. i was given the rifle at christmas when i was 13. it was barely used until i got it. ::)  all the scratches and dents are mine. :) 
the serial # and my birthdate are 1972.

My Dad bought a M70 sometime in 1949. It's now mine and it dates to 1948, my borned year.