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 10 Great Grandfather's Rifle (Read 4457 times)
Knute1
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Great Grandfather's Rifle
Jun 3rd, 2018 at 7:45pm
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I have posted elsewhere about my Great Grandfather who served in the Filipino Insurrection and Boxer Rebellion. When I purchased an 1892/1896 Krag from an uncle I was told about an 1895 Winchester that my great grandfather had. My uncle had sold/traded it with a friend and the rifle left the family. I guess I showed some disappointment that this rifle existed and was no longer in the family. My uncle later got back to me and said that he could buy the rifle back from his friend for what he sold it to him for, $575. Since I had just bought the Krag, I set it up for my brother to get it. Glad he did. Below is a picture of the rifle, built in 1899. The caliber is........30-40, just like great grandad had used in the military. My great grandad had used it for deer hunting, then my grandad had it, then my uncle.  Glad to have it back in the family. The sights were changed and a buttpad put on. My brother got the original buttplate that had been removed. It is in good condition.

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Zgun
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Re: Great Grandfather's Rifle
Reply #1 - Jun 4th, 2018 at 6:03pm
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Nice looking commercial 1895 Knute. That is great you were able to bring the family gun back into safe keeping. Let us know how the old girl shoots. Did you chase the serial number to see when it was manufactured ?

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Re: Great Grandfather's Rifle
Reply #2 - Jun 4th, 2018 at 6:05pm
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Duh,  manufactured in 1899.  That looks in great shape for a 119 year old rifle.
  
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Knute1
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Re: Great Grandfather's Rifle
Reply #3 - Jun 4th, 2018 at 10:27pm
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My brother lives 3-1/2 hours away so we are planning on him coming over for a 30-40 shoot out some weekend. He's got the 1895 Winchester. I have an 1896 Krag sporter and the 1892/1896 U.S Magazine Rifle. We will follow-up the shoot out with some reloading for next time.We'll see then how the 1895 prints on paper. Here is a close up of the receiver. A few scratches, but has a lot of bluing left. I would like to have been at some of the northern Wisconsin deer camps it was in.

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Knute1
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Re: Great Grandfather's Rifle
Reply #4 - Jun 18th, 2018 at 12:47am
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Got together with my brother over Father's Day weekend. We had time to shoot some Winchester 30-40 cartridges I purchased some years back for a special occasion. This was the occasion and it was like opening up a special bottle of wine then we got shooting. We shot the 180 gr bullets and then reloaded some 200 gr along with 220 gr bullets. Seemed to do best with the 200 gr once the loads were worked up. The action worked like it should and the gun felt solid.
Below are some better pictures. Note the peep sight mounted directly to the top of the bolt. I am not sure of the repeatability for this setup,  but we shot well for neither of us using peep sights before. On Father's Day we took a 4-generation picture with the rifle as more from the family showed up on that day.

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Zgun
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Re: Great Grandfather's Rifle
Reply #5 - Jun 20th, 2018 at 4:33pm
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Great Pics. Glad the old girl shot well for you and your brother. Thank you for sharing.

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Preston
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Re: Great Grandfather's Rifle
Reply #6 - Jul 16th, 2018 at 7:35pm
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That is a beautiful rifle!  What a great story!
  

1900 1898 Krag
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Re: Great Grandfather's Rifle
Reply #7 - Jul 17th, 2018 at 2:16am
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That is a real purty gun you have there.
  

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Knute1
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Re: Great Grandfather's Rifle
Reply #8 - Jul 17th, 2018 at 3:09am
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Thanks for the comments. This gun is presently in my younger brother's possession. He is pretty liberal with letting me have it whenever and as long as I want. But I'm afraid of shooting all my 30-40 ammo up (I do reload) if I was to have it very long. He has already stated that it will be  passed on down to one of my five sons. Likely the oldest who has two sons himself. That would be 6 generations if that actually happens.
The checkering was actually done by my grandfather's brother who had it until his untimely death in the 1940's. That is when my grandfather had it given to him. The checkering was done with a razor blade. There is a bolt that goes through the wrist of the butt stock. That was done to keep a crack from propagating any further. This type of crack is common for this model. My brother has the original shotgun-type butt plate for this gun. I did offer to get a replacement stock and use this butt-plate. The original stock with the checkering and repair could always be put back on.
My brother will get first crack at getting a deer with it. I'm sure I'll get my chance in the next few years. This gun is perfect for a left-hander like me. (Started out with a Marlin 30-30 back in the 70's, then graduated to flintlocks. So this would be the most modern gun design I will have deer hunted with.)
  
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Culpeper
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Re: Great Grandfather's Rifle
Reply #9 - Jul 17th, 2018 at 4:29am
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Afraid of shooting up all of your ammo?  Do what I do.  See a box.  Buy two of them.  Yeah.  The stuff is made from gold now a days.  Remington just had a run of the ammo in the past year so bite the bullet if you can and spend eight hundred bucks to get a case. 

Buy two cases if you are able.  Then get yourself a few fifty BMG ammo cans and fill them up.  Set them away in a dry and fairly cool part of the house like the wife's clothes closet.  (who needs that many shoes cluttering up the floor?)  Then when the day comes that the rifle needs to be handed down the line you can pass them a full can of thirty year old pristeen .30-40 Krag ammo.

The next boy would be the caretaker of the remaining ammo.  Each one taking the next can and passing the rest forward.


  

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Knute1
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Re: Great Grandfather's Rifle
Reply #10 - Jul 17th, 2018 at 9:33pm
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Like wow man............you sure were thinking a lot bigger than me. Now you got me thinking about it a bit harder. My way of thinking now is that in the future you will be able to download a program into a machine and make anything you want. Including ammo. Future generations will be much better off. Cheesy
  
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Culpeper
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Re: Great Grandfather's Rifle
Reply #11 - Jul 17th, 2018 at 11:04pm
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Have I mentioned the two thousand rounds of Winchester .30-40 I've had since 2005.  It is in the bottom of the "Pile".  ...and I can't get to it.  I would have to cut the seals on the third tunnel, fourth level, Annex J.  Of course I could then get to the two thousand rounds of S&B .303 also.

Shocked


Most guys think about handing down the guns but hardly anyone thinks about handing down ammo or instilling the idea that not every cartridge needs to be shot up.  Such as:

------------------------

"Daughter, here is your great grandfather Knute's Krag and one old fashion .50 BMG ammo can filled with .30-40 ammunition from 2018."

"Thank you, Dad."

"Here is my last three and a half boxes of brass I was given when I recieved my grandpa's gun.  It started out as a full ammo can too.  Dad passed to me what was left of the ammo he was given.  He told me to use his stuff up until it wore out from reloading.  Then I could start using my inheritence."

You are required to do the same."  These other four ammo cans are for next four owners of the Krag and are not yours to use.

"I understand, Dad"

"Now I will teach you how to pour lead to make you own bullets for this gun."

--------------------

That sort of thing.
  

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Knute1
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Re: Great Grandfather's Rifle
Reply #12 - Jul 18th, 2018 at 1:35am
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I see your point. I just have never thought in a big way, except I was shooting up my ammo when the 1895 Winchester was at my house. And when I mean shooting up ammo I'm still talking less than 100 rounds. I am frugal. When I got my 30-30 at the age of 16 I sighted it in with my Dad. Then it was one bullet/one year/one deer. This went on for years. I even kept my brass in the box from those years and have just reloaded them, though I haven't hunted with it since 2006. My flintlocks get the workout now since I do most of my hunting in Illinois where cartridge rifles for deer are not allowed.
This 1895 Winchester has got me thinking about going "modern" again for the nostalgia and carrying on the tradition (up in Wisconsin). I am afraid that generations to come will not appreciate the traditions of hunting and firearms. My oldest son is still in the Army and hasn't had time to hunt with me. My fourth oldest son at the age of 12 is all about hunting/fishing so I am trying to nurture this phase. He is already arguing with his oldest brother which of my guns they will get. I hope they are not pushing me into the grave too fast.
  
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Re: Great Grandfather's Rifle
Reply #13 - Jul 18th, 2018 at 4:06am
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Solution is easy and a "Win-Win": Buy more neat guns!

Gift some of them to your children, now, and go shooting and hunting with them.
  
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