If they could only talk...

[358156 hp]

Let's try something different. Post a pic or two of something you have that you would love to know the history of. I'm leading off with an Ideal 12 ga roundball mould. Doug Elliott has dated this one to the earliest period of Ideal, likely the early 1890s. It was obviously purchased as a meat-getter, think of all it's been through, two World Wars, the great Depression, and some of the roughest periods in American history. It shows signs of heavy use, and is still usable, if you don't mind a few little bumps in your roundball. Your subject doesn't need to be casting related, just something neat that you'd like to share with others.

 

[Brad]

Great, you just made me really think about this. I don't really have anything old in the house.
I don't own old moulds. I own a single old firearm and that P17 Enfield is at Khornets right now.
No old furniture. Not really even old family keepsakes.

Now my parents house, it is full of those items. Maybe it just isn't time for me yet.

 

[fiver]

I will definitely have to think about this one, I have some tools my wife's great grandfather owned.
and a relic or two I don't really know the history of.
but it should be a fun thread.

 

[358156 hp]

Somewhere around here I have an old original "Crescent" wrench parts kit that I picked up at an auction or something. It's a blue steel box filled with replacement jaws, screws, and thumb screws. The original price sheet is still in it, and each piece was like .35 cents or so. Those prices were scratched out, and new prices were written in to be .37 cents to .40 or so. I took it to a tool collector at a gun show, and he offered me $10.00 for it. In spite of his fair and generous offer, I selfishly decided to keep it.

 

[RBHarter]

Where to start .
There's an 1866 Chessipot with an issue stamp June or July 1871 to a French infantry unit .
1913 Gew 98 past through my hands DWM Berlin with a thumb cut . It had drill and tap for at least 3 sets of sights .
Had a 41' Tierney Carcano I always wondered if it was a post war barrel at Moe's B&T or a souvenir .
I have a hall table that has been my grandmothers ,which she was given by her grandmother that once held ownership papers before 1850 in Tennessee.
I have a copy of a diary written from about June 1918 to August 1920 by Owen Hughes during his service time as an Army artillery officer in France , it goes nicely with the single silver Lt bar and wrist dog tag.
I have the dollar and a half Chucker call that my grandfather carried for about 53 yr a 1921 dollar and a 1940 half . My grandmother was born in 21' and they were married in 40. I don't know when he started carrying them but if it was when they got married then they were in his pocket that Sunday morning in December of 41' when he went out for a walk , a smoke and to watch the Army fly out of Pearl Harbor.
When my great aunt passed away I was given her diaries from 1,1,1960 until a week before she passed away having run a triage in her living room in Honolulu on 12/7/41 her thoughts about the USS Cole and 9/11 were surprisingly tame , cold almost . The day I was born she was in she was in Wolfsburg Germany picking colors for her brand new Carmen Gia .
I have a great many things that I know the story's of but imagine what story's of everyday a hall table could tell of the days of of 7 wars and a complete rework of all society normals regarding workforces . Imagine seeing 1st hand flint locks fading away cap locks becoming the normal, cased ammunition pushing aside the cap locks . The oxen team giving way to 2 draft horses and 2 wagon/riding horses giving way to a car ,truck and tractor . 5 days or more to travel from Nashville to Memphis half of the trip on 2 track woods trails to a trip to the moon and back becoming "mundane" .

I live about 140 miles from Methusala (sp) the oldest known living organism in North America, a bristle cone pine tree . Imagine the stories a 2000+ yo tree could tell !

 

[Pistolero]

I think that about old guns. I have a pretty good collection of old milsurps. Think of some,
like a 1921 vintage 1903 with original barrel and wood, in good shape. Went to Greece and
came back via CMP to me. What has the old girl seen and done? Maybe not much except ride
the rack, since the bbl is original, but the wood is well used.

Then there is my 7x57 Remington RB -- very well worn, still intact and shoots well, but mostly
the barrel is on the edge of shot out. Mexican revolution? Pancho Villa?

Then the K98k that is a late war Russian capture. Definitely fought it's way into Russia, lived in
a Rooskie warehouse for 50 - 60 years and then came to me. What stories? How many owners,
how many battles?

Well worn 1920s Colt Police Positive, .38 S&W cal, in good condition but has the grips really worn down, checkering
almost slick. Cop's gun? Where? Stop any holdups? Shootout with Bonnie and Clyde? - who were around here
a bunch. Read about a local county deputy sheriff who was one of the ones who surrounded Bonnie, Clyde
and Buck and his wife in the two story tourist rental near Platte City, NW of here maybe 45 miles. In a
newspaper interview he said they surrounded the place and the gang unlimbered multiple BARs with AP.
He was hiding behind a 18 inch oak tree, laying down and bullets were popping out of the tree on his
side...... said he looked at his "little Colt revolver in my hand and RAN". Maybe this particular one?
Probably not, but if it could only talk.

Lots more old guns who might have some great stories.

Oh, yeah. Karmann Ghia - drove one for years.

Bill

 

[fiver]

 

[Brad]

Bet that rod has some stories to tell. What weight is the rod?

 

[fiver]

I dunno for sure it's bamboo and has 2 different 'top sections'.

it has also been all over the western states.
my wife's grandpa was real good friends with a guy that was a travelling salesman for a safe company.
he would sell and service safes everywhere between California and Nebraska north to south.
[he had to have been busy during the depression :lol:]
when he travelled through Utah he would stop and stay with her grand parents, and her grandpa would do the service work on his car, then he would be on his way again.

anyway I ended up with his fly rod and an assortment of his smaller tools [some of them handmade or modified with files or a grinder] and some story's about the man.
the rod and the case are pretty dang old and have been used quite a bit, the woven cotton case is falling apart and the guides and threads are mostly gone [except on the two tip sections]

but I'd bet that rod has seen almost every blue ribbon water in the west, his whole life was pretty much spent travelling, working, and fishing.
he never married and had the same job from just about day one after school until almost the day he died.
he carried clothes, the rod, a revolver, and his tools.
he come and stayed with her grandparents for the last 2 months.

I never met him nor her grandpa.
so the pole would have to talk to tell any of the fishing story's and places it has been.

 

[Josh]

I have some old money... buffalo nickles, morgan silvers, pennies from the 1870's. Just think of what that stuff did for a lifetime.

I also have some "company store" money from local coal mines, that stuff seen some times, and may have had some blood on it or shed because of it.

 

[Minute Of Berm]

Careful what you wish for, most of these are referred to as "she" and you'd likely never get them to quit once they started.....

 

[KHornet]

Have a bunch of old STUFF, including me! Like my Milsurps, and old stoneware jugs and have a few of the first and over a hundred of the second.

 

[JonB]

 

[KHornet]

The 4 notches are interesting!

 

[RBHarter]

Mine has a little more wear starts out 106 -
May have been issued 3 or 4 times .

 

[Pistolero]

I have a Colt 1917, too. Unfortunately, from what little I know, these were more likely to
be issued to a warehouse guard or waterfront wharf security patrol than to see combat.
I wonder if any of them ever were issued to real warfighters rather than home front folks.

But the four notches are pretty interesting. Any provenance with that 1917? Sometimes the
family history is total BS, but sometimes there are real stories there, too.

Bill

 

[JWFilips]

A few years ago I restored a 1st Model Brown bess that was a family heirloom The original Owner who fought in the American Revolution was a Scott that had relocated to the New World. It was recorded that he had a deep hatred for the Brits.
On the side plate side the Brass side plate had 6 cut mark!s in the brass ( I doubt that it was how many deer were taken with that musket!)

 

[KHornet]

Have shot a couple of repo Bess's Jim. They did fairly well to 50 with a tightly patched RB out to 50. Far better than Buck and Ball loads. My repo 58 Springfield that hangs over my fireplace, and hasn't been shot in over 20 years did real well with tight patched RB to well beyond 100. Of course it is rifled and has sights. The last time I shot it at a match, Brad and I had the same tie score at 100 for 1st place, but he beat me out by one X or closest to the X, or something like that, if I remember right. Good memories.
Paul

 

[Pistolero]

Did you ever shoot Minie balls in that Springfield? A friend had a Remington 1861 rifled musket original when I was teen. He had
the SWC Minie ball mold and that is what we shot. He called it the "lightweight varmint bullet" for that thing. IIRC, it was about
375 gr where the original was nearly 600 gr, something like 585 gr. It was an accurate rifle. No excuse for not keeping them
in 3 inches at 50 yds. You would not want to be standing out there in front of this from 50-100 yds like they did in the Civil War.
His was an original, I always wondered if it saw action. If only it could talk.

I remember then understanding why the Civil War was such a deadly and devastating
war - accurate rifles with fast loading capability, but medicine was little improved over
medieval times. This sparked my lifelong interest in owning and shooting representative
weapons of great wars so as to better understand what part the weapon's advantages and
shortcomings may have played in the battles and history.

Easy to see why a Scot would have a deep hatred of the British at that time. Lot of
bad stuff done. We won our war of independence, they lost the first one, won the
second and didn't fare well and eventually were forced back to union with England. A lot
of unhappiness there and a lot of raw nerves for hundreds of years.

Remember the great movie "Rob Roy"? I'll never forget when Rob Roy finally manages to
make contact with his claymore, after Archie has been playing with him with his rapier, it is a
devastating wound.

Bill

 

[Brad]

He fired lots of minies in that rifled musket. We shot 600 pounds of lead Ina. Couple of years largely due to them.
My PH Enfield likes a 560 gr minie. I shot a deer with it once, swore I missed as I hear the projectile ricochet off in the distance. Walked over and found a yearling with a hole clear thru. Little velocity, lots of penetration.
Loved to hit the 100 yard gong with those minies and 5 gr of black. Used a different setting on the ladder sight and hit it every time. Boom, wait, tink. Awesome