Bought a old friend home today!

469 Views 6 Replies 6 Participants Last post by WDSWIFT, Dec 23, 2018

koger

Discussion Starter · Dec 23, 2018

Today I had a young feller stop by, wanting to sell me a rifle. Turns out it was 1 1884 Springfield Trapdoor. This young fella has been in and out of jail for years, and his father was a good friend of mine, a wiry mountain man if their ever was one. His father passed away about 15 years ago with cancer, fast kind, he only lived two weeks after finding out he had cancer. I recognized the rifle, it was his fathers favorite and he had left it to the youngster. I had shot the guns some with BP loads I loaded for it, and had loaded up 60 rounds for his father some 20 years ago. The gun had some severe pits on the muzzle outside of the barrel, and dropping a lite down the barrel I could see mostly shine with some rust near the muzzle. I asked him what he wanted for it, he said he had been asking $400, but had no takers, would I give him $300! I hastily paid him and he left, but not before giving me the the box of shells I had loaded his father, with 3 loaded rounds left in it. I took it in the shop, swabbed the barrel down with cleaner and scrubbed it out. took about an hour of scrubbing, but the rust was built up on the lands, and it turned out nice and shiny with 2 or 3 shallow pits in the bore. I know I got the rifle dirt cheap, but it was like bringing a old friend home. The guy I got the rifle off of has probably snorted the $300 up his nose by now and for the next few years, his fathers old rifle will be well taken care of, till I pass on and its next new owner, and hopefully it will be well cared for by them as well. Jus thought I would share this with you all.

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Trapper6L

· #2 · Dec 23, 2018

Since you probably haven't shot it just yet, I bet it shoots just as good as ever. We've had a lot of the old trapdoors go thru the family over the decades. Never saw one that wouldn't shoot. Some were pitted bad enough it was hard to find the rifling but still shot great.

I hope you're not about to find out why I won't buy a gun from someone I believe has a drug problem. He knows where you live, he knows what you have, he knows far too much about you. I'd be real observant over the next 30 days. Probabilities are high you're going to see him again or get a visit from him when your not home. Never know about folks that are whacked out on drugs. Obviously, I hope I'm wrong but I've experienced it and seen numerous times.

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Gabriel

· #3 · Dec 23, 2018

Sad to say

There are to many of those cases.
A good family friend lost all of his rifle collect in a robbery. It was his grandson that stole them for drug money. They never got them back.
I am glad you got the gun.

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MPC in Ohio

· #4 · Dec 23, 2018

Thanks for sharing. It is good to keep a good gun in a good home. Your Friend is smiling above that you have it now, the son had his chance. Mike

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charlie sterner

· #5 · Dec 23, 2018

Good deal Sam. Yep, agree with he others. My daughter's ex has those same drug/alchohol problems and he knows what we have. Worry about that a lot. But I just found out yesterday he may be going away for 7-10 years. So we won't have to worry for awhile

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koger

Discussion Starter · #6 · Dec 23, 2018

Thanks for the replies guys. When the guy was here, we never got off the front porch, so he could not see anything! When he asked me if I still had a lot of guns, I gave him the impression that I had to sell most of them to pay hospital bills and live after being off from work for over 14 months.

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WDSWIFT

· #7 · Dec 23, 2018

koger said:
Thanks for the replies guys. When the guy was here, we never got off the front porch, so he could not see anything! When he asked me if I still had a lot of guns, I gave him the impression that I had to sell most of them to pay hospital bills and live after being off from work for over 14 months.

Hope it all turns out well for ya Sam.

But a word of caution to you, and you're a smart enough fellow to figure it out, but you might have been "cased". Keep a very sharp and close eye on your place and contents.

We had this nearly exact same thing happen to us is how I know. Luckily we had a surveillance camera that caught them and we got almost all of our stuff back. Same thing happened with our neighbors several months later and they got nothing back as they had no cameras set up. And they will come by in the middle of the day or night.... whenever the urge strikes them. JME. WD

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