Tag Archives: old gun found

A closer look at an abandoned 132 year old rifle

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If you follow any of the gun rags you have likely heard of the Model 1873 Winchester lever-action .44-40 found propped up against an old juniper tree in the Great Basin National Park in Nevada recently. The gun, whose oiled walnut stock is cracked and weathered to the same grey of the tree it was recovered from, still has readable markings and serial numbers which date it to about 1882 or so. When you keep in mind that the military has long stored hardware ranging from tanks to B-52s out in the open air of the American Southwest due to its relatively mild effect on metals, its conceivable that this old lever gun could have been out there for quite some time.

Now roll that beautiful bean footage

Angler Catches a 200 year Old Flintlock on Lake

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A Wisconsin fisherman, out for a day chasing northerns around Lake Winnebago, pulled up something unexpected on the end of his line. No, it wasn’t a rare invasive species of fish, or a huge record breaker, but rather it was something with a little more kick.

As covered by the Fond du Lac Reporter, local angler Ray Groff was pulling in the boat anchor on his 14-foot flat bottom when he noticed something attached to the end of it. Reaching down and pulling in what he thought was a piece of driftwood; he was surprised to find a firearm.

And not just any firearm, it was an old flintlock– still with the flint in the hammer. Although ravished by invasive zebra mussels and well worn from centuries underwater, most of the stock was still attached to the gun. Its 47-inch barrel clogged with mud. Unadorned and plain, the gun has all the signs of being a classic trade musket.
Read the rest in my column at Firearms talk.com

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