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New Additions to the Family (Pic Heavy)

3K views 27 replies 21 participants last post by  spooter66 
#1 ·
These are not exactly concealable guns, but knowing how most members of the forum appreciate nice old weapons I thought I would share the story of how I got these.

Two weeks ago I get a call from my step father at dinner time and the conversation went like this:

me: Hello
SF: My mom found a couple of guns in the bottom of a box and is pretty upset right now (she's afraid of guns). How can you tell if a gun is loaded?
me: Depends, is it a revolver or a semi-auto?
SF: Whats the difference? (He knows nothing about guns except they go bang, he's not an anti, just not into them)
me: (After a moment of silence while I beat my head on the door frame) Are they in holsters or just lying in the box?
SF: They are in leather holsters.
me: Carefully pick them up, keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction, and put them someplace safe until I can look at them. I'll be over after dinner.

I go over to the SF moms house (don't really like the woman, nasty old lady and half ready for a straight jacket). When I walk in she's upset and about to blow a gasket, starts yelling at me to get them out of here. I take them out to the garage and pull them out of their holsters. What a mess!!! They were two revolvers, they looked like two chunks of rusting metal. SF tells me she wanted to throw them into the trash, but he convinced her that wasn't a very smart thing to do (safety). Then she suggested he take them to the police department. He really wasn't liking the idea of walking into the popos' house caring two guns. He convinced her to give them to me since I collect guns anyway (gee, thanks for the rusting garbage). I brought them home and threw them into the bottom of the gun safe and forgot about them until two days ago.

I like a challenge, so I decided to get those guns out and see if I could clean them up enough to fire. If nothing else I could at least have two plinking guns for the range. I start breaking them down and removing the grips for cleaning and discover one of the guns is a Colt, I'm now almost ready to cry wondering how someone could abuse these children like this!! I soaked both guns down with Breakfree -Powder Blast and started scrubbing with a toothbrush (wife WASN'T happy, I used hers - I forgot to tell her I had already picked up a new one for her). I discovered the guns were covered in some kind of congealed sticky goop (about like old maple syrup that has dried). I'm now cussing out the idiot who put this crap all over the guns. It's not just on the outside, but is in the bore, chambers, trigger, hammer, springs, everywere. The red-ish brown stuff that I thought was rust was old leather. The holster leather is so old that on the rough side it is starting to crumble and was sticking to the goop. Seeing how this stuff is everywhere the guns had to have been dipped in either grease or heavy oil and put in their holsters and forgotten about. The guns belonged to my step fathers dad and he doesn't ever remember anyone getting those boxes out of the attic. We found newspapers in the box dated in the 1940s, his father died a few years ago so we'll never get the full history on the guns. After all that time whatever the substance was it started to harden. After 12 hours of spraying solvent and scrubbing I almost had an emergency evacuation of my bowels (crapped myself - mustant anger the Mods :wink:). Underneath the crud there wasn't a spot of rust on either gun and the finish/bluing are like new. I could now kiss the fine gentleman who dipped the guns, I guess he knew what he was doing after all. I took them to a gun dealer up the road for grading and appraisal. After much research in books and on line I was shocked when he gave me the verdict. After all the scrubbing here is what I've got:

Maker: Harrington & Richardson
Model: Sportsman
Cal: .22 LR
Date of Manufacture: 1939
Finish/Bluing: 90% slight holster wear on end of barrel, Slight scratches on cylinder from indexing
Bore/chamber(s): 100% like new
Wood/Grips: Factory original 100%
Current Value: $250-$300
Not a lot of H&R collectors out there, keeps the prices down

Maker: Colt
Model: Officers Model
Cal: .22 LR
Date of Manufacture: 1938
Finish/Bluing: 90% slight holster wear on end of barrel, slight holster wear on edges of cylinder.
Bore/chamber(s): 100% like new
Wood/grips: Factory original 100%
Current Value: $1000-$1300
The holster the gun was in is the original that came with it in the box, this adds value to the gun.

Here's the pics, camera isn't the best and with the blue backround and outdoor lighting the bluing is a little hard to see. I wish I had thought to take some before photos.
 

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#3 ·
Well, it looks like you did a great job of cleaning them. They look great! Have you test fired any of them yet?
 
#5 ·
Wow. They cleaned up real nice. Congrats.
 
#6 ·
Spooter, you have the patience of Job; them pistols look immaculate. excellent job.
 
#7 ·
very cool!
 
#9 ·
So the guns may well have been covered in cosmoline or similar? Someone must have been looking to preserve them alright. Congrats on the great find.
 
#10 ·
Lucky catch...the H&R was my first pistol and I had it for over 35 years...sold it in a weak moment...have always regretted it.

Stay armed...stay safe!
 
#12 ·
im not a huge fan of revolvers, but wow, those are nice. good scrub job too. not a bad find in an attic. much better than the junk i find in mine.

about not adding the wear, i run a round or two through them to see, ya know, then clean em' up good, and put them on display. :)
 
#17 ·
Thanks everyone. Even I get lucky every now and then. I'm thinking of making the colt a safe queen. The way I see it every round I put thru it adds wear and decreases the value. Also if something should break and I have to replace the part, the value will plummet like a rock. The H&R on the other hand is a different story. I think I may take it for a test drive. :image035:
 
#18 ·
I'd sure enjoy that Colt for what it was made to do. An Officer's Model is a delightful range gun, fully equal to a Python in my view. That H&R Sportsman is a little honey too. I've long wanted one of those. Great post and wonderful photos!
 
#20 ·
Generally I agree, but when you are given a weapon that is that old and seen very little use why start causing wear now. A good part of the guns current value comes from the fact that there is no wear so why start now. I have plenty of other guns to exercise, I won't miss shooting that one revolver.

I did shoot the H&R today. Very nice shooter. The trigger was as smooth as butter with a nice crisp break.
 
#24 ·
I've been given my yearly allotment of good luck, now I'm cursed for a whole year. I'm expecting a meteor to come ripping through my house at any minute.
 
#26 ·
Good on you! Nice find.
Okay....I gotta ask....doncha have to 'get them registered' to you?
(In Michigan they call it a 'safety inspection') Yarite!
Don't know how PA is....I'm askin' for my own curiosity....not to rake muck.
 
#28 ·
PA law says you can "gift" a firearm to an immediate relative without having to do any paperwork. However, they do spell out what they consider to be immediate relatives; father - son/daughter, husband - spouse, etc.. If you don't fall into this group you have to go to a FFL and transfer ownership. PA doesn't have gun registration, but they like to pretend that their lost/stolen database, and the gun sales database is a registration database. If the gun was purchased in another state or has been owned pre-database its not in any database. The PSP has already gotten their behinds spanked once by the state supreme court for using these as a registration. There are a few civil rights lawsuits pending because the PSP and local police agencies have illegally confiscated peoples guns claiming they weren't listed as the owner in the database.

But to answer your question, we took care of the problem. On the advice of a lawyer we videotaped my stepfathers mom (inheritor of the guns when he died and now legal owner) gifting them to my stepfather (her son). He in turn gave them to his spouse (my mother) which is legal under state law. She then gave them to me as a early Christmas present. While this may go against the spirit of the law it is perfectly legal under the letter of the law.
 
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