My great great grandfather's rifle

COLTIMPALA

COLTIMPALA

Yo homie... is that my briefcase?
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Some time back I remember my grandfather, now in his 80's telling me about a pump 22 he shot the barrel out of as a kid that was given to him by his grandfather, and that he had it laying around somewhere. I mentioned it the other night and he said he'd look for it. I went by last night and he had what turned out to be a 1906 Winchester pump 22 laying on the table for me and refused to let me pay or trade him a rifle in better shape. He said "my days are running out, and I won't ever do anything with it again. It's been handed down and now I want you to have it". (He's not terminally ill or anything, he's just old as snot and in poor overall health)
He shared several stories such as hunting squirrels with it for the family stew they did every spring. I made note of a slightly bent barrel, which he said never stopped him from killing squirrels. He said it hadn't extracted shells since his grandfather owned it and that it wasn't a problem, they just used a pocket knife to get the spent shell out. The rifle was also used to kill hogs by his grandfather, where 1 shot was all it took.
I told him I'd take it apart and clean it up and address the issues when I had time to which he replied "well, you've got a lifetime to do it".

Upon getting it home, I inspected it more closely. I'll need to reline the barrel as the riflings are done and the chamber is eroded like crazy. The barrel has a slight bend in it, and the butt plate is gone. The magazine tube dovetail is out of it's dovetail and the mag tube follower is stuck in place.

I'll address the issues and get it operational but will leave the patina that is, and restore the wood only enough to prevent further damage, and then use it this coming year to hunt squirrels at my great grandfather's old homestead. This rifle is a treasure to me, and I'm over the moon thrilled to have it. I hope you guys can share in my excitement and I'll post pictures as I have time to work on this over the next few months.
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fieldgrade said:
Nice acquisition!

And good gosh I am old.

My great, great grandfather was a Col in the Confederate Army.
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My great great great grandfather (I believe that's right) on my mom's side was also in the confederacy. He was at Appomattox when the surrender was signed. My uncle still has his knife he had with him through the war. He had an iron cross grave marker in front of his stone, and I believe my uncle took it up because people were stealing them at one point and throwing them in rivers. As a kid I remember several of the iron markers at the grave yard across from their house.
 
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COLTIMPALA said:
He had an iron cross grave marker in front of his stone, and I believe my uncle took it because people were stealing them at one point and throwing them in rivers. As a kid I remember several of the iron markers at the grave yard across from their house.
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They look like this. Great, great grandad's. This marker is in Red Springs at his grave.
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Jeppo said:
Which is now recorded in the NSA database. šŸ˜‚
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We've got 300 years of the "wrong" history on both sides of the family. Slaves, a munition plant near Wilmington during the revolution, CSA soldiers, members of an NC militia commission by Geo Washington.

Not bragging, not proud, nor ashamed. Itā€™s just history.
 
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COLTIMPALA said:
Some time back I remember my grandfather, now in his 80's telling me about a pump 22 he shot the barrel out of as a kid that was given to him by his grandfather, and that he had it laying around somewhere. I mentioned it the other night and he said he'd look for it. I went by last night and he had what turned out to be a 1906 Winchester pump 22 laying on the table for me and refused to let me pay or trade him a rifle in better shape. He said "my days are running out, and I won't ever do anything with it again. It's been handed down and now I want you to have it". (He's not terminally ill or anything, he's just old as snot and in poor overall health)
He shared several stories such as hunting squirrels with it for the family stew they did every spring. I made note of a slightly bent barrel, which he said never stopped him from killing squirrels. He said it hadn't extracted shells since his grandfather owned it and that it wasn't a problem, they just used a pocket knife to get the spent shell out. The rifle was also used to kill hogs by his grandfather, where 1 shot was all it took.
I told him I'd take it apart and clean it up and address the issues when I had time to which he replied "well, you've got a lifetime to do it".

Upon getting it home, I inspected it more closely. I'll need to reline the barrel as the riflings are done and the chamber is eroded like crazy. The barrel has a slight bend in it, and the butt plate is gone. The magazine tube dovetail is out of it's dovetail and the mag tube follower is stuck in place.

I'll address the issues and get it operational but will leave the patina that is, and restore the wood only enough to prevent further damage, and then use it this coming year to hunt squirrels at my great grandfather's old homestead. This rifle is a treasure to me, and I'm over the moon thrilled to have it. I hope you guys can share in my excitement and I'll post pictures as I have time to work on this over the next few months.
View attachment 593345View attachment 593349View attachment 593351
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That is awesome.

My maternal Grandfather died in 1974. I have his Mossberg shotgun, but somehow my younger brother got his Winchester .22 pump that eventually landed in the hands of his drug dealer.

Pisses me off still to this day.
 
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Awesome family heirloom!

As for grandfathers, I don't recall hearing that any of my great greats fought in wars.

I did gave an uncle that was at the Battle of the Bulge. He told me that the only reason he made it out alive is that he was fighting alongside his CO, and would have stayed as long as his CO stayed.....but when the CO retreated....so did my uncle.

Another uncle was in a foxhole in Germany, at an airfield. German rushes him and the other GI in the hole. He said he got shot by a dead guy. They shot the German's head off and he was still running and firing. Uncle has a plate in his head, other guy in the hole didn't make it.
 
COLTIMPALA said:
My great great great grandfather (I believe that's right) on my mom's side was also in the confederacy. He was at Appomattox when the surrender was signed. My uncle still has his knife he had with him through the war. He had an iron cross grave marker in front of his stone, and I believe my uncle took it because people were stealing them at one point and throwing them in rivers. As a kid I remember several of the iron markers at the grave yard across from their house.
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Hard to imagine, but my great uncle was at Gettysburg. Born in 1840. My grandfather was born in 1865 and my father in 1912.
 
rufrdr said:
Hard to imagine, but my great uncle was at Gettysburg. Born in 1840. My grandfather was born in 1865 and my father in 1912.
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Thank heavens.

Someone here older than me.
 
Iā€™m really interested in your experience getting it relined. I have one in the back of the safe that could use the same. Not an heirloom, though.
 
Those are fun little guns to shoot and a nice heirloom. I'd clean it up good, stop any more rust and stabilize the wood. Sounds like he either ran a bunch of .22LR though a .22 long barrel, or just never cleaned it well with all the erosion you mention. Barrel liners aren't too bad, anywhere from $50-120, try to find one already chambered, barrel liner drill is going to run you about $125. So you'll be on the high side $250 in parts plus some machine time, hour and a half to setup and center then drill a little over 1/2 way, flip the barrel around and repeat. Rather than brazing the liner in I'd do the accuglass method and basically epoxy the liner in, it's plenty strong enough for .22 and you wont burn the remaining finish off the barrel.
 
COLTIMPALA said:
I hope you guys can share in my excitement and I'll post pictures as I have time to work on this over the next few months.
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Yessir, I smell exactly what youā€™re steppinā€™ in!

My grandfatherā€™s, he taught me to shoot with it. Plus itā€™s the first gun I shot.
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myst173 said:
Those are fun little guns to shoot and a nice heirloom. I'd clean it up good, stop any more rust and stabilize the wood. Sounds like he either ran a bunch of .22LR though a .22 long barrel, or just never cleaned it well with all the erosion you mention. Barrel liners aren't too bad, anywhere from $50-120, try to find one already chambered, barrel liner drill is going to run you about $125. So you'll be on the high side $250 in parts plus some machine time, hour and a half to setup and center then drill a little over 1/2 way, flip the barrel around and repeat. Rather than brazing the liner in I'd do the accuglass method and basically epoxy the liner in, it's plenty strong enough for .22 and you wont burn the remaining finish off the barrel.
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Barrel is marked 22lr, my suspicion is they were still using BP back in the day in straight wall cartridges resulting in corrosion. That's just a guess. My plan was to accuglass it. I'm familiar with the process and time is not a factor for me. I'm half tempted to rust blue it but on the fence.
 
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Beautiful rifle. Great character in the wood and metal. I'd get it functional but leave as it is. Enjoy your treasure.
 
Update: This morning I got the rifle disassembled completely with some assistance from my daughter who will likely own this rifle years from now. I straightened the barrel and freed the magazine tube follower, and made note of a crack in the stock after removing the receiver. If I have time I'll repair that later today and post more pictures. PXL_20230311_190532509.jpg
 
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That's a very cool story and family heirloom you have there. I look forward to seeing how it turns out.
 
All this does make me think.

When that rifle fired its first shot, there were 45 States in the Union, and a fair number of citizens living in them had fought in the Civil War.
The nation's only flight instructor was Orville Wright.

Hard to describe what an amazing gift you're giving to that little girl.

Other people learn history out of a book.

iu
 
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Started drilling the barrel yesterday. It's a slow go and I work on it when I have time. I repaired the cracks in the stock and got great penetration using wooden dowels to drive the glue into the cracks. Again, this is a slow go as my free time is limited these days. Screenshot_20230425-094526.pngScreenshot_20230425-094902.png
 
When you're finished you should write down the family history of this gun on some vellum parchment and stash it under the buttplate. Vellum holds up to time better than paper - I'll mail you some if you need it.
 
Catfish said:
When you're finished you should write down the family history of this gun on some vellum parchment and stash it under the buttplate. Vellum holds up to time better than paper - I'll mail you some if you need it.
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I dig the idea and will probably do that. I'll likely laminate standard paper if that sounds like a reasonable plan.
 
I chambered the barrel sleeve prior to installing in the barrel, then gave the sleeve a rough scuffing with some sand paper to help with adherence. After degreasing both the barrel and sleeve thoroughly, I coated the sleeve in JB weld and slid into place, leaving just a couple thou in the receiver end which I will address with a small file. I accounted for this when I cut the chamber initially.
Now I know some of you are probably typing to tell me I'm doing this wrong as we speak. But hear me out;

1. This is my rifle, and my project. It's not a match rifle and if it will hit a soda can at 25 yards, I'll be happy with those results. I don't have a barrel wrench to remove the action and therefore this is the option I have.
2. I know this isn't Acraglass nor solder, but if you smear any tube in 18 inches of JB weld and put it inside another tube of the appropriate diameter, that tube will never in its life move or come back out. This is a 22, not a 30-06, it'll be just as good as had I glassed it.


More to follow as I work on this as time allows. PXL_20230426_225644453.jpgPXL_20230427_000649695.jpg

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Tailhunter said:
Very cool*






*except for the part where being in your 80ā€™s is ā€œold as snotā€
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Ehh, if you saw him you'd say old as snot. My wife's grandfather is the same age plus or minus a year, and acts like he's 60; goes yard sale shopping every Saturday, rifle range in the backyard he lets anyone use so he can have conversations, fixing cars and 4 wheelers, etc. Depends on the person lol.
 
COLTIMPALA said:
Ehh, if you saw him you'd say old as snot. My wife's grandfather is the same age plus or minus a year, and acts like he's 60; goes yard sale shopping every Saturday, rifle range in the backyard he lets anyone use so he can have conversations, fixing cars and 4 wheelers, etc. Depends on the person lol.
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Dude he's only 5 1/2 years older than me . Is that what I need to visualize my self down the roadšŸ„“
 
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