Absolute Work of Art

[JFrank]

Putting in an order for some stuff Monday it's on the list.

Ha”
New mobile Hog killer coming up!

 

[yotehater]

Looks ok, but I'm not seeing the dog hair. Mine look like some furry critter after a few days in the farm truck. Sand is in every conceivable orifice.

 

[nakneker]

This is great, nice post!

 

[STOMP442]

Its been said many times that a gun is just another tool.

I hate this line of thinking. People tell me this all the time when they bring me rifles that look just like this one. There is no reason tools can't be taken care as well. It takes just a little bit of effort. I guess being raised by a self employed farm mechanic that worked like a Hebrew slave everyday of his life to provide a very modest living to me and my family makes me think differently. He always told me to take care of your tools and they will take care of you. I have one of my old mans shovels that is so worn down I bet it only has 1/3 of the capacity it once had. Talk about a well used and taken care of tool.

 

[Bc'z]

Well it is a Remington!

 

[ebb]

I work for a guy some that raises cattle on 6000 acres here in south Florida. He has his fathers old Mauser that dad killed hogs in Texas with, he is doing the same thing with it here in Florida, It has the original Mauser stock that has been cut down nicely and checkered. Its a 220 swift and when he inherited it and started using it in the truck found out the barrel was gone. He found some one in South Carolina that replaced the barrel. He has someone younger that is advising him on new guns cause I see he occasionally with a suppressed 300BLK. The swift is a 50s or 60s sporterisaton that was done well and has had some care but has hardly any bluing left.

 

[pdhntr]

I hate this line of thinking. People tell me this all the time when they bring me rifles that look just like this one. There is no reason tools can't be taken care as well. It takes just a little bit of effort. I guess being raised by a self employed farm mechanic that worked like a Hebrew slave everyday of his life to provide a very modest living to me and my family makes me think differently. He always told me to take care of your tools and they will take care of you. I have one of my old mans shovels that is so worn down I bet it only has 1/3 of the capacity it once had. Talk about a well used and taken care of tool.

If I would have posted a pic of the truck this rifle came from, it might be more easily understood its condition. I don’t have a pic of the truck. I will get back to that.

I have many tools that my grandfather used for woodworking. These date back 70 to 90 years. As a small child back in the 50's, I remember playing in the pine shavings from the jointer I rebuilt twice and still use to this day. I bought an old 6 X 48 belt sander a year ago and completely rebuilt it as the motors in todays units are suspect.

The truck this came from is a mid 80’s chevy with a 350 and a four speed on the floor with the two foot long shifter and the bench seat that probably fathered a lot of children. The A/C has long since quit, so the windows are down all the time. The truck can easily see 60 miles a day down gravel roads so dusty you can’t see behind you. That area of Montana hasn’t seen any rain for the last two months. When he has to check a stock tank that day, he gets in this pickup. The rifle is in it, muzzle down on the passenger side with the mag full and the chamber empty. The rifle has been in this pickup for as long as I have known him. It has killed untold numbers of coyotes, prairie dogs, and probably some lions and wolves.

This is a truck gun. It is a “tool” he depends on to be in that pickup everyday he uses it. As long as it keeps shooting, and he has a reasonable chance of killing something, it will remain in the pickup and in that condition. He is not going to subject any of his other guns to this abuse.

He has a new pickup with a nice bright Bergara in the cab to go to town, or a rodeo. He takes very good care of his other guns, and is actually pretty damn good at cleaning his rifles. I have checked them.

Will the gun he gets back from me, going back into this pickup. Hell no. He recognizes its value.

Jim

 

[littlebuddybr]

What's the bore look like???

 

[STS]

I have a rancher friend in South Dakota that has a rifle that looks exactly like that. He said he had missed a coyote with it a few days earlier and asked me to shoot it and make sure it was sighted in. I took it outside the garage and sat down at the bench. When I loaded it and closed the bolt it squeaked from being so dry and never lubed. That rifle hasn't been out of the pickup in years. If I had a dollar for every coyote that rifle has killed I'd buy him a new rifle. He'd never use the new one if I did.

 

[pdhntr]

What's the bore look like???

That's about 5 inches down the bore from the chamber.

And yes, that's what's left of a land running through the center.

Jim

 

[Mauser06]

The stories those farmers guns could tell....



My buddy has had a 9422 forever. He swears he's probably put a million rounds through it. I don't know how close he is. Growing up, I guess he would shoot bricks at a time and they didn't last long. Religiously rode farm to farm in the truck...if he was in a tractor it was with him. Plus he's a coon hunter. Talk about something else that's rough on rifles. Lights, dog leashes, in and out of the truck a bunch of times each night, busting brush in the dark...slips and falls.

To keep it running, he's squirt whatever was nearby. Wd40. Liquid wrench. Pb blaster. Whatever. A good soak inside and out and he'd grab a couple paper towels and wipe the excess off.

At night, it literally went in a rafter in the milk barn. And the cows were inside half the year. Anyone that's been in a cow barn knows how bad it is for metal.


He knew I was a "gun guy" and liked tinkering and refinishing. He let me break it down and refinish it. I wasn't allowed to touch the scope. I'm not sure it's ever been off there.


Before pics of the wood... really doesn't do it justice as I already had a good start on cleaning.







After pics. I didn't wanna take off wood or refinish the metal...the metal is essentially browned now.









Wish I had taken more pics prior to cleaning it. It was in pretty rough shape and had layers of gunk...




Speaking of farm trucks....like others have said, if you haven't seen a true farm truck, it's something else lol. His coon dog literally slept in the cab of his last truck. He'd leave the door open or he'd jump in and out of the window. It's where he wanted to sleep. Well...he chewed the seats down to the wire springs. The floor was rotted out bad...so he covered them with whatever he had laying around. Big pieces of rubber...tin off a roof... leftover piece of carpet. Even through all the layers, you could still see through it in a few places. Ran and 4wd worked. Actually, I don't think it came out of 4wd in fear of it not going back in. Lol. It didn't have a straight panel left. The kids started driving at a young age.

Lots of memories on the farm....and even with his ole 9422.


Farm life is different than normal life. It's just the nature of the beast. The work never ends and none of it is easy or clean. The years I spent there I started leaving a lot of my stuff in the milk house because my mom wouldn't let me in our house "smelling like a barn".

 

[ebb]

I hunt elk outside of Gunnison Co. in 1989 with a guy that had guided hunts and run cattle since he was a kid. When I was with him in 1989 he was carrying a Winchester 30/30 with a long octagon barrel and a full length magazine. My friend that I went with told me he had hunted with this guy since the 70s and he had carried the same gun, and it had killed hundreds of elk and many mountain lions as he had dogs and guided lion and bear hunts also. The rifle had belonged to the guides uncle and he had inherited it, and used it ever since. The rifle was built in in the middle teens and had absolutely no finish left, all the metal looked like dull chrome and had zero rust on it. The old guy took care of it and kept it oiled but I suspect the lack of rust had to do with the lack of any humidity more than his care. The stories this gun could tell!!

 

[Daddymac]

I am way too OCD for that, and I have a friend that will use that against me, when he needs a gun cleaned, he will make sure it gets close enough for me to just see it, knowing I will take it home to clean. He's about the only one that can get away with that.

 

[pertnear]

I was on a deer lease many years back & there was a younger fella that was hunting with an old Win 70 that he inherited from his father. There were notches cut into the stock for every deer it killed. He was keeping up the tradition. Not my way of doing things but to each his own.

 

[theMadAlaskan]

I once bought a Rem 700 30-06 truck gun because it was cheap and I wanted the action. When I pulled it apart I found that over the years it had become naturally bedded with seeds and hay.

 

[ebb]

organic bedding ???

 

[M14AMU]

Anyone that lets a rifle get into that shape needs an ass kicking!!

 

[STS]

Anyone that lets a rifle get into that shape needs an ass kicking!!

Sorry to say this, but you don't understand the nature of ranching.

 

[ebb]

After this guy (who owns this work of art) has put in a days work he most likely is in so much pain and so wore out cleaning and pampering this gun is way down his list of priorities. He bought and paid for it and how he treats it is his business and no one elses. That said I would treat it better. But he has keep this gun running with little or no unnecessary wasted movements. I bet not many of us could keep it running as he has. My guy that I work for had a problem with water tanks, he has a windmill next to the fence and it fills a tank on both sides of the fence, and water two different herds. He checked it out and the cattle were stomping the ground cause no water on the far side. The pipe that connects the two tanks had a stoppage, and he reached down and pulled a bunch of mud and grass out of the pipe and the water half filled both tanks. he went to see if the wind had been enough to pump water over night and when he got there both tanks were so low he could see the problem. There was a 6 foot alligator in the tank and he had plugged up the pipe. Hand in tank with gator water so dark he didn't see it the day before, glad he still has hand. He came and got one of the cowboys and they fought this gator for 2 hours with rakes trying to get him out. I asked why didn't you just shoot it? Didn't want to shoot up the tank and have to fix it. Don't you have a 22lR? Yea that's all I have to do during my day is carry around a truck load of guns. The stuff they deal with every day is not to be believed. I have much respect for them and would want to help out in any way I can.

 

[theMadAlaskan]

Anyone that lets a rifle get into that shape needs an ass kicking!!

Some rifles are meant to go to work, nothing wrong with that. A friend of mine was a guide and his work gun was a pre '64 Model 70. When the metal needed refinishing it got a nice coat of black Krylon. No problems with rust!