Every time I see

a really old, pitted revolver, I wonder what combinations of blood, sweat, and tears got her to that condition. Just saw a blue 4" Service Six .38 with lanyard loop that had an importer's mark on it and all those signs of hard use. Maybe it was just not taken care of, but I bet it had some tales to tell. Likely in Spanish. Or Canadish. But I've seen 'em in Italy and Portugal and France, too.

I often wish some of the used guns I got could speak ! Some had interesting things done to them , and not all of them good. I just wonder "why would some one do that to a gun " ?

Different scars those, done on purpose. The others are the ones that wear their history like medals. A shame to see them lobotomized by the buffing wheel and bluing tank.

That's why I hate to see something like a classic old Winchester lever action restored. It destroys all of its character and soul.
Tom Black

.....and the trick is in knowing what is "use", and what is "abuse"...........you see as many guns that our shops had seen over the years from fires, lost , stolen and out of the bottom of a lake or river.......
then you know what has to be refinished ( restored) , repaired and maybe even replaced 8) :roll:

( yes boys and girls, the wear on a firearm tells you LOTS of the how and where..........) :wink:

I don't know. I think most of the pitted, rusty and abused guns we see are not survivors of a glorious past but the victims of owner incompetence, neglect and indifference.

22/45 Fan said:

I don't know. I thing most of the pitted, rusty and abused guns we see are not survivors of a glorious past but the victims of owner incompetence, neglect and indifference.

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You got that right!!!!! :?

I guess the saddest I've seen are those which have finish wear on one side and are practically mint on the other, indicating that they have been sitting somewhere in a drawer sloshing around every time the drawer is opened but never being used. That's sad. I'd rather see a gun that was beat up in honest use.

Stolen guns are a special case and a really sad one. Criminals often being not the sharpest darts on the board, they tend to stash guns in wet out-of-the way places like under a porch and then either forget where they put them or get caught and unable to retrieve the loot. An OK outcome in general but leads to some rusty lumps of guns being found by kids, home repair guys, or demolishing crews. Found a couple that way myself. Both loaded.

I guess I look at it a little differently though I agree with 22/45 many are just flat abused, whether negligence or ignorance, I appreciate people who care enough to have a gun restored. I picked up a Winchester 1906 not long ago that was refinished. My grandpa had one and an older cousin got it. I wanted one in his memory. The refinish was well done, maybe just a tad too nice, but still well done. I like it.

Thirty or more years ago I looked at a S&W 44mag at a Gibson's discount store in Dodge City, KS that I thought had been used and abused. I wanted to get a deep discount on this revolver because of it's condition, but I was shocked when they informed me this gun was brand new and therefore they were not about to take anything off the price. It was badly nicked and scarred, and I was quite happy to walk away and never look back. I just wondered how in the world a new virtually unfired blued revolver could get in that poor of condition.

tom black said:

That's why I hate to see something like a classic old Winchester lever action restored. It destroys all of its character and soul.
Tom Black

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I beg to differ with you. To me, a gun's character is locked away in time. Should it be a bargain, and worth restoring, so be it. I prefer to be the one to put character in my guns.

A worn old Three Screw Blackhawk? Replace the shiny aluminum parts, case harden the frame, stock it with handsome wood or stag, blue the parts, work up a load that delivers your bullet where you want it, and does the job at hand.

That's Character!

Bob Wright

PriseDeFer said:

Different scars those, done on purpose. The others are the ones that wear their history like medals. A shame to see them lobotomized by the buffing wheel and bluing tank.

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Lobotomized? An old Colt Single Action, refurbished, fitted with decent sights, maybe chambered in a flat shooting wildcat, and providing its new owner with hours of pleasure, maybe good eating, and building up new stories. I'd hardly call that "lobotomized."


Bob Wright

This old Colt should be so lucky as to get lobotomized. Unfortunately it is probably too late.

That Colt Army I'd leave as is. Looks pretty honest to me.

My Dad bought this 1894 Winchester .30-30 around 1970 from an old fellow who owned a coin shop in Monterrey, Mexico. Dad had been doing business with him for years, but the old shopkeeper was retiring and selling off his "stuff" since he had no family left.

He had often related stories of his youth during the Revolution of 1910-1917 how he rode for Villa and his twin brother was in Carranza's army. Anyway, he said this was the carbine (made in 1914) that he carried in the latter half of that struggle.

It was rode hard & put up wet, has no finish and a pretty dark bore. However it is still a solid, good functioning lever gun that I've never had the inclination to have refinished.

Armybrat,

I enjoyed reading your description of history of that Winchester. The Revolution of 1910-1917 is a good example of my view of wear that we see in older firearms. We can be critical of past owners as it relates to their treatment of their guns but you have to look at the events to better understand the situation. A gun is a tool that needs to be cared for in order to ensure it will function when needed.

Sometimes events that the owner of the gun is taking part in are overwhelming and normal practice of maintenance and cleaning fall aside. The owner is fighting to stay alive and maintenance on the weapon has to wait.

I have seen many older guns that have nearly no wear internally but the exterior shows lots of wear. I can only wonder what was happening and where these guns have been.

Some environments require gun owners to take extraordinary measures to protect and preserve weapons. Skip a day of applying oil and the gun is rusting.

Interesting post.

Bill

Anybody interested in the period of the Mexican Revolution would do well to get a copy of Eileen Wellson's "The General and the Jaguar". It's a well-written history of the "Punitive Expedition", the American effort to catch or kill Pancho Villa in 1916 after his raid on the New Mexican border. Not much specifically on guns but a lot about the conditions of combat, showing about how the surviving weapons from that period got the way they are now. I'd say both the US Army and the Division del Norte were "rid hard and put away wet." Wet with sweat, as much an enemy of guns as blood and tears.

Armybrat's father's friend having a twin brother on the other side of the conflict is pretty characteristic of those times among The Neighbors. The "Revolution" turned into a long, bloody civil war very quickly.

Both of my gringo grandfathers were involved in that in various ways. One of them was a big supporter of Porfirio Diaz, the exiled dictator overthrown in 1910, for all his life. The other went into Mexico after Villa with Pershing. Neither ever talked about it, although I have both of their sidearms of that period, a Colt New Service .44-40 and a Smith and Wesson .44 DA .44 Russian. Not being guerrillas, they took very good care of their weapons--they show no neglect, just lots of leather time.

I used to be a purist in that I wanted my guns to be spotless. However I bought a S&W Model 10 RHKP that shows it didn't live its career in a desk drawer. Some rust specks bare metal almost black stocks. I like it as is.
Same with the 1937 S&W that was in the first batch to go to Brazil for use in WWII. Outside of switching mis-matched stocks I think I'll leave it as is.