Welcome Home...THANK YOU FOR BEING A PART OF OUR COMMUNITY

iKnife Collector

The online community of knife collectors, A Knife Family Forged in Steel

New guy here showing off some of my old girls

Instead of cluttering up the group, I am going to post some of my Old gun collection and a little story about each of them all in this post.

Guns are my first passion, knives are new to me to be collecting, but loving it. I was pleasantly surprised when I found out there was a gun group on here as well!

I am far from an expert, but I love history and am very OCD, so I research and learn my passions constantly, and knives are following this pattern as well!

OK, I will update this post over time and days, whenever I get the chance. Encourage questions and stories and comments as we go along, that's what these hobbies are all about!

I am going to start with one of my favorites from my collection.

Winchester 1873 44-40 Saddle Ring Carbine manufactured in 1891. These just say "True Cowboy Gun" to me. I collect for guns that show their history, not restored, or perfectly new condition, I sit and read every bump, scrape and bruise and imagine what it did, how.

There is a brass ejector block underneath beat to heck, these were prone to stick so they would beat on them to pop them up. And when shooting this one, if you don't work the action with some grunt, I have had to do the same on it. The homemade rear sight is dead on and adds to the character of the old girl.

8 members like this

Replies to This Discussion

FeaturedPermalink Reply by Charles Sample on December 23, 2014 at 16:39

Great guns, pictures, and stories Mike and Carl! I love to see this kind of posts in the group.

Mike I also have a '73 Winchester manufactured in 1891. Mine is a sporting rifle and is .38-40. You can read about it and see pics at this link.

http://iknifecollector.com/group/ikc-arsenal/forum/topics/new-membe...

KnifeMakerPermalink Reply by Carl Rechsteiner on December 24, 2014 at 5:48

That's one big "Ugly Betty" of a gun. But then, most of the transitionals from single to multiple were. I have a 50 cal rimfire cartridge with a copper casing and old school lead roundnose bullet. I might try to get a pic of it and post if I can find it. No markings or stamps. Found in on a river bank in the SC Low Country just south of Walterboro while cruising timber in the early 70's. Always wondered what weapons would fire such a big rimfire.

What cal is the Swiss Vet?

Permalink Reply by Mike Baugh on December 24, 2014 at 7:45

I'll see if I can look up what may have that big ol' rimfire! That is a neat find. This one is a .41 rimfire. I bought one round to cycle and shoot it, and it ran me $20 for one round! Lol

KnifeMakerPermalink Reply by Carl Rechsteiner on December 24, 2014 at 8:28

Here's some quick pics of the 50. Like I said no marks and casing is copper. Case is 1 3/4"; full load length is 2 1/8"; and base (rim) is 5/8" dia.

Maybe you could reload the case: crushed strike anywhere match heads made into a paste with alcohol for primer, light load of bullseye and .41 roundball.

We reloaded .22 that way when I was little (my Mom's dad was Scotch/Irish). I was the "wire" guy and got to clean out the spent casings with a small wire. Deadly loads for close up squirrels and rabbits.

Permalink Reply by Mike Baugh on December 24, 2014 at 8:37

I am seeing it Civil War, Spencer, Peabody, something of that nature. What an amazing find. I would love to own that if you ever decide to let go of it. I am slowly migrating my collection towards Civil War. I never knew rimfires could be reloaded!! I will have to start reading!!!

KnifeMakerPermalink Reply by Carl Rechsteiner on December 24, 2014 at 8:48

Kind of my thinking as well.

Grandpa was tight with a penny. He would of recycled toilet paper if Grandma hadn't said absolutely not!

We boys had to cleaned the chicken barns barefoot so we wouldn't ruin our boots.

Permalink Reply by Mike Baugh on January 6, 2015 at 6:39

Now that the holidays have wound down I am ready to get to posting again!

Happy New Year!

This one hasn't got the story of some of my other ones, but this is one of the sweetest, cutest little guns I have had the pleasure to fire.

Winchester Model 1890

The Winchester Model 1890 is a slide-action repeating rifle produced by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company in the late 19th and early 20th century.

In the late 1880s, the Winchester Repeating Arms Company asked John Browning to design a replacement for the Model 1873 rifle, since the rim fire version of the Model 1873 had never achieved any great popularity. On June 26, 1888, a patent for the new design was issued to John and Matthew Browning.^[1] Under this patent, Winchester created the first repeating slide action .22 rifle ever successfully developed and manufactured.

The Model 1890 would prove to be the most successful repeating rim fire rifle for general all around shooting ever made by Winchester. Approximately 849,000 Model 1890 rifles were produced between 1890 and 1932, after which the Model 1890 was replaced by the Winchester Model 62 rifle. A final cleanup of stock on hand was completed in 1941.^[2]

For many years, the Model 1890 was considered to be the standard for use in shooting galleries, hence its nickname of "gallery gun."

This one here was produced in 1907, and while most 1890's have a crescent buttstock, this one has what they call a shotgun butt, which I assumed was just a wrong buttstock off a Winchester 1906. But after researching and going over the gun very closely, it sure enough is numbered to the gun with the same assembly numbers. It is a 22wrf, a round that is getting scarce to find, but is still produced occasionally in limited runs, it is longer than a 22lr nut shorter than a magnum.

FeaturedPermalink Reply by Charles Sample on January 6, 2015 at 10:03

Nice one Mike!

Permalink Reply by Ken Spielvogel on January 6, 2015 at 11:13

Very nice Mike

Permalink Reply by Mike Baugh on January 6, 2015 at 12:50

Thanks Guys. I am really fond of this one. It is like new shooting and using. It is a squirrel killer!!

Permalink Reply by Steve Hanner on January 6, 2015 at 19:45

that is a great gun Mike , looks in great shape!

KnifeMakerPermalink Reply by Carl Rechsteiner on January 7, 2015 at 7:00

Bet it is Mike. I like the old long barrels with some mass to them. Makes for better hold. I hunt squirrels with my "Moni Lynn", a .45 halfstock BP percussion I made back in the early 70's. Little slower on the reload but deadly accurate, plus I can be twice as far off the X and still get a clean kill head shot than with the .22. Easy math if you think it over. Got her tuned so that all I have to do is change the powder charge from 15 grains (small game) to 85 grains for deer & hawgs. Same point of aim 20 on the 15 and 50 on the 85. I like to hunt in close so most shots are at shorter respective ranges. Of course these old eyes need to be close anyhow nowdays, but I'm very good at injuning-up on a target.

Beautiful gun, haven't even thought about the old 22WRF in many years. I'm sure they are harder to find than the squirrels. You can reload those as well, just a little tougher to get all the residual out of the rim. Never done a wrf but have done a few boxes of mags in the distant past.