Historical Guns

Do you have a young one on your shopping list this holiday season that wants to learn to shoot? Helping young shooters learn safety and skills is one of the most important things we can all do to keep our shooting sports alive and well. Everyone of us had someone teach us either as a kid or an adult. This is the season of giving and giving the gift of a firearm to a kid is a great way to give back to our community and to the kid.

Have a spare $4,000? If you do, you could be the proud owner of Winston Churchill’s .32ACP 1913 Webley & Scott self-loading pistol, which will be going up for auction on Dec. 2.

The GunsAmerica crew spends a lot of time sweating over the groups we shoot with modern rifles. But there’s more to guns. Sometimes building a working piece of history has its own appeal. Terril Hebert built this left-handed Fusil de Chasse and has this perspective on the old muzzleloader.

Former President John F. Kennedy’s personal M1 Garand will soon be auctioned to the public courtesy of Rock Island Auction Company.

This old Smith Model 30 is made on the J frame and is marked 30-1 on the crane. It dates from about 1970 and shows a bit of wear here and there from its 45 year or so life. This Smith belongs to Jon Hodoway and was his grandmothers revolver. He said she kept it in the towel drawer in her kitchen for defense against 2, 4 and no legged varmints.

Yep, Winchester made a 1911. But it is not the 1911 you are looking for. This is the 1911 SL. The SL stands for self loading. This 1911 is a shotgun. Unlike the other 1911, this one was not designed by John Browning but he influenced the design in an interesting way.

So this gun is not exactly old. But Ruger stopped making them in 1973 and they have become more and more collectable and valuable. The name 3 Screw is in reference to the 3 Screws on the side of the frame. The new models have 2 pins. If you are fan of the single action revolver and have never shot one of these you owe it to yourself to do so. In my opinion, they are just about the best production single action revolvers ever made. Bear with me while I attempt to back that statement up!

As I was writing the most recent Shooting History review on the Winchester 1873 I got to thinking about how that one lever action is called “The Gun That Won The West”. If nothing else that is some very clever marketing for sure. Not to belittle the ’73, it is a very fine rifle. But saying it single handedly “won” the west is a bit of a stretch. Then there is the whole issue of if The West was won, stolen, liberated or invaded. But that is a discussion for a different time and place. Let’s talk about guns!

1873 was a big year in the firearms world. Colt’s new single action was adopted by the Army and Winchester came out with their best lever action to date. Originally chambered in .44 W.C.F., aka 44-40, the 1873 Winchester was the most powerful of the lever guns when it was introduced. This was a huge step forward from the rimfire .44 caliber used in the Henry and earlier Winchester rifles.