There’s Only Two Words BETTER Than “Free Beer” in This World…

…and that would be “Free Guns!!!”

Greetings and Salutations!
My, what an interesting day.
Sapper started working full time for GunGirl, and I had to go down to do MY paperwork, but not on the ‘operational immediate’ sort of thing… I got to go back to bed whereas he had to make a 0930 SP.

I got to the shop around 13:00, as I wanted to wait for the lunch rush so to speak. I hung out for a bit, and while I was there, some older-ish female came in with a BIG towel wrapped around what was obviously a couple of long guns.

She told us that her Grandad had died (I was like, she’s in her 60s, how fucking old was Granddad FFS???) and while cleaning out the house, they found these two rifles, and just wanted to “…get rid of them.” She stated that she didn’t want to drop them off with the cops, and after GunGirl checked them, she was like “Nope, don’t want them sorry!”

They were pretty grody.
I said that I’d LOVE to have them as I’m the local gunsmith, and restoring old grody guns is my ‘thing’. The lady was like “No problem, they’re all yours!”

BOOM!
FREE GUUUUNZ!!!
Whoo Hoo!

Sooooooooooooo…
That’s how I ended up with one really fucking cool rifle, and another??? Well notsomucho…. Both are .22 Caliber,have/had a pretty bad case of surface corrosion, and the stocks are/were pretty Gah-Nasty!

The first one I couldn’t even see what it was. There was soooo much crap on the barrel markings, I had to clean it AND ‘chalk it’ to figure out what it was. I just knew it was a full sized stock .22 single shot bolt action:

As I said, it’s pretty nasty, with a LOT of surface scaling.
No MAJOR pitting that I can tell, and the patina UNDER the rust looks pretty good:

I think it was designed to be a training rifle.

Not sure. Reason being is that tab sticking up about an inch-inch and a half behind the bolt? That’s the safety, and every. single. time. you cycle the bolt, the weapon automatically gets set to ‘safe’. I did get my scrub on on the barrel, which after chalking it, I got this:

A Western Field Model M815.
AKA Montgomery Ward’s finest entry level bolt action .22.

It’s actually a Mossberg single shot, marketed by Montgomery Ward’s chain under the “Western Field” name brand in the 1960s and 1970s. The Model M815, is the same rifle as the parent Mossberg 320 and 321 rifles that were manufactured from 1960 until 1980 and well known for their accuracy.

It fires .22 Short, Long, or Long Rifle caliber rounds, and has NO SERIAL NUMBER, which according to my research means this was made prior to 1968, when the Feds made it that a weapon having to have a s/n became mandatory. I’ll see how it cleans up. They seem to be slightly collectable as I found them going (in great condition) for about $200 and change.

Now, the other one?

Well… sometimes I get a bit ‘hot to trot’ on my weapons…and get waaaay ahead of myself. As in I forgot pix. Dammit.

I failed to get the “before” pics ‘cos I got really wrapped up in this one. However, It’s AWESOME IMO.

It’s a Remington Model 12 Pump Action .22 in perfect functioning order.

And as you can see, it cleaned up magnificently.

I still have some detail work to finish, as well as a test-fire, but DAMN if this isn’t sweet and a GREAT addition to the BCE Museum of Mayhem. The reason being is THIS particular rifle I –think- (but can’t be 100% certain) was a “Carnival Rifle”.

This particular one by way of the s/n on it, was manufactured in 1925. One Hundred and One Years ago!!! That, to me is pure awesome-sauce.

During my research on the Model 12, I found out the action was originally designed by Pederson with a patent date of October 1906, when they started making them. It’s actually stamped right on the barrel like that. It also was INCREDIBLY popular, and was used extensively in and by Traveling Carnivals. Back in the day shooting galleries were an important attraction of almost every amusement park, county fair, and church carnival back in the day.

You’d go up, pay the man running the shewtin’ gallery a quarter, he’d hand you a pump-action .22 rifle containing 10 or 12 rounds of .22 Short ammunition and then it was off to the races so to speak… time to blaze away at various moving targets in hopes of winning a Kewpie doll for your current ‘flavor of the week’ so to speak….

The reason I’m so utterly tickled is that I’m 99.9999% sure that THIS rifle was used in a Carnie… The wear on the front pump furniture has me utterly convinced, as well as because of where I live.

There’s a town right up the road, a stone’s throw literally called Gibsonton. Gip-Town is pretty famous for real. It’s where the Carnies would ‘winter over’ and for that matter still do. The pic below is of the International Independent Showman’s Museum, AKA The Carnie Museum.

This’s the town that the freaks live in
Like literally
The famous bearded lady, the world’s tallest man, people like that. In fact there’s still a pretty sizable contingent of them that you can see at WalMart on the regular… and no… we’re talking for-real Carnies. They also retired here back in the day, and there’s several films about the location, and the people.

Hence why I’m sure this was a ‘Carnie Gun’
Location, Location, Location.
It adds up right?

Now… here’s a Model 12 that was auctioned a ways back. It is NOT as nice as mine, but look at the pump:

The finish on that one is shot-out… but notice the pump? It’s ribbed (for our pleasure of course). The rifle is also famous for being able to be broken down:

See the ribs? Yep.
There’s a big set-screw on the left side of the receiver that holds it together. Mine is tight as the day it was made with ZERO wiggle when it’s together.

Another mad plus amiright?

Now… this’s part of the reason I’m sure that this was a “Carnie Gun” if you will… this one is my pump:

That wood is worn the fuck down to the nub!
How many DECADES did it take to wear the pump action wood down like that!?! Crazy right??? Like as you could see on ALL the other examples the front stock slide is ribbed like a mother.

Mine?
Notsomucho.
Truthfully it looks like someone strapped a burnt keilbasa on the front…

And, if you look exceptionally closely, you can see the faintest marks where the ribs used to be. Add on the front sight blade is juuuuust a wee bit boogered up with a teeny bend to the right, which would make it really hard to hit your target?

THAT’S how you never could get that Kewpie Doll!
The Carnies boogered up the sight!
Cheating bastards.

I’d say this thing was in a Carnival back in the day, due to it’s location, age, and the ‘fair wear and tear’ plus the bent front sight. I wish I had the true background on it… however there IS hope!

The aforementioned Museum (the Carnie Museum, not mine) has a INSANELY intensive collection of paperwork and like ALL the administrative ‘stuff’ from ALL the Carnivals dating back from the late 19th Century. It’s a rather impressive collection.

Sapper and I talked about it, and I’m pretty sure that a Carnival would have something as valuable as a rifle (be it only a .22) listed or written down in a logbook –somewhere- for insurance purposes and tracking. I’ll bet dollars to donuts that IF this thing, per my gut hunch, IS a Carnie-Rifle and is registered -somewhere- in the vastness of their extensive records, I might be able to get the provenance established for it, which then makes it a very collectible piece of Early 20th Century Americana!!!

A PERFECT addition to the Big Country Museum of Mayhem!

How cool would that be???
So I’ll keep y’all updated as I roll
More Later
Big Country