New Additions to the Family (Revolvers)

[spooter66]

Hi everyone, been lurking here for a long time. I recently found a couple of real gems and thought now is as good a time as any to sign up and share some gun porn.

Knowing how most members of the forum appreciate nice old weapons I thought I would share the story of how I got these.

Two weeks ago I get a call from my step father at dinner time and the conversation went like this:

me: Hello
SF: My mom found a couple of guns in the bottom of a box and is pretty upset right now (she's afraid of guns). How can you tell if a gun is loaded?
me: Depends, is it a revolver or a semi-auto?
SF: Whats the difference? (He knows nothing about guns except they go bang, he's not an anti, just not into them)
me: (After a moment of silence while I beat my head on the door frame) Are they in holsters or just lying in the box?
SF: They are in leather holsters.
me: Carefully pick them up, keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction, and put them someplace safe until I can look at them. I'll be over after dinner.

I go over to the SF moms house (don't really like the woman, nasty old lady and half ready for a straight jacket). When I walk in she's upset and about to blow a gasket, starts yelling at me to get them out of here. I take them out to the garage and pull them out of their holsters. What a mess!!! They were two revolvers, they looked like two chunks of rusting metal. SF tells me she wanted to throw them into the trash, but he convinced her that wasn't a very smart thing to do (safety). Then she suggested he take them to the police department. He really wasn't liking the idea of walking into the popos' house caring two guns. He convinced her to give them to me since I collect guns anyway (gee, thanks for the rusting garbage). I brought them home and threw them into the bottom of the gun safe and forgot about them until two days ago.

I like a challenge, so I decided to get those guns out and see if I could clean them up enough to fire. If nothing else I could at least have two plinking guns for the range. I start breaking them down and removing the grips for cleaning and discover one of the guns is a Colt, I'm now almost ready to cry wondering how someone could abuse these children like this!! I soaked both guns down with Breakfree -Powder Blast and started scrubbing with a toothbrush (wife WASN'T happy, I used hers - I forgot to tell her I had already picked up a new one for her). I discovered the guns were covered in some kind of congealed sticky goop (about like old maple syrup that has dried). I'm now cussing out the idiot who put this crap all over the guns. It's not just on the outside, but is in the bore, chambers, trigger, hammer, springs, everywere. The red-ish brown stuff that I thought was rust was old leather. The holster leather is so old that on the rough side it is starting to crumble and was sticking to the goop. Seeing how this stuff is everywhere the guns had to have been dipped in either grease or heavy oil and put in their holsters and forgotten about. The guns belonged to my step fathers dad and he doesn't ever remember anyone getting those boxes out of the attic. We found newspapers in the box dated in the 1940s, his father died a few years ago so we'll never get the full history on the guns. After all that time whatever the substance was it started to harden. After 12 hours of spraying solvent and scrubbing I almost had an emergency evacuation of my bowels (crapped myself - mustant anger the Mods ). Underneath the crud there wasn't a spot of rust on either gun and the finish/bluing are like new. I could now kiss the fine gentleman who dipped the guns, I guess he knew what he was doing after all. I took them to a gun dealer up the road for grading and appraisal. After much research in books and on line I was shocked when he gave me the verdict. After all the scrubbing here is what I've got:

Maker: Harrington & Richardson
Model: Sportsman
Cal: .22 LR
Date of Manufacture: 1939
Finish/Bluing: 90% slight holster wear on end of barrel, Slight scratches on cylinder from indexing
Bore/chamber(s): 100% like new
Wood/Grips: Factory original 100%
Current Value: $250-$300
Not a lot of H&R collectors out there, keeps the prices down

Maker: Colt
Model: Officers Model
Cal: .22 LR
Date of Manufacture: 1938
Finish/Bluing: 90% slight holster wear on end of barrel, slight holster wear on edges of cylinder.
Bore/chamber(s): 100% like new
Wood/grips: Factory original 100%
Current Value: $1000-$1300
The holster the gun was in is the original that came with it in the box, this adds value to the gun.

Sorry for being long winded. Here's the pics, camera isn't the best and with the blue backround and outdoor lighting the bluing is a little hard to see. I wish I had thought to take some before photos.

[00leland00]

Welcome, and freakin' sweet find!

[moose]

I wish I was so lucky! Very nice addition to the family I'd say! Congrats on getting them, its a good thing she didn't throw them into the garbage!

[ar15jules]

Very cool indeed. I NEVER have that kind of luck.
Jules

[Arcana71]

I hate you... and I mean that in the nicest possible (as in "I envy your fortune"). They're beautiful. Take that fom someone who's wanted the H&R Sportsman since age 10.

[1861]

so , did you go back over and kiss the crazy ol lady ? that h&r is sweet shooter . I aquired one when my father in law passed last year . made in 1940

[jtkratzer]

Very nice. I have a couple old H&R pistols in .22 lr and .32 s&w and a single shot 16 gauge.

[RONNIE77]

Hey! One person's trash, could be another person's treasure.

Great find man. Very nice collecters pieces.
Congrats.

[knight0334]

wow! I'd give my left nut for either of those.

Nice score!

[RONNIE77]

Originally Posted by knight0334

wow! I'd give my left nut for either of those.

Nice score!

Hey!
That probably wouldn't be so bad, because then you could give Neuticles a call to patch up your junk....lol