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Guns that have made you shake your head and ask why?

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  • JayhawkerJayhawker Posts: 18,360 Senior Member
    Most of the ones I know about were made by by
    J.C. Higgins (Sears, made by High Standard). Marlin, Mossberg, Stevens, Western Field, and at one point, Browning...
     
    Sharps Model 1874 - "The rifle that made the west safe for Winchester"
  • Gene LGene L Posts: 12,817 Senior Member
    None of these.  My BIL was in the AF about when I think he got this gun, and had been stationed in Korea post-war, so there's no telling how he came to own it or where it came from.  It was a cheaper gun, I think.  He wasn't a gun guy.  This was before I had a shotgun of my own and I liked it until I got a single-barrel Winchester.
    Concealed carry is for protection, open carry is for attention.
  • earlyagainearlyagain Posts: 7,928 Senior Member
    I hunted squirrels with a Remington bolt action shot gun as a kid. My Dad's.

    Also bought an old Montgomery Ward 20ga bolt action from a seedy pawn shop for cigarette money. Kept it next to my bed in a seedy apt in a the poor side a town back when I was new in town and had light pockets. No internet back then to inform me of my inadequacy. Kept a match in the door when gone, and some marbles on the floor when home. Third floor so only one entrance. Had a car that matched this thread. A 71' Comet.. It was a head shaker.
  • LinefinderLinefinder Posts: 7,856 Senior Member
    Jayhawker said:
    Most of the ones I know about were made by by
    J.C. Higgins (Sears, made by High Standard). Marlin, Mossberg, Stevens, Western Field, and at one point, Browning...
     
    Thanks for that info, Jay. My dad bought me a .410 pump for my 8th b'day, saying, 
    "That's the only gun I'm buying for you. Take good care of it."
    Though marked Sears & Roebuck, I always thought it was mfgd by Hi-Standard. Great little gun, and I'd still own and use it had it not been stolen.

    Mike
    "Walking away seems to be a lost art form."
    N454casull
  • Some_MookSome_Mook Posts: 624 Senior Member
    My Dad's 20ga was a bolt action Western Field.  I gave it to my Son-in-Law when he was having problems with racoons getting at his chickens.  He doesn't have a gun safe so I told him to keep the bolt locked up in their important documents fireproof lock box.  At worst the grandkids could use the shot gun to beat each others heads in if they ever got access to the gun, but they have about 8,000 other items available at home that they can use for bludgeons.
    "If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace." - Thomas Paine
    "I know my place in the world and it ain’t standing next to Jerry Miculek" - Zee
  • zorbazorba Posts: 25,283 Senior Member
     A 71' Comet..
    Knew a guy who put a Valiant engine into a Comet. Called it the Vomit...

    -Zorba, "The Veiled Male"

    "If you get it and didn't work for it, someone else worked for it and didn't get it..."
    )O(
  • earlyagainearlyagain Posts: 7,928 Senior Member
    zorba said:
     A 71' Comet..
    Knew a guy who put a Valiant engine into a Comet. Called it the Vomit...

    That's actually funny considering the color of my old Comet. In the early 70's Ford was having a color crisis. Would you like that in snot green or vomit yellow? Or maybe dog patty brown?
  • zorbazorba Posts: 25,283 Senior Member
    zorba said:
     A 71' Comet..
    Knew a guy who put a Valiant engine into a Comet. Called it the Vomit...

    That's actually funny considering the color of my old Comet. In the early 70's Ford was having a color crisis. Would you like that in snot green or vomit yellow? Or maybe dog patty brown?
    I remember that vomit yellow! Had just a hint of orange in it, I thought it looked like vomit even then. Haven't thought about that for years...

    -Zorba, "The Veiled Male"

    "If you get it and didn't work for it, someone else worked for it and didn't get it..."
    )O(
  • Jeff in TXJeff in TX Posts: 2,641 Senior Member
    Back east there's a gunsmith named Mark Banser.  Great guy, I've know him for over 30 years and builds some pretty nice rifles.  I saw him a show 20 plus years ago.  He came out with a Tactical 12 ga bolt action rifle/shotgun.  With sabots he said it was scary accurate.  I want to say it was under a sub moa shooting shotgun/rifle.  I never really saw the need or an application for it.  I think it was an idea/concept that found no market.
    Distance is not an issue, but the wind can make it interesting!

    John 3: 1-21
  • bellcatbellcat Posts: 2,040 Senior Member
    Lever action 410 shotguns 🤔
    "Kindness is the language the deaf can hear and the blind can see." Mark Twain
  • JayhawkerJayhawker Posts: 18,360 Senior Member
    bellcat said:
    Lever action 410 shotguns 🤔
    Yep...that's another one...
    Sharps Model 1874 - "The rifle that made the west safe for Winchester"
  • JerryBobCoJerryBobCo Posts: 8,227 Senior Member
    bellcat said:
    Lever action 410 shotguns 🤔
    I sort of like the idea, although the utility of one combined with the price doesn't make sense.  And admit it.  Haven't you wanted a Wnchester Model 1887 ever since the first Terminator movie?  B)

    The first shotgun of my own was a 20 gauge bolt action.  My grandfather had one that I liked, so my folks got me one the following Christmas.  I was 12 or 13.  I never could hit anything with it, and after a while the stock developed a 3-4" split right behind the action.  It was stolen, and I can't say I really miss it.
    Jerry

    Gun control laws make about as much sense as taking ex-lax to cure a cough.
  • JayhawkerJayhawker Posts: 18,360 Senior Member
    edited April 2020 #74
    The 1887 and the 1901 were completely different animals than the .410 1894s, Henry's, and that weird lever action single shot that was out there for awhile...

    My friends Dad had a 10 gauge 1887 that I really wanted to shoot but never quite worked up the courage to do so...Probably for the best since 2 7/8 " 10 gauge BP shells were impossible to find...

    As I recall, Norinco made a 12 gauge clone...
    Sharps Model 1874 - "The rifle that made the west safe for Winchester"
  • GunNutGunNut Posts: 7,642 Senior Member
    Jayhawker said:
    The 1887 and the 1901 were completely different animals than the .410 1894s, Henry's, and that weird lever action single shot that was out there for awhile...

    My friends Dad had a 10 gauge 1887 that I really wanted to shoot but never quite worked up the courage to do so...As I recall, Norinco made a 12 gauge clone...
    There is a Chinese '87 out there.  It's the CAI PW87 and I've seen them for just a hair under $300.  I have been very tempted but I already have a '97 so I have kind'a scratched the itch for shotguns of that era.
  • earlyagainearlyagain Posts: 7,928 Senior Member
    The movie Monte Walsh had the bad guy with an 1887 that sported a big sheepskin recoil pad.

    Fair warning?

    The book was way better BTW. 
  • JerryBobCoJerryBobCo Posts: 8,227 Senior Member
    Jayhawker said:
    The 1887 and the 1901 were completely different animals than the .410 1894s, Henry's, and that weird lever action single shot that was out there for awhile...

    My friends Dad had a 10 gauge 1887 that I really wanted to shoot but never quite worked up the courage to do so...Probably for the best since 2 7/8 " 10 gauge BP shells were impossible to find...

    As I recall, Norinco made a 12 gauge clone...
    The comparison to the '94 410s and the 1887 and 1901s was said in jest, Jay.  I thought you realized that.
    Jerry

    Gun control laws make about as much sense as taking ex-lax to cure a cough.
  • KMT2KMT2 Posts: 373 Member
    Neat guns yall are stating.
     
    If you think OHSA is a little town in Wisconsin you may be in trouble!
    Peace is firing my guns or 60 feet below the surface of the water.
  • JayhawkerJayhawker Posts: 18,360 Senior Member
    edited April 2020 #79
    Jayhawker said:
    The 1887 and the 1901 were completely different animals than the .410 1894s, Henry's, and that weird lever action single shot that was out there for awhile...

    My friends Dad had a 10 gauge 1887 that I really wanted to shoot but never quite worked up the courage to do so...Probably for the best since 2 7/8 " 10 gauge BP shells were impossible to find...

    As I recall, Norinco made a 12 gauge clone...
    The comparison to the '94 410s and the 1887 and 1901s was said in jest, Jay.  I thought you realized that.
    Sorry....I'm locked up here in the Great White North, the wind is howling and it's snowing...my ability to grasp humor has dissipated greatly...but I'll get better...
    Sharps Model 1874 - "The rifle that made the west safe for Winchester"
  • GunNutGunNut Posts: 7,642 Senior Member
    The movie Monte Walsh had the bad guy with an 1887 that sported a big sheepskin recoil pad.

    Fair warning?

    The book was way better BTW. 
    The movie is not half bad either!  
  • Gene LGene L Posts: 12,817 Senior Member
    The only gun I've seen more awful than Zorba's money gun is that Mossberg tactical lever gun in .30-30.  And surprisingly, it got some favorable reviews!  Diminished my respect for reviewers.
    Concealed carry is for protection, open carry is for attention.
  • zorbazorba Posts: 25,283 Senior Member
    Aw come on! I think the single shot Altor is way worse than the money gun! Stupider, anyway, but made of better materials - we'll call it a wash! ;)
    -Zorba, "The Veiled Male"

    "If you get it and didn't work for it, someone else worked for it and didn't get it..."
    )O(
  • 10canyon5310canyon53 Posts: 2,122 Senior Member
    Jayhawker said:
    I'm locked up here in the Great White North, the wind is howling and it's snowing...my ability to grasp humor has dissipated greatly...but I'll get better...
    94 degrees and sunny here today.  >:)   (Sorry, I just couldn't resist).  If it makes you feel better, I am stuck inside with COVID-19 howling outside, so I can't enjoy the weather anyway....

  • zorbazorba Posts: 25,283 Senior Member
    That's about the same as it was here...
    -Zorba, "The Veiled Male"

    "If you get it and didn't work for it, someone else worked for it and didn't get it..."
    )O(
  • Uncle FesterUncle Fester Posts: 1,644 Senior Member
    .Gene L said:
    The only gun I've seen more awful than Zorba's money gun is that Mossberg tactical lever gun in .30-30.  And surprisingly, it got some favorable reviews!  Diminished my respect for reviewers.
    When I lived in CT, I considered getting one for home defense rifle since AR’s were verboten.

    It’s ugly as sin, but there is decent a Mossberg rifle under there.  
  • Gene LGene L Posts: 12,817 Senior Member
    An interesting point of view, Fester, about home defense guns.  I'm curious as to what makes it better for home defense than a non-tactical Mossberg lever rifle.
    Concealed carry is for protection, open carry is for attention.
  • snake284snake284 Posts: 22,429 Senior Member
    I like most any gun. But there's a couple I've had that puzzled me or actually pissed me off. I had a Mossberg bolt action shotgun that had the most mickey mouse safety I've ever seen. In fact, if you depended on that safety it would be dangerous. You're not supposed to depend on a safety anyway, but that thing tempted fate. Another gun that pissed me off was a Savage single shot shotgun. After I had it a couple of years when I would shoot it the break action opened up ejecting the spent shell in my face. I didn't really dislike either gun but those aspects of them had me shaking my head.
    Daddy, what's an enabler?
    Son that's somebody with nothing to do with his time but keep me in trouble with mom.
  • GilaGila Posts: 1,971 Senior Member
    Jayhawker said:
    GunNut said:


    One of my buddies bought a Remington 700 22-250 Etronix.  That was a **** what were you thinking conversation.


    Yep...nothing like missing the shot of a lifetime because the batteries in your rifle were dead....worse...your rifle "timed out"...
    I have a Model 700 22-250 with a bull barrel, and it is a tack driver.  I wonder who thought it would be a good idea to designate a POS as a Model 700...
    No good deed goes unpunished...
  • Uncle FesterUncle Fester Posts: 1,644 Senior Member
    Gene L said:
    An interesting point of view, Fester, about home defense guns.  I'm curious as to what makes it better for home defense than a non-tactical Mossberg lever rifle.
    Shorter, threaded barrel.  
    Ability to mount a flashlight.
    Adjustable stock.
    More wife friendly than a pump shotgun.

    If you get past the ugly (which is considerable), it isn’t a bad package for people who live places that ban semi-autos. 


  • BigslugBigslug Posts: 9,863 Senior Member
    bellcat said:
    Lever action 410 shotguns 🤔
    No dog in THAT fight, but it does remind me. . .

    The Brits did a lot of STRANGE stuff when they gave or left arms to their colonials.  One of the was an conversion that turned an SMLE into a single shot .410 smoothbore.  They had a similar shotgun conversion that did the same for Martini-Henrys.

    The "WHY?" of this is pretty simple - they didn't want to give front line or recently obsolescent military hardware to people that might soon be firing them the "wrong" direction, but they are one of those things that when you see them, you find yourself saying "Dude. . .seriously?"
    WWJMBD?

    "Nothing is safe from stupid." - Zee
  • JayhawkerJayhawker Posts: 18,360 Senior Member
    Bigslug said:
    bellcat said:
    Lever action 410 shotguns 🤔
    No dog in THAT fight, but it does remind me. . .

    The Brits did a lot of STRANGE stuff when they gave or left arms to their colonials.  One of the was an conversion that turned an SMLE into a single shot .410 smoothbore.  They had a similar shotgun conversion that did the same for Martini-Henrys.

    The "WHY?" of this is pretty simple - they didn't want to give front line or recently obsolescent military hardware to people that might soon be firing them the "wrong" direction, but they are one of those things that when you see them, you find yourself saying "Dude. . .seriously?"
    Disn't Bannermans make some of those forage guns as well?
    Sharps Model 1874 - "The rifle that made the west safe for Winchester"
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