Barn Finds, Tell Us Your Stories

[jdmick]

In my other hobby restoring old cars everyone dreams about the "barn find" where someone has a rare classic rotting away in a barn waiting for someone to find it, often for little money. I'm thinking there has to be some cases where maybe an old widow says "get rid of all that gunpowder and crap in my basement". (After all, that's probably what my wife will say when I'm gone.) So who's made a good score and any tips on finding one?

 

[Edward429451]

maybe an old widow says "get rid of all that gunpowder and crap in my basement".

I had this happen to me. My buddy's Grandpa died 30 or so years ago and she finally decided to clean it all out. All the fam swooped on all the guns, but no one was a reloader, though someone did take the presses. After all the pickings, the rest was "trash" and my buddy called me to see if I might be able to use any of it before he filed it in the dumpster. He wasn't into guns but had an inkling that I was.

I got 11 molds, ~15 sets of dies, 18 lbs of powder about 1/2 of it good, Thousands of brass, bullets, & primers, misc specialty tools, and some of the G-pa's data which is very interesting to read.

In the process of going through it and explaining to my buddy what this is, demonstrating how it works, etc., I created a new gun nut! We're best shootin buddies now and he's bought many guns and is totally hooked.

 

[DonR101395]

Found a farmer's daughter a few times in the barn
Sorry just had to say it before it gets locked for gun related content.

 

[jdmick]

Awesome story Ed.
Just to clarify, I'm interested in stories involving reloading items. Everyone, even old ladies, knows guns are worth something.

 

[Smokey Joe]

Even a blind squirrel....

My wife's sister's boyfriend's father died. Boyfriend was cleaning out the garage. His dad was mostly a fire equipment nut (and you think we gunnies spend big $$$ on our hobbies!!!) but there was some gun-related stuff.

Sure enough, I'm the only gun person he knows of, so I scored some reloadable bullets, some brass, a go/no-go gauge for .30'-06, a bullet mould I'll never use (but will probably trade for something) and a number of other interesting odds and ends.

I agree, widows generally know that guns have value. In this case, most of those were sold off before I got there. I hope that Mama got decent money for them. But the other "stuff" associated with shooting, is just so much miscellaneous bric-a-brac to a non-shooter.

 

[SIGSHR]

I found a farmer's daughter in a barn once. If you'd seen her, you'd understand why they put her there.
All kidding aside, I was given a huge amount of reloading equipment a few
years ago, I am still sorting through, much of it dates back to the 1950s.

 

[Edward429451]

But, but, farmers daughters are just as pretty as supermodels with the lights out.............

Hey Smoky Joe, what kind of mould do you have and what might you trade it for? I still have loads of brass, bullets & dies for calibers I know I'll never use. PM me if you're interested.

 

[Rimrod]

Actually it does happen with guns too. My brother was a police chief for a short time in a small rural community. An older woman gave him a H&R shotgun after her husband passed away because she didn't want it in the house and didn't know what else to do with it. It was missing the forend and buttplate so he set it in the corner of his bedroom and there it sat for a few years.

I was helping him move and found it where he left it. I asked him about it and he said it was just a .410 and told me the above story. I told him it wasn't a .410 and looked at the barrel, it was a 28ga. Suddenly he took an interest in it. I found him a butt plate and forend for it and he has been shooting it ever since.

 

[Yankee John]

My Dad bought my Grandparents farm from them about 10 years ago when they decided to move into an assisted-living complex. My grandfather died in 2004 at the age of 93 (Grandma is still alive at 93!). He was a big horse guy, and bred and used Percheron draft horses on the farm -well into his 80's.

A month ago on Thanksgiving Day, I was getting some stuff out of the freezer in the basement washroom when I noticed what looked like a gun behind the door leading to the garage. Sure enough, it was an old bolt action .22 rifle- just covered in dust and cobwebs. looks like it has been there 30 years. Dad didn't even know it was there, and told me to just take it home with me.

Nothing valuable, it is a Stevens Model 86C .22 rifle. Looks very old & grubby, but it functions perfectly and has a perfect bore.

The only gun I have from my Grandpa- I can only imagine how many skunks, racoons, and squirrels that were dispatched using this old .22 (that were bothering the Percherons).

It is my most valuable gun!

John

Here is a pic of Grampa with "Butch" about 20 years ago. By the way, My Grampa stood 6' 2" tall. I believe that Butch was at 2200 pounds when they weighed him this day.

 

[Schmeisser]

Back in the late 60ies, one neighbor of ours, a farmer, pulled an MP 44 and a big box of ammo out of a far corner of his barn. Not knowing anything about guns, he asked me what to do with it. I was able to make him believe that automatic rifles were illegal in our state. I would take care of it. So he left me the MP 44 + ammo for 50 bucks and I had a lot of fun with it. So had the eventual buyer who paid me for times as much.