Most unusual gun you own and how you got it

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DadOfThree

New member
I have a Gyrojet. It is one of the early ones in 13mm.
In 1992 while I was in the Army, I was in Honduras for a few months. On one of my days off I was driving through the countryside and saw a little wooden hut on the side of the road. They were selling wood carvings, chairs, blankets, you name it. I went inside and it was like a huge garage sale. I picked up a box and it had 2 or 3 rusty old .38's in it and this weird looking gun that looked like a kids toy. The Gyrojet. I would not even have known what it was if I hadn't seen one in a collector book about 2 months earlier. I picked it up and was looking it over when the proprietor came up. I asked him how much he wanted for it. He said "$25.00" I about fell over. Then I asked him if he had any ammo. I'm thinking please, please, please have ammo. He said "no" and I must have looked real dissapointed because he immediately said "Okay, I'll take $20.00 for it since I don't have any bullets" I set the Gyrojet down so I could get out my billfold and he must have thought I was leaving because he blurted out "Okay $15.00" I felt so bad about it that I ended up buying several souvenirs there :). The Gyrojet is not in great condition but it is a piece of history for $15.00. You can't beat that.
 
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Mike Irwin

Staff
Dang. Nice catch!

My most unusual is a French Mle 1873 Ordnance revolver in 11mm French (as seen in the hands of Brendhan Fraiser in "The Mummy"!)

I got it from a kid I went to school with. He got it who knows where. I gave him $20 for it. He was trying to get money together to get a car.
 
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blades67

New member
Quit fibbin' Mike, we all know that cars weren't being made in 1873.:p ;) :D




That was quite a bit of money way back then.;)
 
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50 shooter

New member
I have a 4 barrel shotgun, my dad and a friend of his made it. My dad had the idea in his head, bought two Rossi Overland shotguns, took the barrel from one and cut the receiver off also. Machined everything, welded it up and it will fire all four barrels if you pull both triggers at the same time.:eek:
 
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Tamara

Moderator Emeritus
My Mateba.

Bought it sight unseen.

I'd been talking about them with my coworker at the shop, and we had both mentioned that we'd never seen one in real life or read an article on them or what have you; they were pretty much a complete mystery.

I was rearranging the Hogue Monogrip display while he was calling in an order for random magazines to CDNN. He looked up from the catalog and said "Hey! CDNN has Matebas! Want one?".

Well, I did want to see what one actually looked like in real life... :)


Pretty fun toy, though. Glad I bought it (although if I'd waited a month or two, it would've been $100 or more cheaper... :eek: ).
 
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blades67

New member
The most unusual "gun" I own is the rusted (beyond rehab) hulk of a blackpowder '51 Navy that I found in the Superstition Mountains about seven years ago. The grips are gone, as is the loading lever, the cylinder is rust-welded in place and the whole thing looks like a picture of the moon. Pits, craters and divots everywhere. I have no idea how it got there, but I imagine a prospector or moonshiner must have lost it.
 
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Mike Irwin

Staff
I think you're confusing me with CR Sam, Blades. He would have been able to purchase one new...

If you have back issues of American Rifleman, from the mid-1990s, you'll find an exploded view of the MLE 1873 with a write-up by Pete Dickey.

My personal revolver was the one the staff artist used to create the drawings.
 
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70-101

Moderator
Gyro Jet's Are Cool

I saw one being fired on a History Channel Program about firearms.The cost of Ammo was there down fall.You fired the gun and had to wait a second or two for the bullet to ignite and leave the barrel.WWWOOOOOSSSHHHHH......
 
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DadOfThree

New member
Rock_jock,
Sorry, I don't have any pictures. The Gyrojet was supposed to be a completely new idea in small arms. It fires a small rocket projectile (13mm) that has 4 small angled ports in the rear for the gas to escape. The angle on the ports was supposed to spin the rocket so you didn't have rifling in the barrel. The propellant for the rocket was contained inside of the projectile so that there was no casing to eject. The hammer was located in front of the rocket and drove it back into the firing pin, which ignited the rocket. As the rocket left, it pushed the hammer back down. The hammer is about the only moving part on the whole gun. The butt of the gun was the magazine well and held 5 or 6 (not sure) projectiles. It was made out of what looks like stamped aluminum and looks like a Buck Rogers gun. It doesn't have to withstand any internal gas pressure because the rocket is self propelled. It even has gas vent ports all the way down the barrel. It was made by MB Associates in the 50's and 60's but never caught on. It was very inaccurate. The propellant would burn unevenly or one of the ports would plug up causing the rocket to become unstable in flight. Heard something about 10' (yes that is foot) shot groups at 100 yards. Also the rocket started out slow and gained speed until the fule was burned up. Velocity at the barrel was barely enough to keep it in the air. OTOH, it was still picking up speed at 100 yards. A real oddball but kind of cool to have one. There are still a few live rounds left around but they are real expensive.
 
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Jeff OTMG

New member
I had a COP .357 4 barrelled pistol, what a POS so I got rid of it. Currently it has to be the SAKO Triace Pistol Kit. .22 LR, .22 Short, and .32 S&W Long conversions with one frame in a kit. Only 12 imported to the U.S. between 1985 and 1990 something. I got mine from a Brit when the handgun ban hit a few years ago, so I guess it is number 13. For a picture you can look at the front cover of the 1986 Shooter's Bible or inside the Bible any year in the late 1980's. They are still made in Finland, just not imported. Here is a link to a photo, but one of the caliber conversions is missing on this gun, note the bare frame:
http://www.pagecraft.on.ca/Bob/images/sako.jpg
 
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DadOfThree

New member
50 shooter,
Thanks for the link! I had found that one earlier but couldn't remember where it was.
Blades67,
I thought my Gyrojet might be the cheapest one listed here but you got your 51 navy free :) Very cool to think where it might have been or who might have owned it before you found it.
 
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Hkmp5sd

New member
Cobra/FMJ Model DD .410/.45 LC double barrel (side-by-side) Derringer

A co-worker's wife bought it to commit suicide with (even did the 3-day waiting period). She decided not to do it and told her husband. He wanted to get it out of the house as quick as possible in case she changed her mind again, so he called me and sold it to me.
 
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Hemicuda

New member
a Winchester Mod. 60 A Target .22 LR in 99% condition

Dad bought it froman old guy, when he was looking for a single shot for me, in 1975...

the old guy had it for sale (even then it was an expensive .22), with no price advertzed...

dad went to look at it, and immediately told the guy he couldn't afford it...(mom just starting law school, and all)

old dude told dad that he most certainly COULD afford it... and explained to dad that he wasn't selling it for money, but to someone who appreciated it...

then he showed dad the original reciept from when he bought the thing WAY BACK WHEN... and sold it to dad for the same amount of money that he had paid back then... $3.00...

I was with dad that day, and the old guy (I remember this as if it were yesterday) told dad that after I got older and wiser, if I was into shooting, that dad was to sell it to me, reciept and all, for $3.00, and if I wasn't into shooting,to PLEASEsell it to SOMEONE who really appreciated it...

in 1995, 20 years later, dad came to me and asked for $3.00... I KNew what was up... and that gun is mine...

SOMEDAY, someone who really appreciates it will own that gun, for the pricey sum of $3.00, but not until I'm done with it!

Dad and I became friends with that old guy, and he died about 2 years after dad bought that gun... we went to the funeral, and left a box of .22 shells in the casket... to a 7 year old kid, it just seemed right...
 
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Radicalcleric

New member
Don't have it any longer, but oddest gun I ever owned was a Husqvarna SxS that had be fitted with rifle barrels in .458 American. This is the .458 Winchester shortened from 2.5" case to 2" length. The problem was that the barrels were so massive, being the same outside size as the original 12 bore tubes, that the gun weighed about 25 pounds. never tried shooring it.
 
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Hemicuda

New member
the reason I remember it is that it was my first contact in the gun world outside of dad... and I KNEW from that day that SOMEDAY it'd be MY gun... (Dad is one to ALWAYS keep his word... and he promised that ild guy...)

I cherish that old .22, and will fora long time to come... (I shoot it pretty regularly!)
 
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