Metallurgy during the late 1800s just was not what it is today. Well, the very first step is to see that they are given a clean bill of health by a gunsmith, AND THAT GUNSMITH MUST BE ONE FAMILIAR WITH ANTIQUE GUNS. How do you go about putting these old guns into action once again? 41, or perhaps on a whim at a gun show you picked up an old military Remington Rolling Block caliber unknown like I did one time. So let's assume that you have Grandpa's old Model 1895 Winchester. It was a lot of work but the experience of actually shooting that Civil War vintage cartridge firing carbine was worth all the trouble.
Probably the most extreme I have gone to was to fit a centerfire breechblock (from S-S Firearms, 74-11 Myrtle Ave., Glendale, NY 11385) to a Civil War vintage Spencer carbine in. I had to form cases, and have a custom bullet mould made.
44-77 Sharps Sporting Rifle Model 1874 was a little more difficult. 38-40 that needed only that I buy a box of Winchester factory ammo in order to shoot it. On one end I recently worked with a Colt New Service. Varying degrees of effort may be required depending on the exact old gun. In almost all cases, if you have them, and want to shoot them, you certainly can. So it is no surprise that untold thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of these old guns have been handed down from generation to generation. Literally millions upon millions of guns were made in the era ranging from 75 to 125 years ago. These guns were all made at the Springfield Armory and are of superb quality. (.30-40 Krag) caliber Models 1892 through 1898 which are commonly called Krags. 50-70 calibers, or the bolt action, box magazine. These were various models of the single shot Models 1868, 1873, and 1884 trapdoor Springfield in. In the early 1900s they sold off many hundreds of thousands of rifles and carbines. Don't forget that these companies also made many other models in vast numbers, and that firms such as Remington, Savage, and others were striving for their share of the market. But did you know that over 350,000 of the double action, swing out cylinder Colt New Service revolvers were made? Smith & Wesson only produced its large frame top break single action called the Model Number 3 (made in many variations) from 1879 to 1912, but total number produced exceeded 250,000. Since 1873 over 500,000 Colt SAAs have been made in various calibers. Marlin was Winchester's main competition in those days, and they likewise have sold several models of lever guns collectively numbering in the millions.
But, did you also know that production of the Model 1873 lasted until 1923 and passed the 700,000 mark? The Model 1892 lasted until 1941 and over one million of those were sold. For instance most of us realize that the production of Winchester Model 94s has passed four million. Let's look at a few of the more popular examples.
Of course many reside in collections and museums, but an enormous number are still in individuals' hands. The inaugural match was held at Raton, New Mexico in 1985, but now NRA sanctioned matches are being put on in dozens of locations all over the country.īesides having a purpose for using them now, another reason for the continuing popularity of antique and obsolete firearms is that there are simply so many of them floating around. Likewise with NRA's Black Powder Cartridge Rifle Silhouette competition, which centers around precision long range shooting with single shot rifles introduced prior to 1894. This type of shooting originated in southern California in the early 1980s, but now matches are being held all over the United States and in several foreign countries. One is "cowboy" type action shooting wherein the competitors shoot single action revolvers, lever action rifles, and vintage style shotguns. One of the causes of this was the introduction and fantastic growth of several new shooting sports. In fact, my own opinion is that in the modern firearms scene one of the areas of greatest growth is in actually using the older cartridge guns (and replicas thereof) in their many obsolete chamberings. History is always popular with a large segment of people, and for those who are both firearms and history oriented it is only natural to try to understand the capabilities and limitations of the guns related to any given era.
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