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Blogging to you from the Northeastern Badlands of The County of Lake, in the state currently known as Fatmanistan, DEEP DEEP DEEP DEEP DEEP inside the heartland of the Banana Republic formerly known as the USA, WELCOME TO THE NEXT CHAPTER! WARNING! ALL FORMS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ARE ADDICTIVE; EXCESSIVE USE MAY LEAD TO MENTAL HEALTH DISORDERS, REDUCED JOB PRODUCTIVITY, INSOMNIA, SOCIAL ALIENATION, GENITAL ULCERS, BLINDNESS, POLITICAL EROTICISM, AND / OR DEVIANT FUNAMBULISM. NOTICE: NO GUNS OR AMMUNITION ARE FOR SALE VIA THIS BLOG. (No, I will not trade my Colt Python for some lubricious adventures with your trophy wife and a future first-round draft pick.) CAVEAT: This blog is not suitable for viewing while at work, while inside a public library, while inside any public or private school, or while inside any public or private restroom. Do not view this blog while driving a motor vehicle or while piloting an aircraft. Viewing this blog may be illegal inside the EU, NYC, Chicago, Seattle, and other parts of the Third World. THIS BLOG CONTAINS (albeit often very childish) ADULT-CONTENT. DISCLAIMER: This blog is a hobby, it is not a livelihood. Even though much of what I blog about relates to firearms collecting and recreational shooting, I am not an expert (by any measure) on any facet of guns, shooting, hunting, or personal defense. Entries at this blog are akin to good old-fashioned campfire chats or post hunt bourbon-fueled barroom-bluster; I offer no opinion on what you should or should not purchase, or what you should be using or doing. What does or does not work for me could be rugged-country-miles away from your tastes and your needs. All products, places, and miscellany that I review for this blog are purchased / rented / leased at retail price by me. I do not accept payment, gifts, discounts, freebies, products on loan, distilled spirits, recreational pharmaceuticals, plea-bargains, probation, parole, Papal Blessings, Presidential Pardons, or sexual favors for doing any review or blog post. TRACKING COOKIES: Google et al stick tracking cookies on everybody. If you are online, you are being spied on via one method or another, for one reason or another; 'nuff said. You may be able to minimize your online DNA residue by using Tor and Duck Duck Go. Vive la liberté! Vive all y'all! Ante omnia armari. To each of you, thanks for stopping by!

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Winchester Model 1906 .22 Short





Several years ago, a friend who I had bought many guns from gave me the Winchester Model 1906 pictured above. It is a Frankenstein “parts gun,” the upper assembly was made in 1908 and the lower assembly was made in 1913; when and why that mating took place is lost forever in time. The beaten old South Dakota barn gun was inoperable when I received it; the entire firing pin assembly was missing from the bolt. Further, the stock was loose at the wrist and had a long crack. Someone had glued the crack and carefully inlaid a groove in the wood in order to seat a wrap of
baling wire to tighten the stock. The wood was so old and dry that it was brittle, the metal covered with rust.

For some reason I took fancy on this old utility rifle. Its condition was too rough for me to consider spending the money needed for a professional restoration, but I was determined to return it to shooting condition affordably. First, I removed as much rust as possible with light gun oil and righteous scrubbing. I did not want to buff the pits, dings, and scratches from the metal since I considered them historical; a farm or ranch gun once was a tool subject to heavy use and some abuse; its scars are its testament. As for the condition of the wood, all I could do there was to soak it several times with a good wood oil and replace the baling wire with a nylon wrap; again, the dents, scratches, and gouges were left to honor its past. Back when I got this rifle there was no internet to use for hunting down parts. To make the 1906 functional, I transplanted the bolt assembly from the skeletal remains of a Winchester Model 62A (also in the above photo), found by a friend who owned a gun store. A great number of the parts for the Winchester models 1890, 1906, and 62 are interchangeable.

If you are considering restoring an old 1890, 1906, or a 62, be forewarned that parts are expensive and sometimes hard to find. You could easily wind up spending more on restoration than you could sell the gun for. Conversely, if you have an old rifle that cannot be restored, don’t throw it out; offer to sell it to an individual looking to salvage the parts.

Winchester produced over 800,000 of the John Browning designed Model 1906 slide action (pump) rifles from 1906 through 1932. For the first two years of production, the 1906 was chambered for the .22 Short, thereafter if was chambered to handle the short, long, and long rifle cartridges.

Some of us tend to be overly sentimental about old guns; we feel they carry untold tales of people, places, and things from long ago. This rifle is not unlike many dozens I have seen on farmhouse porches, or propped up in a kitchen corner, or hanging from pegs inside a barn, or wedged under the seat of a farm tractor or an old pickup truck. The rifles were there for contingencies, for deterring barnyard predators, for potting a rabbit or a squirrel for dinner. So, forgive my silly reverence when I handle weathered old guns; they were used to feed and protect those that came before, they are connections to our past.

Click here to read JayG’s review of his Grandfather’s Model 1906.

Click here for a Numrich listing of Model 1906 parts.

Click here for a Homestead Firearms listing of Model 1906 parts.


8 comments:

  1. James, you are far too kind. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have one sitting next to me right now. Pump action, The pump has grooves in it, unlike yours. Very old gun, was my great uncles. How much at top dollar do you think I could get for this gun? Still shoots great. E-mail me at Evanalbohn@aol.com. Thanks a lot.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Regarding Winchester Model 1906 I agree with you whole heartedly. I was just commenting to my wife on what a great gun it is. I run circles around my friend who has a later model lever action wWinchester. My 1906 is extremely accurate, well balancced and in great shape.I picked off closepins as a kid at 100 feet like nobody's business. Had it since I was 10. Was my dads. I had it at the range with my scout troop and let the young scouts shoot it-they could not put it down. They really loved shooting it.Thinking about selling it as I too love my motorcycle (vintage 1983 Goldwing also in great shape) and could use money to repair it and ride again.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I Just purchased my 1906 22 short only. it was the 5500 th made. i have no clue what the value of this beauty is worth , however, i plan to have it till my walk on earth is over. it is all original in really good shape.. anyone have a etimate what it is worth?

    ReplyDelete
  5. This was the first gun I ever fired, when I was around 8 years old. My father had it before I was born, I think. It's now 48 years later, and I still have it. There's no blue, and the stock doesn't have any finish, but it's still in fine working order.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I have an Old 1906 here is Australia. My Grandma gave it to me when I was about 13 and I shot it for about 10 years. Is has sat in my shed now since then and I'm 46. I'm sure it would still work if I loaded it.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Good old guns always have untold stories.

    You may just be the first comment this blog received from Down Under. Thanks!

    Zack

    ReplyDelete

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