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Got 2 guns recently, One a model 1911 winchester shotgun nicknamed the widowmaker, the other an old iver johnson model 3 safety revolver chambered in .38 smith and wesson which was used fron 1877 to around ww2 before new guns stopped being made in that caliber in the us, though britain issued new guns for it until the late 60's and india still makes new guns in that caliber.
My friend needed a .30 cal rifle and I had a 30-30 and a mosin, so I traded him a butcherized remington m1903 for the widowmaker plus some deer meat to stock my freezer, I of course will buy another 30-06 as I have the reloading equipment for it already so that can not go to waste. The widow maker was made in 1914 and is literally rust free even though most of the blueing is gone, the gun states it is nickel steel which when researched was superior to most steels then and even steels for firearms up to the 1960's, but winchester and other manufacturors ditched the steel by the mid to late 20's due to the high cost and later higher alloy steels would lead to hotter loads and more powerful ammo.
The iver johnson 3rd gen was made in 1922, interesting because it uses a trigger safety like glock however istead of being infront of the trigger like glock it was behind it, with a tranfer system that makes it where the pin is not struck even if the hammer falls unless the trigger safety is pulled. From my research this was one reason why it was the conceal gun of choice over 100 years ago, it was nearly impossible for it to fire even with all chambers loaded unless the trigger was fully pulled back. When I bought it it was 170 bucks, the pawn shop guy said a decade ago you could pick them up for 60 bucks and they would have tens or hundreds of them in stock, then out of nowhere people stopped selling them. Now looking on the internet prices range from 100 bucks for unpopular models to 500+ for decent shape ones, not sure what drove prices up so much in recent years.
I am planning to restore both of those guns, both are in firing condition with the widowmaker having a few quirks and a cracked forearm(from what I read this was from using modern ammo as the smokeless loads of it's day were designed to mimic blackpowder loads to minimize risk to owners with blackpowder guns who ignored warning to not use smokeless powder) but nothing I can not fix.
My friend needed a .30 cal rifle and I had a 30-30 and a mosin, so I traded him a butcherized remington m1903 for the widowmaker plus some deer meat to stock my freezer, I of course will buy another 30-06 as I have the reloading equipment for it already so that can not go to waste. The widow maker was made in 1914 and is literally rust free even though most of the blueing is gone, the gun states it is nickel steel which when researched was superior to most steels then and even steels for firearms up to the 1960's, but winchester and other manufacturors ditched the steel by the mid to late 20's due to the high cost and later higher alloy steels would lead to hotter loads and more powerful ammo.
The iver johnson 3rd gen was made in 1922, interesting because it uses a trigger safety like glock however istead of being infront of the trigger like glock it was behind it, with a tranfer system that makes it where the pin is not struck even if the hammer falls unless the trigger safety is pulled. From my research this was one reason why it was the conceal gun of choice over 100 years ago, it was nearly impossible for it to fire even with all chambers loaded unless the trigger was fully pulled back. When I bought it it was 170 bucks, the pawn shop guy said a decade ago you could pick them up for 60 bucks and they would have tens or hundreds of them in stock, then out of nowhere people stopped selling them. Now looking on the internet prices range from 100 bucks for unpopular models to 500+ for decent shape ones, not sure what drove prices up so much in recent years.
I am planning to restore both of those guns, both are in firing condition with the widowmaker having a few quirks and a cracked forearm(from what I read this was from using modern ammo as the smokeless loads of it's day were designed to mimic blackpowder loads to minimize risk to owners with blackpowder guns who ignored warning to not use smokeless powder) but nothing I can not fix.