A story I need to share

[Highwall]

Back in the late 60's and early 70's a hunting buddy of mine and I found an old codger by the name of Percy Spencer in the Smoky Hills of Kansas  that allowed us to hunt on his land. It was great! We harvested dove, quail and Pheasant during hunting season and his ponds were full of black crappie and bass! He even showed places to find Indian arrow heads, pottery, hide scrappers and other tools left by the Kiowa tribes.

He lived with his two sisters, Thelma and Ophelia.

They had a hand crank pump in the Kitchen for water, no electricity in the house and he bragged his 1943 Jeep Willy's truck had never been on a paved road and still had the original tires.

All he ever asked of us was to bring a pound or two of sliced cheese and bologna when we visited.

When they invited us for a sit down meal it was bacon wrapped dove breasts, quail smothered with potatoes and gravy or rabbit roasted in homemade duck butter.

I remember once while sitting down for a meal with them I mentioned a Gunsmoke episode and they had no clue what I was Talking about! LOL

I recon I should tie this story into this site so will tell you his pride and joy was handed down by his dad, a Colt Single action army first generation with the original hard rubber black handles. The bluing was time worn but the action was still smooth.

I moved away in 1974 and lost contact with him. Since he and his sisters never married I often wonder what became of his land and his coveted Colt handgun.

 

 

 

 

[watab kid]

that is a great story , i think a number of us could come back with similar tales from the 50s-70s , i know i have some similar memories of a couple folks , ive wondered more what became of them than their guns but thats not because i didnt wonder on the guns a few times as well , one in particular introduced me to BP at an early age ....dang near like fireworks on the fourth of july , dont get much better than that , later in life he was my biology teacher in high school 

[Tex Jones, SASS 2263]

Great story.  Too bad you're no longer in the area, as a trip to the county records office would probably tell you what happened to the property. 

[Smokin Gator SASS #29736]

When I was around 10 years old (1963) we would go to a friend of my dads house. He had a room with rifles on racks encircling the entire room. Of course I didn't know much then even though I  liked western movies and tv shows. Most of what he had were lever action rifles and some military rifles. Plus helmets and some assorted gear. But now I sure wonder what he had in that room. 

[Highwall]

I forgot to mention ole Percy did all of his hunting with a Winchester 37 single shot 12 gauge and a Stevens favorite in .22LR.

He wasn't one for wasting shots and ammo.  

 

 

[Jonathan Slim Chance]

The woman that babysat for me when I was little (mid 60's, early 70's) was married to an older man, who in his closet had a rifle that had belonged to his uncle.  His uncle had carried it when he fought for the Union during the Civil War.  From the images I can remember when he showed it to me, I think it was a Spencer because I remember the loading tube in the buttstock, and he had a little canvas bag with cartridges that to me looked huge.

 

Sometimes we forget that history isn't that long ago.

[Frontier Lone Rider]

I was born at home in a log house, one of nine.  We lived on a farm and today would be considered poor, we just didn't know it.  We had running water in the kitchen, which was just the front of the one room, it was running as long as you primed the pump and kept pumping. We did have electricity in the house but used kerosene lanterns for light and a little warmth.  One of my chores was to clean the globes every day and refill with kerosene.  We had a coal burning morning stove in the center of the room for heat.

 

I remember listening to Eisenhauer and Truman on the radio.  As-well-as Gun Smoke, Jack Benny, My Miss Brooks, and the Squeaking Door.

 

We may have been poor, but we raised beef cattle, had milk cows, hogs, chickens, a fruit orchard and raised a garden.  We just didn't have any of that green stuff.  There could have been a recession, but we would never have known.

 

We had a single shot 12ga shotgun with a Damascus barrel for crows and .22 for squirrels.

 

Life was a lot simpler then.

[Pee Wee #15785]

Just think a lot of us that started in SASS had no TV in the house when born.  A lot were born before there were passenger jets.  If there was a phone in the house it was on the wall and you turned a crank to get the operator and you had up to 24 people on one line.  No seat belts in cars and the baby seat just hung over the seat.  

[MizPete]

Yeah.  We're not that far removed.  I grew up with all the comforts but my parents did not.  They set up housekeeping Housekeeping a year out of high school (there were only 11 grades) during the Great Depression.

But that is not the story I need to tell.  Some of y'all may have seen this before, but I am still grieving.

We'd gone to FL to shoot Weewahootie's annual & had done the tourist thing through St Augustine (which we love) leaving the guns in the car under a blanket since nobody had any reason to think we were  carrying heavily.  Then we get to the host hotel.  Petey took the pistols into the room to dry fire, but the long guns were under the blanket in the station wagon ('72 Vista Cruiser.  Loved that car.)  What got stolen was my Granddad's LC Smith side by side that my cousin Ronnie wanted sooooooooooooooooo bad, but Granddad & Uncle Ed always said no, that was my gun, because it was sized for a smaller person.  I feel I was not a good steward of my legacy & I WANT THAT THAT SHOTGUN DAMMIT.  Petey says it may not have been the best shotgun on the planet but it was the one Granddad had used all his life & during his career breeding & training German Shorthaired Pointers for field trials.  & said cousin Ron said if Granddad shuffled off over here & pulled both triggers he was gonna come out of the bushes with two rabbits.

 

[Fort Reno Kid]

Howdy Pards

 

My memory is a gunshow I attended in late 1950s. There was a table with  more than a dozen lever actions … mostly Winchesters but maybe a Marlin or two … that were priced at $37.50 each. There were 1873s and 1892s with possibly a 1876.

 

NO! I am not making this up.

 

I was in mid-teens and not old enough to purchase a firearm. My wonderful Father (may he RIP!) bargained the guy down to $30 and lent me the difference to buy it.

It’s a Model 1892 in 25-20. Still have it. Cast bullets for it and reload its ammo. Use it at Cowboy Matches, to include the next upcoming match. Also use it for Cowboy Silhouette Matches. And, yes, those little 70 grain bullets (Lyman 257420) will take down the 100 meter rams ( on the rare occasions that I actually hit one).

 

In flights of fantasy, I ponder the possibility of buying all the rifles on that table and holding them as long-term investments.  Whoa! I’m not poor now but would be lots richer if I had bot ‘em.

 

Keep on the sunny side!

 

Adios

 

Fort Reno Kid 

 

 

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

On 11/18/2022 at 6:56 AM, Jonathan Slim Chance said:

The woman that babysat for me when I was little (mid 60's, early 70's) was married to an older man, who in his closet had a rifle that had belonged to his uncle.  His uncle had carried it when he fought for the Union during the Civil War.  From the images I can remember when he showed it to me, I think it was a Spencer because I remember the loading tube in the buttstock, and he had a little canvas bag with cartridges that to me looked huge.

 

Sometimes we forget that history isn't that long ago.

True.  It's hard to me to know that my Dad saw Geronimo.