Farm guns....

[Mr. 16 gauge]

I didn't have the pleasure of growing up on a farm, but I did get to spend most of my summers on one. Always found it interesting that the local farm community thought of firearms more as "tools", much like a hammer or a corn knife, rather than "weapons".
All the farmers I knew had a shotgun and/or a .22 rimfire rifle. Most of the shotguns were single shot models with a full choke, because we all knew a full choke shot 'farther' and hit 'harder' They were used for killing avian pests and predators, such as pigeons, crows, starlings, and hawks & owls (back when that was legal) .22 rifles varied and ran the gamut from single shot break actions to 'fancy' semiautos, but none were real expensive affairs. They were used for pests such as ground squirrels, rats, coons, fox, stray cats, ect. During hunting season, they were used for squirrels and rabbits.
The 'deer rifle' was the revered gun....it was usually a lever gun in .30/30, but there were a few bolt guns around in more 'modern' calibers, and I don't ever remember seeing a semi auto center fire.
Gun safes? Never had 'em.....guns were kept behind the door in the bedroom, or behind the back door, with the ammo on a shelf above for easy access.

My grandfather didn't farm, but had a big garden and raised some chickens. He had a F.I.E. single shot 20 gauge (which is now in my possesion), a Ruger 10/22, and a Marlin 336 in .35 Remington.

His brother (my great Uncle) had a Winchester 94 in .32 special, a Marlin goose gun in 12 gauge, and a Winchester 490 semiauto. He did farm.

My one Uncle who farmed had a Ithica M37 12 gauge, a Remington pump action .22, and a Savage 99 in .30/30.

My other Uncle (who didn't farm) had a H&R single shot 20 gauge, a Marlin model 60, and a Marlin 336 in .30/30 Winchester.

Nobody I knew owned a handgun......they weren't considered as 'serious' firearms, whatever that meant.

What was popular in your neck of the woods?

[GoodOlBoy]

In my neck of the woods it was 20 or 12 guages usually in single shot or double barrel. FOr the 22s ith was usually old bolt action single shots like the winchester model 67. In rifles there were alot of 30-30s, and alot of old military guns. A few folks even had fancy dancy more modern 30-06s, 243s, or 270s. Pistols were not that rare, though most of them where snake pistols kept it the overalls.

GoodOlBoy

[Larryjk]

My father and his two brothers were farmers and each had a Winchester Model 12, 12 ga., with 30" full choke barrel. None of them had .22 cal.rifles. You were right about where the shotgun was stored. By the back door with the shells, both No. 6 and 00 buckshot in boxes close at hand. My brother was given a .22 bolt action Mossberg (Model 46b) if I remember correctly. I was given a Mossberg .410 bolt action. These were about $25.00 firearms at that time. They were never considered or called "weapons". They were just guns. Deer rifles were very rare and I found out later why. My father asked us not to shoot the deer we saw around home because they had killed most of them during the depression of the 1930s for food and my father wanted to see them multiply when they weren't absolutely needed for food. Lots of pheasants and cottontail rabbits and we ate many of them. nThe area now has a pretty good population of whitetail deer.

[Catfish]

I grew up on a farm. The only gun my dad had was a 20 ga. pump Wards Ranger. Grandpa had a 12 ga. mod. 97 Win. and a .22 single shot mod. 67 Win. I still have all 3 of those guns. My first gun when I 12 yrs. old, it was a 16 ga. Bolt action Mossburg. I got a single shot mossburg .22 when I was 13. All very good farm guns. Put alot of meat on the table and killed alot of vermin.

[Adam Helmer]

Mr. 16 gauge,

Excellent thread. Tioga County is still farm country. Every farmhouse, barn, milk house and shed has a .22 or 12 gauge behind the door to this day and most are loaded. A neighbor farmer has a well worn .357 SA Hawes in the tool box of his tractor. It has been many miles over rough ground and has 0% finish left on it anywhere.

Everyone had a .22 rifle and a shotgun when I was growing up. A few farmers had .30/30s or an old military .30-06 (1903 or P-17) for deer hunting. The handguns were usually revolvers in .22 or .38 Special with a few M1911 "liberated" WWI or WWII pistols.

Adam

[Mr. 16 gauge]

Forgot to mention in my first post: While most people didn't own handguns, those that did were usually trappers who did a lot of trapping andwalked a good distance on their line (as opposed to driving) and did so for the convenience of carrying traps, critters, ect. Most folks just ran a few sets on their own property and used the .22 rifle.

[Rapier]

Interesting, I also grew up on a farm on the big lake in Florida, Okeechobee . We had no deer around but plenty of other things. My grandfather was a field foreman for a large farming outfit, besides having his own farm. So on pay day, he carried a handgun while paying the farm hands in cash, at a little wood table, in the field.

I learned how to shoot with that handgun when I was 5 years of age. He also had a 510 Remington SS 22 rifle that hung on shaved willow forks over the bedroom door. The single barrel Stevens 12ga stood behind the bedroom door. Ducks mostly fell to the Stevens and the 22 rifle dispatched everything from cows, hogs, rats, bob cats, to my early wing shooting.... English sparrows in the chicken yard, on the wing, with rat shot.

Somehow the handgun got away, my grandfather must have sold it when I was off somewhere, but today I have his original 510 Remington and the Stevens 12ga which no one including me wants to shoot, ever again. It is the version with the hollow plastic butt and forearm. It will raise blood blisters.

Today my four grand kids all have a 510 Remington as their first rifle. Guns I have bought and fully restored to as new condition.
Ed

I guess we are a dying breed guys.... not many toady are raised on a farm.

[Adam Helmer]

Mr. 16 gauge,

While recently cleaning out the old pig shed, I found a feedbag behind a door. Inside was a single barrel 20 gauge shotgun made by "Iver Johnson Bicycle Works." Overall the shotgun was very good+ with a nice bore. I put linseed oil on the stock and cleaned it well. It has about a FULL choke boring and was truly a farm gun. The family I bought this farm from in 1988 had lived here 3 generations beginning in 1856.

Adam

[Larryjk]

It sounds a little unusual, but my father also had some kind of a break-open .38 revolver that he carried when he sold cattle. That was in the days before trucks and the cattle were loaqded on the train and sent to Omaha market. Dad rode along in the caboose and after the cattle were sold, took the money in cash. He had to stay in a hotel over night and slept with the money in a money belt around his waist and that 38 in his hand. He never did tell me where it went. But that was a different time, and he was protecting what he had worked hard to earn.

[skeet]

Along with the guns y'all have mentioned..most every place had an ol cat and rat gun in the granary. Usually loaded to shoot the rats that the old farms almost always had. It was our job to kill them with the old cat and rat guns..usually with either a short or shot cartridges. Usually had a box of ammo on one of the 2by whatever wall bracing. Same guns were quite often used to dispatch hogs on hog killin days. I bought an old Iver Johnson 410 skeeter at a farm auction one time too. old fellow told me it was used to help feed the family for many years. Rabbits skwerl and quail..

[buckhunter]

We had a family farm in western kansas. There was a double barrel 12 ga hanging on the wall. SG was good for everything and was used by my uncle on opening day of pheasant season. There wasn't a 22 around and I don't know why.

My dad was hi tech with a Remington Mod 11 16ga and my mother owned a 22 bolt Savage which my dad gave her for their anniversary. What stones the man had. If I did that my wife would have my stones.

My first sg was a really old Single shot 410 which was a hand me down to all the kids in my family hunting group. This gun ended up with the origional owner who's mother used the sg when they settled in Kansas sometime in the early 1900's. I've been trying to wrangle that away from him for years with no luck.

The farmers back then looked at a firearm as a tool and nothing more. I totally understand where they were coming from. I'd bet a bunch of cash there wasn't a Brinelli for Browning to be found anywhere.