The frame has about 80% of the good vivid color casehardening remaining. But this time he received Grandpa’s gun.1st Model with color casehardened frame and no cut-outs on the side for the breechblock. Most of my Grandpa’s kids lived in Colorado so they saw him more frequently than my dad (we lived in Minnesota). This wasn’t necessarily intentional rather, it was a matter of logistics. What I got from the conversation was that my grandpa would often give things away to other family members and give my dad had nothing. He seemed to understand it a little better, but it was harder for me to figure out. When they would talk to each other a lot of time it was easier for my dad to speak Spanish to him. There was silence, and that was the end of the conversation.

The next thing I know, my grandpa goes into his bedroom and brings out a small gun case and almost grudgingly hands it to my Dad. Not shouting at each other, but hollering because my grandpa’s hearing was really poor due to all those years running chain saws. I was 17 or 18 years old, and they were talking really loud. I even remember when my grandpa gave this gun to my dad. As a child I spent one or two weeks every summer there-that was back in the 70’s and early 80’s. Looking at those stitches, I can imagine my Grandpa sitting in the kitchen, in front of the wood burning stove-the only furnace for the house-of his little home in Oak Creek, Colorado. I can’t believe how solid and strong it is after all these years.

He soaked the rawhide in water until it was soft, then stretched it around and stitched it together. It would have been too expensive to buy a new stock and, I guess in those days, it was common to repair them with rawhide. He also broke the stock just below the trigger guard. You can see the welding where he had the tube magazine repaired. It’s certainly worn and battered, but still in good working condition. It put food on the table almost every day. 22 WRF didn’t just sit in a case and see action a couple of times a year. My gun was originally owned by grandfather, who was a coal miner and logger most of his life. Scroll down for more stories, and tune in next Thursday to read about another reader’s gun. And, of course, we want to see a nice picture of it. To share your own, email us at We want to know the story of your favorite gun, and what makes it special to you. OL reader Dave Duran from Minneapolis, Minnesota, sent us this account of his favorite gun.

Winchester 1890 first model