doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Ithaca NID #456658 is no longer.

In 50 years most of these guns will be of very limited value as shooters or anything else. If, as I suspect lead shot is eventually banned or declared a hazardous substance and made prohibitively expensive, these guns will be very hard to shoot unless a reasonable low cost alternative to lead can be found. On top of that, hunting will be mostly a thing of the past. Social and environmental concerns aside, too few are learning to hunt to replace the numbers who are hunting today.

States that use to have several hundred thousand plus duck hunters today have a small fraction of that amount. Upland game hunters are even in more decline in my area. Gone are 90% of the rabbit hunters, at least 2/3 of the quail hunters and most of the dove hunters. Years ago we could get 20-25 hunters for a late season dove hunt. Last year we struggled to get five. You try to hunt a 75+ acre field with five people. We all got our limits but we did not even keep the birds moving. And three of the hunters were myself and my two sons. Their peers do not hunt birds.

Only deer and turkey get much effort from the state game department these days. I tried to interest them in pheasant and they said their stock and release program was on a year to year basis and they were not interested in making it larger. In fact more than one official told me they expected it to die a natural death in five to ten years.

Deer population is exploding and the turkey population was up significantly in spite of lack of real department effort. So they are hanging their hats on the game that is increasing and not the game in steep decline.

Now as to the sin of parting out a gun. Is it any greater than the sin of selling off large farms into small lots for homes? A way of life is gone forever and the countryside becomes on great, vast subdivision. Is it any worse than a car owner selling off parts of a car he no longer wants to drive? Who cries for the right front fender off a old Chevy. Get a life guys, you are talking about five pounds of metal and two of wood. Not your first born.

We can not own all of the guns in the world. Buy what you like and enjoy them. But do not get caught up in this save all the world for the sake of saving the world. You come across like a tree hugger who does not want any tree cut for any reason. It makes us sound like the animal rights people who say they are against any animal testing or experiment even if it means that a cure for desease X can never be found. If you must save the world I have a dozen klunkers that I am goning to part out someday. They can be saved for a thousand dollars each. The fact that they are worth only $50-100.00 each will make your effort that much more apriciated.

Everyone repeat after me: I find no fault in the antique dealer parting out his NID. In his place I might do the same. As I'm not, I'm allowed to indulge my curious, romantic notion that I have some obligation to posterity/anterity. I will do so quietly without fanfare and trust that others, however abysmal their values and character may appear in the current light, are likely doing the same when I'm not looking.

jack

Better than that dear ol' jack, is what these guys do to their guns behind closed doors.
When I'm done with shooters and the lake, I hope there will be some original hi-grades for my collecting days ahead.

KYJon has it right, it's just a shame that he is.

Like all who post here, I have an affinity for double guns that stretches beyond shooting or simply handling them. There is an attachment that grows from familiarity, born on that first day that I shouldered my first double at 12, that matured through the years and evolved into a keen appreciation for the craftsmanship and artistry and metallurgical skills of generations that the guilds first fostered.

As yesterday's hunt or shoot with a great friend or dog becomes today's memory, we strive to preserve the moment...for ourselves and sometimes for our children or an anonymous posterity, through continued association with our shooting/hunting companions, through photographs and other recorded media, and through our shared memories. And in that same vein, old field guns that we have shot that have no particular intrinsic value or provenance worthy of mention on the "Antiques Roadshow" become reminders and icons, but only to the initiated.

Does that mean that we have to preserve every last one of them? No. Instead, teach your son or grandchild or the neighbor's kids about the shooting sports. And, if you still worry about all the field doubles disappearing from the landscape, visit the gun museum in Claremore, OK. And, take a youngster or two along with you.

skatr2

For those interested, and thanks to Recoil Rob, all the parts for Ithaca gun 456658 are now together. The blue parts will be redone, the wood freshened and a gun saved. Turns out this gun is the star variation. Photos when completed.

Let's see what we missed!!!!!

This ends well.
I am pleased.
Best,
John

well done Walt!....I'm sure if the gun could talk....it would say thank you....

Or ask Weird AL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCG2E6AtNfc