Got my wife to set up some things to take some pictures of Dad's old model 71. Dad is 81, born in 1936 and bought this gun new when he was 16 so it was probably made in 1951. Says if he remembers right he paid a little under $100 for it which was a good bit of money for a gun back then.
In his hands it was the demise of dozens of whitetails, and 1 black bear. Along with ammo getting harder to find, in the mid 70's he had a bad eye injury so he retired it and bought a 99C in a 308 with a scope on it. He had to shoot left handed for several yrs until his sight healed up in his right eye.
The old leather army sling was torn so I removed it....the leather pad he put on sometime to help soak up some of the recoil. Just a neat old gun. Not sure which one of us boys will end up with it but it wont leave the family.
Took this picture to show the years of use where he carried it.
In his hands it was the demise of dozens of whitetails, and 1 black bear. Along with ammo getting harder to find, in the mid 70's he had a bad eye injury so he retired it and bought a 99C in a 308 with a scope on it. He had to shoot left handed for several yrs until his sight healed up in his right eye.
The old leather army sling was torn so I removed it....the leather pad he put on sometime to help soak up some of the recoil. Just a neat old gun. Not sure which one of us boys will end up with it but it wont leave the family.
Took this picture to show the years of use where he carried it.
. Keep those memories going, I’m sure your Dad would like that.
