Oldest, ugliest, most lethal

[Sniper66]

What's yours? Saw a gun belonged to an old coon hunter. It was a single shot 12 ga. The hunter had taken a 2x4 about 18" long and cut a hollowed out groove the whole length of it the same diameter as the gun barrel then duct taped it to the underside of the barrel. To that he attached a couple of clips in which he could snap a 5 cell flashlight. It was his coon getter. He had about 5 or 6 coon hounds and hunted night after night, year after year, always totin' that ugly 12 ga with him. He probably killed more coons than anyone I've ever known or heard of, all with the ugliest gun I have ever seen. Proving that it doesn't have to be pretty to be lethal. Share your stories?

 

[22250Rem]

I've seen some guns in that sort of configuration that were referred to as "trap line guns". Trappers usually carry a rimfire handgun but many years ago I saw an old single shot, bolt action, 22 LR, rifle that had the barrel cut down to about 4 inches, the stock was gone and the barreled action was held into a small block of wood with a couple hose clamps. I was told it had been used on a trap line by an older guy who wouldn't purchase a rimfire handgun when he could make do with stuff he already had. The thing still appeared to be in working order so I imagine it worked well when all you had to do was put one round into a small, trapped critter from a few inches away.

 

[MedWheeler]

I have some sort of H&R 12 gauge single someone gave me over twenty years ago. It had been given to him, and he had no use for it. It had been sawed down on both ends, though the barrel length, as well as the overall length, remain within legal limits. However, the chances are strong that this piece may have had, or been intended to have had, a less-than-honorable purpose. What's left of the stock is wrapped in electrical tape.

The friend who gave it to me said he had fired it twice, the first time with only one hand (which left him with a nice gash in the web of his hand.) I accepted it because I'd been thinking of learning to blue, but never actually tried. I've also never tried to fire the gun, or get rid of it.

 

[WestKentucky]

Imagine this...it’s pretty bad. A chopped down 22lr single shot bolt action about the size of a Crickett, with no actual stock. Duct taped (whole roll it looks like) to a wooden paint roller extension. The barrel stops about 6” shy of the end of the stick. Over top of this contraption is a piece of probably 2” pvc pipe with a bolt through it inside of the trigger guard. The pipe extends about an inch in front of the stick. This contraption is lovingly referred to as the bangstick and is religiously carried on trap lines, and is used extensively in the chutes at the hog lot when it’s killing time. Line up your pipe on the critter and give it a shove, the bolt pulls the trigger, the critter falls. It’s ugly but it’s super effective. I’m not sure if it’s still around though, the man who had it passed on a couple years back. I don’t have a picture of him that I recall, but if I do it’s from a day trapping and that bangstick will be in the pic.

 

[troy fairweather]

go to EveryGunPart.com and go on nfa list and u see some winners

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

My Arisaka looks like a tank ran over it before someone patched the stock back together with a teacup. My first rifle and the ugliest. Probably just as deadly to the shooter as the target at this point.....

 

[Demi-human]

My most deadly.
Bunnies beware!

Unless I can count trees.
This has taken over twelve Birch saplings. Four with the first shot. Two of those were over three inches thick. I have since moved the pistol target.

I don't have any ugly ones.

 

[Waveski]

Ugly? I dunno ... Deadly? Oh yeah.

Many years ago I read "Chesapeake" by James Michener , a wonderful book which I would recommend to anyone. Therein was a detailed description of "commercial" goose hunting on Chesapeake Bay ; a very compitative enterprise which developed to feed the growing urban population of the East Coast around the turn of the century. The idea was to mount a HUGE shotgun in the bow of a low boat - a punt - , sneak up on the geese as they rested on the water in the dark , and kill as many as possible in one really big shot. Sometimes the results were spectacularly disastrous.

Do a search on punt guns. These were brave men , very brave men.

 

[Waveski]

Here are some interesting images ---
https://www.google.com/search?q=che...q3kbDcAhXK44MKHeKwCooQsAQIbQ&biw=1920&bih=888

 

[Scooter22]

12ga Reminington Wingmaster w/18" smooth rifle sight barrel in the southern tier. Marlin .444 in the northern tier or Adirondacks. Heres a pic of reference on those punt gun shells.

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

Here are some interesting images ---
https://www.google.com/search?q=che...q3kbDcAhXK44MKHeKwCooQsAQIbQ&biw=1920&bih=888

Wow.

So....38,000 ft lb of energy in a 400 lb boat, wonder how far backwards the boat would go if not anchored.....yikes!

 

[Doc7]

I don’t understand and google isn’t helping me.

What benefit does adding a 2x4 to a rifle add to a gun that makes it better for a trap-line then it was from the factory?

 

[Demi-human]

It is a homemade picatinny rail to hold the light while hunting. Its beauty when compared to a rail is up for debate. I find them both eaqual in regards to asthetics, with a slight edge to the two by four for being wood.

And yet the Eagle came with two.

 

[kBob]

Most interesting I ran across was a Winchester single shot .22 M67 that had a good foot and a half or more of copper tube soddered onto the barre; after being cut to key notch or bayonet attach around the front sight. This allowed the owner to walk along the creek bank with a coleman lantern looking for drowsing big fish lounging in the shallows. He would plug the muzzle of the pipe( the inside diameter of which barely slipped over his rifle barrel, he could still use sights for non underwater shooting) with a small plug of potato ( like your potato gun!) and then ease the pipe into the water and just over the fish "WUUMP!) Even a near miss usually stunned Mister Fish.

An added plus was that using standard shorts when shooting at tree rats bunnies, and such that length of pipe became a "Bloop" tube and seriously reduced muzzle blast.

I am sure the Game Wardens and even the BATF would have LOVED to run into that group of 11 to 14 year old brothers!

Oh and the purpose of the 2x4 section on the shotgun was to be an attachment point for a early "gun light". After seeing Heston in the Omega Man we actually rigged up a S&W 76 SMG as his movie gun. It was fun, but we decided against it at the time. One guy called it Bill's "Shoot ME!" light. Racoons and Possum however seldom shoot back.

-kBob

 

[Ks5shooter]

I call them frankenguns....mine is an old Baker single shot

 

[EIB0879]

I guess it would be the same one I was talking about in another thread. Rem Model 11 semi-auto 12 ga I bought for $50. I sawed the barrel to 19", re-crowned it, and sawed off the stock some, reattaching the recoil pad after grinding it down some. It was legal but not by much.

I use to carry it behind the seat of my car where I could reach it. I took it with me to Ft Benning when I went there for IMPC. I went to check it with the provost marshall like we were told to and the Sgt behind the counter was in awe of it. He said "just keep it in your vehicle, out of sight, and don't shoot anybody with it." Different times. I wish I still had it.

 

[SamT1]

Winchester 37. I’m told this fed 2 generations of my wife’s fathers family. Rode in the pocket on the front of the seat cover for 3 generations. It’s been confiscated by the law at least once that I know of for shooting some turkeys out of season if I remember the story right. I’ve been trying to get my wife to shoot it for nostalgia, but I seem to be the only one who likes it or thinks it’s safe, she never knew her grandfather or great, but I know it meant a lot to her dad before he passed.

I should let the boys hunt some doves with it when they are of age. It’s 16 gauge. I hear the 37 is an excellent shooter. Not sure if I should try to fix that bead or not.

I believe the stock is a custom cheek weld. It actually pulls up nicely. Father in law used to say his dad lightened it for easier carry, IDK, but I kinda like it in a wierd way.

 

[sarge83]

I have a buddy who is a turkey hunter and he has an old New England Firearms single shot .10 gauge shotgun he has rigged up for himself. He's painted and camouflaged the stock, managed to get a pistol grip attached to the front end and added a bunch of padding on the stock for recoil. Throw in a red dot sight and a ton of duct tape and you have his weapon of choice. A couple of years ago he took a 27 pound tom on my property with it.

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

My Dad was not a hunter but, after the war, he bought a small chicken farm (eggs) in northern California. For shooting the rats in the chicken houses at night he used an old bolt action single shot 22 with rat shot. I remember it as having no bluing, kinda rusty and the stock finish non existent. It was the first gun that I was allowed to shoot.
Growing up that was the only gun we had till I got into the youth target shooting club.

 

[troy fairweather]

My Dad was not a hunter but, after the war, he bought a small chicken farm (eggs) in northern California. For shooting the rats in the chicken houses at night he used an old bolt action single shot 22 with rat shot. I remember it as having no bluing, kinda rusty and the stock finish non existent. It was the first gun that I was allowed to shoot.
Growing up that was the only gun we had till I got into the youth target shooting club.

he was a rat hunter

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

he was a rat hunter

Wasn't hunting, just killing...

 

[LoneGoose]

My cousin the farmer has a single-shot .22 rifle that spent all of its life in the barn. The wood is solid, but with an ugly finish. All of the metal is so rusted that you would not think you could open the bolt. He uses this gun to humanely dispatch his ewes when they get too sick to recover. The first time I saw him use it, he put some penetrating oil on the bolt and it opened right up. I don't know how bad the bore is, but from an inch away, it shoots good. I started teasing him about the condition of the gun and one day he sanded all of the metal, masked off the stock, and spray-painted the barrel and action black. "Now what do you think?" he asked. That gun still lives in the barn. Ugly as hell.

 

[DeepSouth]

When I bought my house I found a Remington Target master screwed to a stock of unknown origin, that has been painted what appears to be John Deere green. The sight elevation is changed with a stick that raises and lowers the rear sight. The pic really doesn’t do it justice, it’s much uglier in person. It is deadly accurate though, so long as the stick doesn’t move.

 

[Skgreen]

My 'old, ugly, and ~potentially lethal~ encounter,,,,

Decades ago, immediately alongside Mansfield Dam outside of Austin, during extremely low lake levels, I found the receiver 'half' of a single barrel shotgun,,,Stock was cut back very short,,,,

About 20 ft away was an old cash register,,, Both had been underwater for many years,,,

Back then, you could still drive across the dam,,,

I wonder why someone would throw a shotgun and a cash register off a dam and into a lake??? (Well, duh!!!)

Also wonder if anyone got shot beforehand,,,, (Hope not!)

Never did find the barrel, and no,,,, there was no money in the register,,,

 

[hdwhit]

Went to school with a guy who was a professional racoon hunter. He used to have a flashlight taped to some sort of spacer on his barrel like Sniper66 described. Last time we crossed paths, he had decided that knowing all the places where nobody went was perfectly suited to covertly cultivating marijuana.

Based on the truck he was driving, I think it paid a lot better than collecting racoon pelts.