Which long gun for fireplace décor?

[drband]

An old double hammer 12 gauge side by side. Preferably a damascus barrel.

This!^^^^

 

[JR24]

Get a Traditions Prairie Hawken percussion rifle. Better yet get a kit version for that build it yourself, personalized touch! Lots of fun and will keep you busy during those long winter nights!

View attachment 867958

Exactly my plan whenever I get around to it. Beautiful, functional and not terribly useful for the bad guy if stolen.

I've got a Rem 1858 to hang near it that was the first pistol I bought and haven't shot for years.

 

[bearcreek]

What is going to be the right long gun to display over that mantle that will evoke the spirit of America (and of Alaska)? I could go with any of my vintage Winchesters, but, to be honest, I don't want them left out to be stolen; I'm more interested in a reproduction that I might artificially age to give it that antique look. I'm thinking about some sort of flintlock or percussion rifle or musket, but a SxS or lever gun might work, too.

What are your thoughts?

PS: I also plan to display a white tail 9 pt rack (antlers only, with velvet over the skull cap) immediately above or below said long gun.

Seems like the whitetail rack kinda rules out the Alaska specific part. Where did you get the whitetail? Maybe a rifle from the European settlement of that area?

 

[jjadurbin]

Mrs farmer is an accomplished decorator. She has my T/C Hawken. 54 on display below the 9pt that I used to tag him.
Various other vintage outdoorsy items too.View attachment 867949 View attachment 867952 View attachment 867953 View attachment 867954 View attachment 867955
Pics are too dark, but you get the idea.

Oh man ...thanks for the smile! That display is such pure Americana ...some commie coastals in my area would pull their own fingernails out to trade a less potent form of torture.

 

[gunlaw]

I would try to find an old SXS with exposed hammers. Most of these really can’t be fired any more but they are still really cool imo. They have the rustic look that makes you wonder what stories it could tell.

 

[skeeterfogger]

An inexpensive non firing

 

[hso]

SxS with hammers

 

[D.B. Cooper]

Seems like the whitetail rack kinda rules out the Alaska specific part. Where did you get the whitetail? Maybe a rifle from the European settlement of that area?

I kind of hadn't thought of it that way, but you're kind of right. =(

An uncle gave it to me when I was a teenager. I was supposed to cut them in half and then use them as a call during the rut, but my dad was never able to take me hunting, so I still have them intact.

And if the white tail rack throws off the Alaska part, the two large mouth bass and all the bass tournament trophies going up on the adjacent wall will REALLY throw it off, lol

 

[D.B. Cooper]

How about a Mosin-Nagant? Caribou's wife, Agnes, is quite proficient with one!

It will be a cold day in Hades when I put a Nagant on my wall LOL.

 

[red rick]

I'm with the Hawken camp or a Kentucky long rifle . Maybe not Alaska , but they look good above any fireplace IMO .

 

[D.B. Cooper]

Not to be a "sky is falling" type, but any state or local laws about locking up all weapons? In that case, a non firing replica might be best.

No. Alaska is the last free state on earth. Why do you think I have Ronald Reagan as my signature line in my posts?

 

[shafter]

If it wasn't Alaska I would suggest a flintlock. Alaska has a different vibe though. I would definitely go with a lever action Winchester. An 1895 would look amazing, but might be hard to come by and cost prohibitive.

 

[D.B. Cooper]

Mrs farmer is an accomplished decorator. She has my T/C Hawken. 54 on display below the 9pt that I used to tag him.
Various other vintage outdoorsy items too.View attachment 867949 View attachment 867952 View attachment 867953 View attachment 867954 View attachment 867955
Pics are too dark, but you get the idea.

Thanks for the inspiration. Reminds me that I need to get a photo of our recently deceased bird dog enlarged and framed to go up there, too.

By the way, what did you use to hang your rifle?

 

[Corpral_Agarn]

Id do a frontier rifle, of course.

And for me that means lever action and a nice walnut stock.

Something in the 45-70 chambering perhaps

 

[Armored farmer]

It's just hanging by two doubled leather thongs

 

[22250Rem]

I vote with the old SxS double barrel shotgun with exposed hammers theme. I grew up in the 50's & 60's and thought that was the standard interior decorating procedure for above a fireplace. I have the old damascus barreled Belgian copy of an English double that one of my late uncles got at a rummage sale back in the 1950's for peanuts. Just a low budget utility grade gun circa late 19th / early twentieth century. Sat over his fireplace for many years. Some of the moving parts are worn down so much it's hard to cock a hammer, one hammer spring broken, firing pins inoperative, no parts available, etc. etc....... All of which make it a perfect interior theme piece. If it gets stolen it ain't gonna get used and I wouldn't feel any monetary loss, as it's basically worthless anyway. But at least it looks cool. I'd have it over the fireplace here but the wife feels it doesn't go well with her other stuff.

 

[Elkins45]

I bought my dad a Kentucky Long Rifle kit for Christmas one year and I put it together for him. We shot it together a few times. When he passed away I put a couple of hangers over our fireplace and hung it there. Being we live in Kentucky it seems appropriate.

 

[TikkaShooter]

I have a Winchester 1897 12 ga pump wall hanger in the cabin.


An early 1950s, Ithaca model 37; sorry no picture. It was my first small game and bird shotgun. A hand me down when my father bought an 1100 in the early 1960s.
I have a love for Browning designs.

Although, it isn't a Browning design; I want to add an 1870 Trap door Springfield..

In our opinion, old or old family firearms are seriously cool wall hangers.

 

[entropy]

You're in Alaska, what better wall hanger than a Mosin Nagant?
My Dad had an 1894 Winchester made in 1906, .30-30 takedown, over the fireplace, and two old non-functioning 12 ga. SxS's in the basement rec room. I don't do wall hangers.

 

[D.B. Cooper]

I'd have it over the fireplace here but the wife feels it doesn't go well with her other stuff.View attachment 868076

Sounds like someone needs to break in steal her other stuff.

By the way, An older Win Mod 24 would like exactly like your, only it's a hammerless. But I wouldn't want it to get stolen.

 

[D.B. Cooper]

You're in Alaska, what better wall hanger than a Mosin Nagant?

You guys do realize that Russia sold Alaska to the United States in 1869-nearly thirty years prior to the adoption of the Nagant rifle...right? The Mosin Nagant has zero connection to Alaskan history.

In fact, the Nagant is part of Soviet history, whereas Russian America (what Alaska was called before it was Alaska) is part of the royalist/Tsarist/monarchy history of Russia.

A mid 19th century or earlier Russian percussion or flintlock might be historically appropriate, however. (But as I said, I don't know anything about those rifles.)

 

[Lyle Wyatt]

BAR.

 

[troy fairweather]

Hammer sxs look cool, but I'd rather have one to shoot. If you use the fireplace I would not put anything worth much.

 

[FROGO207]

I found an old beat to snot flintlock that I am going to hang over my fire place/wood stove insert one day. It is REALLY rough so not shooter anyways. But it sure looks some hansome though.

 

[entropy]

You guys do realize that Russia sold Alaska to the United States in 1869-nearly thirty years prior to the adoption of the Nagant rifle...right? The Mosin Nagant has zero connection to Alaskan history.

In fact, the Nagant is part of Soviet history, whereas Russian America (what Alaska was called before it was Alaska) is part of the royalist/Tsarist/monarchy history of Russia.

A mid 19th century or earlier Russian percussion or flintlock might be historically appropriate, however. (But as I said, I don't know anything about those rifles.)

I also know there are plenty of people of Russian descent who live there. Some of them like the Mosin Nagant, right, Caribou?

Hey, I have no Russian ancestry, and I like and hunt with a Mosin Nagant. (Actually I've hunted with 3 of them.)

Fine, get a Mk4, No1. Hell of a lot of moose and bear shot up that way with the .303, too.