I had another great time at the OGCA/WACA show.  Spent a couple days at RatRodMac's house and bummed a ride with him to/from the show.  Got to meet up with many of the WACA members I'd come to talk to.  Didn't intend to buy anything.  I'm just not looking for much these days, in fact I've only added one gun to the collection in the past year...

But after spending the first couple hours of the show in the WACA section talking to people, I did walk around.  One table on the far side of the room had a pre-64 Model 70 Target Rifle shipping crate.  Because of their weight, Model 70 Target rifles and Bull Guns were shipped individually in wood crates, not boxes.  I have two of these crates...  The end label on the one at the show is a little rough, but you could clearly see that it was a Model 70 30-06 Target rifle (G7044C) and the partial serial number was "x3625x".  It had penciled on To/From addresses written on the box and an (undated) Railway Express Agency label for COD shipping.

At Tony's urging we went back and I bought the crate...  It wasn't until we got back to RatRodMac's house that I even thought to turn the lid over.  Well it turned out that someone at some point had reused the crate and that the original addressee was stenciled on the other side of the lid:

For those who don't know, Evaluators Ltd. was the name of the business George Van Orden USMC Brig Gen (ret) started in Triangle VA (just outside the gate to Quantico USMC base) when he retired after Korea. Evaluators Ltd as the source of Van Orden Sniper and Special Target rifles. The serial number of the gun inside was 336250.

So this crate originally contained a 30-06 Target Rifle sent to Evaluators Ltd.  Ironically, s/ns 336245, 246, 248 and 249 are on the list of Van Orden serial numbers published in Chandler's "Death from Afar Vol 1".  FWIW 336250 (while consecutive with known VO Snipers and shipped to Evaluators Ltd.) is not on Chandler's list.  So is this a genuine Van Orden Snipe crate or by coincidence did Winchester happen to ship a regular G7044C to Evaluators Ltd. at the same time they were shipping a bunch of VO Snipers.  I don't know...

But it's kind of cool...

Lou

It was a pleasure to talk to so many collectors and meet all the collectors that I haven't in the past!

I'm hoping that Lou will share a great story and find here, as this is the second year in a row that I saw him find something interesting! IMHO!

Bill and the OGCA gang, along with Vinny and the WACA Forces, did a great job once again. 

Thanks to all who had a hand in it!

Tony

I don't know if this is in the right category, please change if needed. 

Thanks, Mike.

Ben said
Jeremy.... need me to bring any sights, parts or pieces? 🙂
  

Not that I can think of! I know, what's wrong with me?

I'm sure I'll think of something the week after...

btw… he’s a Texan… 😖

Mike

Ben said
I motion that Mikes buying BBQ Friday night… who seconds?
  

TGCA has a reserved section at the Embassy Suites happy hour Friday night with hors d'oeuvres, I'm usually too busy or worn out to make it but I hear it's good. There's a new restaurant where Hoolihan's used to be, haven't heard anything about them.

Mike

Any questions please PM me.

Mike