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I’m certain quite a few Winchester owners have found a round in the butt stock of there rifles leaving the rest of us a bit jealous. Well I’m no longer jealous. While in the process of removing my chipped butt plate to send out for repair I found what I believe is a shotgun wad in the center of the stock….I pull it out and much to my delight found this 38-55? it’s the little thing that make you happy sometimes ?
And looking at the primer it is an old one. Now if we knew when the head stamp went from WRACO to WRA we could dial it in even better.
I believe it’s from the early 1930’s ….I have to add Dan Schuey’s books, W.R.A. CO. Headstamps And Their Variations to my ever-growing library of all things Colt & Winchesters ?
Always an added bonus to find goodies or someones name or initials scrawled or carved on the wood under the buttplate. As far as goodies in the hole in the stock, I once found a letter in a Marlin 1892 stating it was a graduation present with the date and name, then on an 1873 I found 6-8 rounds (cant remember now how many) under in the stock along with some matches.
1892takedown @sbcglobal.net ......NRA Endowment Life Member.....WACA Member
"God is great.....beer is good.....and people are crazy"... Billy Currington
Sixguns said
I believe it’s from the early 1930’s ….I have to add Dan Schuey’s books, W.R.A. CO. Headstamps And Their Variations to my ever-growing library of all things Colt & Winchesters ?
I have both of Dan’s books but they do not show WRA headstamps.
January 26, 2011
Online
As cool as the buttstock time capsules can be, are we supposed to believe those old-timers actually carried a screwdriver with them to access the one remaining shell they need to fend off a grizzly or armed assailant? It just seems odd to me, but maybe their pocketknife would suffice in those very infrequent events.
~Gary~
pdog72 said
As cool as the buttstock time capsules can be, are we supposed to believe those old-timers actually carried a screwdriver with them to access the one remaining shell they need to fend off a grizzly or armed assailant? It just seems odd to me, but maybe their pocketknife would suffice in those very infrequent events.
When I was about 14 my dad bought me a used Model 12 and over about 10 years I shot hundreds of ducks, pheasants and grouse with it. The gun had obviously stood on a cement basement floor before I got it and the butt plate had quite a bit of rust. I vividly remember taking the plate off to clean it up and finding an old South Dakota hunting license, from sometime in the 20’s, rolled up in the hole drilled in the stock. The name on the license was not anyone we knew from the area so the gun probably originated in another part of the state – I just tossed the old license. So, what was the purpose of the hole – was it for better balance of the gun or to reduce weight? I had not thought about it in over 50 years until I saw this post.
Burt Humphrey said
When I was about 14 my dad bought me a used Model 12 and over about 10 years I shot hundreds of ducks, pheasants and grouse with it. The gun had obviously stood on a cement basement floor before I got it and the butt plate had quite a bit of rust. I vividly remember taking the plate off to clean it up and finding an old South Dakota hunting license, from sometime in the 20’s, rolled up in the hole drilled in the stock. The name on the license was not anyone we knew from the area so the gun probably originated in another part of the state – I just tossed the old license. So, what was the purpose of the hole – was it for better balance of the gun or to reduce weight? I had not thought about it in over 50 years until I saw this post.
Burt,
Something is not making sense… the Model 12 shotguns were manufactured with a black hard rubber butt plate which cannot rust. The hole in the butt stock was for access to the stock bolt.
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
Bert H. said
Burt,
Something is not making sense… the Model 12 shotguns were manufactured with a black hard rubber butt plate which cannot rust. The hole in the butt stock was for access to the stock bolt.
Bert
So long ago – almost 60 years. The butt plate was probably hard rubber as you say but I have never owned another Model 12 and don’t know anything about them so I would not have known that. I just remember the butt plate being really dirty/grungy and when removing it for cleaning finding the old license stuffed in a hole – I never thought about it being an access hole to remove the butt stock and I don’t remember anything about the diameter or depth of the hole – either it was originally big enough to hold the rolled-up license or a previous owner made it larger.
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