132 year old winchester found in park

[zahc]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/01/15/132-year-old-winchester-rifle-found-propped-under-desert-tree/

I wonder if it was loaded. All those years, just think, an unsecured gun. Amazing that nobody died.

[brimic]

I like the speculation on how it got there...

For some reason the picture reminds of a scene from 'No Country for Old Men'- would have been cool to have found a skeleton next to it.

[vaskidmark]

Looks like you could not just swish it around in a puddle then kick the mud off it and go off to war with it.

Although with that orange tape it does resemble several AK-varients we've see pictures of.

stay safe.

[Phyphor]

Yeah, that was my great great grampa's.  Thanks for finding it, I'll just be taking that back now..... 

[MechAg94]

"No big mystery," wrote Kenneth Larson. "A hunter left it. Set it against the tree, took care of the deer, drug it or packed it out on a horse. Got to the bottom and realized he'd left the rifle and said screw it. Or went back and couldn't find it.”

I don't think I buy this theory.  A lot of money shelled out for those guns and I can't see someone forgetting it.

[RoadKingLarry]

I wouldn't buy the "screw it" option but I could see not being able to find it. My guess is that per capita there were just as many dumbasses then as now.  No way to really know how long it's been there.
Of course there are people that have the mind set to pull something crusty out of a barn and "place" it somewhere to see if they could get a reaction.

[Perd Hapley]

Of course there are people that have the mind set to pull something crusty out of a barn and "place" it somewhere to see if they could get a reaction.

Or it may have been misplaced a whole let less than 123 years ago.

[just Warren]

Perhaps a poacher got scared off by someone and never got to the chance to go back for the gun.

[Scout26]

It's very easy to lean your gun against a tree while field dressing whatever you've just downed, get done and wonder where the hell you left your gun.

I could easily see starting to pack out your harvest and not realizing you left it and then go back a can't find it.

Not that hard to believe.

[Regolith]

Or it may have been misplaced a whole let less than 123 years ago.

I wouldn't buy the "screw it" option but I could see not being able to find it. My guess is that per capita there were just as many dumbasses then as now.  No way to really know how long it's been there.
Of course there are people that have the mind set to pull something crusty out of a barn and "place" it somewhere to see if they could get a reaction.

Wood only gets that color by sitting out in the sun for a long time. Judging by the condition of the stock, it was likely out there for at least a decade. Hard to say how long past that, though.

[BlueStarLizzard]

is it just me, or is anyone else kind of sad that they didn't leave it in place?

[Perd Hapley]

What's sad is that it was wasted, sitting out there for so long. I'm glad it will now be preserved.

[MechAg94]

is it just me, or is anyone else kind of sad that they didn't leave it in place?

I would rather see it put back in working condition.

[just Warren]

What if it belonged to a guy in a tree stand who expired, the gun fell to lean against the tree and for some reason no one bothered to look up.

[Perd Hapley]

I would rather see it put back in working condition.

You think that's possible?

[Regolith]

What if it belonged to a guy in a tree stand who expired, the gun fell to lean against the tree and for some reason no one bothered to look up.

People usually don't hunt out of tree stands in Nevada. Too few animals in too large an area, so sitting in one spot for a long period is usually a waste of time, and there usually aren't any trees around in most places anyway. Junipers also wouldn't make a good place for a tree stand...they usually don't get all that big.

[wmenorr67]

Wow, gun sat out there all those years, all alone, and still didn't kill anyone.

[Doggy Daddy]

People usually don't hunt out of tree stands in Nevada. Too few animals in too large an area, so sitting in one spot for a long period is usually a waste of time, and there usually aren't any trees around in most places anyway. Junipers also wouldn't make a good place for a tree stand...they usually don't get all that big.

Just pointing out that this https://www.google.com/maps/@36.260829,-115.647806,3a,75y,251.76h,98.51t/data=!3m5!1e1!3m3!1sljO98nP-N1gAAAQJO4xgHg!2e0!3e11?hl=en is about 45 minutes from downtown L.V.

[MechAg94]

You think that's possible?

Preserved at least. 

Yeah, it might be possible, depending on how bad the corrosion is. 

If it was leaning against a tree that long down here right on the Gulf Coast, it would be a pile of rust and rotten wood.

[Regolith]

Just pointing out that this https://www.google.com/maps/@36.260829,-115.647806,3a,75y,251.76h,98.51t/data=!3m5!1e1!3m3!1sljO98nP-N1gAAAQJO4xgHg!2e0!3e11?hl=en is about 45 minutes from downtown L.V.

So is this:

https://www.google.com/maps/@36.0526022,-115.7352912,3a,75y,216.92h,90t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sbiE6Fo99BckUYa6pqD6YmQ!2e0?hl=en

And a hell of a lot more of Nevada looks like that than like your first image.

I grew up in Northern Nevada. I didn't know ANYONE who hunted from a tree stand.

[Doggy Daddy]

So is this:

https://www.google.com/maps/@36.0526022,-115.7352912,3a,75y,216.92h,90t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sbiE6Fo99BckUYa6pqD6YmQ!2e0?hl=en

Heading TO Pahrump, or coming back?   

And you're totally correct.  Your shot looks more like the area where we go to shoot in the desert... but that's off 95.

[KD5NRH]

I would rather see it put back in working condition.

That would be a heck of a commercial for Winchester.

As for how it got there, I'm going with the unable to retrieve; either by death, injury or being chased off by people or animals.  You just don't leave your gun because it's too far to walk back to, and I have trouble believing that it was any less important to get it if you could at a time when people still had to hunt for their dinner in that area.

[makattak]

That would be a heck of a commercial for Winchester.

As for how it got there, I'm going with the unable to retrieve; either by death, injury or being chased off by people or animals.  You just don't leave your gun because it's too far to walk back to, and I have trouble believing that it was any less important to get it if you could at a time when people still had to hunt for their dinner in that area.

Also that "sold for the equivalent of $1000 in today's money" lends to that theory. Anyone here gonna walk off and leave a $1000 gun because it's too much trouble to walk back to it?

[KD5NRH]

Also that "sold for the equivalent of $1000 in today's money" lends to that theory. Anyone here gonna walk off and leave a $1000 gun because it's too much trouble to walk back to it?

Only if it's "too much trouble" because the bear wants it more than I do...and even then I'd likely find the next guy down the trail and offer to show him where there's a big tasty bear if he'll help me get my gun back.

[Regolith]

Heading TO Pahrump, or coming back?   

 

I just chose a random spot. Only been down to southern NV a handful of times, and it was always via 95.