I was minding my own business at work when I got a call from a from a guy asking if I knew something about old guns my reply was a dubious "a
little".
He then went on to say he had found a rifle on the beach a single shot variety with a leaver in what looked to be .38 would I like to look at it and see if I could identify it so I said yes.
He bought in a small frame Martini in .380 rusted but you could see the beauty,he had cleaned up some of the crud and had the internals (which actualy still worked when he had soaked it in WD40) at home. there are some markings on it and I will get some photoes once he has clened it up a bit more, I did not feel it was a sin to tell him to use Vinigar and salt mix to get rid of the rust on it as most of the finish was gone and I do not think it will ever fire again. It has a flat top to the barrel with a two leaf express style rear sight the front sight is dovetailed or what is left of it. Along the top is an inscription but cannot quite be made out I am hoping that after cleaning we can get something black into the impresions to make them stand out enough to read. My impresion is that it has not been there very long as it was found between the tide lines salt water and air would have done a lot more damage. Not long ago we had a "Police Amnisty" just before there were moves made to "upgrade our firearms legislation" and I think it was held by some one who did not have a licene and thought they might get caught and wished they had handed it in during the amnisty. It just broke my heart to see it in such condition.
There was no wood with it so we might be after some that is no use for a working rifle to at least make it a decent wall hanger.
Pinky
He then went on to say he had found a rifle on the beach a single shot variety with a leaver in what looked to be .38 would I like to look at it and see if I could identify it so I said yes.
He bought in a small frame Martini in .380 rusted but you could see the beauty,he had cleaned up some of the crud and had the internals (which actualy still worked when he had soaked it in WD40) at home. there are some markings on it and I will get some photoes once he has clened it up a bit more, I did not feel it was a sin to tell him to use Vinigar and salt mix to get rid of the rust on it as most of the finish was gone and I do not think it will ever fire again. It has a flat top to the barrel with a two leaf express style rear sight the front sight is dovetailed or what is left of it. Along the top is an inscription but cannot quite be made out I am hoping that after cleaning we can get something black into the impresions to make them stand out enough to read. My impresion is that it has not been there very long as it was found between the tide lines salt water and air would have done a lot more damage. Not long ago we had a "Police Amnisty" just before there were moves made to "upgrade our firearms legislation" and I think it was held by some one who did not have a licene and thought they might get caught and wished they had handed it in during the amnisty. It just broke my heart to see it in such condition.
There was no wood with it so we might be after some that is no use for a working rifle to at least make it a decent wall hanger.
Pinky
