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It would be only a few short years before this began to change as improvements in firearms were constantly being made and patented by various manufacturers.
During those early years, Americans had to rely on living off the land. There were few jobs and no industries. In time, all of this changed of course as the country began to grow in size and population. Various types of industry began to develop and the New England region became home to many of the newly formed companies.
Among them were numerous gun manufacturers such as Colt, Winchester, Remington, Marlin and countless others. The majority of the earlier companies experienced financial difficulties and were forced to either merge with other companies or close down completely. When mergers or buyouts occurred, the names usually changed as well and most of the original smaller company names were either lost or combined with the names of the new owners.
To many people, certain firearms can be special for different reasons. Some of us own guns that once belonged to our ancestors who actually used them many, many years ago ... perhaps as far back as when Columbus first came to America. I occasionally see original black powder rifles and shotguns that are very old but still in pretty good condition. Some of these guns are priceless and you couldn't pry them from the hands of the owners for any amount of money while others are available as true collector items that bring some very handsome prices at auctions or gun sales.
Whatever our reasons may be for holding on to them, many of these old guns stay in our families for the most part just because they are family heirlooms. Such is the case with many people that I know and they are very willing to tell stories about the guns they either inherited or somehow managed to acquire through family or friends.
In my case, I think about the guns that my father bought for us boys and the ones he owned and hunted with for years. They were passed down to us when he died. There are so many fond memories that come to mind with these old guns that it would take forever to write them all down. My brothers and I often talk about certain hunts and the guns we carried along.
The Williams boys are known for being die-hard hunters who leave our families to go after birds, rabbits, deer or whatever might be in season! I guess this is due in part by the way we were brought up. When the Old Man wanted to go hunting ... he went! Nothing could stop him. As each of us came along, we went with him and he taught us how to hunt. So I guess his habits became our habits and hunting just became a way of life for us.
Neglecting one's family just to go hunting is not such a good idea. Thank God, he wasn't a bootlegger or we'd all be in trouble!
My dad loved rabbit hunting better than a hog loves slop. I followed him a many a time through the woods, fighting the briars, and stomping through thick clumps of honeysuckle bushes in efforts to jump a rabbit out of its bedding spot. Daddy always carried an old Fox Sterlingworth double-barreled 12-gauge shotgun loaded with number five shot. He bought that gun in 1927 at the Wilson Hardware Co., in Wilson. I think he paid about $35 for it brand new. At the same time, he also bought a large cast iron frying pan for about $2 which my sister has now.
As a token of thanks for his business, the owner of the store gave him a metal bottle opener with Wilson Hardware Co. printed on it which he carried around for years on his key ring. I don't know whatever became of the bottle opener but the old Fox gun (as we call it) is still in the family and it's still killing rabbits. One point of interest about the Fox gun centers around the length of the barrels.
As the story goes, it was back in 1939 when a friend of Daddy's asked to borrow the gun so he could shoot some ducks on Contentnea Creek which is located on the outskirts of Wilson. Unbeknown to him, at the end of the previous year's hunting season, Daddy had inserted some Vaseline plugs in each of the barrels to keep them from rusting and his friend failed to remove them.
The first time he fired the gun, a huge bubble formed at the end of both barrels which of course ended his duck hunting that day. When he returned the gun, my brother Bob took it out in the backyard and used a hacksaw to cut three inches off the length of the barrels to remove the damaged ends.
This made the barrel length 25 inches and of course eliminated all the choke that had been made into the original 28 inch barrels. He and Daddy then drilled a small hole at the end of the sightplane on top of the barrel and filled it with solder to make a bead-type sight ... and it still that way today. I admit the gun doesn't have much range since all the choke was cut off but brother Bob claims to have killed rabbits at 80 yards plus with it! Yeah, right! You know a Williams wouldn't stretch the truth!
For those readers who have never held one of the original Ansley H. Fox double-barreleds in their hands, you have missed out on something special.
Known as one of the best quality guns that was ever built in America, the degree of workmanship is hard to describe. They were very popular back in the 1920s and came in several different models. Prices started at about $35 for the low-end guns and went to several hundred dollars for the highly- engraved masterpieces ... some of which even contained gold inlay designs of various birds and animals.
In 1941, my dad had a close friend named Frank Worden who worked with him in the naval yard in Portsmouth, Va. They built a trailer for Frank and his wife to live in. Working on it at night and nearly every weekend, it was built from the ground up. As payment for my dad's services, Mr. Worden gave him a brand new Ranger over/under 16 gauge shotgun. The Ranger gun was actually built by the Marlin Gun Co. for Sears, Roebuck and Co., prior to World War II and Sears sold them under the Ranger name.
When the war broke out, Marlin had to move the presses that were used to make the barrels for these guns in order to set up presses to make military guns.
When the war ended, they tried to move the original presses back into position so production of the over and under shotguns could resume but the presses had become warped and were beyond repair so further production of the over and under guns was never achieved.
We actually have two of these guns in the family and they are both still in good condition. I grew up shooting the Ranger gun and I'd like to know just how many rabbits, squirrels, deer and doves have been taken with it.
The only other Ranger gun I have seen was at the Greentop Gun Store in Richmond. They wanted $500 for it. I think these guns sold for about $100 brand new back in the early 40s.
Daddy also acquired other guns which he passed on to me and each of my brothers. Among them were two Remington model 11 semi-auto shotguns and an Iver Johnson 36-inch 12-gauge single barrel shotgun called the Long Tom. Each of these guns has its own story just like the others.
All of these guns remain in the family and they will continue to remain with us as heirlooms and reminders of who we are and where we came from. The stories and memories that go along with each one of them are numerous just like those of so many other families who own old guns and tell tall tales about their fathers and grandfathers. Firearms and family traditions are things that will hopefully be with us forever.
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