My grandpa had mentioned something about giving me a graduation present. I figured sweet, maybe it will be a little bit of cash to go torwards the '71 that I will be buying next weekend.

I then jokingly thought to myself "Maybe he will give me that Springfield I have been drooling over for the last few months."

That joke turned into a reality on Saturday afternoon. I went over to his house to visit. I got the gun out to look at ,like I always do :D. I was putting it back where I got it from and he asked to see it. He looked at it for a little while and handed it back to me.

That's when the bombshell was dropped ,definitely in a good way. He told me that he was giving me the rifle. All I could really muster was "Are you sure?" and "Thanks." I asked him two more times if he was sure that's what he wanted to do.

Now to the details. It is a 1903A3 Springfield built by Smith-Corona in May of 1943. With the exception of the factory test it has never been fired. It seems to be the consensus at the gun forum I go to that it is indeed an all original rifle that received an inspection stamp for the armory in Ogden, Utah.

He bought it through the NRA in 1956 and has had it ever since. I cleaned and oiled the bore ,which is in mint conditon. The Mauser that has been occupying my rifle case is now in the closet and this is in the case now.

Pictures are in my photobucket account.

I feel kind of guilty about taking it. But in the end it was his choice. He told me he knew I would take care of it like it should be taken care of.

Cool man! Gotta like that on your wall.

Because of what it is, and the condition it is in, it is certainly a valuable firearem.
BUT, more importantly, the fact that it has now been passed on to another generation of the family makes its value nearly priceless.
Care for it the way he expects you to do.

I only wish I had that kind of faith in my kids. I don't feel that any of them place that kind of value on items or family heirlooms that I could pass on to them. Consequently, in a few more years I may start selling off things that I own rather than pass any of them onto the kids.
The cars, the guns (including my great granddads Damascus double barrel), the family items and various antiques such as old phones including a wood phone booth with a working pay phone.

Like you said. The fact that it belonged to a family member makes the gun priceless.

I am in no way going to do what my dad did with a lot of his stuff like this. He ended up selling most of his valuable things (cars, coins, guns) when things got tight and bills needed paying. Damn shame what happened. I guess divorces and wives spending money on unnecessary things can do that. But that's for another topic in another place.

Back in the early 90's he had a large chunk of his coin collection stolen. Even back then it was estimated to take $12k to replace what was stolen. Oh crap, there I go again.

He had a just about mint condition first generation Single Action Army with SS# 762. According to some of the books that gun is worth upwards of $60k.

Because of the fact that gun hasn't been fired with the exception of the one time I will most likely never take it to the range and fire it. I will take it out and look at it, and oil it periodically. Other then that nothing will be done to it.

That is great that you have it. I was given my grandmother's 1948 Model 94 Win 30-30. My brother got my grandfather's, they are sequential serial numbers!. It is not a show piece, it is the rifle I learned to hunt with in the 60's and still use when brush hunting for deer. It is in good shape, with a few dings from use. My Dad has a Win Model 70 30-06 that he got at the same time, used, that is very worn from use (he has probably killed dozens of deer and 6 elk that I know of with it). It will probably go to one of my brothers. It's cool that stuff like that can stay in the family. I have one brother that would just turn around a sell anything given to him......

Grandmothers gun huh? Mine doesn't understand why I can't just shoot my dads and my Grandpas old shotgun. Some people just don't get it. Every time I come home from a gun show she asks me if I bought another gun.

Mauser that has been occupying my rifle case is now in the closet and this is in the case now

Food for thought. I'd keep the valuable gun out of the case. If you get any moister in there and your not paying attention you can ruin your bluing and/or rust. Seen that happen to freinds gun which was sitting in a case for about a year.

Congrats and cherish it for more than a "gun". It was a gift from your grandpa. All I ever got was $2 from my grandpa back when I was 8 and the next time I seen him was when we were burying him 21 years later.

Because of what it is, and the condition it is in, it is certainly a valuable firearem.
BUT, more importantly, the fact that it has now been passed on to another generation of the family makes its value nearly priceless.
Care for it the way he expects you to do.

I only wish I had that kind of faith in my kids. I don't feel that any of them place that kind of value on items or family heirlooms that I could pass on to them. Consequently, in a few more years I may start selling off things that I own rather than pass any of them onto the kids.
The cars, the guns (including my great granddads Damascus double barrel), the family items and various antiques such as old phones including a wood phone booth with a working pay phone.

Tom and Janet,
You guys want to adopt me? I ABSOUTELY LOVE old things. Cars, Tools, boats, you name it. It was my grandpa that turned me into a car nutcase before I became a computer nutcase. God Bless him :) If I ever came over your place you WOULD NOT get me out of there :)

Because of what it is, and the condition it is in, it is certainly a valuable firearem.
BUT, more importantly, the fact that it has now been passed on to another generation of the family makes its value nearly priceless.
Care for it the way he expects you to do.

I only wish I had that kind of faith in my kids. I don't feel that any of them place that kind of value on items or family heirlooms that I could pass on to them. Consequently, in a few more years I may start selling off things that I own rather than pass any of them onto the kids.
The cars, the guns (including my great granddads Damascus double barrel), the family items and various antiques such as old phones including a wood phone booth with a working pay phone.

I like old things too. There is something to be said about QUALITY and CRAFTSMANSHIP..

I sometimes wonder about this when I watch the Antique Roadshow on PBS. If a painting, gun, or something else is worth like $100,000, at what point does that value equal the enjoyment of keeping it? If you had an heirloom that was worth some money, but you know your family A) would sell it for the money, or B)won't take care of it if they didn't know the true value, then why keep it until you die? If you had a valuable gun that you weren't willing to hand down, why NOT take it to auction at some point? That way someone who appreciates it WILL buy it, and you also reap some financial benefit from it.

Nice gun..If you look at it close enough, you'll see it's a US copy of a Mauser rifle ;)

My grandpa bought an 1897 Winchester 12 gg pump new. My dad used it when we hunted together 40 years ago. He gave it to me and I used it many years. When Dad died, I gave it to my younger brother. He says he will give it to his grandson, only male heir in our family. No doubt the boy is too young to remember his great grandpa or great-great grandpa, and it may not mean much to him, but it could really be important, depends on what kind of man he becomes! I have a silver dollar my mom's dad carried in his billfold his whole life. It is from his birthdate, 1888. I can hold it and imagine how many times he held it and my mom held it as a little girl. I am overly sentimental about those folks, though!

MattB, someone will have to tell the story of the gun to that lad, hopefully he'll get the picture and appreciate the heirloom. If by some quirk, he appears to not be listening, keep the gun and put it in a safe place.

Congrads... Now just make sure to keep it in the family.

Thats pretty awesome. My grandad gave his collection to me a couple years ago, but there's nothing like that in there. It's just average stuff thats been in the family for a few generations now, but each piece has stories and memories to go along with it, that more than makes up for monetary value!

Thats pretty cool. As soon as I get back from this next deployment im buying myself an M1 Garand, cant wait!