Treasures Under Butt Plates...

[cshold]

This question was posted on another forum with some very interesting responses.
Thought I would post it here to see if any of you guys have ever found any
interesting treasures under the butt plates of your old guns.
I for one never have.

[Gobblerforge]

I found a model 1892 under mine.
Gobbler

[RIHMFIRE]

never looked!

[Stan in SC]

If I remove anything from a rifle I put it in a zip lock bag under the butt plate in the stock so that it stays with the rifle.I always remove the butt plate from any rifle I buy to see if there is anything under there.

Stan in SC

[Bruce]

Yes and it turned out unreal. My father had a Model 12 sixteen gauge shotgun that he had bought from a friends (James) family member when he was young. He was drafted into the Korean War and while he was gone, he first wife divorced him and apparently sold off his guns and a dog. He told me many times over the years that always wanted to get another shotgun like that one.

Fast forward to 2005. I am in my favorite gun store, which about an hour away from where my father lived when the gun went missing. The store owner tells me he just bought a collection from the family of a deceased man who was a collector. He starts showing me the collection and gets around to a Model 12 in sixteen gauge. I think of my father and buy it.

It was not in the greatest shape and could stand some touch up bluing and stock refinishing. When I get home, I show it to my wife and ask her if she thinks I should refinish it before I give it to my father. She says yes, so I start by taking the butt plate off. Much to my surprise, I find a 1932 Florida County specific hunting license rolled up and stuck in the hole of the stock. The license was in very good shape (but fragile)and the hand written information on it was very neat and legible. The county was the county that my father lived in when he went into the Army. The last name of the person on the license was the same last name as my fathers friend James. I knew that James was raised by an uncle, but I never knew the uncles name. Both my wife and I had the same thought. Could this be my fathers shotgun.

I called my father and told him that I have him a Model 12 sixteen gauge, but asked if he remembered how the one he had once owned had come into his possession? He said that he bought it from his friend James' uncle. I asked if it was the uncle who raised James and if he knew his whole name? He said yes and did remember the uncles name. It matched the hunting license. It was my father's shotgun.

Well, to make this story short, my father decided that the gun should be given to James. Due to many known and unknown circumstances, James had nothing from his uncle. I called James that night and did not give him all the information as I questioned him about the uncle and his recollection of daddy's shotgun. He recalled the information exactly like my father. I then told him what I had and asked if he wanted it. I gave him the shotgun a few days later.

Now to the moral of this story. I only asked James to have a copy of the license made and send it to me. I don't have it yet!

A few days after this event, I found a Browning Sweet Sixteen (a very collectible one), bought it and gave it to my father. He has since passed away and it now resides in my gun safe.

I now check underneath every butt plate of any used gun I buy!

[Rube Burrows]

Only neat thing I have ever found was the Soldiers name and address under my K-31 buttplate.

I have heard of some people making contact with the family that even after all these years, live in the same place.

Other than that......I look but never find anything.

[jnyork]

Several years ago I bought a 1963 model Marlin 39a, under the buttplate was the name of a previous owner from out in a little town in New Mexico. I spent some time trying to find out if he was still there but no joy, nobody by that name there now.

[jeepnik]

If I remove anything from a rifle I put it in a zip lock bag under the butt plate in the stock so that it stays with the rifle.I always remove the butt plate from any rifle I buy to see if there is anything under there.

Stan in SC

That sir is absolutely brilliant. I've got sights, pins, triggers, ejectors and other odds and ends in a tackle box. At least they are marked what firearm they came from. I think I'll give your idea a try. Might have to find a way to prevent and rattling, but that should be easy.

Oh, and to the OP. Nope, only thing I've ever found were some initials scratched under the grip panels of a revovler.

[6pt-sika]

I was given a kinda mistreated LeFever 16 gauge SxS a year or so ago !

I cleaned it up a bit and like the rest removed the buttplate and found a buisness card from a fellow in Alabama from back when phone numbers were 4 digit !

No family or friend connection but still thought it kinda neat !

[kimwcook]

I've never found anything, but 86'er has and posted it some time back here. Don't recall the circumstances though.

[Malamute]

I put a firing pin under the buttplate of a model 12 Winchester once, and forgot to take it out before I sold it. I inletted a spot for the receiver sight slide for my Ruger 77 338 so it would always be with the rifle in case of a scope disaster when hunting. Been acculmulating spare firing pins for a couple of my most used guns and been planning on drilling under the buttplate to keep them in, but havent gotten to that step yet.

Knew a guy that found a duck stamp from the 1920's under the butt plate of a 1920's model 12 Winchester.

[J Miller]

I haven't been lucky enough to find anything under any butt plates other than rust and dirt.

Joe

[Pete44ru]

FWIW, besides any issue sights I remove, I put either the original bill-of-sale, or one of my old hunting licenses, in a hole in the buttstock/buttplate - so I might be able to ID the gun (besides it's SN).

If there's no issue hole, I make one big enough to accept whatever.

I sometimes stamp my DL# into the stockwood under there, too ( I have a set of metal stamps).

I've found previous owners names & B.O.S.'s, under a few BP's - but nothing else besides some dried blood (American ?) under a few old Mauser military BP's.

The dried blood gave me a real pause for thought, I'll tell you.

.

[3855]

I once bought a Winchester Model 1873 at a north Idaho gun show. When I got it home, I took it apart to give it a cleaning. Inside the buttplate, where the cleaning rods were originally housed, I found a note that says "This rifle once owned by Sheriff Popovich, Roundup Montana". I since have done a little research and found there was a Sheriff Popovich who did serve in that area around 1900. I have not spent much time following that up but plan to do so.

[Hook]

Bought this Krag a few years ago. When I cleaned it up, I found two Western Open Pointed 30-40 cartridges in the buttplate trap wrapped in rag. The rag and the shells were gunked up pretty bad from the oil in the stock. The carved buck head in the stock has a date in 1934 stamped under it. I sure wish that old carbine could talk. I'll bet it could tell some interesting tails....

[2ndovc]

A few spare rounds and some initials.

Coolest thing was under the BP of an 1886 / 33WCF I bought just a couple years ago.
There were two hand written notes in the hollowed out stock. One was the name of the
original buyer I think that bought it in 1905 and the second was written by a man with the
same last name when he bought it in 1964.
I'll add one more to it of where I got it.



jb

[Sixgun]

Bruce and Jason----neat stories!

I only had luck one time. Inside of a 1876 Winchester in 45-75 was Teddy Roosevelt's hand written bill of sale to Abraham Lincoln,, also signed by Lincoln, witnessed by George Washington, dated 1904.

In taking a thousand or two buttplates off of guns that I know were untouched, I have never found anything but dirt and dried up oil.-------------Sixgun

[86er]

I've found matches and a fishhook under one buttplate stuffed into a hole. I've found four cartridges for the rifle in a hole of another rifle. Most recently I was re-acquainted with one of my own shotguns. In 1993 in N.C.) I had put my SS# stamped into the wood under the buttplate. Just a few month ago I found this gun (in TX) and was able to prove to the seller that I was the former owner by telling him about my SS# and then removing the butt plate and seeing it there. He gave it to me for what he paid for it - and proved it by letting me look at the pawn ticket.

[cowboykell]

"a thousand or two buttplates off of guns"....you sure it wasn't "tons" or "truck loads"?

[cshold]

"a thousand or two buttplates off of guns"....you sure it wasn't "tons" or "truck loads"?

No that would be TERRY your thinkin of, six ain't old enough for truck load's status

[JerryB]

My grandson bought a 30-40 Krag rifle for me a few months ago. In the buttplate trap door was a pencil. I think they were called a bullet pencil or an advertising pencil. It has a steer's head in a circle and Abilene Auction written around the circle and Top Buyers and Top Dollars written beneath the circle head. No maps or gold coins.