Need help finding a lost family heirloom rifle.

B

backnblack70

Inactive
I was once the proud owner of a Winchester model 94 30-30. It was given to me by my grandfather who was dying of lung cancer in 1995. I was 15. In 2004 I was married, and in a marriage in turmoil, and in financial troubles I took my prized rifle in for some cash to get me by. I never returned to pay the charges and the loan defaulted. With too much on my plate I put it on the back-burner, and realized it was gone forever. I have regretted that decision every day since, and I'm going this far in desperation to find this rifle.

It was pawned at Jery's Pawn Shop in Spring Lake NC in mid-2004.

It was 1978 year manufacture. Same as my birth year.

It had an inch long, 1/2 inch high...diminishing stain on the blue on the right side. It looked almost like a brush stroke that took the finish off. Pappaw was in too weak of health for me to ask how it got there.

It is serial number 4604802.

I made a huge mistake, and hope to find it. Somehow.

Anybody who has bought one from a pawn shop in NC, or from someone....please check your serial number, and from one gun owner/lover to another please help me spread the word.

Finding this rifle would mean the world to me.

Thank you
 
I really wish you the best of luck finding it, I know exactly how you feel. I once had a Rem. 742 that was a 150th anniversary model that I had to sell at a time when I was plum broke and had no other alternative. I bagged my biggest deer with it plus many others. It really meant alot to me. But in searching for 30 yrs local gun shops and gun shows, I still haven't even seen another like it. Good luck with your search, but its like looking for a needle in a haystack.
 
mine was a ww-2 japanese 7.7 rifle that my uncle brought home from the war, he left me use it for deer hunting and it sure beat a single barreled shotgun. well my drunken cousin sold it for beer money and i have been looking for it for over 40 years to no advail. good luck in your search. eastbank.
 
@reynolds357

Unfortunately that information cannot be released to me. I've already tried that, and all I could get from the shop owner was the serial number, which I didn't have...getting the serial number gives me something to search by....but its gonna be a tough search. The pawn shop is 2 miles outside of Ft. Bragg with all the troops coming, and leaving this post if the gun was sold to a GI it could be anywhere. All I can do is be patient, start searching gun shops, pawn shops, gun shows, and hope this forum helps me get the word out.
 
backnblack70 said:
Unfortunately that information cannot be released to me. I've already tried that, and all I could get from the shop owner was the serial number, which I didn't have...getting the serial number gives me something to search by....but its gonna be a tough search. The pawn shop is 2 miles outside of Ft. Bragg with all the troops coming, and leaving this post if the gun was sold to a GI it could be anywhere. All I can do is be patient, start searching gun shops, pawn shops, gun shows, and hope this forum helps me get the word out.
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Are you a member at Carolinashootersclub.com?


If so, try posting there, if not join up and post this there.



Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD
 
It will be a tough find for sure. I understand the Pawn shop cant give you the buyer information. Unfortunately the Pawn shop is going to be your only resource. Perhaps give them all of your information and ask them if they will contact the buyer. Maybe offer to cover $$$ there time to do so. If not you could hope for national registration of firearms.:eek:
 
lost model 94

This may be crazy but run gun broker .com, I have a model 94 long wood 1956 or about. there are alot of them on the market. find one in the same year range, and buy it. I guess you may locate it, but your chances are slim, winning the lottery would be in your favor, over locating that model 94. Just to many variables at hand. good luck be safe and shoot clean sunny
 
Thats weird that is the same year(1978) I bought my model 94 I paid 129.89 for it tax and all.The only reason I can remember the exact price is that's how much my paycheck was right on the nose.I to had to pawn it as well it's a bitch when you have to do that.I feel for you good luck finding it.
 
You screwed up and gave up the baby for adoption. It's not your baby anymore and may not look like it did when you had it. It could be all rusted, which often happens to Pawn Shop 94s.

Give it up! There are lots of rifle babies out there that are available for adoption. You could even find a rifle that surpasses the venerable 94. Believe it!!

Maybe it's time to create your own family heirloom. Think about a nice Win Mod. 70, 30-06. Now THAT's a rifle worthy of heirloom status!!! You can show it to your kids and grandkids and wipe the drool off it before putting it away. They'll fight each other to get that baby!!! Maybe you need to get two or three with consecutive serial numbers?
 
This happens more often than I would have thought. Would be interesting if someone made a website to list such rifles with the amount a person is willing to pay for them. I imagine if you are willing to pay a couple hundred over normal market someone would look around for such rifles. I know of retired guys who shop in every shop every week and I am sure they would carry a list for things like this if they could make some extra money.
 
The pawn shop won't give out the name of the buyer (you wouldn't want them to give out your name) but maybe they will allow you to post a notice on their bulletin board, or you can put an ad in a local paper. But you will have to post a significant reward to get anyone to pay attention.

Your best bet would be to buy a similar rifle and say it "is like" your grandpaw's gun. In a few years, the "like" will get lost.

Jim
 
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