Aaargh!!!

[The Wiz]

After a nice visit over Christmas with my daughter, grandkids, and meeting up with JEBar and his family, location hunting for our move down there, I stopped off at my sons house to drop off some wine and souvenirs and to pickup my Henrys that he was keeping for me while I was away. After getting loved to death by Annabelle, our family dog, he brought out the guns with a sheepish grin and said " Dad, I dropped the .357 golden boy on the butt end and damage it at the range." There was a moment of silence as everybody waited for my reaction. I went from " I am going to kill the kid to accidents happen" in about 30 seconds. He was feeling really bad and so was his daughter, who is his shooting buddy, who was with him at the time. I noticed she disappeared when he brought the rifles out. He explained how it happened and the damage it caused. I looked at the butt and saw a 1/4 scrape along the edge of the brass which did not match what he said the damage was. After putting hundred rounds down range, he brought it home removed the butt and using some fine sanding paper and some wood putty, got the splinters to go away. Reattached the plate and if he hadn't told me I would have thought I did the scratch. He said I just need to touch up the scratch with some stain and no one would know. But I don't think so. It part of the history of the gun. The gun will never leave the family. It will pass from me to him, to his daughter and so on. And maybe, just maybe, the story of the scratch will live on. I want it to show that gun was not a wall hanger, that it got used, knocked around, and got tarnished as it aged. It's all good.

ps. his daughter came down later. Said she was looking for bodies.

[CT_Shooter]

It part of the history of the gun. The gun will never leave the family. It will pass from me to him, to his daughter and so on. And maybe, just maybe, the story of the scratch will live on. I want it to show that gun was not a wall hanger, that it got used, knocked around, and got tarnished as it aged. It's all good.

This is what makes a family heirloom valuable. Everyone seems to have had the right attitude about the accident and the outcome is priceless. Thanks for sharing your story here.

[JEBar]

great story, one with which I can identify .... you've seen several of our rifles and can easily attest to the fact that none are wall hanger exhibits .... they have all had to work for a living and have earned every blemish ....

[RanchRoper]

Character marks from family use; like you said, it's part of the history of the rifle.

[BigAl52]

There is leather crafters in the leather section who make really nice butt cuffs. I used one to cover up a scratch in a Henry stock that yours truly did himself while cleaning it. Seems some of the reloading equipment was in the way. Al

[RanchRoper]

My 1860 has some scuffs here and there from packing it around horseback, and lots of trips to the range. It's starting to look like a shooter! All good.

[ditto1958]

Wiz, back when my H001 was new, I leaned it up against a tree and it fell over, causing some cosmetic damage to the receiver cover. I called Henry to try to buy a new one, and weren’t havin’ any of that. A new cover was at my doorstep in two days, free of charge.

[BrokenolMarine]

Great Story. I love that he manned up and didn't try to pass off the damage as happening in all the movement. A credit to you both!
Other posts have said the same thing, but a friend once told me a history of fifty years of hunts, pointing to the dents, gouges, and scrapes on an old Winchester lever action while we drank steaming mugs of coffee in front of his den fireplace.