Reunited with Rifle

[86er]

When I was about 8 yrs old my Uncle gave me a Marlin Model 80DL .22 bolt action made in 1960, no serial #. It came with a factory peep sight and factory sling swivels. Over time, I added a side mount and scope, sling and 4 magazines. 20 years ago I had to sell a few rifles and among them I sold a Beretta .22 semi-auto that I could not find a magazine for, a Chinese .22 trainer rifle, and my Marlin 80DL. I am sure I got $175 for it. The guy that bought them all was from New Jersey and said they were for his kids for Christmas. Last week I got a call from a gun shop in Pennsylvania. The guy told me he had my rifle and just wanted to make sure it was not stolen. I asked what rifle and how he found me. I wrote my name and phone # under the butt plate when I was a kid. The people at the phone # are folks I used to live with and they told him how to get in touch with me. I asked him "What rifle" and he said a Marlin 80DL. I asked about the Beretta and Chinese rifle but although he bought 3 rifles from the same individual only this one used to be mine. I also asked what he was going to do with it and he said "sell them". I offered to buy the rifle sight unseen and he said since it used to be mine anyway he'd give it to me for $100 + shipping ($119 total). It arrived on Friday. When I took it out of the box I was shocked to see it is still pristine without a scratch on it. The scope and mount has been removed but the hole plugs were installed where they belong. The sling was missing but the swivels are there and it only came with one magazine, the factory original one. The peep sight remained intact as did the front sight hood. I used to shoot NRA Light Rifle until I achieved all the levels of expert with this rifle. I used Eley Match ammo. I pulled out some Eley match ammo that I still have and loaded the rifle. I put a 3/4" orange bullseye at 25 yards (which is the distance for NRA Light Rifle). To my total surprise, the rifle was still sighted in and shot a nice little 10 shot group into the orange dot. What a great reunion! I am really happy to have this rifle back. This is the second time I got a gun back that I parted with. About 2 yrs ago I saw a shotgun at a gun show in TX that I had sold 16yrs prior in NC. On that one, I put my name an SS# under the buttplate. I've not sold many personal guns but I do regret just a few and I was lucky enough to get two of them back many year later!

[gamekeeper]

Great story Joe, I wish I could find some of the guns I regretfully sold..

[Griff]

Great story Joe, I wish I could find some of the guns I regretfully sold..

+1!

[1886]

Great story, Joe. What are the odds?? I bet some of the younger members of your clan are already eying it. Regards, 1886.

[2ndovc]

That's great Joe!!!
There's a few out there that I'd really like to have back.

jb

[Old Savage]

Hey congratulations - great fortune there.

[ollogger]

Great story, Some times things just fall in place


ollogger

[FWiedner]

Dang that's pretty.

[JerryB]

Great story Joe, it must be a cold chill feeling to have that phone call come through like that.

[papabear]

That's grate
There is only one rife I wish I could get back an old 30/06 I sold when I was laid up from my accident
papabear

[Rusty]

Congratulations. I'll bet you'll be smiling for weeks over that.

[M. M. Wright]

That's great Joe. I'm happy for you.
I had a similar experience. About 30 years ago I sold my B78, (Highwall) 30-06 to a man from Kansas. I hadn't remembered the quick detach sling swivels so I got his address and mailed them to him. About 15 years later I got a letter offering to sell the rifle back to me at about the same price I had got from him. I drove the 200 or so miles to retrieve the rifle. Have never had to touch the adjustments on the old K 2.5 Weaver.

[Nath]

Brilliant stories gents

N.

[OldWin]

Really neat story. Glad you got it back.

[Ysabel Kid]

What a great story - with such a happy ending! Glad you got the gun back after all these years Joe. Wow, getting one back after all that time is pretty unusual. Two? You are living a charmed life!

[Sixgun]

Ain't that somethin'! Neat story.

Yea, we all got stories on guns we wished we had back.--------------------6

[KirkD]

Wow! That is super.

[samb]

What a great story! I am sure your boys will love having Dads rifle even more than you.

[Paladin]

Great story, glad you got your history back. If I remember correctly it is supposed to happen to the good guys.

[Ji in Hawaii]

What a classic beauty, that's a family heirloom, happy you got it back. Perfect bunny rifle for the boys.
In a temporary fit of insanity I sold my 22LR Sterling auto which my dad gifted me as a wedding present to finance a 22LR revolver I was eyeballing. Afterwards I regretted selling it because it was a gift from my dad. About ten years later I ran into the person I sold it to and asked if he still had it. He asks "why, do you want to buy it back"? He had no real need for it so he sold it back to me for what he paid plus he included a custom koa wood grip he had made for it, and a hard case. I was happy to have it back. One reason I sold it was to replace it with a more reliable revolver because this little gun was notoriously picky about ammo, and wrong ammo equaled allot of stove-piping. I polished the feed ramp with my Dremel tool, and discovered that this gun loves CCI Stinger ammo- 100% reliable with this powerful (relatively speaking) ammo.

[Ysabel Kid]

What a classic beauty, that's a family heirloom, happy you got it back. Perfect bunny rifle for the boys.
In a temporary fit of insanity I sold my 22LR Sterling auto which my dad gifted me as a wedding present to finance a 22LR revolver I was eyeballing. Afterwards I regretted selling it because it was a gift from my dad. About ten years later I ran into the person I sold it to and asked if he still had it. He asks "why, do you want to buy it back"? He had no real need for it so he sold it back to me for what he paid plus he included a custom koa wood grip he had made for it, and a hard case. I was happy to have it back. One reason I sold it was to replace it with a more reliable revolver because this little gun was notoriously picky about ammo, and wrong ammo equaled allot of stove-piping. I polished the feed ramp with my Dremel tool, and discovered that this gun loves CCI Stinger ammo- 100% reliable with this powerful (relatively speaking) ammo.

Very cool!

[1894c]

Wow! That is super.

I was going to say the same thing...that's an amazing story....WOW... :)