I Found a Scoped Rifle in the Woods . . . No, not a toy -

[parsonwalker]

Crazy. While hunting a Civil War site I got a huge signal beside a tree. Kicked the leaves aside and, "Forsooth! Do mine eyes betray me?? Be that a gun barrel??" When I picked it up I quickly realized that I had made an incredible find. I didn't even know they HAD .22 semi-automatic repeating rifles with scopes in the 1860s!



Seriously though, who leaves their rifle (with a scope) in a 10 acre patch of woods divided equally by a creek (surely you can remember which side of the creek you were hunting on) almost within SIGHT of a house, and never goes back to get it? Honestly, it wouldn't have been that hard to find this rifle. And I'm sure it had nothing to do with that double shooting at that same house in 1977.



Relax. I'm joking. Probably a bad one. No crimes were committed on that property, except a guy did shoot another guy off a hay wagon once in the 1930s. Suspected him of hanky-panky with the wife. Killed him. But he used a pistol, so I think we're safe there. Looks like maybe a Marlin to me. All I can read is "New Haven" on the trigger guard. Tube fed. Gold-plated trigger.

HEY! I finally found GOLD!!!!!

 

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[ScubaDetector]

Awesome!! Is the tube below the barrel loaded with shells? If so there might be one in the chamber. Even if not there might be one. Looks like it is a possible clean up to fire again rifle.

If you can find a plastic container long enough with a cover over it, you can soak it in equal parts mineral spirits and automatic transmission fluid. That's what I used to get my 357 magnum freed and then a gunsmith replaced the main spring and re timed it. It is a working pistol now after over 40 years underwater.

 

[jewelerguy]

really, what kind of moron leaves a gun somewhere and just forgets about it? odd. very odd

 

[shootist]

Ya just never know,maybe some kids drug it out there,maybe the guy was arrested or worse and could never get back to it,odd find though.

 

[RustyGold]

Incredible find! Maybe someone camped there then rode off and was too far away to turn back.

 

[c.d.]

A lot of firearms are lost while riding ATV's these days.

 

[Cletus]

maybe a coon hunter? I have had to go back to the tree before to get a rifle that was left by someone in the excitement.

 

[jeff of pa]

LOL maybe someone shot them-self in the foot & hobbled out in pain for the nearest hospital, while swearing off guns.
That or they broke it falling out the Tree.

 

[VOL1266-X]

One doesn't find something like that everyday PW. Kids lose lots of things. Who knows. HH, Q.

 

[treblehunter]

Where the barrel meets the receiver, on the barrel will be all the info stamped on what looks like a Ruger 10-22 to me at a glance. Maybe the guy who lost it, really left it and died before retrieving it? There has to be millions of scenarios we could all surmise.
I would bet you just found a very nice workable 22. Did you unload it? Always point a gun in a safe direction, always assume a gun is loaded. Gun safety 101!
I take it back, not a 10-22
Your probably right, Marlin

 

[Erving]

That's something you don't find every day. I have a Marlin model 60 that looks just like that.

 

[Trezurehunter]

Nice find. The owner probably stopped to take a leak & forgot it !

 

[WHADIFIND]

That's something you don't find every day. I have a Marlin model 60 that looks just like that.

Have you checked it? Lately LOL

 

[WHADIFIND]

Ya know...it looks to me to be too new to have the stock decay away. Looks to me like somebody finally got the shot of a lifetime. Missed the deer and wrapped the gun around a tree.

 

[kcm]

Is the receiver brass? It looks brass in the photos.

I've spent over an hour searching for something that fits these images - nothing! Best I can suggest is to get some electrolosis going on that barrel so you can read more of the markings. Can you post a pic of where you see New Haven?

 

[trapperart]

Very cool find congrats

 

[CoilToTheSoil]

Yup marlin 60 or its predecessor

 

[kcm]

I don't know what the predecessor was, but that's not a Marlin 60.

The trigger assy looks the same, the barrel assy looks pretty darn close, but that's where the similarities end.

 

[foilfinder]

Neat find, when I was 12 or so I left a pellet gun in the woods, parents wouldn't let me have one, would go out shooting cans and bottles then I would hide it in the brush till one day it wasn't there.
Congrats on the find.

 

[NOLA_Ken]

Looks like a Marlin Glenfield Model 60 to me. As to how it got there.... Somewhere in the Shawnee National Forest in Southern Illinois there is a Remington 870 12 gauge with a camo stock, foregrip and sling.... I'm willing to bet it's still leaned up against a tree somewhere where my cousin left it. He had left it against a tree and walked back to the truck for coffee and couldn't find the spot again when he went back... We looked for a while but no luck...