Old Days ... Old Stuff

[JimT]

A lot of my young boyhood was spent on a Ranch in Eastern Washington State. My grandpa raised wheat, barley, oats and rye on about 6 or 8 Sections. The Ranch was close to 20 miles from town and the nearest neighbor was 5 miles away. I grew up running the hills, shooting and helping in the harvest. I was driving wheat trucks by the time I was 13. It was in that country we did a lot of long range shooting. I grew up not knowing that most shooters thought a handgun was good for across a room. When I started talking about shooting 300 or 400 yards I suddenly discovered folks thought I was lying!

About 12 or 15 years ago a friend who flies crop dusting in that country took some photos of what's left of the old Ranch.

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In the above photo there is a faint "line" running from near the top right down to the road, almost intersecting with the wash that runs from the road down toward the middle of the photo. That top "line" is near the Section Line on the property. It is about 400 yards from the buildings. In 1966 I was standing about where the metal tractor shed is with a Colt Single Action .45 and factory Winchester ammo. On the section line was an old 1941 Ford Coupe body, upside down, that had been stripped and left there years before. I fired a shot at it and dust kicked up beyond the car body. I lowered the front sight and the next shot kicked up dust in front of the car. I fired the third shot holding in between. There was no dust and then we heard a distant KLONK!

In the photo the small white-looking building on the right is the old Blacksmith shop.

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This picture was taken in the 1980's.

When I was a kid I loved hanging out there. It was full of interesting and mysterious things to look at. I was hanging out there one day when I was about 13 and saw something mostly buried in the dirt in front of the shop. I dug it up and it looked like an old nutcracker. My Dad told me it was an old Winchester reloading tool. I kept it and years later cleaned it up a bit, replaced the primer seating pin and still use it to this day. Just last week I had 4 .45 Colt shells I needed to prime so I grabbed that tool and did the job. After all these years it is still useful!

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[Bill in Oregon]

Very cool, Jim. Thanks for sharing your memories and the photos. Before my middle brother moved to Astoria, he and his bride lived in the small community of Newman Lake east of Spokane and we took a nice day trip winding across the Palouse to Moscow and then back up with a side-trip to Kellogg. I wished I could afford to live in that country, but not sure I am up to the winters anymore.

[JimT]

My Grandpa's Ranch was near Lind .. about 80 miles south of Spokane. I haven't been back up in that country since the 1980's. And I do remember the winters! When I was kid in the 1950's we had 50 below zero for near a week and 40 below for a week or so. I was mad cuz they wouldn't let me go outside. I remember looking out the front window. My Dad was helping my Uncle to try and get his car started. They were pushing it with my Dad's car and the back wheels were sliding on the pavement. It wasn't icy. The grease in the transmission and rear end were frozen. Only cars running were those in heated garages.

[GunnyMack]

Just imagine the kind of stuff to be found around all those old homesteads! Lots of lost history.
When I lived in CO, I was scouting one day for white tails , walking and glassing. I stopped on an old anthill and a little voice in my head said look down. Sure enough there was a buffalo head nickel staring up at me.
All along the Santa Fe trail are head stones with wrought iron fences around them, those folks that didn't make the trip and buried were and are still looked after to this day.
There is so much OLD stuff out there that most people have no idea about or care about.

[Pat C]

Great story !!

[Ysabel Kid]

I picked up a few of those Winchester reloading tools last year. A ton of fun!

[JimT]

I picked up a few of those Winchester reloading tools last year. A ton of fun!

They were the forerunner of the Lyman 310 Tool. The man who designed them for Winchester later on worked for the Ideal company and morphed the Winchester Tools into the Ideal #3 and #10 tools. Later on Lyman bought Ideal and combined the tools into the 310 Tool.

Some of the Winchester reloading tools had a bullet mold on the end. You had most everything you needed in one tool.

[Sixgun]

Funny how we were happiest when young and had nothing…we grow old and have it all and are well, blah. As a teenager I couldn’t wait to get up and hit the woods or grab my bike to go on a ride…….now, I have little to no reason to get outta bed. I guess that’s why most old guys finally just say f.I. and sit in a rocking chair………..and remember.

[1894cfan]

Thanks for passing on the memories, guys. I grew up in the south bay area around San Jose, Cal. in the real late 50's through the 70's, and even back then it was getting kind of crowded.

[JimT]

Funny how we were happiest when young and had nothing…we grow old and have it all and are well, blah. As a teenager I couldn’t wait to get up and hit the woods or grab my bike to go on a ride…….now, I have little to no reason to get outta bed. I guess that’s why most old guys finally just say f.I. and sit in a rocking chair………..and remember.

Jack it could be easy to get that way I reckon. But where I am I have 2 grandson's that I am teaching to shoot ... teaching firearms safety .. one of them is interested in reloading so I have him sorting brass and sizing and depriming. And they are both interested in hunting deer. So I have plenty to do that is important enough I haven't gotten blah about anything. Well .. that ain't true. Got that way about the government quite a while ago ... but they are not as important as family. I have great-grandkids coming up and it's fun to work with them. I am trying to pass the memories of family along to them all, as well as help them learn some important things.

[marlinman93]

Funny how different people grow up with different perspectives based on where they grow up, and how isolated their environment was. Not having input from others who might sway one's way of thinking about what's "normal" about shooting.
We've mentioned before that my grandparents, and my father grew up just northwest of your childhood area in Lind. Dad's area was Ruff, Wa. and no neighbors within walking distance of their farm either. Dad said he could walk around hunting for weeks everyday, and maybe or maybe not ever see another human.

[Griff]

Growing up in the city it was quite a bit different. But, I attended a private elementary school... out in the farm land of then a largely agrarian Orange County in CA. School was surrounded on 3 sides by acres of strawberry and vegetable crops. Farms chores were part of the curriculum, a small part to be sure, but enough to make me totally understanding my Dad's willingness to enlist during WWII to escape the farm. I grew up bby my Dad asking all the time, "...Know what's the best part about being from Tennessee?" And answering himself, "Being FAR from Tennessee!" My Dad always had a garden, and it's upkeep was part of my chores. I don't look back fondly on those days... which is one of several reasons I don't have a garden now.

[Ysabel Kid]

I picked up a few of those Winchester reloading tools last year. A ton of fun!

They were the forerunner of the Lyman 310 Tool. The man who designed them for Winchester later on worked for the Ideal company and morphed the Winchester Tools into the Ideal #3 and #10 tools. Later on Lyman bought Ideal and combined the tools into the 310 Tool.

Some of the Winchester reloading tools had a bullet mold on the end. You had most everything you needed in one tool.

I think most of the Winchester ones from the 1880's had a separate single-cavity mold. I have a couple sets with both the mold and the loading tool. Very nice. The Ideal's often incorporated a mold at the end of the tool. Nice as you only had one tool and not two. I can see where people get into collecting these - they are very cool!