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Grandpa Gwinn gave me a .22 rifle last night. It seems that in 1982, he bought 4 at once, one for each male grandchild, to be given when we had matured properly (I was 4 years old then.) Unfortunately, the others have not always chosen the best path through life and grandpa was afraid they would not keep their gifts, but would sell them immediately or trade them for auto parts or such. Consequently he had decided to give the rifles to no one so that no one's feelings would be hurt by exclusion. Last night he changed his mind and decided to give me mine anyway.
Now, obviously this is not the kind of gift to take lightly. The rifle is in beautiful condition and a light cleaning made it look new. I think grandpa wants me to put it to use, not let it gather dust, so that's what I intended to do. I just want to check and make sure it's not some kind of collectible I should pack away and keep unfired. Frankly, it would have to be awfully rare to rate that because I can obviously never sell it anyway--it would be strictly to preserve rarity in my own collection.
The only thing that might add any collector value is that it's a "Woolco Commemmorative Edition," marking the 20th anniversary of a store chain called "Woolco." It was a subsidiary of Woolworth's that sold a lot of guns. As far as I can see, that consists of a medallion set in the stock and light gold filling in the barrel stamping. I doubt this denotes a piece that shouldn't be shot, but I can't unshoot it.
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November 19, 2000, 01:04 PM
