Here's another old single shot rifle with some local provenance. And a story I enjoy, just because it's a local gun, but I had to drive 10 1/2 hrs. to buy it.
Myself and a few friends used to go to the Big Reno Gun Show a couple times a year. It was a fun trip with friends, and the gun show used to be pretty decent too. The show was set up with two rooms, and the new stuff, black rifles, and misc. crap was pushed to one end of the room.
So whenever I went there I made sure I looked through the whole show at least twice before I wasted any time even walking through that end with nothing good. So sometime during the 2nd day I'm walking through all sorts of ammunition, and black rifles, when I caught something in a gun rack that didn't match the military rifles alongside it. The octagon barrel caught my eye, so I went back to look at it. I saw this Remington #1 Sporting Rifle in .22 rimfire. But it was in very sad shape, and really not worth saving. But being a Sporting Rifle it would make a good receiver to build with, if the price was cheap. 
A look at the hang tag showed it wasn't badly priced, but I hoped to get it down cheaper. A little negotiation, and the seller told me he hadn't sold anything, and would accept my offer. 
The gun was in sad shape with extra holes in the barrel and top tang. And someone for whatever crazy reason had cut a front dovetail out to about 7/8 wide! Roughly done, and then to make things even worse another 3/8" dovetail was cut down in the bottom of that first huge dovetail!
The top of the barrel had a couple D&T holes, and the top tang had 5 different holes for various tang sights. Only one pair was in the factory spacing.
The stocks had missing wood on the forearm, and in the wrist of the buttstock. The wood is checkered, but in a heavy pattern, not like Remingtons used. The forearm was nicely shaped, and had an ebony insert V in the tip. A nice looking stock once, but not anymore.
I was thinking about what I'd make from the action as I chatted with the seller, and saw his business card on the table. His address was Oregon City, Oregon. I chuckled and told him I lived about 12 miles from him, and we laughed about going so far to do a gun deal.
I got the gun home, and a few days later decided to strip it down to it's bare receiver, and toss the rest in my junk piles. The .22 bore was actually very nice, and I figured maybe I'd leave it on the gun when I did something with the action and wood.
Cont.

E C Hackett's home still stands at the end of the Oregon Trail! The marker for the end sits in his front yard, and the house has been restored and put on the Nation Historical Registry in 1980.

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Erwin Charles Hackett was a colorful and notable figure in early Oregon history, and I'm glad the guy who owned this rifle was into black guns, so he never discovered who this Rolling Block belonged to!

Flatlander wrote on Nov 28^th, 2020 at 10:27pm:


Thanks. I hate seeing a gun restored fully if it can be saved. If not for the provenance this one would have been borderline to save though. After I was done I was glad I discovered the provenance as it really was decent enough to save.

Yes, having a gun that has some history related to it is one of my favorite things. Wish I knew more of this gun's story after EC passed in the 1930's. Always wondered how it got away from his son at some point?

What a great find and an even better back story. Luckily it found it's way to you so you could research it and curate it. Very grateful you shared the story with all of us here. Thank you and three cheers!!

I love to hear the specific history of most any old gun.
Wish they all could talk
Aaron

ballardhepburnmich wrote on Dec 2^nd, 2020 at 11:16pm:


Thanks Lee!

powderman wrote on Dec 7^th, 2020 at 8:42pm:


Thanks. This is what I refer to as a sympathetic restoration. Just enough done to fix the boogers, but not so much as to appear anything was done.