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Mystery deepens: Who left 130-year-old rifle in NV desert?
Fox News ^ | 7/18/15 | Matt Finn

Posted on 07/20/2015 11:02:11 AM PDT by Kartographer

A 130-year-old rifle found in the Nevada desert last year is fully loaded with mystery—and some of the questions surrounding it might never be answered.

The Winchester 1873 rifle was discovered in the Great Basin National Park leaning against a juniper tree in November. But the strange discovery has triggered more questions than answers.

(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; History; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: 1873; 1882; banglist; godsgravesglyphs; greatbasin; greatbasinnp; guns; history; model1873; nationalpark; nevada; park; rifle; rifles; treasure; winchester; winchester1873; winchesterrifle
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To: ElkGroveDan
If it had been leaning against the tree for 100+ years there would have been substantial interaction with the bark growth

That's out in the desert and actually the barrel is in pretty good shape, but I've seen stuff near mining camps dating back to 1900-1930 with pretty much the same patina, leaning up against the tree trunk. Tho I did find an model-t axle embedded in the crotch of a tree once. It was about as rusty as an anchor chain left out on the waterfront for a few decades, ie almost completely converted to rust. But I've found stuff part buried by accumulated detritus with negligible patina, obviously untouched for decades. Just depends on the locale and particularly precipitation.

When we went camping out west in the 60s-70s we also found a lot of tin cans high up in the trees. My mom said it was once the custom was to use tin cans to boil water and just set the cans in the tree for the next camper to use. If the tree didn't get much water or sun the cans would still be at eye level after 30-60 years, but if it was relatively wet you might spot the remains of the can in the treetops.

41 posted on 07/20/2015 11:59:18 AM PDT by no-s (when democracy is displaced by tyranny, the armed citizen still gets to vote>)
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To: Pearls Before Swine

...nor Yosemite Sam


42 posted on 07/20/2015 12:01:16 PM PDT by Covenantor ("Men are ruled...by liars who 4refuse them news, and by fools who cannot govern." Chesterton)
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To: ScottinVA

43 posted on 07/20/2015 12:01:28 PM PDT by Tijeras_Slim
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To: ScottinVA
imagine that AR-15 suddenly appearing with a bucket full of loaded magazines 150 years ago on a Civil War battlefield...

Probably take a bit more than one...see The Guns of the South, for a good treatment of the idea.

44 posted on 07/20/2015 12:03:08 PM PDT by no-s (when democracy is displaced by tyranny, the armed citizen still gets to vote>)
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To: Patriot Babe
Rod Steiger was way ahead of his time.

Rod Steiger was a great character actor

... Rod Serling

on the other hand, was way ahead of his time.

45 posted on 07/20/2015 12:06:40 PM PDT by tx_eggman (Liberalism is only possible in that moment when a man chooses Barabas over Christ.)
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To: Tijeras_Slim

Ah yeah! Harry Turtledove. Good stuff there!


46 posted on 07/20/2015 12:14:24 PM PDT by ScottinVA (Liberalism is the poison ivy that infests the garden of society.)
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To: no-s

In Nevada it mostly depends on the orientation of the piece. If it is on a North slope it will rust faster than one on a Southern slope. A guy I work with found a similar Winchester in the far Northern part of Nevada about 15 years ago. It was on an East facing slope and not in as good a shape as the one in the OP.


47 posted on 07/20/2015 12:24:48 PM PDT by mad_as_he$$ (Section 20.)
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To: tx_eggman

OMG ROFL ROFL My Ribs. ROFL Thanks for correcting me. I mean Rod Serling ROFL ROFL


48 posted on 07/20/2015 12:25:59 PM PDT by Patriot Babe
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To: Patriot Babe

6) Hunter.


49 posted on 07/20/2015 12:27:46 PM PDT by mad_as_he$$ (Section 20.)
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To: Paladin2

X-ray revealed there actually is a round in the stock’s storage cavity.


50 posted on 07/20/2015 12:30:11 PM PDT by ctdonath2 (The world map will be quite different come 20 January 2017.)
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To: Patriot Babe
So far we have:

Rod Stieger

Rod Serling

Rod Storage

51 posted on 07/20/2015 12:30:52 PM PDT by HandyDandy (Don't make-up stuff. It just wastes everybody's time.)
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To: HandyDandy

Which one of these does not go with the other?


52 posted on 07/20/2015 12:35:09 PM PDT by mad_as_he$$ (Section 20.)
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To: ElkGroveDan
Here it is leaning against the tree as found:

So, depended on how it was leaning against what. Doesn't look like a position that necessarily the tree, growing slowly under rough conditions, would engulf the rifle.

53 posted on 07/20/2015 12:35:40 PM PDT by ctdonath2 (The world map will be quite different come 20 January 2017.)
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To: Kartographer

Not everything is a big mystery with a fascinating untold story. I have found old guns and know others who have also found them. One guy found a shotgun that had been leaning against a tree for many years. Somebody probably placed it there to do something else and couldn’t find it again.


54 posted on 07/20/2015 12:38:19 PM PDT by ozzymandus
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To: DBrow

Yeah, really. In 130 years, wouldn’t the tree have grown around the rifle?


55 posted on 07/20/2015 12:39:36 PM PDT by gnickgnack2 (QUESTION obama's AUTHORITY)
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To: gnickgnack2
Yeah, really. In 130 years, wouldn’t the tree have grown around the rifle?

 photo Stow-on-The-Wold_St_Edwards_Parish_Church_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1115282_zpsapg1clu8.jpg

500 hundred more years and a bunch of rain.

56 posted on 07/20/2015 12:50:39 PM PDT by Stentor ("The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.")
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To: ScottinVA

Or what if the Aircraft Carrier Nimitz went back in time just before the Germans attacked Pearl Harbor ?


57 posted on 07/20/2015 12:51:36 PM PDT by al baby (Hi Mom)
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To: Kartographer

58 posted on 07/20/2015 12:51:56 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: Patriot Babe

Obsolete Man is very troubling.


59 posted on 07/20/2015 1:22:53 PM PDT by Paladin2 (Ive given up on aphostrophys and spell chek on my current device...)
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To: ctdonath2
So, depended on how it was leaning against what. Doesn't look like a position that necessarily the tree, growing slowly under rough conditions, would engulf the rifle.

I thought I was pretty clear. Go hiking in hilly, rocky terrain like this. You'll see rocks leaning against trees and they leave a distinct impression on the bark. Most of those rocks have only been there a season or two after rolling downhill. Occasionally you'll see a rock totally embedded in the side of the tree, those have been there much longer. Don't you think the bark immediately adjacent to the rifle would have grown or expanded over 100+ seasons? Don't you think the bark under the steel barrel would behave even the slightest bit differently? The result would have been an impression or distortion of that part of the trunk. There is nothing visible. I suspect it had been there no more than one or two years.

As I said above. I think someone found it nearby and then leaned it against that tree.

60 posted on 07/20/2015 1:57:22 PM PDT by ElkGroveDan (My tagline is in the shop.)
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