Super cool, Nuker!! Love the story behind it all!!
Also, I have that rifle!!! (Though mine is slightly newer, in that the serial number tracks it to 1911...)
Story behind mine is that my father was an engineer/geologist at the Ray copper mine (Kearny) for many, many years. In the early 60s (before I was born), they found more copper ore than originally thought at the Ray mine, so they decided to go wide-open with the pit. In order to do so they had to displace the town of Sonora, and hence the town of Kearny was born. While they were moving/demolishing some old warehouses, they came across a case of new/never-used 30-30's. In tracking back the records, they were able to trace the purchase back 1916, when the mine bought the rifles to guard against any possible attack from Pancho Villa. Well, of course the attack never came and the rifles remained in their case in the warehouse. When my dad and some of the other supervisors found the rifles, the controller/accountant didn't really know what to do with them, so they had a raffle and sold them to the employees for $25 just to get them off the books.
Dad is long gone now, and the rifle remains as one of my prized possessions.
Was cool to see another just like it posted here!
3030 2.jfif