Copyright 2021 – Stephen Redgwell – 303british.com fiction
Older men know stuff! (from left) Dave, Edmund and Ken
As always, Dave was the first to speak.
“I was cleaning up the gun room and found my great-great grampa’s old rifle. When he died in 1960, Dad and me helped collect his stuff and clean up the farm outside of Flin Flon, Manitoba. That’s when I got his old 30-30 lever. It was one of the first ones built.”
Edmund smiled and said, “Wow, that’s great! I think having an heirloom like your dad’s old Model 94 keeps us mindful of our past. We should never forget!”
“What? It’s not a 94, Edmund! I said it was one of the first 30-30s built. When Winchester made the Model 94, the cartridge and rifle already existed. Winchester’s lever was a ripoff of my family’s original design made before the US Civil War. The first lever was called the Volcano Repeater. It was made in the 1850s.”
Ken had to jump in. “Hold on! Why would you say that? It’s a known fact that the first lever was invented by Benjamin Henry!”
“Geez Ken, I appreciate that you think you know history, but that’s not the case. Ben Henry stole my wife’s great-great grandfather’s design – the Volcano Repeater – and marketed it as his own. Giuseppe Volcano emigrated to Canada from Italy around 1840. He brought the idea with him from the old country. Let me repeat – Benjamin Henry stole the idea from my wife’s great-great grandfather and sold the idea to Winchester.”
“That’s incredible…”
“It gets better. My great-great grandfather presented what was then called the Volcano Repeater to President Lincoln at the beginning of the Civil War. Abe fired it on the front lawn of the Whitehouse!”
“Oh brother, that’s the biggest whopper ever!” Ken shook his head and laughed.
Dave continued. “Tell me about it! Winchester has been milking that story for years, saying it was one of their repeaters! My great-great grandfather Davidson and my wife’s great-great grandfather Volcano were best friends. That’s how our families met. The Davidsons and the Volcanos were long time firearms developers and inventors. That’s where I got my uncanny firearms skills from. It’s in our genes. You know the Winchester Mystery House in California? It should actually be the Flin Flon Mystery Mansion in Manitoba. Can you imagine how big Flin Flon would be if history had told the real story?”
“If I get what you’re saying, ” Ken chuckled, “You are telling us that your family was somehow connected to the invention of the lever action rifle and the founding of Flin Flon, Manitoba?”
“And the invention of the 30-30 cartridge too. Don’t forget that!”
Dave stared at his friends and finished the lesson with,
“My great-great grandfather founded Flin Flon when he worked for the Hudson’s Bay Mining and Smelting Company. It’s documented history. There is a story about Flin Flon being founded by a guy who built a submarine looking for a lake that had no bottom, but that’s a load of bunk. My great-great grampa named it after the “flim flam” of the cartridge and rifle fiasco down south. Flim Flam was Canadianized to Flin Flon. The rest is history.