The day I turned 18, I got a phone call from the widow of my pedatiric dentist calling be with the bad news that Dr. Bill had died. She did the front office stuff for him and that's how she got my number. After telling me the bad news, she asked if I've like to have Dr. Bill's rifle, as they had no children of their own to pass it down to.
Dr. Bill bought a Griffin and Howe Springfield upon his graduation from dental school in 1927. He hunted with that rifle virtually every year from then on to about 1982, when his health declined and he couldn't hunt anymore. It had taken game on five continents.
It became my primary hunting rifle, and I took it to Canada once and Botswana twice. It was one of my most cherished possessions.
In the summer of '94, I had gone up to the family hunting camp (20 acres bordering National Forest on two sides, with cabin, barn, and horse corral) to shoot coyotes. I was a LEO then and had to go down the hill to a court appearance. While in the city in court, an 80,000 acre wildfire torched the cabin and destroyed my Springfield in the process.
The only thing I was able to salvage from it was the Lyman Model 48 rear sight. I still have it, just in case I ever come across the right 1903 Springfield with the wrong sight.
So yeah, I know what it is like to loose a gun in a fire.
It sucks.
But that rifle is replaceable. Other things aren't.
Sorry to read about the OP's misfortune and not only will he be in my prayers, but in those of my buddies in church, too.
-JP
-JP
