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My Grandfather's Mossberg 351KA 22lr 1960-68
Very fun story I thought I'd share:
I recently inherited my grandfather's Mossberg 351KA from my uncle. My grandfather passed away several years ago and while I'd hoped I would have gotten some of his rifles when he passed, they all went to my uncle (his son) instead. I made peace with that. On Thanksgiving we were talking about guns and my uncle asked me quite out of nowhere if I'd wanted it. Um, yes!
He hadn't shot it in decades and shared that it jammed constantly and needed to be cleaned up. It's in great condition, does not look like it's ever been dropped. Just a little rust around the front site. I'll figure out how to get that off later.
It's a tube fed with a plunger, ammo fed through a groove in the stock.
The action wasn't very smooth at all, my uncle was right, it was very tired. Even found a cob web in the feed tube. I broke it down and oiled it up, worked the action a few times and it just kept getting smoother and smoother.
Took it to Prado in Chino and gave it a whirl. Fed it CCI Mini Mag. Initially the plunger wasn't pushing hard enough to get a round into the feed ramps, so I started off with a single round loaded into action. Held my face back a little since I didn't know how it'd shoot, and pull the trigger. Plink! It worked!
Eventually I found that if I loaded 10 rounds with the plunger it'd work, so I got to test semi-auto. Fantastic. No jams, perfect ejections, and lots and lots of fun. I loved that I got to shoot, and now own, one of my grandfather's rifles. He was the family patriarch and loved by all so it was a very special day for me.
Moral of my story - future laws permitting - save a gun for your grandkids. Give them a piece of you.
I recently inherited my grandfather's Mossberg 351KA from my uncle. My grandfather passed away several years ago and while I'd hoped I would have gotten some of his rifles when he passed, they all went to my uncle (his son) instead. I made peace with that. On Thanksgiving we were talking about guns and my uncle asked me quite out of nowhere if I'd wanted it. Um, yes!
He hadn't shot it in decades and shared that it jammed constantly and needed to be cleaned up. It's in great condition, does not look like it's ever been dropped. Just a little rust around the front site. I'll figure out how to get that off later.
It's a tube fed with a plunger, ammo fed through a groove in the stock.
The action wasn't very smooth at all, my uncle was right, it was very tired. Even found a cob web in the feed tube. I broke it down and oiled it up, worked the action a few times and it just kept getting smoother and smoother.
Took it to Prado in Chino and gave it a whirl. Fed it CCI Mini Mag. Initially the plunger wasn't pushing hard enough to get a round into the feed ramps, so I started off with a single round loaded into action. Held my face back a little since I didn't know how it'd shoot, and pull the trigger. Plink! It worked!
Eventually I found that if I loaded 10 rounds with the plunger it'd work, so I got to test semi-auto. Fantastic. No jams, perfect ejections, and lots and lots of fun. I loved that I got to shoot, and now own, one of my grandfather's rifles. He was the family patriarch and loved by all so it was a very special day for me.
Moral of my story - future laws permitting - save a gun for your grandkids. Give them a piece of you.
Bob B. 
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