I got mine as a gift about 10 years ago from my Dad. See my Dad has one as well & he new I always liked his & wanted one some day. He's hunted with his every year for over 40 years. Both of ours we're cut down from thier original length & have western stocks on them. The original length on a 30-40 was really long & the stock extended out to the end of the barrel (too cumbersome for hunting IMO).

About 5 years ago I reworked the gun, I sanded & refinished the stock, & reblued the rifle, now I took it somewhere to be reblued & they said that the 30-40 can't be reblued with fire like normal, so I bought a rebluing kit that you rub into the steel & it worked really well & looks great. I then had the rifle drilled & tapped to mount a scope on it. When I had that done they had to order special rings & they were able to mount the scope just high enough to open the bolt & barely give me a sight & shot for the open sights if needed. But all in all I'm so glad I fixed it all up & put a scope on it, it looks great & is a great gun & probably the only deer rifle I'll ever use, just like my Dad. Now my Dad has never got his redone but guess what, I'm going to get his & redo it & surprise him for next season, can't wait.

As far as success stories, I have shot 2 bucks with my 30-40, an 8 pt, & a spike, both before I put the scope on. Both were 1 shot & down, the spike was in thick section of brush, but the 30-40 bullet zipped through it & put him down. Those are the only 2 deer I've shot at with this gun so I've never missed with it. I've been in a drought here ever since I put the scope on it I haven't seen a buck to shoot for 5 years. Hopefully this year that will change.

I recommend getting your grandfathers 30-40 redone, you won't regret it. Every time I meet a new hunter & they see mine their like what's that & after I show them how it works, they say that's cool, & you can see they wouldn't mind having one too. There's not too many of them out there anymore. Consider yourself fortunate.

Get your kids in the woods & off the streets !!