These guns, they were used to hunt animals. Who knows maybe they killed a few wolves with them, maybe they used them to protect their land and kill trespassers. There was once a land owner he homesteaded there. He had a western-field premier .22 caliber rifle and he used it all the time. There was once a time when he was building his house, and a big black bear came and he shot it because it attacked him. He was amazed that such a little gun could bring down such a big animal.

But what he didn't know is that it is illegal to kill things in Montana with his .22 caliber rifle, so he had to go to the county jail in Columbus Montana. The courthouse was big and made of bricks, he had never thought that he would be sitting in court house for shooting something with the wrong gun that was attacking him. He looked out his cell window and saw a big white house. He started to think of his family way back in West Virginia where he came to Montana from. He started thinking of all the good times he had in the house.

He had to stay in the cell until his court date which wasn't for another week. That's when he can explain himself. The date came and the judge let him off because of the situation. Once he left the jail house he decided to go look at the white house a little closer. He went there and started to look at it. There was a young lady living in there and she seen him admiring the house. She walked out of the house and greeted the man. He was already in love with her. he told her the story of him moving her and of the bear incident He stayed there until night came around. He asked if she would like to have dinner sometime. She said she would love to. The next night they went to the Atlas and had dinner and drank a little bit. They went back to her place and he stayed there over night.They went to the Atlas for every date for now on. After a few months of dating he proposed to her, she of coarse said "yes".

They got married in the summer of 1888. They moved into together in the mans house the one that he built himself, his bride moved in also. He still uses his .22 but not very much he mostly uses it as a story telling tool. He has it hanging right above the fire place so when ever he has guests over or any body else asks about it he has them come over to the fire place and tells them the story. They had three children, one boy, two girls. The boys name was John. The two girls' names are Jessica and Sharon.. the children were all one year apart, each one of them asked about the gun and he told them the story, he said "this is how I met your mother." He explains how he seen the house that she was living in and it reminded him of the house he lived in way back in West Virginia. He tells him that killing that bear is the best thing that ever happened to him.

The couple lived until they both grew old and they watched as their children grew up and get married and have children of their own. He told the husbands the story of the bear and that he wouldn't be scared to shoot them with that .22 caliber western-field premier, and they believed that he would. The man had never had another incident with a bear or shooting something with the wrong caliber of rifle. His family is everything to him and once he dies he is passing that .22 down to his son John. Once he and his wife died the kids remember all of the stories of when they fell in love and the story of the bear, and on how he went to jail for it. But the three kids know that the stories of their parents will be past down through generations and cherished throughout the family.