(kind of long winded, but probaly worth the read..
)
Just yesterday, I spent the batter part of Sunday afternoon with my step-father at his outdoor range he has at home, talking guns, shooting guns and coon-fingering as many guns as I could in his huge collection- for no other reason than to just say I've "held" this or that gun.
It was a special day for me, because my stepfather and I had a falling out approx. 23 years ago and we hadn't spoken nor seen each other in nearly a quarter century. All of that finally changed for the better about 6 weeks ago, where I extended an olive branch to him, apologizing for my stupidness back then and asking if we could bury the hatchet as it were, to begin to mend our relationship. Time has healed the wounds and we're both two different men now... He graciously acccepted and we speak about 3-4 times a week now, discussing a number of things as "catch-up" on 23 missed years of our lives.
He is the guy that first introduced me to guns, reloading, smithing and shooting sports in general when I was 9 years old. For the next decade, guns were my life, because they were his life and there wasn't a day that would go by- even in the Winter, that we didn't mess with something shooting related in some capacity. I loved it, but when I moved away with my bio-logical Father in 1988, I never heard hide, nor hair from my step-father again and my exposure to gun stuff ended- but not the interest he first instilled in me back in the late 70's.
He gave me my first Daisy BB gun when I was 9, for which I tried to kil every bird within a 100 yard radius around the farm. Then, the next year at age 10, he gave me a vintage (now) Sheridan 5mm air rifle, which was a great Muskrat killer! Then he let me use his Savage .410 break-action, single-shot shotgun to take my first squirrel that same year and then letting me use his Ithaca M-37 Featherlight 12ga. shotgun to take my first deer at age 11 on our own wooded property we had back then. I shot my first handgun with him at age 12 and it was a ful-boogie Colt Python .357, for which I've never forgotten that to this very day!!
Needless to say, all my most fondest memories of my first hunting trips, guns I shot, reloading, casting our own bullets, gunsmithing, working in his gun shop he had back then, going to match shoots, trap shooting and just about anything else shooting/gun related was introduced into my life by him.
I now appreciate that special time he spent w/ me back then more than ever and my interest in guns to date is a direct result of that...
Yesterday, he let me shoot his Ruger Super BlackHawk .44 mag. 3-screw, "Old Model" wheel gun w/ an 8" barrel, using vintage *hot* re-loads his late brother loaded for him and cast the bullets for, way back in 1984! It was very special to me, because my step-father cherishes that gun (where no one but him shoots it) and he loved his late brother, whom he misses dearly. Plus, him allowing me to shoot those "special" rounds that his brother loaded for him nearly 25 years ago, was like letting me be a part of the family again, because I got to shoot with "Jr." and my step-father all over again, using something that meant a lot to and was created by both of them. My step only had 12 loaded cartridges left from Jr's original 1984 re-loads and I got to shoot 6 of them!! I'll never forget how GREAT it felt to fire off those rounds one-by-one- smiling and laughing all along the way! What awesome memories we made yesterday... Jr. would be proud!!!
Then, he shot his Diamondback .380 mouse gun that I did some smithing on a few weeks ago. (I covered some of that on this board- https://www.indianagunowners.com/fo...irearms_db380_pocket_gun_any_experiences.html) He loved the gun originally, but hated how it was always jemming up all the time and wanted to throw it away... After the work I did on it, it now shoots great, using any ammo without a hiccup and he LOVES it! He was so happy and it made me feel all choked-up inside to see how pleased he was with it, when it was this guy who introduced me to guns nearly 25 years ago in the first place! Who would've thought that he would choose ME to do smithing for HIM nearly a quater century later and it was an honor!!! What a great memory that was made and I'll never forget it!!
I just recently found and bought a nearly exact copy of brand, model and year of that Ithaca M-37 12ga. and Savage .410 shotgun he let me shoot of his over two decades ago, for which my first hunting trips were also made. He was the guy who first taught me to shoot both of those guns way back in the day before I was a teenager!
Now, some 23-odd years later, here we were, standing next to each other (me at 40 and him at 67) doing the very same thing- sharing a few shells and shooting the very same guns he first taught me on, except they were now mine instead. Wow!! It was AWESOME and I felt so happy and blessed to have been able to come full circle to share in that experience with him like that! How lucky am I huh?!
We tested my home defense gun I just got through smithing, (https://www.indianagunowners.com/fo..._12ga_pump_shotgun_refinements_pic_heavy.html) now dubbed the name "Kong", where he was pleasantly surprised and pleased on how well it turned out. That meant a lot to me coming from a guy of his veteran calibur in the shooting world....
He showed me numerous vintage and professional match guns of all kinds he's shot and won massive amounts of trophies with over the last 30 years. His collection is like a small armory and his "gun room" is impressive!! My favorite gun he has, (next to that Super BlackHawk) that I haven't got to shoot yet but hopefully can one day, is his vintage Colt Commander 1911 w/ Walnut Grips.. That gun is pure sex right there and I felt giddy just holding it!!!
Sorry for the lond-winded post guys, I didn't mean it to go on for so long, but I just wanted to share my great experiences with other fellow gun enthusiests, of my awesome shooting day with my recently reunited step-father.
For those of you that have sons and daughters (like me) spend that quality time with them, teaching them the right way to handle, shoot and hunt with guns, as I can gaurantee you, (speaking from direct experiences) those memories will absolutely last them a LIFETIME and they'll never forget it!
I haven't!!!
)Just yesterday, I spent the batter part of Sunday afternoon with my step-father at his outdoor range he has at home, talking guns, shooting guns and coon-fingering as many guns as I could in his huge collection- for no other reason than to just say I've "held" this or that gun.
It was a special day for me, because my stepfather and I had a falling out approx. 23 years ago and we hadn't spoken nor seen each other in nearly a quarter century. All of that finally changed for the better about 6 weeks ago, where I extended an olive branch to him, apologizing for my stupidness back then and asking if we could bury the hatchet as it were, to begin to mend our relationship. Time has healed the wounds and we're both two different men now... He graciously acccepted and we speak about 3-4 times a week now, discussing a number of things as "catch-up" on 23 missed years of our lives.
He is the guy that first introduced me to guns, reloading, smithing and shooting sports in general when I was 9 years old. For the next decade, guns were my life, because they were his life and there wasn't a day that would go by- even in the Winter, that we didn't mess with something shooting related in some capacity. I loved it, but when I moved away with my bio-logical Father in 1988, I never heard hide, nor hair from my step-father again and my exposure to gun stuff ended- but not the interest he first instilled in me back in the late 70's.
He gave me my first Daisy BB gun when I was 9, for which I tried to kil every bird within a 100 yard radius around the farm. Then, the next year at age 10, he gave me a vintage (now) Sheridan 5mm air rifle, which was a great Muskrat killer! Then he let me use his Savage .410 break-action, single-shot shotgun to take my first squirrel that same year and then letting me use his Ithaca M-37 Featherlight 12ga. shotgun to take my first deer at age 11 on our own wooded property we had back then. I shot my first handgun with him at age 12 and it was a ful-boogie Colt Python .357, for which I've never forgotten that to this very day!!
Needless to say, all my most fondest memories of my first hunting trips, guns I shot, reloading, casting our own bullets, gunsmithing, working in his gun shop he had back then, going to match shoots, trap shooting and just about anything else shooting/gun related was introduced into my life by him.
I now appreciate that special time he spent w/ me back then more than ever and my interest in guns to date is a direct result of that...Yesterday, he let me shoot his Ruger Super BlackHawk .44 mag. 3-screw, "Old Model" wheel gun w/ an 8" barrel, using vintage *hot* re-loads his late brother loaded for him and cast the bullets for, way back in 1984! It was very special to me, because my step-father cherishes that gun (where no one but him shoots it) and he loved his late brother, whom he misses dearly. Plus, him allowing me to shoot those "special" rounds that his brother loaded for him nearly 25 years ago, was like letting me be a part of the family again, because I got to shoot with "Jr." and my step-father all over again, using something that meant a lot to and was created by both of them. My step only had 12 loaded cartridges left from Jr's original 1984 re-loads and I got to shoot 6 of them!! I'll never forget how GREAT it felt to fire off those rounds one-by-one- smiling and laughing all along the way! What awesome memories we made yesterday... Jr. would be proud!!!
Then, he shot his Diamondback .380 mouse gun that I did some smithing on a few weeks ago. (I covered some of that on this board- https://www.indianagunowners.com/fo...irearms_db380_pocket_gun_any_experiences.html) He loved the gun originally, but hated how it was always jemming up all the time and wanted to throw it away... After the work I did on it, it now shoots great, using any ammo without a hiccup and he LOVES it! He was so happy and it made me feel all choked-up inside to see how pleased he was with it, when it was this guy who introduced me to guns nearly 25 years ago in the first place! Who would've thought that he would choose ME to do smithing for HIM nearly a quater century later and it was an honor!!! What a great memory that was made and I'll never forget it!!
I just recently found and bought a nearly exact copy of brand, model and year of that Ithaca M-37 12ga. and Savage .410 shotgun he let me shoot of his over two decades ago, for which my first hunting trips were also made. He was the guy who first taught me to shoot both of those guns way back in the day before I was a teenager!
Now, some 23-odd years later, here we were, standing next to each other (me at 40 and him at 67) doing the very same thing- sharing a few shells and shooting the very same guns he first taught me on, except they were now mine instead. Wow!! It was AWESOME and I felt so happy and blessed to have been able to come full circle to share in that experience with him like that! How lucky am I huh?!
We tested my home defense gun I just got through smithing, (https://www.indianagunowners.com/fo..._12ga_pump_shotgun_refinements_pic_heavy.html) now dubbed the name "Kong", where he was pleasantly surprised and pleased on how well it turned out. That meant a lot to me coming from a guy of his veteran calibur in the shooting world....
He showed me numerous vintage and professional match guns of all kinds he's shot and won massive amounts of trophies with over the last 30 years. His collection is like a small armory and his "gun room" is impressive!! My favorite gun he has, (next to that Super BlackHawk) that I haven't got to shoot yet but hopefully can one day, is his vintage Colt Commander 1911 w/ Walnut Grips.. That gun is pure sex right there and I felt giddy just holding it!!!
Sorry for the lond-winded post guys, I didn't mean it to go on for so long, but I just wanted to share my great experiences with other fellow gun enthusiests, of my awesome shooting day with my recently reunited step-father.
For those of you that have sons and daughters (like me) spend that quality time with them, teaching them the right way to handle, shoot and hunt with guns, as I can gaurantee you, (speaking from direct experiences) those memories will absolutely last them a LIFETIME and they'll never forget it!
I haven't!!!
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