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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 9,756 Likes: 748
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 9,756 Likes: 748 |
My dad was a foster child for 17 years. Everybody in the family treated him as family, but, he wasn’t adopted because he represented a check during the height of the depression.
He had a farmer uncle, and worked in the dairy barn in the summer. As was the case in most barns, there was a gun for “just in case”. That gun was a first year model 12 20 gauge, that rested between two studs just off the milking parlor, although in this barn, it wouldn’t have been called a parlor.
Know what I’m saying?
That gun lives here, now. But, it was a disgraceful mess when it showed up, my hands got rusty touching it. We were offered the gun when my dad was still alive, and he told them to keep it. That bad.
I had it blued, and found new wood for it. Full choke opened to modified, too. It will never be a collectible, but, it functions well, and some days I get to use a first year model 12 to shoot.
I would have thought the uncle would appreciate it and care for it, but, his farm had at least one piece of machinery left right where it quit running, decades prior. I don’t understand the thought process, but, so what?
He was different than us.
Best, Ted
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Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 7,724 Likes: 481
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 7,724 Likes: 481 |
Ted, my father had a cousin who was famous within the family for leaving equipment sit right where it died. Work around it, plow around it, plant around it. I remember a old Farmall, F12 I think, which died right next to the woods and sat there for years. Trees grew up around it. Another family member wanted it to help with a restoration he was doing and pulled it home for a parts tractor. Just for the fun of it he tried to turn it over and after years of sitting it still turned over. He decided to restore that one as well. In the end it was easier restoration than his grandfather F12. We joked the only problem was it was old and ran out of gas but most likely it had an ignition problem.
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2 members like this:
Lloyd3, Ted Schefelbein |
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Joined: May 2006
Posts: 809 Likes: 15
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 809 Likes: 15 |
What has been said is all true. Another option occurred to me a few years ago, a hunting buddy wanted to see the gun I shot my big game with. I showed him my gun and he demanded to see the "real" gun I hunt with, I told him he was holding it. He was shocked; "It looks like new, this can't be it", he replied in dismay. "I've shot shot 17 head of game with that one, been my gun for 20 years, why? What does your gun look like?", I asked. Later he showed me his big game rifle, it looked like it got run over by a tank tread. It occurred to me that some guys are just hard on guns.
-Shoot Straight, IM
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