Posted on 02/15/2013 7:08:31 PM PST by San Rafael Blue
Most of you here felt 'that moment' a long time ago, when you were too young to vote, too young even to get behind the wheel. You may not even remember when it happened. My Rite of Passage was today. I went to Big 5 and purchased a 12 gauge shotgun. I actually won't be able to drive my 'new friend' home until later this month, after a background check. Hopefully, there is no evildoer using my full name while commiting their evil deeds. I'm legally clean though, never even been arrested (yet).
I purchased a box of bullets, and a zip-up gun case. When I return for the gun, I'll need to buy a gun lock. Once I have access to the gun, it is likely to lay idle and locked away, until I can take a class at a local firing range for beginner gun handling. Today I was shown how to open and load the shotgun, very simple procedure, thank the Lord. The young man at the counter was patient and respectful. I was glad for that. I already felt foolish for my scant knowledge of firearms. My Dad had two guns back at home. one named Brown Betsy, the other named Black Beauty. Sharing the family home with guns was easy, my sisters and I followed the house rules and just never tampered with them at all. I learned a little while in the Navy, but not much, nothing that was repeated. I made an effort not to let on just how excited I was, that, in itself might raise an eyebrow. Just why is that guy so 'happy' about buying a gun, when he knows so little about them. I played it sort of cool.
As I get older, arthritis has taken me out of my Karate class, till I can pay for private lessons. Otherwise, I would slow the whole class down. (Un-Good!, to make up an expression) I used to love Boxing or Sparring night in Karate. Practicing chokeholds too. Maybe sometime down the line, but not now. What I can do now is to use my sharp vision. I'll look into skeet shooting. So much to learn!
I told the manager he would make even more money if he had a photographer ready to snap a picture of the owner with his or her new gun. I absolutely would have pulled out a few bills and paid for such a momento. It was that much fun.
Safe Queen. Damn autocorrect...
5”38
Well, at least the one with classes:)
Don’t forget to swing by Camp David to get expert shotgun shooting lessons from the master himself. I hear they go skeet shooting all the time there.
I had that exact same Mossberg at just about the same time. The adjustable choke looked like a poly choke but it was Mossberg’s version which they called a C-lect choke.
Mine was also in 20 gauge. I had a slight problem in that the trigger had a sharp edge and every now and then I would cut my trigger finger. I guess it never occurred to me to take a file and dress down the sharp part.
Congratulations!
You have the one weapon every man should own and become proficient with.
1st gun I had? Grew up with them and don’t have a recollection of when I first shot.
I’m in San Francisco. I’ll probably be joining you as a gun purchaser soon. Are you going to shoot trap or sporting clays? That’ll be a good way to get familiar with your new best friend.
From wikipedia, FWIW (there is a doctor who survived stalingrad and would have received the equivalent of the Medal of Honor if on the winning side. Can’t remember the name or the unit)
“Aftermath
Since the beginning of the Italian campaign in Russia, about 30,000 Italians had been killed and another 54,000 would die in captivity. By the end of February 1943, the rout of the ARMIR was complete. Mussolini then withdrew what remained of his 8th Army from Russian soil. The Italian forces in Russia had been reduced to less than 150,000 men, and 34,000 of these were wounded. The disaster in Russia was a fierce blow to the power and popularity of the dictator. Both sank as the gloomy news soon reached the public in Italy. Survivors blamed the Fascist political elite and the army generals. The survivors said they both had acted irresponsibly by sending a poorly prepared, ill-equipped, and inadequately armed military force to the Russian Front. According to veterans, weapons in Italian service were awful: hand grenades rarely went off and rifles and machine guns had to be kept for a long time on a fire to work properly in extreme climatic conditions, thus often not capable of firing in the midst of battle. The German commanders were accused of sacrificing the Italian divisions, whose withdrawal was supposedly delayed after the Soviet breakthrough, in order to rescue their own troops.[6]
Throughout 1943, Italy’s fortunes worsened. On 25 July 1943, Benito Mussolini and his Fascist government were put out of power by King Victor Emmanuel III. On 8 September, the new Italian government led by the King and Marshal Pietro Badoglio signed an armistice with the Allies.
Well, it wasn’t me. Mom and dad hadn’t met each other yet. Grandpa Joe, who gave me Gertrude (my rifle’s name), is innocent as well. After he came home from WWII, the man never left Queens.
:)
I bought a Taurus 410 shotgun last year that didn’t come with a trigger lock.
Stevens Jr. rolling block .22 LR
I’ve always shot rifles and shotguns left handed. Never got one that was specifically for lefties. Yea, I’ve had a few hot shell casings down the sleeve, but it’s not that bad.
I started shooting pistols left handed...couldn’t hit sh**. Had a weapons expert do a dominant eye test on me. I am right eyed. Started shooting pistols right handed 20 years ago. I’m not a great pistol shot, but I can knock a man down at 60 meters. You have to love the Army’s pop up .45 and 9MM ranges.
LOL! That’s your story and your sticking to it I’m sure. ;-)
522 Speedmaster was my first. Wish it was still around.
... And San Rafael Blue, I didn’t even need to check your location when I read about a waiting period for a long gun. What, is it still like half a month not counting weekends and the first and last days of the ‘DROS’ period over there?
When I lived in CA, me and my pals went through an ‘assault rifle’ buying craze in the mid-80s and the law was cash and carry on long guns then. Man, every other payday we were down at B&B Wholesale getting whatever was on special that week — back when a lot of these vintage classics were selling for $450 at most. It was just filthy gun perversion we were in the grips of, let me assure you. We were three guys that lived in an apartment that looked like a safe house for Black September.
If those days were today and someone saw what we had casually laying around, we’d certainly be at the top of California breaking news with helicopters flying around and “SWAT confiscates huge SoCal arsenal... DA expects to file charges when she, um, figures out what crime this is, because if this ain’t a crime, comrades, it oughtta be”.
I had one of the Stevens favorites when they brought it out again with the action made of zamack. I loved the action on it and it really was handy but unfortunately it was not an accurate one.
I may have it’s sibling. Does it have a swing away peep site with a variable aperature?
The first I bought myself was a Browning light twenty, my father had given me a single shot 22 and shotgun early in life.
Grandpa Joe claimed it came from a German POW who claimed that he saw action on the Russian front and was terrified to return, so he was happy to surrender to the Allies.
My grandfather was in the Army Air Corps and didn’t see any combat as an infantryman. (But he did fly missions over hostile territory as a gunner.) He won the rifle in a card game.
Like all family legends, I don’t know how true the story is, but I do know this: I wouldn’t part with that old gun if my life depended on it. It means the world to me.
My dad was a Detroit cop and he used to let my brother and I shoot his service revolver at the lakes. I shot the M1 in the USAF, then later as a civilian. I shot M14 s, M16s, UZIs and AK47s. I bought my first handgun in 2007, a HiPoint 9mm and then I got a .38 S&W (my carry weapon).
I like history and wish the rifles could talk. At the end Germany used whatever was on hand.
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