Author Topic: Guns of my Misspent Youth  (Read 482 times)

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Offline Swampman

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Guns of my Misspent Youth
« on: October 27, 2011, 08:51:13 AM »
When I was old enough I started earning extra money by doing all kinds of crap work to buy a few of the guns I wanted.  Some of these were a T/C Renegade, a Ruger #3 in .45-70, a Ruger Super Blackhawk, a Marlin 1895, and a bolt action .30-06.
 
Oddly enough (hundreds of guns later) I'm pretty much right back where I started plus a few.
"Brother, you say there is but one way to worship and serve the Great Spirit. If there is but one religion, why do you white people differ so much about it? Why not all agreed, as you can all read the Book?" Sogoyewapha, "Red Jacket" - Senaca

1st Special Operations Wing 1975-1983
919th Special Operations Wing  1983-1985 1993-1994

"Manus haec inimica tyrannis / Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem" ~Algernon Sidney~

Offline Conan The Librarian

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Re: Guns of my Misspent Youth
« Reply #1 on: October 27, 2011, 09:08:49 AM »
Sometimes you just get it right the first time.
 
My first firearm guns were truly horrific garbage, like an abominable Savage 12 gauge side by side, a jam-o-matic pump 22 and an el-crappo 22 revolver with the optional deluxe insta-rust finish. I have done better since, and don't have any truly fancy guns, but they are all good quality guns that are worth owning.
 
That Savage had a stock designed by a sadist who managed to direct the full recoil to my cheek bone, and the geometry of the stock was set up so that only a peg-legged left handed cross-eyed hunchback could raise it and get a natural point of aim. The rifle jammed every few rounds, and the trigger was a special high-tech random jitter trigger that had anything from a hair trigger release to about an inch of travel and never had the same trigger pull twice. The pistol hit about 8 feet to the right of where I thought I was aiming.
 
The thing that kept me shooting, however, was the venerable Crosman 760, which was just great and I really liked it. Nice to see it's still available. I think I shot about 30,000 BBs through it, sometimes five at a time because you could chamber more than one BB. I also shot pellets and darts with it, but not nearly as much. Sometimes I even dared to, gasp, try 11 pumps instead of the documented maximum 10. This was my first "reloading" experience because I had different "loads" for different applications, like 3 pumps for indoor shooting, 5 pumps for low-noise songbird shooting, and 10 pumps for when I needed maximum power (I'll leave it to you to imagine what that meant, but think large and feathery).
 

Offline AtlLaw

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Re: Guns of my Misspent Youth
« Reply #2 on: October 27, 2011, 09:34:42 AM »
Gee Whizz Swampy!  None of those guns were even being made during my (very well and continuously) misspent youth!   ::)  Well, that's not entirely true, there were 30-06 bolt guns...
 
I had a Rem 514 22 rifle, a 12 ga. Baker Gun Company Batavia Special Double, a Lee Enfield No.4 Mk 1*, and my 45-70 was a 1873 Springfield!
 
That was about it although several others went through my hands, like a Sav M24 22/410 and a .22 clip feed pump with an octagon barrel, until I stopped selling guns!   ;D
Richard
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Offline Swampman

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Re: Guns of my Misspent Youth
« Reply #3 on: October 27, 2011, 09:40:02 AM »
My very first rifle was a Remington 514 Boy's Rifle.  I still have a 514 but it was my fathers adult version.
"Brother, you say there is but one way to worship and serve the Great Spirit. If there is but one religion, why do you white people differ so much about it? Why not all agreed, as you can all read the Book?" Sogoyewapha, "Red Jacket" - Senaca

1st Special Operations Wing 1975-1983
919th Special Operations Wing  1983-1985 1993-1994

"Manus haec inimica tyrannis / Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem" ~Algernon Sidney~

Offline AtlLaw

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Re: Guns of my Misspent Youth
« Reply #4 on: October 27, 2011, 09:43:44 AM »
It was my first firearm also and I still have it.  I was saving it to give to my first grand child that showed an interest in shooting/hunting, but all my gran-babies must be democrats...  :-\   So far anyway!   ;D
Richard
Former Captain of Horse, keeper of the peace and interpreter of statute.  Currently a Gentleman of leisure.
Nemo me impune lacessit

                      
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Offline Old Fart

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Re: Guns of my Misspent Youth
« Reply #5 on: October 27, 2011, 09:46:21 AM »
My first rifle was a 7.7 Ariska which led me into reloading at a very early age.  :o   :D
"All my life I've had a bad case of the Fred's. Fredrick Vanderbilt taste on a Fred Sanford budget." CR
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Offline lakota

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Re: Guns of my Misspent Youth
« Reply #6 on: October 27, 2011, 11:38:08 AM »
The mention of the Crossman 760 brings back memories. We would pump ours 15-20 times and dump 10 bbs or so down the barrel and then chamber a bb and have a make shift shotgun
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Offline Swampman

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Re: Guns of my Misspent Youth
« Reply #7 on: October 27, 2011, 12:04:01 PM »
Ever shoot the old style matches out of your BB gun?  They make a loud pop when they hit a hard surface.
"Brother, you say there is but one way to worship and serve the Great Spirit. If there is but one religion, why do you white people differ so much about it? Why not all agreed, as you can all read the Book?" Sogoyewapha, "Red Jacket" - Senaca

1st Special Operations Wing 1975-1983
919th Special Operations Wing  1983-1985 1993-1994

"Manus haec inimica tyrannis / Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem" ~Algernon Sidney~

Offline lakota

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Re: Guns of my Misspent Youth
« Reply #8 on: October 27, 2011, 12:25:13 PM »
Are you talking about wood strike any where matches? Never tried that.
Hi NSA! Can you see how many fingers I am holding up?

Offline timothy

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Re: Guns of my Misspent Youth
« Reply #9 on: October 27, 2011, 12:29:29 PM »
My first gun was a marlin papoose, i picked it because it came with a scope and broke down like a james bond gun lol. I still have it and its always worked great. My second was a H&R topper 12 gauge my dad got me. It too worked well for years and i still have it. Years later i got my first handgun a makarov 9mm, it never jammed but i could never hit anything with it so its gone.

Offline OldSchoolRanger

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Re: Guns of my Misspent Youth
« Reply #10 on: October 27, 2011, 12:58:21 PM »
My first real gun was a homemade 22 "zip" gun.  Dad wouldn't buy me a real gun, and I had no money.  I guess I made up for it over the years.  ;D
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Offline Swampman

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Re: Guns of my Misspent Youth
« Reply #11 on: October 27, 2011, 01:04:37 PM »
Are you talking about wood strike any where matches? Never tried that.

That's the kind.  I don't know if the kind they make now work or not.
"Brother, you say there is but one way to worship and serve the Great Spirit. If there is but one religion, why do you white people differ so much about it? Why not all agreed, as you can all read the Book?" Sogoyewapha, "Red Jacket" - Senaca

1st Special Operations Wing 1975-1983
919th Special Operations Wing  1983-1985 1993-1994

"Manus haec inimica tyrannis / Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem" ~Algernon Sidney~

Offline Ex 49'er

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Re: Guns of my Misspent Youth
« Reply #12 on: October 31, 2011, 06:55:48 PM »
I wish I still had my Ruger #3 .45-70. It was a great 100yd. plinker on baseballs & tennis balls.
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Offline mechanic

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Re: Guns of my Misspent Youth
« Reply #13 on: November 01, 2011, 12:09:57 AM »
My first were a Springfield 22 bolt single shot and a Central Arms 20 ga. single that I still have.  Next was a Rem. Nylon 66 Apache that I stupidly traded.
 
The Springfield is gonna' get completely reworked for a grandchild.
 
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Offline Glanceblamm

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Re: Guns of my Misspent Youth
« Reply #14 on: November 01, 2011, 12:56:41 AM »
I still have one...It is the Stevens Savage model 94 single shot 12 ga w\plastic stock & forearm. They made these from the 40's to 50 I believe due to a wood shortage during WW2. This was and still is a light, fast handling piece and the plastic is still holding up well. This thing would break the firing pin if you looked at it wrong but it was always the shooters, or shooters friends fault as you know.