Ten or more Christmas back I gave my son-in-law 250 Remington 165-grain bullets in .308 diameter for his 30-06. The next year was a package with a 1000 Large Rifle primers. He has been saving his brass forever. With them went the invitation to join me at the bench and load some rounds with his bullets. He had spent some time at the bench loading my components and learning how to load safely. With the demands of a new job and interest he might have loaded fifty of the bullets. I am not sure.
As families grow and new branches sprout on the family tree new opportunities arise. Today, Christmas 2009 we gathered at my mother-in-laws home to celebrate Christmas. This is the last time we will celebrate Christmas in my mother-in-laws home. She was a young bride on December 7, 1941. That morning she had left her husband at Ft. Mason in the bay area to be transported by ship to unknown location in the Pacific. On her return trip home she was crossing the San Francisco Bay Bridge and heard the Japanese had bombed Pear Harbor. Her husband’s ship did not sail that morning and the National Guard Sergeant and his men we given assignments to protect different West Coast locations.
The Sergeant was sent to Officers Candidate School, fought in New Guinea, and the Philippines. He was later part of the American occupation of Japan and took part in the Korean War. He became very familiar with the 30-06 cartridge. Those actions were over and he request Alaska. He got his wish and one of his first moves was to buy a 30-06 rifle. He hunted Alaska before it was a State. When he and his family returned to the Lower 48 his oldest daughter started dating a local. After the local showed up with a buck in his trunk one evening they became hunting partners. Months down the road he became the son-in-law.
When he passed away from G.I. lung cancer I inherited the rifle. The first thing I bought was reloading dies for the 30-06 and bullets. The rifle is a good shooter and I settled on a couple of loads using H414 and H4831 powders. Having witness the outstanding results a neighbor got with the 165-grain Hornady that became my bullet of choice.
Time passes fast and the day came when I had a son-in-law in the family tree, time has passed and he has a son-in-law. It happens that he has a new 30-06 and he has been shooting commercial ammunition. He has been saving his brass.
As the extended family gathered to celebrate Christmas the Son-in-Law (SIL), and his Son-in-Law set down together across from me and the SIL open the conversation:
Do you remember those bullets you gave me? If it is okay we would like to come out and reload some ammunition. We will buy primers, and powder. Let us know what to buy.
I told them I was looking forward to loading with them.
We opened presents and I got a Rotary tool kit, what is very timely because I am preparing a rifle stock for bedding.
An important element in today’s gathering is my father-in-law. He married my mother-in-law after the first died of lung cancer. He is an aging veteran of WWII; a deer and bird hunter. Close friends of the In-laws joined us for Christmas dinner. At the table we all set as a family holding hands and the father-in-law lead us in prayer. I asked for special thanks for my mother and father-in-law. The eldest at the table is 87-yearsold. The youngest is my great granddaughter who honored me by crawling across three people to set in my lap.
After dinner the conversation turned to shooting, and a day of target shooting including guest.
