100'th post-- My firearms history

[27hand]

Hi listers,

I'm not sure what caught my eye that the next post I make will be my 100th post.

I wasn't sure what to post and after giving it some thought came up with the idea to post an overview of my firearms life and general history.

This might be boring AND long winded but it's keeping me out of the attic doing insulation so bear with me.

My two older boys like to stroke me a bit that I was born in the 40's. Last Sat I was 57 years old.

Born in Germany in 1949 and emigrating to this country in 1952, I was raised in a family that for the most part had little to do with firearms. My father (a WWll halftrack machinegunner fighting for Germany) always told me he wasn't allowed to own a firearm as he and my mother only held green cards as resident aliens and never became naturalized citizens.

I did a little shooting in boy scouts and liked it a lot but never had much of an opportunity to do so. My dad finally got a Rem. nylon 66 .22 some time between boy scouts and my first hunting experience( he bought it during some rioting in the 60's). I did sneak the .22 out a few times. A buddy and I went to the dump to cut down the rat population although i don't remember ever hitting one.

At 16, I started hanging with a friend who was a hunter. He put a double 20ga. in my hands and said "lets go shoot some rabbits". With almost no instruction, I was putting bunnies down pretty regularly and my mom was frying them up.

At 19, I joined the Air Force( I had to get naturalized before I could enlist) and shot my first M16. Was that cool. In basic, I hit 60 of 60 into the target from prone, kneeling, sitting and standing. This was all that was required to get an expert ribbon. My range records were lost and later I saw someone had replaced the missing paperwork with a sheet that said I hit 58 of 60 and wasn't eligable for the ribbon. Bummer. Even after I volunteered for duty in Vietnam, I only shot the M16 a couple times so they knew i could load the weapon and pull the trigger.

After 3 yr. 6 mo. and 18 days of military service, I bought a Savage 20 ga pumpgun. My high school buddy and I kept on hunting small game. He finally convinced me to try hunting deer. I bought a Spanish 7mm Mauser for $24 from Springfield Sporters on rt.422. I could barely group 12" at 50 yds off bags with that piece but gave it a try (no deer if you can imagine that). I liked hunting so bought a Rem 760 pumpgun in 30.06 from K-mart for $149. I grouped better but still no deer (how hard could this be? deer are everywhere). The next year I put a scope on that rifle and the deer started dropping like flies .

Maybe 10 years later or around the "Dirty Harry" days, I bought a Ruger Redhawk .44 and went through a few boxs of ammo every few years. Never had the gonads to take only the pistol into the woods for deer.

In 1999, I bought a Glock32 to carry but had absolutely no idea what to do with it if I needed it to protect myself. Do you know there is NO safety on this pistol!!! If you pull the trigger, it fires!! I carried it without a round chambered and was afraid of it.

While sighting in my deer rifles at Greater Pitt Gun Club, I saw a flier from some group calling itself "Pennsylvania Firearms Development Corporation" advertising a "Tactical Pistol Class". I called the referred # and talked to a guy named Peter Georgiades to find out what it was all about. He explained what is presented and it was essentially what i needed to know. $300 was a bunch of cash, taking off a day of work(unpaid) and buying 700 rounds was a pretty good hit and I was apprehensive as to whether or not I should spend this much money on a training class.

Giles Stock was the rangemaster ( he also teaches at Gunsite). This class was the most eye opening experience with firearms i ever had.

I found out that I didn't know what I didn't know. I thought I DID know.
Every man in the USA who has a firearm is born with the knowledge of how to use it. I still hear this and have been told by many that if needed, they would know what to do to protect themselves. This is the biggest load of crap I continually hear.

Getting back to the training, I loved it and slowly,slowly, started to hit the targets consistantly and more quickly.

Since that first class, I have taken about a dozen classes in pistol, edged weapons,carbine, and have taken a class using simunitions.I eventually took the NRA instructors classes, became a Range Safety officer, and helped out teaching a couple one day firearms familiarization classes with the Fire Institute. I was funding my training classes by working extra jobs and whatever it took to afford them.
Recently, i have had to reprioritize with the remodeling of a gameroom and kitchen but hope to take another "basic" pistol class next spring to relearn what I have either forgotten or have developed bad habits from not training correctly.

This summer has been bad for shooting with the eye injury but the last stitch comes out of the cornea in 2 weeks. Hopefully, corrective lenses will afford me the opportunity to continue shooting with my dominant eye. If not, I'll make a change.

Along the way, I've picked up a few milsurps and a few more pistols. I took Tony F's Utah CCW class and would like to take a Randy Cain Practical Rifle class. I shoot a little IDPA(or did till I stuck that blade in my eye).

Well, there you have it. My little corner of gun history.


Post # 101 will be much shorter. I promise .

27hans

[danp]

That was a really interesting post, I'll have to write a similar one myself when I have more time.

[27hand]

Thanks danp

I should have put a little more time into it but there it is.

It would be "neato" to hear others histories .

Later, Hans

[GRIZZLYBEAR]

Interesting post.

grizz