dhermann1
I'll Lock Up
- Messages
- 9,154
- Location
- Da Bronx, NY, USA
My brother has our father's 1931 vintage Fox Sterlingworth 12 gauge shotgun. He was in the skeet club in high school. My brother says the comment on this gun was that it's not a good cheap gun, it's a cheap good gun. I think skeet and trap shooting are very vintagey activities, somehow.
When I was in Marine Corps bootcamp in 1966 our standard issue weapon was the M-14. This was just before the M-16 came in. The M-14 was a very serviceable weapon, with strengths and weaknesses. I learned to operate it pretty competently. But in ITR (Infantry Training Regiment) they gave us old WWII vintage M-1's. We were all used to the big 20 round magazines on the M-14, and couldn't deal with the m-1's little clips. Our company commander grabbed one from a recruit's hand and loped through the "John Wayne course" in seconds. making that M-1 absolutely sing. We gave it a try and quickly got the hang of it. I must say, handling the M-1, for those short few weeks, became a real pleasure. It's just an elegant old rifle, a real work of art. You really felt like a rifleman carrying it.
When I was in Marine Corps bootcamp in 1966 our standard issue weapon was the M-14. This was just before the M-16 came in. The M-14 was a very serviceable weapon, with strengths and weaknesses. I learned to operate it pretty competently. But in ITR (Infantry Training Regiment) they gave us old WWII vintage M-1's. We were all used to the big 20 round magazines on the M-14, and couldn't deal with the m-1's little clips. Our company commander grabbed one from a recruit's hand and loped through the "John Wayne course" in seconds. making that M-1 absolutely sing. We gave it a try and quickly got the hang of it. I must say, handling the M-1, for those short few weeks, became a real pleasure. It's just an elegant old rifle, a real work of art. You really felt like a rifleman carrying it.