The Mauser HSc was my very first "real" handgun.

They had one in the glass case at the corner hardware store in my hometown.
An Interarms model.
I can't now remember the price.

It took lots of pestering of my Dad to buy it.
I had a delivery job (and no expenses) at the time, so I had the cash for it, but not the years on my ID.

Yes, it did dish out "slide-bite" if you were at all careless about your grip.
Ammo was expensive enough that I rarely fired it.
I can't say the gun was inaccurate, but I can say I fired it inaccurately.

One day, me and dad were out just "riding around" some country roads in his '66 Thunderbird - a car that I was unable to properly appreciate at the time. We stopped at some dusty pull-off by the side of the road to take a leak. While I was in mid-leak, I spotted a cottontail rabbit ambling along. About the time I zipped up, the rabbit decided to stand still for me. I grabbed the HSc out of the T-Bird, with rabbit-icide on my mind.

I fired the first shot.

...and then the second shot.

...and then the rest of the magazine.

That confounded rabbit couldn't have been ten yards away!

Dumbest rabbit I ever saw.
Just sat there chewing on a weed while I landed .380 bullets in several different zip codes around him.
I had extra ammo with me, and I considered reloading the magazine for a second volley at Mr. Hasenpheffer.
But, by then my ears were ringing something awful, and Dad was giving that same look he had been giving me when I was begging him to buy the gun for me.
I just stuck the gun back in the car, and took it home and put it back in its factory Styrofoam box and paper sleeve.
I don't think I ever shot that gun again.

Not too long after that, I pestered Dad some more, and got him to help me give it in trade for a Security-Six. For some reason, I just couldn't get my mind wrapped around ear protection back then. If the HSc was loud, the Security-Six was positively ATOMIC. I didn't shoot that one much either. I ended up giving the Ruger in trade for a Remington 788 in 6mm Rem. That gun languished for years too. I eventually gave the 788 in trade for a stainless Browning A-Bolt, which I still have to this day.

So, in a way, I still have that old HSc.

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