Last year, I passed along the Winchester Mod. 94 .30-30 my dad gave me when I was 13. That rifle dated to 1953, and it made me very proud to own it. It's taken a lot of deer, and has been well cared after. I wanted it to stay in the family, and I gave it to my nephew for his son. Dad taught his grandsons to shoot and fish, and my nephew loved and respected. I know he'll teach his son to respect firearms and hunting in the same manner as my Dad did for us.

When I was 14 my Dad gave me his 6" Highway Patrolman. He had bought it from the brother of a friend in November of '63, but never shot it much. He left it with my grandparents when he got married in '72, and Grandpop used it to encourage a burglar to jump out a second floor window. By October of '88 Grandpop couldn't see well enough to use the revolver if he needed it, so Dad brought it home and gave it to me. That Highway Patrolman was the first gun I ever fired, and I still have it. I don't have any kids, so I suppose when I'm gone it will go to a new family.

I have several other guns I received as gifts from Dad, and I wouldn't dream of ever selling any of them either. I also have the last gun he shot, my Model 18ND. He loved shooting it, must have fired over a hundred rounds thru it the last time we went shooting together a few months before he died.

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Wheel guns are real guns.

This was my grandfather's S&W .32 Safety Hammerless with the rare 2" barrel, known as the "bicycle gun". He bought it from a hardware store in Memphis in 1935 and carried it in his front pocket every day until he died in 1969. It became my grandmother's nightstand gun for another 35 years. She gave it to me, the oldest grandson, not long before she died a few years ago. The finish is gone but it's still 100% functional.

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- Change it back -

I have an old hardware grade 12 gauge double barrel shotgun that belonged to my father. It has Marshwood on the left side of the receiver, and Apr 20=1915 on the right. I fired it right after I first received it, and both barrels discharged. I thought my hand was broken. I got it fixed, and it was a great pheasant gun in both Michigan and Montana along the lower Yellowstone. I haven't fired since 1981. It's not worth much financially, but it's not going anywhere until after I'm gone.

I was fortunate to inherit several guns from my Dad, including his first center fire rifle; 1953 Marlin 336 Sporting Carbine in .32 Winchester Special.

But I also inherited his Dad's 1922 Colt Police Positive .38 Special complete with the holster that he used to carry it in.

My Dad never owned it, it was given to me by my Dad's sister on the evening of my grandfather's funeral. I always admired it when I was young and my aunt said that my grandfather told all of his kids (9) that he wanted me to have it.

I would post a picture if Photobucket hadn't locked me out....

I also have my great uncle's Stevens SxS 12 ga hammer gun. He bought it new in 1917 at the age of 15. Family legend says he paid $15 for it.

The first pistol I ever shot, this 1916 DWM 9mm. Luger. All numbers match except the magazines

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LIVE FROM THE DAWGHOUSE

My father was WWI Corporal in the Rainbow Division.. 167th "Alabama" and brought home a cap & ball, he said was from the earlier Crimean War. This pistol is now with my son.

I was lucky enough to receive my dad's service revolvers that he carried when he was on a small town police dept around Akron,Ohio.
Two 5" Colt Police Positives the blued was the everyday carry and the nickle was is dress up gun.
The S&W 10-5 nickle was his carry while off duty.
I also got passed down a single shot 12ga from my grandfather as well as a .32 H&R from my grandmother.

These will all be passed down to my 2 sons once I'm gone.

Masterbuck54

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When my dad passed a few years back, my brother and I split his collection. My brother lives in Canada, so no handguns with barrels shorter than 4.05 inches...
We split the 2 rifles he built as a young man. My brother got the well sporterized 03A3, and I took the varmit rifle he built on a Stevens 44 1/2 action, in 218 "improved" bee.( I also got the still in the box CMP 03a3) I got 4 S and Ws, a first model 32 Hammerless, a pre 18, a pre10 snubby, and an ex police 14-3. There were others, but these are the ones that matter.

Nickel plated, 6-1/2" 29 no dash that my dad bought new before I was born is the only one I would consider an 'heirloom' piece. He never let me shoot it. There were a few other guns in his collection but mostly random stuff he got after I moved out on my own. The other in the pic is a pre 27 that was far too pristine to be kept in my collection of shooters.

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I have two, one is a Remington 514 single shot that I learned to shoot with. Still love to break it out every now and then.

Second is a WW2 bring back nazi marked P-38 with the original holster and extra mag. Shot it for the 1st time when I was 12, still love to shoot it from time to time. I always bring it out when a group of us go to the camp. Everyone gets a kick out of shooting a piece of world history.

Dad gave me his Dad's Winchester model 1886 in 45-70 I believe it was built in 1889. I don't shoot it, I have been told these were not made to handle modern powder loads. True?
Steve W

[QUOTE=Stevens;139654738]Dad gave me his Dad's Winchester model 1886 in 45-70 I believe it was built in 1889. I don't shoot it, I have been told these were not made to handle modern powder loads. True?
Steve W[/QUOTe


The 1886 is a very strong action and can handle modern ammo that says on the box "suitable for all rifles". Remington 405 grain green box ammo is fine. Even better are the light cast bullet loads for cowboy shooting. I have had several of these over the years and have shot them all. Killed a nice mule deer buck once using a deluxe 1886 in 45-90. Stay away from the new high pressure loads.

Unforunately NO. Dad only owned one gun: Winchester 62A....I shot it once when I was about 10. When he died I checked with his spouse at the time and she said he had sold it years ago!!!! So, I had to check out gun shows until I found one like it. Neat, fun, pump, rifle to walk the property with.....but, it ain't Dad's.

My dad never owned a gun in his life. But my kids will Inherit my nicer guns.

To ME, an heirloom gun has to be non striker fired and no plastic. Can you
Imagine handing down a Glock or M&P? Might as well hand down a plunger. "here son. This has unclogged many a toilet. It's yours now". Just would t be right

My uncle was in ww2 when he passed I was given a Astra 600/43 pistol in 9mm he brought back. When my brother passed away his wife gave me a Remington 30-06 pump 760? A Marlin 336 in 35 R.E.M., a Redhawk in 44mag, a Marlin bolt action 22 rifle, she wanted my sons to have them.

After reading your post I have to take back at least half of the bad things about folks from Pennsylvania. Some people out there really do get it.

Not from my Dad - he wasn't a gun guy at all, but my Grandad was. He had a modest collection but he had good taste. One night many years ago, he called all his grandchildren together. When we arrived at his house we found all his guns laid out in a row on the floor. Beginning with the oldest - me - each grandchild chose one. When each had one we started over, and we kept at it until they were gone. I got a 1948 Winchester Model 70 in .270 Win., a Marlin Model 90 O/U 20 ga., and a S&W 22/32 HFT, his only handgun. I had lusted after those guns through the glass-fronted case since I was five years old. It was one of the best evenings of my life.

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Everybody could shoot

I had two guns my father gave me but one has moved on to my daughter now. The other will go to my son at some point. Up until now he has lived in a place with very little room so he didn't want it yet. Just recently he bought a house so I'll be passing it on soon.

It's not exactly a great gun. My dad owned a bunch of S&W .357's but he sold all but 2 before he died and my brother ended up with them. He passed them on to his grandson before he passed away.

I have a Stevens 15-A single shot .22. It may not sound like much but that rifle has killed a bunch of squirrels. It is "very" accurate and is built to last a dozen lifetimes. It's already into the third generation and about to move on to the fourth. It looks and works like it did when it was brand new except for the finish on the stock. It isn't damaged. It just doesn't look new.

My kids know I hope they will pass those guns down to their children someday. Having a connection to your family history is important IMO. I wish I had a gun owned by one of my grandfathers.

You know as you get older you realize your time here is finite. When your number is up no instant replays. My two daughters are both married and neither they nor their husbands have shown any interest in any of my guns. The one who is a cop carries a Glock 19 and as far as I know that is his only firearm. But what I'm going to do is take my really nice marlin 336 in 30-30 and tag it so when I'm gone my wife will know to whom it goes. And do the same with one of my 22's and maybe one of my pistols. course my nephew is only 3 months old and will have to do a bit of growing before he can actually use them. Well that takes care of part of the problem. My other daughter doesn't want kids so gifting them something is out. When they were really young I got a deal on 4 Swedish mausers @75$ each figuring that when the time came I'd give each one of them. Nope never happened. Such is life. Frank

My great grandfather was born and raised in Barrington Passage, Nova Scotia. As a young man, he went to sea. He made a couple of voyages to Bermuda, for molasses, which the Nova Scotians distilled into rum. He then made a long voyage as a seaman on the whaling ship Athol, which went into the Pacific and hunted whales for three years. His diary of that voyage was published by the Nova Scotia Historical Society under the title "Following the Sea'. Later he got on with the Clyde line out of Halifax and rose to be captain of one of their ships, Cherokee. After retiring he lived with one of his sons in Westfield, NJ and died in 1916.

He had three long arms. I don't think he had any handguns. One is a Colt Lightning Magazine Rifle, on the medium frame, in 38-40 caliber. It was his deer rifle. It has a fancy wood buttstock, with pistol grip, which required Colt to make some changes in how the mainspring was mounted. The pistol grip was checkered and the grip plate was a 50 cent coin dated 1882. Since he was in Westfield he probably ordered the rifle from Colt's New York office, and when I tried to letter the gun they had no record of it. I think Colt has since regained some of the New York office's recored but I haven't relettered the rifle.

His duck gun was a W. W. Greener double with 30 inch barrels and I think bored full and full. It has thick barrels and must weigh 12 pounds. I can't imagine swinging that gun to follow a duck. It's damascus barreled, of course, and i don't shoot it although I remember my parents shooting it to familiarize themselves with it when I was a boy. They used high brass duck loads and the gun didn't come apart.

The third gun, which the family called the 'ladies rifle' was a Remington rolling block in 38 long rimfire. I don't have any photos of it. I have shot it with ammo from Navy Arms Co. The only indication of caliber was the number 38 stamped on the bottom flat of the octagon barrel, forward of the stock.

The irony is that my two children are stepchildren and have naturally little interest in family history or artifacts. I could donate them to the family archives, but I'd like them to be shot and appreciated so I will probably sell them to a collector I know who is familiar with their hsitory.

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My grandfather lived in Westfield, NJ, next to a retired customs agent from Ellis Island. He was considerably older than my gandfather, and when he died, his widow found these handguns which she didn't know he had. She didn't want them and gave them to my grandfather My uncle inherited them and I got them from his daughter my cousin.

First is a French service revolve, Mle 92, in 8mm. Its barrel date is 1895 and it is in very good condition. Next is an Iver Johnson break top revolver in 32 S&W. It dates from 1894, with the old type of barrel latch wich has the thumbpiece forward of the latch and a small checkered pin protruding from a diamond shaped cut in the top strap. When the action was open, pushing in this pin released the cylinder for cleaning. Third is a Clement Baby revolver in 22 short. I've fired them all but treat them carefully. I think they are representative of the types of weapons that would have been brought into the country by immigrants.

One day he was sitting on a bench in the park and a young man approached him. The young guy had a revolver for which he wanted $1.50. He was broke and wanted to leave town. My grandfather gave him the money and figured the gun was hot. It was a S&W 1 1/2. I didn't photograph it and have since sold it; I should have hung onto that one.

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As a young guy I am lucky enough to have a built a collection of guns with my father. Almost every gun in the collection has a memory associated with it. It's really nice to be able to spend a ton of time with my dad and share a hobby together.

I got my Dad's two revolvers when he passed. As a NYPD cop, he had a pre-10 M&P (~1950), and Colt snub, that if it is a DS, it is from the first year production according to its serial number......
They get a cylinder or two through them once a year or so just for grins and giggles.

My Dad had a few guns. My brother and I divided them. He chose first. I got Dad's 1960 Ruger single six with the 4 5/8TH BBL, Dad's love his pre 64 M70 Win in 270, a Ruger mini 14, grandpa's trapdoor 45 70 and his White Powder wonder single shot 12 guage. My brother got the ones he wanted. I bagged my biggest whitetail and some mule Deer out west with it. I used the old 12 growing up. It had fluid steel bbls, full choked. Dad made sure I knew early on to use low brass only. Missouri turkey season was 1 bird per week over a 2 week season. I bagged one opening day and the last weekend on Saturday it was raining so I slept in. When I got up and dressed I went out to check the weather around 9 am. About a quarter a mile away I saw a Tom and 2 hens walking down a ridge. I grabbed the White poder Wonder and some 7.5s I had reloaded. I circled around and waited. He must have smelled a rat. They came off the ridge flying, I swung thru him and filed his head full of shot. He was the biggest Tom I ever got.

Dad taught me how to shoot pistols with the Ruger. I've used it to teach others.

My father in law and I got along great. He did not give anything to non blood folks who married into his family. He left a German 300 mk 5 Weatherby at my house for 20 years. He killed 1 elk with it. He loved that gun but did not hunt after his elk trip. He put it in his will to my wife. Then he told everyone the Wby is Duane's. Over the years I've killed lots of white tailed deer, coyotes, mule Deer and 1 elk with it. I cherish it as much as my Dad's Winchester.

After he passed my wife picked out his S&W m66 no dash, a trapdoor carbine and some others. The 66 has been my constant companion since my wife brought it home

. I once had a large pre 64 M70 collection and 10 or 12 Weatherbys, some m66s and Ruger pistols. They were just objects, no attachment. With the heirloom guns it is like Dad or my FIL are with me. They tie me to those I loved and admired.

My dad gave me his Winchester Model 1911 SL shotgun. He used to hunt pheasants with it. It's unique and he reminded me often that it's called "the widow maker so be careful". He also had a P-38 bring back. When us kids got older mom didn't want it in the house so he gave it to his buddy who was a county police officer.

Yes, a Hopkins & Allen .22 caliber revolver that my Dad gave me. It was allegedly carried by a relative as a back up gun when he worked on the Cleveland, OH PD.

He also gave me a P38 that he said he took off of a dead German soldier during WWII, but I either sold it or traded it. I did ask his permission prior to doing so, but I regret it to this day. Sorry Dad, I miss you.

Just remembered another one: A Mauser HSc in .32 ACP that he got from one of his brothers.

Wow, your Dad went to flight school at a hardware store? Neat.
Sorry, couldn't resist. No disrespect intended.

1944 Walther P 38, Dad brought back from Germany.

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Roger

I'd like to point out that the one thing we never lacked around our house was guns when I was growing up. I got a BB gun when I was 4 as a Christmas present and in spite of that movie I never shot my eye out. By the time I was 7 I was shooting dad's shotgun. Dad was big on starting kids off with a shotgun since the range was limited. Before I was 10 we had a Marlin 60 - this was the mid 1960's btw - and I learned to shoot rifles with that. The one .22 I have that dad gave me once belonged to the guy who lived on the neighboring farm. He had no family of his own so he willed the gun to my dad not to mention his farm. That guy was like Santa Claus to us kids. He bought us a mountain of presents on Christmas - he had a great job at a steel mill and no one to spend his money on. Plus he gave all of us a present any time any one of us had a birthday. He gave us gum or something every day because he came to eat dinner every day with my grandmother and aunt. Things were different in those days. Neighbors were like family that slept in a different house. That gun was his only gun and he gave it to dad. My brother hunted squirrels with it for a dozen years and he killed a bunch of them. When he moved out of the house he left the gun and dad really had no use for it anymore so he gave it to me. Needless to say that old cheap gun means the world to me.

I have an even better story about the shotgun dad gave me but that one can wait.

There are a couple in the safe. One is dad's Colt Frontier Scout 22 revolver that will go to my only grandson whose name is Scout. Second is one of the first Model 700s in 7MM Mag that my dad bought in 1962. It was the first one to come into this part of the state and has a low unique serial number. It goes to my oldest son. The last one is dad's octagon barreled Browning single shot B78 in 7 mag. Not sure who will end up with it when I am gone but it stays here for now.

WOW a four didit serial number That WAS an early one. Mine is 34???and I thought THAT was early

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Forum consigliere

[QUOTE=kbm6893;139654931]My dad never owned a gun in his life. But my kids will Inherit my nicer guns.

To ME, an heirloom gun has to be non striker fired and no plastic. Can you
Imagine handing down a Glock or M&P? Might as well hand down a plunger. "here son. This has unclogged many a toilet. It's yours now". Just would t be right.

FATHER: waving his arm towards the window, "son, someday all of this will be yours". SON: "WHAT THE CURTAINS"?

My dad had a friend who had been a target shooter (pistol). When my dad & I joined the North-South Skirmish Association, his friend Jim got interested in black powder shooting and we all shot together. When Jim died, he left all of his guns to my dad. And when my dad died, I received his .38 M&P and some also of the guns that Jim had left to him. Included were a three digit Ruger .357 Blackhawk, a Ruger .22 Mark I target pistol, a Navy Arms .38 special Yellow Boy, an Ithaca M37 20 gauge and a Colt Service Ace .22 LR from 1939.

I also have my granddaddy's Stevens .22/.410 over/under that he bought around WW II to deal with the bunnies in his garden. He died when I was 4 and the Stevens sat n the bathroom closet until I turned 15. I got a new Ithaca M49 .22 single shot and granddaddy's O/U on my 15th birthday.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

My Dad wasn't a shooter, he had a Luger taken from a dead German officer he gave it to me abt 20 years ago. Even has the holster. Just recently started shooting it. Also have a dress sword, a German Boy Scout knife and some miscellaneous WW2 items in his army trunk.

He never talked much about the war, brought tears to his eyes. He said that if you shot someone, it was someone's son, maybe someone's husband or someone's father. Larry

Larry you have to bring the Luger to a Tuesday meeting at the Club. I'll bring mine to show off too. A BYF 41 with correct mags, loading tool, and holster.

A Stevens single shot 12 ga shotgun that was owned by my grandfather (born in 1889), passed down to my father in the 1970's, and from my father to me shortly thereafter. Barrel patent date is 1913.

My dad was given 2 guns from his father-in-law when grampa quit hunting, one was a Winchester '94 in 30-30, with an original tang sight. The other was a WW1 Mauser 98 that had been converted into a 12 ga. 2 shot shotgun. My brother ended up with the 30-30 and after dad died (at 91) I got the shotgun. I kept it for a long time until my gun safe got over stuffed. I then did a search on the gun only to find out they were prone to catastrophic failure. I then sold it to a collector. I'm just glad it didn't blow up when dad shot it, in our state we had to use slugs for deer hunting in the southern zone and dad shot that gun several times. In fact, when he was 85 or 86 we hunted together, he used that gun (and I don't think he even once practiced with it, he was shooting slugs that were over 30 years old, paper hull. I put him on watch while I did a drive, a 180# 8 point ran across in front of dad, one shot and he had his buck. Then 2 days later, same hunting area, dad sat watch about 60' from where the 8 had fallen and I was again on drive. This time another 8 tried to sneak past dad at maybe 50 yards. Again, 1 shot, 1 buck. I think that was the last year dad hunted.
While his old shotgun had stories attached, I was afraid it would be shot someday and fail with someone getting hurt. I wasn't willing to take that chance.
Dad never bought a gun, he was too busy working, all the way into his late eighties.

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Certified NRA rifle instructor

My father gave me this Model 10-5 shortly after my discharge from the USAF as an LE Specialist. I told him I felt nekked without a sidearm. It came with box, docs, and tools. I have since passed it along to my son.

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Inconsistently consistent

War is a terrible thing. Most who have been in one don't want to expose others to the horrors of it so they don't want to talk about what they saw and did. Kids especially are better off not hearing those things.

I respect that point of view. Many will, blessedly, never know the horrors. One of my father's buddies was on Guadalcanal. He would never talk about it as I was growing up. As I got older - about 40 or so, Mom talked him into discussing his experiences with me. Once. One time and he went silent again. I quickly understood why he wanted it behind him. I was grateful, but at the same time saddened that I had him re-live the past. While I had always appreciated what these veterans did for us, that talk instilled in me a profound respectfulness and indebtedness to him and his fellow vets. He was forever changed by his past. I was forever changed as he shared it with me. Sadly, he's gone now. But I will remember my Uncle Joe and what he endured for all my years.

Krogen

My Dad was in the Battle of the Bulge and he never talked about it much at all. He did get angry one time and started cussing about the bombers dropping their bombs on our men during a bombing run, but never said much else.

I inherited my fathers Winchester model 61 pump .22 rifle that he some how scraped enough money together and bought during the depression. He used it for trapping and small game which helped him and my mother get by at that time.

My father drove a tractor for two weeks during his 14th summer in exchange for a Springfield Model 84C .22 rifle. Thereafter he was paid in cash. He started teaching me to shoot with that rifle when I was 5. He was the classic "one gun man" and I can honestly say I never saw him miss. It is now over his basement work bench and I use it for vermin around the "farm" when I visit my Mom. I sometimes miss.

That was his only gun until I was in grade school and he won a JC Higgins Model 20 12 gauge pump on a 10 cent raffle ticket. The gun came with a vinyl case. a wooden Outers cleaning rod and 3 boxes of shells. He used it to shoot skunks and used the .22 for everything else. When I got old enough to hunt he would let me use the gun if I bought my own shells. The year before he died he asked me to tear the shotgun down and clean it for him. When I finished he gave me the gun, the case, the rod...and the remains of 2 boxes of shells. It is in my safe. If I ever turkey hunt I will use it.

In the mid-70s I left the country for awhile and left my Colt Frontier Scout .22 Mag with him. When I came back he paid me what I had in it and kept it. It is now with my son, keeping vermin out of his barn.

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I need ammo, not a ride.

I've got several firearms that belonged to my dad, but two are extra special.

One is a .38 special S&W model 12-2. My late grandma bought it from Firestone back in the 1970s sometime. When she got too feeble to handle it, she gave it to my dad. When I moved out to Seattle for while in the early 1990s, my dad gave it to me as a Christmas present. It was my first handgun.

The second one (pictured) is a .32 caliber S&W. My dad won it in a poker game in the 1960s and kept it as a house gun for a couple of decades. When he upgraded to a Colt .357, he sold it. Mom fussed him out for selling it because she liked the way it shot. She liked the relatively small size, smooth trigger pull, and low recoil. Another decade or so went by and he got the chance to buy it back and did.

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1915 LeFever 16ga. Nitro Express
1943 Ithaca 1911A1
1944 Rockola M1 Carbine
WaA140 Nazi-proofed Hi Power

My dad gave me three rifles he had when he was a kid. A Winchester 63 he got for his 12th birthday in 1950. His father bought it at a pawn shop and had it rebelled and fixed up for him before it was given as a present.
My dad bought an early model Marlin 39 that has the silver case colored receiver and also a Winchester 1890 in 22WRF sometime when he was a teenager in the mid-1950s. I grew up shooting the Marlin and the Winchester 63. Still shoot the 63 from time to time. It was the first rifle my son shot, so now that has been used by 3 generations in our family.

My uncle just passed away in February this year and about 2 years ago he gave me his Kimber Custom Eclipse II. It's the one on the top. He had a lot of custom work done to it after he bought it new and he also bought a 22 conversion kit for it as well, which I have. A great gun to shoot and I'm proud to have it, and my dads rifles as well.

That island stood out as one of the worst experiences of the entire war for anyone. Steep ravines, dense jungles, tropical heat and lots of mud made life miserable. It also led to diseases like malaria. Shortages of food didn't help. And maybe worst of all the Japanese had never lost a ground campaign before that battle. The fighting was extreme and so was the attitudes of the soldiers. Few prisoners were taken. The wounded were shot where they laid if their own people didn't get to them first. Most people don't understand that conditions in the South Pacific were far worse than those in Europe even perhaps worse than the Battle of the Bulge (mainly it was the 101st Airborne troops that really suffered there) and Monte Cassino (where the 1st Army was bogged down in the mud and cold).

The Solomon Islands were key to the war and the Japanese tried to dominate the region quickly but the US realized how important it was to keep that from happening. And Guadalcanal was probably the turning point not just for the battle for the Solomons but maybe the war too.

Possibly conditions on the eastern front in the war were worse but of course we didn't have any soldiers there. It would have been pretty bad to be a Russian solider sent out without a rifle and expected to pick one up from a dead comrade and then risk being shot by your own troops if you retreated. And of course the Russian winters are pretty bad. But for Americans it was the Pacific Theater that ranked as the worst fighting. Conditions in Burma were also terrible but that was mostly British soldiers.

Conditions there were really horrendous. I can see not wanting to relive those days and not wanting to impose the memory of how awful it was on other humans.

War is never a pretty thing. Those that find glory in it are often the reason we have the wars in the first place. But some wars are more terrible than others. And the fight for the Solomon Islands was one of the worst in human history IMO. That's hard to know for sure of course but it certainly was bad.

My dad had a few over the years, not much of a collector to him they were tools. When he wanted something new he'd sell or trade off the old. The last gun he had, it now lives with me, is a 686 no dash 4". I have everything it came with when he bought it new in Sept. 1981 (AAB serial prefix). Need to take new photos now with all the issues from photobucket.

I taught both my sons how to shoot handguns with it and will continue through the family when I no longer can appreciate it. I need to take a new one with the prop rod in the correct position lol.