I am not an age discriminator when it comes to old threads, particularly if they are John’s. I enjoy his stories, and, with my pitiful memory, sometimes reading an old one is like new, to me.

Though I am not an especially sentimental type, I have a few I wouldn’t sell. I have my Dad’s Sako .222 and his K22, and my first S&W .44 Magnum revolver that he was kind enough to allow me to “buy” under his name when I was way too young to buy it myself. Those are three that I don’t plan to part with when the inevitable downsizing campaign begins.

I learned to shoot a revolver with the K22, and I learned quite a lot about handloading while shooting his .222. The barrel on that rifle could almost certainly benefit from being set back a few threads and rechambered, but it still shoots well enough with certain loads, so I guess I’ll leave it alone, for now.

And I still have Dad’s Browning BDA (SIG 220) .45 Auto, which he was never fond of, but never bothered to replace. I bought it for him when he decided he wanted a bigger handgun for protection. (He was a leftie.) I should have just looked around until I could find him a Model 19, but they were nearly impossible to find at that time.