The first is a Winchester Model 69A .22 rifle, highly "customized" by me in my youth. At the age of 10, I was pestering my parents for a .22 rifle. My dad said I could have one when I turned 11, but I'd have to pay for half of it. Now at that time, a brand new Winchester Model 69A cost $24, so I had to raise $12. I mowed lawns, did chores, saved my 50 cents a week allowance, and finally had the dough. My dad and I went down to Pinney & Robinson's Sporting Goods store in downtown Phoenix to pick it out. I remember it was dark inside and smelled of walnut wood and gun oil. And it was packed with guns. We picked out a 69A that seemed to have the nicest stock, and the guy at the counter said he'd sight it in for 50 yards for us.

On my 11th birthday we went down to pick it up. It came broken down into the barrel and receiver and the stock groups, in a box with a heavy wire cleaning rod. Still have that cleaning rod, but the box (now worth hundreds) is long gone, thrown out by my mother (thanks Mom). I still remember retrieving the boxed gun from the back of my dad's 1947 Studebaker when we got home.

That Saturday, I fired my first shot ever with a gun. There was a high wind that day, but it didn't deter me. With the rifle's long barrel, there was way less noise than I expected. And I hit the target in spite of the wind!

Over the years I did some experimenting with the stock, modifying it from its original configuration. Although the gun has no serial number, I remember scratching "1952" under the buttplate a couple of years after I got it.

Here's a pic of me shooting that rifle at about age 15:



And here's a pic of the rifle as it appears today:



In later years when I was an adult and getting to be fairly knowledgeable on guns, my dad asked me what type of firearm he should get for home defense. I already had a Smith Model 28-2 6" which I enjoyed for its utility and ruggedness, and I suggested he might want to get the same model, but with a 4" barrel for handiness. He commissioned me to find one, and I did, selecting from among several at Bohm's Sporting Goods in Phoenix. This was in 1968. I purchased a set of target stocks and a trigger shoe (stylish in those days), and added them to the gun. My dad and I used to take these Model 28s out to the desert north of Phoenix and shoot them regularly.

Dad is gone now, and I inherited his revolver when he passed away in December, 1987. I have never shot it, preferring to think that the last time it was fired, my dad pulled the trigger. Here's a shot of that fine old revolver:



And finally, my grandfather's old beat-up Smith Model 1902. He carried it in a shoulder holster when he was a country storekeeper in Crittenden, Kentucky in the early part of the 20th Century. I inherited from his wife, my grandmother, when she passed away in 1975. It shows much use and at least one re-nickeling, and that's the way I'll keep it. Here's a pic of that gun and the holster my grandfather carried it in:



I will own these guns, no matter what, until my death. At that time, I hope one or more of my descendants will keep them and treasure them as I have.

Perhaps some of you have "keepers" such as these that stir memories of times gone by. Share them with us!

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- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -