Months back, I went to see a close friend of mine in Ft. Lauderdale, Fl. He had taken a job there this year, and moved from TX. I was happy for him, so I decided to see him for a vacation.
What can you say about Florida, fun in the sun, many things to do, much history, etc. A lot to do and see for a visitor on vacation in general. Of course, there are the many beaches too.
I remember thinking "I am taking a vacation from my family, my job, my kids, PA, and really, I should take a break from my hobbies", chief of which is S&W collecting. However, addictions are of course hard to overcome. I ended up hitting many pawnshops and gun shops while down there, and even though I didn't find any S&Ws that I wanted, I did buy 5 antique pistols that were all pretty neat in their own right. I did do some of the touristy stuff too, in addition to getting some rest and relaxation. I was down there for about 5 days.
We ended up on the beach in Ft. Lauderdale on a Saturday. It was packed, needless to say, and as life would have it, despite me trying to take a break from the endless search for collectible S&W revolvers, I saw this man on the beach, with an interesting tattoo...
I thought at first "wow, for as much as I love S&Ws, I don't have a tattoo" but then I noticed a few things about the tattoo.
First, the tattoo reads "SMITH AN WESSON" which ok, I'm not trying to be a grammar nazi or anything, but it should either be "SMITH AND WESSON" or "SMITH & WESSON". "An" is not a conjunction, for any of you who are wondering what my point is.
Now some of you might think I am being unfair in mentioning that, but let's not forget that this is a permanent image / design placed on one's skin. I for one, would not prefer to have a grammatical or spelling error tattooed on my skin!
Just sayin'! 
However, I do think that wording / grammatical error is not as bad as the other issue with the tattoo. Did any of you notice? He actually has the likeness of a pair of crossed Colt SAAs (or perhaps model 1860s) underneath "Smith an Wesson". I suppose they could be some other black powder era percussion revolvers, but certainly, they are not "Smith an Wessons" in the least!
For some reason, I am willing to bet he is unaware of this fact
I briefly considered chatting with the man about the tattoo, and asking him his SWCA membership number, if he went to the last annual meeting, or if he also joined the SWHF, but when I realized he had non-S&W revolvers tattooed underneath "Smith an Wesson", I figured such a conversation would be understandably short.
The lesson to be learned here? Be absolutely sure of your tattoo before getting it placed on your skin!
Although I was trying to take a vacation from my life and from my favorite hobby, the words of this song echoed in my head...
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqgyULgTg4Y"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqgyULgTg4Y[/ame]
For those of you who are the curious type, here is a group photo of the 5 antique pistols I acquired in Florida. Three of them are Webley's (RIC .455 uncut, MP in 450 Adams and a No 2. .320 aka 32 colt pocket revolver). The other two are a French 69 cal An XIII flintlock pistol, and a Shattuck 32 rimfire revolver.
The Shattuck was interesting in that it was one of the first "swing out cylinder" revolvers. The mechanism was of course much different than the later S&W and Colt swing out cylinders. The Shattuck's cylinder assembly pivoted out via a pin underneath the barrel. When the cylinder was pivoted out, it could be pushed forward and the extractor would then empty the cartridges. Only a few thousand were made per Flayderman's 9th.
What can you say about Florida, fun in the sun, many things to do, much history, etc. A lot to do and see for a visitor on vacation in general. Of course, there are the many beaches too.
I remember thinking "I am taking a vacation from my family, my job, my kids, PA, and really, I should take a break from my hobbies", chief of which is S&W collecting. However, addictions are of course hard to overcome. I ended up hitting many pawnshops and gun shops while down there, and even though I didn't find any S&Ws that I wanted, I did buy 5 antique pistols that were all pretty neat in their own right. I did do some of the touristy stuff too, in addition to getting some rest and relaxation. I was down there for about 5 days.
We ended up on the beach in Ft. Lauderdale on a Saturday. It was packed, needless to say, and as life would have it, despite me trying to take a break from the endless search for collectible S&W revolvers, I saw this man on the beach, with an interesting tattoo...
I thought at first "wow, for as much as I love S&Ws, I don't have a tattoo" but then I noticed a few things about the tattoo.
First, the tattoo reads "SMITH AN WESSON" which ok, I'm not trying to be a grammar nazi or anything, but it should either be "SMITH AND WESSON" or "SMITH & WESSON". "An" is not a conjunction, for any of you who are wondering what my point is.
Now some of you might think I am being unfair in mentioning that, but let's not forget that this is a permanent image / design placed on one's skin. I for one, would not prefer to have a grammatical or spelling error tattooed on my skin!
Just sayin'! However, I do think that wording / grammatical error is not as bad as the other issue with the tattoo. Did any of you notice? He actually has the likeness of a pair of crossed Colt SAAs (or perhaps model 1860s) underneath "Smith an Wesson". I suppose they could be some other black powder era percussion revolvers, but certainly, they are not "Smith an Wessons" in the least!
For some reason, I am willing to bet he is unaware of this fact
I briefly considered chatting with the man about the tattoo, and asking him his SWCA membership number, if he went to the last annual meeting, or if he also joined the SWHF, but when I realized he had non-S&W revolvers tattooed underneath "Smith an Wesson", I figured such a conversation would be understandably short.
The lesson to be learned here? Be absolutely sure of your tattoo before getting it placed on your skin!
Although I was trying to take a vacation from my life and from my favorite hobby, the words of this song echoed in my head...
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqgyULgTg4Y"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqgyULgTg4Y[/ame]
For those of you who are the curious type, here is a group photo of the 5 antique pistols I acquired in Florida. Three of them are Webley's (RIC .455 uncut, MP in 450 Adams and a No 2. .320 aka 32 colt pocket revolver). The other two are a French 69 cal An XIII flintlock pistol, and a Shattuck 32 rimfire revolver.
The Shattuck was interesting in that it was one of the first "swing out cylinder" revolvers. The mechanism was of course much different than the later S&W and Colt swing out cylinders. The Shattuck's cylinder assembly pivoted out via a pin underneath the barrel. When the cylinder was pivoted out, it could be pushed forward and the extractor would then empty the cartridges. Only a few thousand were made per Flayderman's 9th.
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