It's hard to be 72 years old and consider yourself a lucky man, but I am and I do. My user name, "WALSTIB" is first letters of a phrase from a Grateful Dead song, that goes "What a long strange trip it's been". I grew up on a farm, and my father was retired from 30 years in the US Navy, that spanned from a stint on the Yangtze Patrol clear into the 1950's. In the years before and including December 7, 1941, he was a Chief Machinist's Mate and also the Rifle and Pistol Team coach on the flagship of the Pacific Fleet, the USS Pennsylvania. While serving in that roll, he made a 1911 frame and completed it with a stock slide for each member of his team, and stamped their name on the left side of the frame. He test-fired his own, the last he made, three days before that terrible day. It is my proudest possession.
During the war, he became a Mustang officer, a full Lieutenant, and in 1946 the family went to Guam where he served as the XO of the Naval Barracks. While there, he bought a Registered Smith, at a time when .357 Magnums were not well known. He sent it off to Japan to a master gunsmith, to be full engraved, and have Ivory grips made for it, with a dragon engraved on each one. Back when he was on the Pennsy, one of the members of the team was a dentist, and that man fashioned grip fillers for each member of the team out of false-teeth material. an ugly shade of pink, they were the joke of the fleet, but worked very well! Anyway, when Dad sent the Registered Smith to Japan, he included the filler and ordered it duplicated in Ivory as well.
A note: before the war, he had bought an Outdoorsman for match work, equipped with King ventilated rib and the most amazing trigger job it has ever been my pleasure to squeeze off. The Registered Smith came back from Japan with a price tag of $55.00! He so liked the job that he sent a walnut stock from the Outdoorsman and asked for a set to be duplicated in Ivory, along with a second grip filler. They came back but the price for this much simpler job was now $105.00.
So, I grew up with some pretty cool guns, which also included a pre-war 1911 National Match, a Colt Woodsman Match Target, and a Winchester 52 that weighed 12 pounds, and killed a sinful number of digger squirrels and wood peckers to please our cats. Being young and dumb, I didn't realize my good fortune, and just thought everyone had guns like these. I didn't realize it was very rare for a 12-year-old to be trusted to cast bullets and reload pistol, rifle and shotgun shells. When I went off to college in my 1957 Karmann Ghia, the Registered Smith went with me, and lived under the front seat for the entire time I was there. Different times indeed.
Anyway, many years later, I was at a gun show and saw an entire table of 5-screw Smiths. I had to check them out, since I knew I was looking at "old". My daddy taught me well ("once the bullet leaves the barrel, you can't take it back" I heard over and over) so when I picked each one up, my first action was to drop the cylinder to make sure it was peaceful. I picked up one of them with incredibly ugly (to me) stag grips, and the pistol had clearly been 'rode hard and hung up wet'. When I opened the cylinder, there in front of me was an imprint that started "REG" and a number. I looked at the tag hanging from the trigger guard and it said $200.00, and now I had a problem. Poker face time, and I figured the best defense was to go on offense. So, I asked the gentleman if he would consider $150.00? He said "No, $200.00 is a fair price" and I had to agree. Those were my single days (daze) so I always had $500.00 in my wallet as 'mad money' so I pulled out two Benjamin's and walked out of there with a second Registered Smith. I still smile when I think back on that. Now, parenthetically, I'm well married, and my wallet contains a $20.00 bill. Period. Still, I continue to cast bullets and love my Dillon XL-650 press. Plus I still have my childhood Herters Turret Press! And I still feel lucky, even at my age...
During the war, he became a Mustang officer, a full Lieutenant, and in 1946 the family went to Guam where he served as the XO of the Naval Barracks. While there, he bought a Registered Smith, at a time when .357 Magnums were not well known. He sent it off to Japan to a master gunsmith, to be full engraved, and have Ivory grips made for it, with a dragon engraved on each one. Back when he was on the Pennsy, one of the members of the team was a dentist, and that man fashioned grip fillers for each member of the team out of false-teeth material. an ugly shade of pink, they were the joke of the fleet, but worked very well! Anyway, when Dad sent the Registered Smith to Japan, he included the filler and ordered it duplicated in Ivory as well.
A note: before the war, he had bought an Outdoorsman for match work, equipped with King ventilated rib and the most amazing trigger job it has ever been my pleasure to squeeze off. The Registered Smith came back from Japan with a price tag of $55.00! He so liked the job that he sent a walnut stock from the Outdoorsman and asked for a set to be duplicated in Ivory, along with a second grip filler. They came back but the price for this much simpler job was now $105.00.
So, I grew up with some pretty cool guns, which also included a pre-war 1911 National Match, a Colt Woodsman Match Target, and a Winchester 52 that weighed 12 pounds, and killed a sinful number of digger squirrels and wood peckers to please our cats. Being young and dumb, I didn't realize my good fortune, and just thought everyone had guns like these. I didn't realize it was very rare for a 12-year-old to be trusted to cast bullets and reload pistol, rifle and shotgun shells. When I went off to college in my 1957 Karmann Ghia, the Registered Smith went with me, and lived under the front seat for the entire time I was there. Different times indeed.
Anyway, many years later, I was at a gun show and saw an entire table of 5-screw Smiths. I had to check them out, since I knew I was looking at "old". My daddy taught me well ("once the bullet leaves the barrel, you can't take it back" I heard over and over) so when I picked each one up, my first action was to drop the cylinder to make sure it was peaceful. I picked up one of them with incredibly ugly (to me) stag grips, and the pistol had clearly been 'rode hard and hung up wet'. When I opened the cylinder, there in front of me was an imprint that started "REG" and a number. I looked at the tag hanging from the trigger guard and it said $200.00, and now I had a problem. Poker face time, and I figured the best defense was to go on offense. So, I asked the gentleman if he would consider $150.00? He said "No, $200.00 is a fair price" and I had to agree. Those were my single days (daze) so I always had $500.00 in my wallet as 'mad money' so I pulled out two Benjamin's and walked out of there with a second Registered Smith. I still smile when I think back on that. Now, parenthetically, I'm well married, and my wallet contains a $20.00 bill. Period. Still, I continue to cast bullets and love my Dillon XL-650 press. Plus I still have my childhood Herters Turret Press! And I still feel lucky, even at my age...
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...Ben
