I REMEMBER WHEN

[hoz53]

I remember when back in the day if you could hit a beer can at 100 yds you were good to go.
You didn't shoot reloads as they were unreliable,so we thought.
You didn't shoot bolt actions because they didn't shoot fast enough.
You didn't go to the deer woods unless you had a pocket full of shells and you could barely keep your pants up from all the weight.
You didn't shoot anything less than a 270 because those big deer were hard to take down with anything less.Bigger was better.
You didn't talk to your buddies about missing a deer because you didn't get enough beer can practice.
You did ,however, talk if you got lucky and killed a deer with that beer can killer. Tack driver.

Fast forward 60 years

Now if you don't have a gun that shoots .25" at 100 yds ,you can't hit a deer or to some it seems.
Now we don't even bother with 100 yds and go to at least 300 yds.
Now we all shoot or own hand made custom reloads that we don't have primers and powder for.
Now all I shoot are bolt actions with the majority of others.
Now I shoot 6mm's for deer hunting and not fire breathers that belch out flames 2 ft.
Don't care who you are,sometimes you just miss. Lots of scopes and guns take the blame for that. You still don't tell your buddies.

Things have changed for sure in the last 60+ years.
Some things that have not changed. Still like to shoot beer cans,empty not full anymore,still like to deer hunt but it is getting less.
Paper shooting is getting more popular with me these days.Now if all the targets shot are not in the 0's or 1's,something is wrong with scope or gun. This don't happen with me too much, the 0's and 1's.

Things do change.Seems like the more they change the more they stay the same.

I remember when i got my 1st handgun in 1973-- - new GM colt 1911 for 165.00. i bought cast bullets for 3 cents each - primers for about a penny and powder was less than a penny per rnd so for less than 2.50 i loaded a box of 50 and i shot of alot of them

 

[D Coots]

I remember when, in high school, I could send a money order for a Russian semi-auto Tokarev to a gun store advertised in a shooting magazine and get it delivered to my door.

And take it to school and open the box with the gun packed with cosmoline in front of the lockers. No big deal.

 

[D Coots]

I remember when my first 22, a Remington Nylon 66 auto cost me $49.00 (6months of saved lunch money) and a box of shells was $0.39 at my local gas station/sporting goods store.

I remember when my nylon 66 misfired shooting at an albino red squirrel.

 

[rjtfroggy]

I`m not starting a pissin` match. I understand your point. I have experience with several family members as well. My point was that no one can take my memories,I own them. If a disease takes them ,that is beyond my control. I pray to GOD that does not happen. I HAVE seen the effect it has on a family. I pray for those effected and infected including your family. Peace to you and yours, Jeff

I did not mean to offend you or start a war of words.
Just a statement of fact and reality. I used to love sitting around listening to all the old stories told by my grand parents and then the expanded versions from my parents and aunts & uncles.
Now they are all gone, except for my mother- 98 years old, healthy body wise but has no idea who I am or what she had for lunch or anything else.
Like you my memories are mine and mine alone hopefully they are still there even if I can't recall them. Maybe that is why the old folks usually walk around with a smile.

 

[Intheshop]

I remember buying my first centerfire hand gun. It was a Dan Wesson .357 with a six inch barrel. I took it to our local coffee shop to show the guys. I took it out of the box and passed it around. At least 9 or ten guys got to fondle it.

New Hogue grips a few months ago. This 744 has been in the safe for 20+ years,hiding. Like that old used car thing.... only driven to church N back on Sunday. Except,this DW never went to church..... pretty much brand new. Nice gun,trigger was smoothed up a bit. Loves a Lyman 429244 GC.

 

[AccelR8]

Some of you talking about Alzheimer's.

My father had dementia. It hit him hard in the last two years of his life. He was always a forceful person but when he became extremely paranoid and unable to think clearly we had to have him hospitalized. The Doctor in charge of his care said “I will not discharge this man to go home. You (family) are not equipped to give him the kind of care he needs. The only way I will release him is if he goes to a facility that can care for him properly.”

In short, he had become angry and dangerous. There's a lot more to it but that'll keep it short.

The whole ordeal had stressed my mother very heavily. After he went into a nursing home and after a few ordeals, he seemed to resign himself and settle in. After things reached a state of “normal” my sister took my Mom out of state to visit her sister, whom she hadn't seen in years. They stayed there quite some time and it was very good for my Mom.

While they were away, my Dad got gout and became bed ridden. Then he got pneumonia. I got a call in the middle of the night, he had been taken by ambulance to the hospital and the nursing home rep indicated to me that I needed to go there right away, the implication being that he wasn't going to last much longer.

I got there and he was lights out, unresponsive, but stabilized, like sound asleep. After a while I went home.

When I went the next day...this is kind of surreal...he was sitting up in bed and when he saw me his face lit up with a big smile. This is a man who on most days didn't know who I was. We spent hours talking and I'm telling you that man was 100 percent all there. He asked me about my friends from childhood by name, wanted to know how they were doing, asked me so many things like he was trying to catch up. He told me stories I've never heard about his friends and what happened to all of them, as if he was sharing things he felt were signifcant: their military service, their families and where they lived... None of it was just idle chat, it was all purposeful conversation. Very good natured, pleasant and warm. We went on and on for hours. Finally he was tired and so was I and I went home.

Sadly, when I went back the next day he had descended back into the dementia. I have no explanation for any of this.

They got him over the pneumonia and the gout and he went back to the nursing home. My Mom and sister came home, and they absolutely did not believe me when I told them about this. No way. I asked, why would I make that up? So they just said well they had him on some feel-good medication in the hospital so he'd be cooperative and he was just happy because of the drugs. They never believed me that he had a day where he was cognizant and coherent.

And then...after he had cheated death by pneumonia, back at the nursing home he was physically well if not mentally. One evening he had dinner and then told the nurse he was going to his room to lie down. When bedtime came, she went to see if he needed help getting to bed and he was gone. His body was there on the bed fully clothed, as if he was sleeping but he had passed on. No sign of distress. He just apparently went to sleep and that was it.

Somebody said he just wanted to die on his on terms.

 

[rjtfroggy]

AccelR8, I believe you.
I had a similar incident with my father in law, we talked for a couple of hours on a Thurs. night about the old times we spent together and on Sunday he was gone.
No rime or reason, just happens.

 

[Capt. Oblivious]

AccelR8, I believe you.
I had a similar incident with my father in law, we talked for a couple of hours on a Thurs. night about the old times we spent together and on Sunday he was gone.
No rime or reason, just happens.

Sorry to hear, may he rip!

 

[luckeeshot]

Do you ever have that right. I am so angry at the "self identified" republican congress - they sold us out again for personal power and financial gain. Now the CCP controls both the RNC and DNC. Sad, really sad.

maybe redistricting we can oust nanzi pelosi

 

[snert]

My mother had dementia. In some ways it was a blessing because as time went on she and i were able to make amends where there had been tension, and she came to trust me, which she just never could do before. She, like two other sisters before, was purring right along. She was in nursing care four years. On a Tuesday in April we spoke twice on the phone (COVID rules). On Weds she was grumpy and didn't want to talk. On Thursday she didn't know who I was and hung up several times. On Friday she collapsed and she died on Saturday. I was allowed in to see her, prayed for her and sang to her. She recognized the song. Then she slipped away into the shadows. Moments before she passed I was treated to an awesome reality. Suddenly I sensed the presence of Christ and it was so overwhelming my eyes slammed shut, my head dropped and I remember hoarsely whispering "My God, My Savior". It was as though heaven ripped open and just like that my REAL mom was gone, and only a minute later her body breathed its last.
I know if He can do that He will be faithful to His word to do the same for me.

 

[DiffEQ]

Glad you were there. Peace to you.
May she rest easy, waiting for the day of judgement.

 

[dave@aDave]

 

[AccelR8]

He's asking for something, but I don't think it's directions!

 

[Rustytigwire]

He's asking for something, but I don't think it's directions!

The conversation determines where he goes though.

 

[Scorpio]

I remember rabbit hunting with my Ruger 10/22 with iron sights, in Lancaster, CA right off the highway... nothing resembling civilization in sight. Now it's all cookie cutter neighborhoods and the associated human excrement that goes with that. And not a single jack rabbit in sight.

A profound quote from a Bob Seger song, "I wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then."

 

[chop house]

I remember rabbit hunting with my Ruger 10/22 with iron sights, in Lancaster, CA right off the highway... nothing resembling civilization in sight. Now it's all cookie cutter neighborhoods and the associated human excrement that goes with that. And not a single jack rabbit in sight.

A profound quote from a Bob Seger song, "I wish i didn't know now what I didn't know then."

no kiddin'.... i ran around out by cal city with a ruger mk I, chasing jacks. then i came danged close to stepping on a mojave green rattlesnake - and fortunately i won that battle. the encroaching 'civilization' not so much... one day the cal city police showed up at my camp in the middle of a dry wash miles south of town, and informed me i was inside the city limits.... no shooting allowed.

i still have 50 cal links picked up from the aerial gunnery range out that way...

 

[Scorpio]

Many here remember the purchase of their first gun and those are good memories. While I remember it as well, my favorite gun purchase was the first one I made after moving to Texas...

I served my final Marine years at 29 Palms in California. The 10 day wait was effective then and I just assumed that was the law everywhere. Once I was free to go anywhere, Texas was my chosen destination. Within my first month here, I strolled into a local gun store to see what's what and eyed a Ruger P90 .45 that was reasonable, built like a tank and felt good in my hand. I like heavy. So I asked the older gentleman helping me how much they require to get the process started. He looked at me with a bit of frustration and said, "We don't do lay-away here".

"OK, but do you require the full amount or just a deposit until I pick it up?"

"Look son, if you want it, pay for it and take it home. We don't do it any other way."

At this point, my mouth was probably hanging open. I may have even drooled a little. He laughed at me when I explained my confusion and just said, "Welcome to Texas, son." I bought a Henry Big Boy .44 Lever Action that day as well.

 

[WIB3]

I remember when you didn’t have to worry about what you posted or said to fellow members at your local sportsman club, but times have changed. Be safe, be respectful and by all means, be careful of what you post.

 

[WIB3]

To all, coming from an old fart, in these times be very careful about what you post. Be safe, pray daily and love and respect your fellow human beings.

 

[Lesloan]

I remember when the only living ex-president was Herbert Hoover, doctors made house calls and candy bars were a nickel. I'm old.