How to make gun owners cry

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After today I believe we need more Gun Control.

I am still traumatized by what I have seen. Been visiting with some friends. The gentleman (Father in Law) showed me his his prized tacticool 1911. Matching numbers 1942 Colt. Ceracoted with new trigger, grips, sights and a rail. Was bery proud. He did it himself.

santig
March 1, 2023
We need more gun control!

I’m far from a collector and even I know better than to do something like this.

So sad…

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7 thoughts on “How to make gun owners cry

  1. A million gun owners voices cried out in pain and were suddenly silenced…

    I am enough of a collector that I would have two reactions and I would be expressing both of them at such a display of performance horror. The first would be, as a libertarian, that it is your property to do with as you please. As much as that pains me. Long-term in the end it doesn’t matter. Just iron particles back to the Universe on a long enough timeline.

    The second reaction is I would give that person a description of the value they just destroyed. If you want to do something like that, go buy it! Get a worthless Rock Island or Taylor’s Tactical and customize that if you want to start from milspec. Or just buy a pre-made custom in the configuration you desire. They aren’t rare.

    Usually when you tell someone they just destroyed history and $2K+ of value just tipped out of the future inheritance, outside of sentimental value, of their family, a little sobriety sometimes kicks in. I have a USGI Colt, all-matching numbers 1943 1911A1 that I won in the CMP lottery a couple years ago. Only special people get to see, let alone touch, that gun. Anyone suggesting I tacticool that better be punking me or have a mental disorder. I’d sooner let you shave my dog. And I’m pretty mild on the collector spectrum but still know enough that you don’t…do…THAT.

    I must let my inner libertarian out and I must scream “property rights”. Depressing.

  2. Yes, my grandmothers second husband. Bought a 1911 brand new in 1920’s. He kept proper care of it. But it was a work gun. Everywhere he thought he might need a gun, the 1911 was with him. So, it was worn, but otherwise a pristine example of 1920’s 1911.
    Grandad passed it to my father, who passed it to the oldest son. All was right and good in the world. And all us brothers could not be happier that it was safe and well looked after.
    My oldest brother is very good man. And raised his family as good as a middle-class police officer can.
    His loving children returned the favor by taking his old colt down to a gunsmith. Having it reblued, and all the lettering gold inlayed. As a surprise birthday present!
    Certain gunsmiths need to die. Horribly.

    • An ex-son-in-law did essentially that to a musical instrument that belonged to my grandmother.

      • Ouch! That same grandfather had a general store in Bunkerville, NV. From the 1800’s. From there I inherited an antique pharmacy cabinet.
        It was veneered, oiled woodgrain. The cabinet stacked up, four high, with a top piece. The fronts were windowed, and one rise the window up. Then it would slide back into the cabinet to stay open.
        Over the years I scavenged the west for cork styled medicine bottles to put in it.
        It was quite the piece with my old chemistry books in it.
        And it was for the oldest girl.
        After I left, the ex painted it green.
        All I could say was; Well, it just goes to show what bad taste we both have?

  3. An honest and reputable gunsmith would not commit such sacrilege. He (or she) would patiently explain the situation, ending with “if, after hearing my explanation, you still choose to destroy the value of a treasured and very high value irreplaceable heritage firearm, you will have to seek a different gunsmith to do it. I will not.”

    Any other type of gunsmith should be shunned by everyone, forever.

    I do not seek, nor own, such guns. I do have a few that are rare, one or two that are quite rare, but they are production examples, rare now because they were produced in limited quantity and discontinued so many years ago. A few years back I sold a couple that had become quite rare since their purchase NIB decades ago, and had commensurate value, because I was afraid of using them; as much as I enjoyed them, a single scratch at the range would have reduced their value so much that I would have lost a whole lot of sleep over it. Years, maybe.

    That meant it was time to offer them to others to enjoy and appreciate.

    Y’know, that big blue book of gun values gets published every year, available on Amazon for about $55 and AlGore’s InterTubes has bunches of knowledgeable people eager to offer learned, and studied, opinions on approximate value of firearms. Please, people, seek them out and use them. Ain’t nobody making 1920 1911s anymore.

    You will have to excuse me now, I must go forth and drown my sorrows.

    • Ya, I had to quit drinking. Otherwise, I would be right there with you.

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