How many of you messed up this bad?

[ridurall]

I've got a embarrassing story about my Mauser history. My father brought home from WWII a Mauser MS410 (as best as I can remember). Dad found it in a bombed out store with one shelf still standing and on that shelf was the Mauser .22 LR still wrapped in the protective wax paper. It was as near as I can remember in new in the box condition. Dad gave it to me as my first rifle when I was 5 years old. From then on I took excellent care of it including cleaning it every time we shot it or even took it out hunting. Move ahead until I was 18 years old and going to school at Western State College in Gunnison Colorado. I was getting ready for deer and elk season and for some stupid reason I thought I had to own a .357 Magnum. There was a gun shop on the western edge of Gunnison that had a used S&W Model 28 Hwy Patrolman Special. With my father's permission I traded off my beautiful Mauser for a .357 that I wouldn't give anyone $50 for now. Step forward several years and my wife and I had been married for about 5 or 6 years. I started getting a hankering to have that Mauser that I traded off back. I spent several years looking and ended up finding a pretty nice what I believe is a MS420B (prewar) I purchased it in about 1983 for $400 if my memory serves me correctly. The barrel was a bit longer and it didn't have the snabble forearm but just about everything else was the same. It is a wonderful shooter but I also missed the more sporting look that the original had. About 3 years ago I found a CZ 452 at a gun show in Elk City Oklahoma that really reminded me of my original Mauser and it was a great price so I picked it up. Here are pictures of them both. Now both rifles are beautiful shooters but my first Mauser turned me into a .22 LR nut. 29 years ago when my daughter was a week old I purchased her a Belgium made Browning .22 BAR. My now 14 year old son started with a Henry Mini Bolt which he has graciously already passed on to his sisters 10 month old son his nephew and my grandson. I've also got a Winchester Model 61 S,L, & LR pump that is a very sweet rifle that first belonged to my uncle and my aunt gave it to my father to keep out of the hands of one of my idiot cousins.






The moral to this story is not to say yes to your kids if they think they need to trade off a special rifle. I lost my Dad at age 91 two years ago and I always regretted trading the Mauser off.

I'll cling to my God and my guns, and you can keep the "Change".

 

[ronny]

Don't beat yourself up! You did him no disservice and he was OK with it. The memory is worth more than the gun.

 

[dennishoddy]

I agree with Ronny. As long as he was good with it, you should too. Enjoy your new toys!

 

[ridurall]

I guess I look back at that trade as the worst and dumbest gun trade I ever made. Also as an 18 year old in 1974 the gun shop made the deal and thinking back the SOB knew he was taking me for a ride and since I was not 21 I'm wondering if it was an illegal deal. Of course I was the dumb ass that started it. When I look back and thinking about my business I'm glad I've never stooped to pulling acts like that to make a living. I own a pest control company and I see and hear about businesses that take advantage of older folks with thinks like termite treatments and such. Perhaps it taught me a lesson. More likely the way my parents brought me up did it. However I'd sure give a lot if I could find the original that Dad brought home from Germany. Not having a copy of the serial number would really make it hard to be positive.

 

[DRC458]

Great looking rifles. We all make some stupid decisions, especially when we're young. Enjoy the ones you've got and rest assured your father would be proud!

 

[ridurall]

I have been doing some gun trading lately but I feel good about the deals I made. My son just turned 14 in June and I purchased him a Yamaha V-Star 250 since 14 year olds can ride 250CC and under bikes here in Oklahoma. In the process before he got his learners permit he took the 3 day Motorcycle safety course at our local college. After I purchased his bike I traded a Python, Kimber Ultra carry II, and an AR-15 I built a while back for a Honda VTX1300R in almost new shape with lots of custom features. In the last month we've put over 1500 miles on each bike. The Kimber had been my carry gun until about a year ago when I switched to Randy Pinkham's (Pinkhamr) Delta Elite 10mm. I've been very pleased with it and out of respect and memory of Randy I'm proud to carry it. I don't know how many of you remember Randy but I sure miss him.

 

[ronny]

This is a thread about "messing up" and I don't think you did.

 

[Cinaet]

I feel your pain. I've made some bad choices in life, but none more regrettable as the decision I made when I was young and dumb to let go of one of my father's guns. Still eats at me. Thinking I'd take care of the guilt and regret of losing his gun I bought one exactly like it. But it really has no value to me. All it really does now is remind me how royally I screwed up. Never ever let your dad's/granddad's gun slip through your fingers unless you are passing it down to family.

 

[n423]

Don't beat yourself up! You did him no disservice and he was OK with it. The memory is worth more than the gun.

well said, ronny

 

[POKE1911]

My dad had a funny story. He had a sweet shooing revolver, cannot think of what it was but it did have some sentimental value to him. Life happened and he needed to come up with some cash. He decided that out of his collection, it would be the easiest to let go. Few years later he really started to regret letting it go and was able to track it down. I think it only changed hands a time or two, anyways, he ended up buying it for what he sold it for... Not long after the purchase he remembered why he choose that one as the best to go I think he hung on to it for a year or so then traded it for something else.