beaurrr wrote:culannmac wrote:[ I showed my dad my CMP Garand and his eyes lit up when he picked it up.
Ha! I've observed this phenomenon several times. And some of these people knew next to nothing about firearms. They don't even know what they're looking at but they know it's magic.
My son-in-law, a Marine, bought his dad a CMP Garand, and observed "the phenomenon" when the old man opened the box. He had carried one in his peacetime Army years. I wonder how that war-hardened Marine might react to handling an M4 someday in the distant future? I just want him to survive into the distant future.
My own observations about milsurps: My first centerfire rifle was an 03-A3 Springfield, and I have owned a Canadian Enfield, a postwar FN Mauser, and three different Mosins. I never could get used to the cock-on-closing Enfield. The Mauser was superb (sadly, a friend convinced me to sell it to him). The Springfield was a hurry-up wartime rifle, kinda loose, with a mushy trigger, but it gave me an appreciation of the superiority of the basic Mauser design, even if the bolt is on the wrong side for me (southpaw).
I still have two of the Mosins, a very nice 1932 Tula hex and a super hurry-up 1943 Izhevsk. Weirdly, I love both of them. The stock fits me perfectly, the simple sights are easy for my old eyes to use, and the long sighting plane and muzzle-heavy balance make them naturally easy to shoot well. Since the 1943 was so rough and battered, I cleaned up the metal finish and stripped and refinished the stock. I'm sure the comrades didn't care a fig as long as it went bang in 1943, but it looks and feels a lot better now. The straight bolt handle is relatively easy for a left-hander to manipulate, and they both group very nicely with Sierra .311" or Hornady .312" bullets. Still wish I hadn't sold that 1947 FN Mauser, though.
Religion & Govt. will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together. – James Madison