I am just an old fart that collected my dad's guns and then the guns that dad gave me to learn to shoot. I was an ace 10 year old BB gun shooter for a long time, until dad bought me my first shotgun to guail hunt. We use to have guail in Missouri, thus the Browning A-5. Then I graduated into the Remington .22 and I took on tin cans in the chat piles around town. I was one of the best tin can shooters in the area. Attempted to go to West Point and became the principle appointee, but then I got a call from Army Coach Cahill and said they wanted an All Conference player and had decided to go with alternate No. 8. So the Black Knights were out and Army ROTC was in my sights at MIZZOU. There I learned the greatest weapon in the world, the M-1. Joined the Tiger drill team and I could spin, flip, and pitch that M1 any where and any time. Dropped it a few 100 times in the process, but learned the toughness of this amazing gun. Joined the Army in 1969 and learned about some amazing weapons, both individual and crew served. Give me 5 trained heavy mortar guys and a 3.2" mortar, then support my position with a quad .50 cal. and a rifle squad and I can make some serious noise and sadly kill allot of people. In other military terms. accomplish the op. order. After collecting German guns after college, I met a gal that wanted to marry me. Trouble is, I did not want to marry here and she left. One weekend she came back and my gun collection was gone. So collecting had to start over. I got the good fortune to meet a great guy on the internet from Texas many years latter. He and I exchanged emails maybe 5 times a day. We talked guns, politics, family and everything else under the sun. I bought a couple of guns from him and learned about some books I needed to own. He was a wonderful resource that introduced me to a couple of other absolutely wonderful guys that had more knowledge in their little finger, than I had in my head. I met a couple of local collectors and long distance collectors that wrote books and started collecting the Mauser HSc because of it's WW11 history and untouchable style and exceptional beauty. I look and sometimes buy other guns, but always come back to my HSc collection, when showing it off. NO ex-gal friends in that new group. This forum has given me the opportunity to meet several new devotees. The collecting community is a great bunch of guys. I went to the Rock Island Auction last year with a couple of thousand dollars in my pocket last year looking to score. I realized that is pocket change up there and it is back to the computer searching for deals and meeting new people. What a website and what great people on it!!! I am pleased to play a small part in it. Always on the hunt like so many others. The competition is high for good pieces. I guess that is some of the fun in this great hobby. Good luck to all and have a Merry Christmas to my friends and fellow collectors! IT is Friday. The day before Christmas eve. Do we have some new guys that want to return holiday greetings or maybe even talk guns? There is a famous saying by Harry S. Truman, "Too many men and not enough children believe in Santa Claus!" I think of that this time of year.
