Velo Dog
AH ambassador
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2014
- Messages
- 5,158
- Reaction score
- 8,988
- Location
- Anchorage Alaska, USA
- Media
- 83
- Member of
- NRA Life Member.
- Hunted
- Africa 7 times. And the USA - most western states including Alaska and Hawaii.
Ladies & Gents,
I apologize in advance for the length of this rant.
But, it’s a story that hints at an answer to the riddle of;
“Why would people fortunate enough to live in the finest country on earth, based in large part on the principle of individual freedom and capitalism, want to derail it off toward a collision course with expanding government size and authority, not to mention brutal taxes required to pay for same?”
When I retired from my former career some years back, I accepted a part time job in a gun shop.
It is also a sort of “men’s social club”, in that quite a few fellows go there just to drink coffee and see their friends, especially on Saturday mornings.
Not surprisingly, perhaps 99% of these fellows are Republican/Libertarian/Conservative/Constitutionalist, etc.
But there are two regulars there who are “Yellow Dog Democrats”.
They’d vote for a yellow dog if that’s what was running for any election under the Democrat ticket.
How they reason out their attraction to guns as it pertains to the obvious goal of their Party Line (confiscation) remains a mystery to me.
Anyway, while working there, I sold a number of my firearms and used the money to buy my first double rifle (Merkel SxS, in .375 H&H).
A bit ignorant about double rifles, I wanted it to be a multi-purpose piece of equipment so, I had it professionally claw mounted with a compact 2.5x scope.
Forward of the rear lens “bell”, this scope tube was one inch outside diameter, all the way to the front lens (no forward end “bell” shape on this little scope).
The Gunsmith (JJ Perodeau), fastened my front scope ring pretty much exactly around the front lens, leaving about a quarter inch of the tube protruding past the ring.
I proudly set my little double on display each Saturday that I worked there and it made a lively conversation piece.
Also, I handed out cigars and/or pepperoni sticks (for non-smokers) on that first day, as if announcing a newborn child.
Most of the guys commenting on it were complimentary, or at least pleasantly curious.
Once in awhile someone would moan that they “would never pay $10,000. for any rifle” (in other words their wife controls their hard earned money, if not their every thought and deed).
But generally, the comments were a welcome river of congratulations and fascination with the whole double rifle / Africa thing.
So, one Saturday in walks one of the two Democrat fellows mentioned earlier.
I bid him good morning and offer to show him my new rifle.
Upon handling it for a moment he points to the front of the scope and tells me “this lens is going to break the first time you shoot it”.
I reply something smartass like: “I’ve shot it and nothing is broken”.
He retorts with words to the affect of: “Sooner or later it will break that lens, because your forward ring is putting a lot of pressure on it”.
I thanked him for his concern and carried on with my life.
Eventually the other mentioned Democrat fellow walks in and likewise I bid him good morning then, offer to show him my new rifle.
You guessed it, he also pointed to the forward scope ring and with disdain in his voice warned me that the lens was going to break.
Those two fellows were the only ones mentioning anything about my scope lens being in harm’s way, nobody else.
That my friends hints at an answer to the riddle of why any USA resident would want to derail the greatest country on earth......Those people just cannot sit quietly and count their blessings like us conservatives do.
They seem to thrive on impending doom.
If they can’t find it, evidently they will strive to create it.
Impending doom seems to be their comfort zone.
Well anyway, after hundreds of rounds fired through that rifle at various targets, one African Safari plus, tramping to and from my cabin here in bush Alaska many times, of course the lens did not break.
Eventually, I sold that rifle to an Anchorage resident Doctor who, has since also taken it to Africa for various non-dangerous species, as well as to his native Czechoslovakia for driven boar shoots.
He is an avid hand-loader who shoots a lot for practice and fun as well.
It’s been 15 or more years now and that scope lens is of course still not broken.
Cheers,
Paul.
I apologize in advance for the length of this rant.
But, it’s a story that hints at an answer to the riddle of;
“Why would people fortunate enough to live in the finest country on earth, based in large part on the principle of individual freedom and capitalism, want to derail it off toward a collision course with expanding government size and authority, not to mention brutal taxes required to pay for same?”
When I retired from my former career some years back, I accepted a part time job in a gun shop.
It is also a sort of “men’s social club”, in that quite a few fellows go there just to drink coffee and see their friends, especially on Saturday mornings.
Not surprisingly, perhaps 99% of these fellows are Republican/Libertarian/Conservative/Constitutionalist, etc.
But there are two regulars there who are “Yellow Dog Democrats”.
They’d vote for a yellow dog if that’s what was running for any election under the Democrat ticket.
How they reason out their attraction to guns as it pertains to the obvious goal of their Party Line (confiscation) remains a mystery to me.
Anyway, while working there, I sold a number of my firearms and used the money to buy my first double rifle (Merkel SxS, in .375 H&H).
A bit ignorant about double rifles, I wanted it to be a multi-purpose piece of equipment so, I had it professionally claw mounted with a compact 2.5x scope.
Forward of the rear lens “bell”, this scope tube was one inch outside diameter, all the way to the front lens (no forward end “bell” shape on this little scope).
The Gunsmith (JJ Perodeau), fastened my front scope ring pretty much exactly around the front lens, leaving about a quarter inch of the tube protruding past the ring.
I proudly set my little double on display each Saturday that I worked there and it made a lively conversation piece.
Also, I handed out cigars and/or pepperoni sticks (for non-smokers) on that first day, as if announcing a newborn child.
Most of the guys commenting on it were complimentary, or at least pleasantly curious.
Once in awhile someone would moan that they “would never pay $10,000. for any rifle” (in other words their wife controls their hard earned money, if not their every thought and deed).
But generally, the comments were a welcome river of congratulations and fascination with the whole double rifle / Africa thing.
So, one Saturday in walks one of the two Democrat fellows mentioned earlier.
I bid him good morning and offer to show him my new rifle.
Upon handling it for a moment he points to the front of the scope and tells me “this lens is going to break the first time you shoot it”.
I reply something smartass like: “I’ve shot it and nothing is broken”.
He retorts with words to the affect of: “Sooner or later it will break that lens, because your forward ring is putting a lot of pressure on it”.
I thanked him for his concern and carried on with my life.
Eventually the other mentioned Democrat fellow walks in and likewise I bid him good morning then, offer to show him my new rifle.
You guessed it, he also pointed to the forward scope ring and with disdain in his voice warned me that the lens was going to break.
Those two fellows were the only ones mentioning anything about my scope lens being in harm’s way, nobody else.
That my friends hints at an answer to the riddle of why any USA resident would want to derail the greatest country on earth......Those people just cannot sit quietly and count their blessings like us conservatives do.
They seem to thrive on impending doom.
If they can’t find it, evidently they will strive to create it.
Impending doom seems to be their comfort zone.
Well anyway, after hundreds of rounds fired through that rifle at various targets, one African Safari plus, tramping to and from my cabin here in bush Alaska many times, of course the lens did not break.
Eventually, I sold that rifle to an Anchorage resident Doctor who, has since also taken it to Africa for various non-dangerous species, as well as to his native Czechoslovakia for driven boar shoots.
He is an avid hand-loader who shoots a lot for practice and fun as well.
It’s been 15 or more years now and that scope lens is of course still not broken.
Cheers,
Paul.
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