doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Where did all the passion come from??

I got the passion from my Dad. I miss that old dude every single day, and to be truthful, talking guns with you guys is pretty damn good for my soul.

Dad was a first order gun nut and tinker (MechE), and his father was a master machinist and shooter but not much of a collector.

I grew shooting rifle and pistol. My first time shooting was in 67, we shot a .22 rifle and .38 special. I don't remember what I hit with what gun but Dad was pretty excited. He asked me if I wanted to shoot a big gun and you know what the answer was. Out came the 30-06 M70. We shot all the ammo he had.

After the folks split up my brother and I lived with Dad. A bachelor pad in Orinda California (outside Berkeley) in 1970 woooHOOO!. Dad let his hair grow so he could get laid, but kept us 2 boys as close to the straight and narrow as those days would allow. The three of us would reload during the week and go to Chabot Gun Club on saturdays and shoot...and shoot some more.

Dad always had a project gun (or two) going and most nights after the homework and dishes were done, he'd settle into his big chair with the TV on and polish metal or rub another coat of oil onto a stock. He almost exclusively worked on milsurp rifles, sometimes sporterizing and sometimes just refinishing.

In the early 80's I had a C&R and Dad was a full FLL and we aquired a few toys. About that time our relationship changed from Father and Son to best friends. I look like him, act like him and think like him, so it could've gone either way but we were blessed with friendship. When I visit his home town, Bonne Terre, MO, the old folks stop me and call me Lee. I tell them I'm his son they shake their heads, give a deep sigh and ask how he's doing.

When I moved to NYC I sent Dad a safe full of non-city toys. I'd go see him in Georgia regularly and we'd visit with the guns, talk and drink, and figure out what to go shoot the next day. I started shooting shotguns in the early 80's with some guys at work and found my own thing, but the passion for guns and the urge to tinker came from my Father.