You mean there exit collections that have FOCUS?
I guess, then, I am technically, an accumulator-but, everything I've accumulated, shoots.
I figure I've got a few decades before I hang onto non-shooting guns out of a mortality based sympathy, and as I get farther along through my individual race to the bitter end, I am more fascinated with extremely simple guns that exist for use only as a tool. A single shot hammer 12, from the brutal years before the war, lovingly cared for by someone who could scarcely afford it, and couldn't afford to be without it, can make me smile. Ditto an American repeater, that was offered with checkering, for a few dollars more, and left the factory without, to save some poor soul a day or two's wages.
I had a farmer show to me once the Winchester 37 he bought during the war, after he had sold some scrap metal that had become valuable. When I asked why he bought a 16 gauge, he told me "I had half a box of old 16 gauge ammunition sitting in the barn." That was ammunition he didn't have to buy, in a time when it was tough to get ammunition.
I think about those folks. I use the guns they left behind, use them just a bit, and wonder if I have the stuff, the courage, tenacity, humility, and gumption, those people were made of, and,am content, I will never have to find out.
The guns always work fine, simple little tools with which to feed ones self, protect a small flock of egglayers, protect the homestead, usually all of the above tasks for one gun.
But, they have to work. They are without point if they don't, then, and now.
Best,
Ted
