“My rifle does the job, too” (My usual response)

Stan Rosen said:

I was walking around a Gander Mtn. about a dozen years ago looking for the 12 gauge hunting ammo and .22 lr ammo that my uncle swore was on sale at that location. While hunting for the non existing sale I stumbled across a pre 64 Winchester Model 70 in .30-06 in close to new condition. It even had the Lyman 48 receiver sight, which I love. The selling price was well below reasonable so I bought it. Turns out the rifle just came in the day before. A guy in his twenties was left the rifle by his grandfather, and decided he needed a 7mm Rem. Mag. so he traded in the rifle towards the purchase of his new gun. Salesman said he tried to talk the guy out of it, but he wouldn't listen. By the way, we are talking about hunting whitetails in Central NY.

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Wolfshead said:

Could it be the same Gander Mountain I purchased my rifle at? (Cicero)
I was able to talk a young man,that my Daughter was dating at the time, from trading in his Grandfather’s Marlin 336, for a Ruger American. He thanked me later, fortunately for him, and his Father stopped me in Wegman’s later that year and thanked me also.
sometimes the younger generations don’t understand what they have....

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Wolfshead said:

Could it be the same Gander Mountain I purchased my rifle at? (Cicero)
I was able to talk a young man,that my Daughter was dating at the time, from trading in his Grandfather’s Marlin 336, for a Ruger American. He thanked me later, fortunately for him, and his Father stopped me in Wegman’s later that year and thanked me also.
sometimes the younger generations don’t understand what they have....

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Newtosavage said:

Count me in that group, when I was in my mid-20's. I traded my beloved pre-64 winchester 30-30 to a friend for some work I wanted done on my boat. He wanted that rifle badly, and by then I had convinced myself that it was next to worthless for any "real" hunting and completely outdated (nevermind the fact that I already taken literally hundreds of feral pigs with it, and my first 3 deer that I shot with a rifle). Anyway, he then sold it to a mutual friend and about 10 years later I came to my senses and realized that old rifle that I got for Christmas, from my dad, at the same time my brother got one, was priceless to me. Thankfully, the mutual friend still had it, and when I explained to him the situation he couldn't believe I let that rifle go in the first place. He agreed to trade back with me if I just found him another one. So I did, and he was true to his word. That rifle will never leave my family again, and my son has already asked for it when I'm done using it. Every time he comes home to visit, he wants to see that old winchester, and work the action a few times for good measure.

Just to reinforce the idea that I needed to keep that rifle, a couple months ago my brother came to visit, along with his son, and they wanted to deer hunt with me. My Nephew has outgrown his little single shot .243, and asked if he could use his dad's .308 on the hunt. I told my brother if he wanted to, he could borrow my old 30-30, and he did. The next morning, he shot the best buck of his life, right through the heart, with that old 30-30.

Sometimes we get lucky and get to fix our mistakes.

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Stan Rosen said:

My father did a similar thing. When my twin sister and I were born my parents were still renovating their house and eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches three meals a day. So with money being tight my father sold his Ithaca 37 to one guy, and sold his Pre - 64 Midel 94 in .32 Win Spl to a much older friend of his, Charlie. Twelve years later Charlie brought the rifle with him on one of his visits saying "the boy should be close to needing this," with that the rifle became mine, and still is.

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