While I landed on the "don't shoot it" side of those chiming in, a man's gotta know his limitations.
I could probably leave an inherited arm unfired. However, I have a clear vision of what would happen if I actually bought one for myself...
It'd come out of the safe fairly often; it would be stared at and held such that it caught the light at different angles. I would want to "turn" it but for a time would ignore the voices and return the thing, pristine, to the safe.
Each time it came out, the temptation would grow.
I would read the manual, and seeing the advice not to "turn" it, I would inevitably begin to wonder if it, in fact,
could be turned. After all, Colt could have shipped a non-functioning firearm and who would ever know? It could be missing parts and filled with epoxy, crushed granite and dead bugs. Perhaps if I thumbed the hammer to half-cock the loading gate would fall off, the cylinder would bind and a screeching sound would be heard.
Sooner or later, I'd have to know...
Back comes the hammer... SPIN ... Ah! All is well.
I feel better but much poorer.
Perhaps those with the strange mixture of OCD, extended childhood and curiosity that I am cursed with should simply not buy pristine single action revolvers with "Colt" stamped on them.
Fortunately, I believe my affliction is rare, perhaps unique. I know I've never heard anyone with an "unturned" SAA wonder out loud if the thing would function or had been welded into a single monolithic block of metal by some prankster in the supply chain.
But 'cha really don't know, do you?
