My first revolver actually belonged to my Mother,,,
But I got to shoot it quite often.
It was this Colt Frontier Scout:
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But this gun wasn't my first love by a long shot.
I met the revolver that I fell in love with while stationed in Germany (1971) as a young Airman First Class,,,
It was the
S&W Model 15 Combat Masterpiece in .38 Special.
I had a very unique job as a driver/courier/gopher for the Bird Colonel who was in charge of the Command Post,,,
He was a dyed in the wool cowboy similar to Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore from Apocalypse Now.
He wanted all of his crew to be qualified and able to carry a sidearm,,,
So he sent me to the base range to qualify.
I made friends with the range-master and got to shoot quite a bit,,,
A little known fact back then was that every airman had a yearly allotment of ammo,,,
Enough ammo to be eligible to shoot a 50 round qualifying session every three months or so.
Very few Airmen ever did this so there was a lot of ammo just sitting there in storage,,,
Being friends with the range-master meant I got to shoot a lot of that ammo,,,
I was at the range getting very good instruction once every two weeks.
I fell in love with my issued pistol,,,
Even though it was all beat up and fugly.
After the Air Force (1978) I got married to a very anti-gun California girl,,,
So for the next 20-25 years I didn't shoot much at all.
During that time I only owned one firearm,,,
The K98 Mauser my Grandfather gave me for my 12th birthday.
Fast forward to 2006 and I got back into shooting again,,,
I finally got possession of my Mother's Colt,,,
And bought a Henry single-shot .22 rifle.
One day I was perusing the cases at The Evil Pawn Shop,,,
There I became reunited with my first true love.
In the case was a pristine Model 15 Combat Masterpiece,,,
It had he original box, waxed paper, unopened tool kit, and papers.
The Evil Pawn Shop Guy had owned it since it was new,,,
It had been fired but not very much,,,
There was no turn line at all.
The gun could easily have been passed off as Old/New Stock.
I asked him for an out-the door price,,,
He replied: "$500.00 if it's cash."
I said I would be right back.
45 minutes later she was mine,,,
I named her "Stella".
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I bought a 1,000 round case of Winchester White Box ammo,,,
I still have just over 100 rounds left from that batch,,,
Still no turn line.
A few months later The Evil Pawn Shop Guy hooked me again,,,
He knew I had an affinity for matched pairs of guns,,,
He sold me a well-used but solid Model 18.
Meet
Stella and
Didi.
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As I get older I'll be peddling off or gifting off many of my guns,,,
I have a feeling that these two ladies might go into my coffin with me.
Without a doubt Stella's ancestor was my first true love experience with a revolver,,,
Nothing else has ever come anywhere close to her in my heart.
Aarond
.