Is any gun collection ever really COMPLETE? I have far more than I need, and far less than I want.
A few years ago I visited this good old boy because I was told he could fix a broken gun when most gunsmiths wouldn't touch it. I went into this guy's house and there guns everywhere. I mean, there were guns everywhere. Stacked in every corner, in piles on the floor, filling cabinets and closets. The house was filled with guns, and it was pretty good-sized house. I can not even begin to guess how many guns he had. Maybe thousands. A lot of old junk, but some treasures, too. One pile of guns on the floor had a pretty nice M73 Winchester laying on top. In a cabinet drawer was a first-year production Colt .38 Super in about 99%. There were numerous Colt SAAs in there, too.
Man was a retired machinist and he knew his stuff. Made guns from scratch when he grew bored with the ready-made things from Remington, Ruger, and the rest. Machined his own actions, cut his own barrels, did it all right there in his basement. I saw a wall full of Sharps and Ballard target rifles but they had no maker's markings. Turned out he had made them using originals as patterns.
Showed me a S&W K frame he had converted. One pull on the trigger cocked the hammer. Second pull fired the gun. Interesting. He routinely replaced factory barrels on rifles with ones he had made himself. He said that his barrels were more accurate. Had a shelf full of trophies to prove it.
He did not feel his collection was complete, either. He was still buying (and making) more guns.
