This reminds me of spending time with my grandparents in the early 70's.  They were farmers and very hardworking people.  They had very similar histories, attitudes and generally were always on the same page.  They would enjoy watching a TV program in the evenings and my grandmother's favorite show was Mash.  She really enjoyed the comedic aspect of it.  My grandfather refused to watch it.  I recall his statement on the topic:  "there's nothing funny about war."  I don't think he would have thought much of paintball games.  

There's many paths that lead us to the attitudes and perspectives we take.  None of us have walked down identical paths. 

Mark has great fun shooting the rifle and does a great job of explaining the topic of conversion from rimfire to centerfire:

tsbccut said

Sorry Michael, but it's not my rifle. I came across it on the Guns International site. Item number is 103483425
Regards,
Tom
  

That is a help.  I found it.

Michael

It appears withing the first few minutes of the video.  Lots of other cool stuff.  This would be quite the auction to attend:

t=203s

twobit said

tsbccut said
Gentlemen,
I'm trying to become more educated, and I couldn't find any reference to this on the Forum. Is the "WRA" stamp on the receiver of the
pictured Model 1892 of any significance? It's a lousy photo and a bit hard to see, but it's there. It's where the serial number should be......
Thanks,
Tom
  

Hello Tom,
Your rifle does appears to differ slightly from most Winchester that have a similar stamp on the underside of the receiver where the serial number would typically be found.  On others the "background area" has a stippled imprint and then the WRACO stamp applied over that as shown in the attached images.  There is no confirmed explanation for why these guns are marked as such and several theories are proposed.  To me they have holes in them that do not make much sense.  This is one of the items that I am trying to research in my spare time.
Can you please send me more detailed photos of the WRA stamp, the upper tang just below the hammer, and the stamped writing on the barrel.
Michael
  

Sorry Michael, but it's not my rifle. I came across it on the Guns International site. Item number is 103483425

Regards,

Tom

There are parents who should not be allowed to play with matches, much less own a deadly weapon, but they vote too and any attempt to deprive or regulate them winds up disarming the virtuous and trustworthy. 

One of the benefits of high school ROTC and other youth organizations is they can, if allowed, teach gun safety, a now politically charged expression that no longer means safe gun handling to the Left. 

Would I prefer a parent do it? In all honesty it depends on the parent. Because I can't pick and choose, better a qualified public school teacher than nobody. That assumes the course curriculum involves much more than "DON'T TOUCH AND CALL 911." 

it will never happen because gun control is a religion of the Left. 

Zebulon said

I think children of normal intelligence are capable of distinguishing between toy and weapons if properly taught and it serves no useful purpose to forbid them the former in order to train them to be safe with the latter. But I had a demanding father and was very much a hands-on father to my own sons.
Perhaps that mode of child-rearing has gone out of style. There is more than one way to do most things. I disagree that allowing a child to play with toy guns is irresponsible parenting per se. 
  

Hi Zeb-

The issue IMHO is well summarized by your statement above...  "IF PROPERLY TAUGHT"...  Who's doing the teaching these days???  If a Kid is learning about guns from movies, video games, etc., platforms that consistently dehumanized the "target", then it's not a good thing...  I wouldn't worry about your Kids or their Kids, or the Children of (at least most of) the Folks who frequent this site.  

Heck... I learned to shoot (pretty well if I dare say so...) with a Crossman BB gun...  But I KNEW that my hide would be worthless if I misstepped in any way...

Absent Parents, the only thing worse than what we've got is for Big Brother to step in and save us from ourselves...

Just my take...

Lou

MidwestCrisis said
I believe this is troll.  Still, good conversation. 
  

I think I got a whiff of that as well. 

Mike

mrcvs said
FWIW, here’s an example of not treating every firearm as if it’s loaded—and this individual was once a presidential candidate:
“On December 30, 1912, at the age of twelve, Stevenson accidentally killed Ruth Merwin, a 16-year-old friend, while demonstrating drill technique with a rifle, inadvertently left loaded, during a party at the Stevenson home.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adlai_Stevenson_II
  

Stevenson was born into wealth and was the son of a very busy and powerful news executive. He graduate from Choate, Princeton, and (eventually) Harvard Law. A very bright man and a fairly able governor of Illinois, he always struck me as lacking common sense, which the facts of this accident do nothing to dispel. I doubt he confused the rifle with a toy. He just failed to observe Rules One, Two, and Three.  

“On December 30, 1912, at the age of twelve, Stevenson accidentally killed Ruth Merwin, a 16-year-old friend, while demonstrating drill technique with a rifle, inadvertently left loaded, during a party at the Stevenson home.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adlai_Stevenson_II

When I was old enough to hold a cap pistol, I got one -- a very good copy of a Colt SAA,  with cartridges capable of being loaded with circular paper caps, held in place by a cast metal "bullet". The assembly looked remarkably like a .45 Colt round, except the base of the case was free of a primer cap.  There were six of them and they were loaded through a gate. The hammer had a half-cock position. The set included a tooled, strong-side holster and a wide buscadero style belt. With this rig, I defended myself against marauding bands of Comanche and slew many bad guys, among whom were numbered several Chicoms - the Korean War was ongoing at the time. And some Germans and Japanese combatants as well. 

One day, a neighborhood boy whose father was half-Apache, introduced me to his father's weapons closet, while all the adults were elsewhere. It consisted of a 32/20 caliber Winchester 1892 carbine that was fully loaded and on half-cock; and a Colt SAA 38/40, loaded with five rounds. Because both of us knew the difference between a toy and a loaded weapon, nothing untoward occurred. 

At the time, weapons were in most, although not all, homes in my working-class neighborhood. Not in some country hamlet, but a polluted Gulf Coast industrial exurb. 

The prevailing attitude in the early to mid-Fifties, at least among my father and his friends and fellow employees, most of whom were World War Ii veterans employed in the petrochemical industry as skilled craftsmen, was that play with toy guns was healthy and good preparation for further training with, first, BB or pellet guns, them real guns -- a .22 rifle or a .410 shotgun. From an early age, my father expected me to know the difference between a gun and a toy. As far as I know, my peers were similarly constrained. 

My own sons were similarly trained and as adults are flawless in their safe handling of firearms, at home and in the field. 

I think children of normal intelligence are capable of distinguishing between toy and weapons if properly taught and it serves no useful purpose to forbid them the former in ord,er to train them to be safe with the latter. But I had a demanding father and was very much a hands-on father to my own sons.

Perhaps that mode of child-rearing has gone out of style. It had one advantage for the child. If he knew he could rely on my word as Immutable and Consistent Law -- and that I would treat him with dignity and praise his accomplishments -- there was little need for any sort of punishment. Every boy hungers for his father's approval. And that is a powerful tool. 

There is more than one way to do most things. I disagree that allowing a child to play with toy guns is irresponsible parenting per se. 

TXGunNut said
Old safety habits die hard and I'm OK with that. I remember one LE in-service felony stop class when I purposely did not draw my (unloaded) service weapon because our "suspects" were instructors or other students. I don't need any practice pointing a handgun so I was more interested in the mechanics and proper commands. I also won't call for a bird on a skeet or trap field with my finger on the trigger. If some kid wants to play with Nerf guns I'll set up some targets. I have no problem addressing a threat with a loaded weapon but I have too much respect for them to point a weapon of any type at something I am not willing to destroy. That principle was driven home to me over 50 years ago and I still remember it. Call it KISS, call it old school. I call it common sense.
Mike
  

Common sense seems to be less common these days.  There’s a big difference between kids playing army or cowboys and indians in the yard and hunting or range time. Just my opinion but knowing the difference between a toy and a real firearm is where it starts.  There’s several videos you can see online where people talk about such accidents.  My children play with toys and respect my tools.  They have toy hammers and screw drivers.  When they use real hammers and screw driver’s it’s completely different.  

It's got stories like they all do I'm sure!

Mike