The broken rifle and the daughter

[David Austin]

My last rifle was for my 12 year old daughter...she's 54 now. I did all the inletting with a three cornered file I ground into a chisel. Finished,I took her away from her fave TV show and handed it to her. I had to bully her into shooting it. Two shots took out the X in a .22 target...25 yards. The barrel was a bored out to .32 and rifled. A Mauser piece of junk. Left the chamber end round ...two wedding rings and hex tapered the rest of the way. I made the sights, ramrod ferrules trigger, triggerguard and buttplate out of scrap steel. The lock is something I got in a trade. I had a smith thread the barrel and tang. The rest is on me. Stain is steelwool dissolved in nitric acid and neutralized with baking soda...several applications. Finish is hot linseed oil and beeswax...26 coats.

Two shots...she said.."Satisfied?" "Yes" She thrust it at me. She never shot it again. When she turned 50 she asked if I still had it. "Yes...but..." "But what?" "I broke it..." "And?" "I lost the broken forestock...and the barrel, the triggerguard and floorplate and buttplate." "DADDY!" "I still have the lock....it's broke but it looks like a lock.." "Fix it. I wanna hang it over the fireplace. But I don't want it to shoot." So...the barrel is in the wood. She's gonna have to do the rest.

 

[bpd303]

It will make a fine wall hanger, over the fireplace as is, along with the history about it..

 

[David Austin]

It will make a fine wall hanger, over the fireplace as is, along with the history about it..

Thanks...it's really little. That plywood is three feet four inches feet long.

 

[olskool]

i guess after she tore the X out in two shots, what was the point of shooting anymore, been there done that,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[David Austin]

We used to go to the shoots all over Central Wyoming and South center Montana and Custer South Dakota. We started when the kids were little. When we moved to Lewistown MT she was in Highschool. Fergus County High School had a shooting...she was in the room across the hall. Hates guns.

 

[azmntman]

i guess after she tore the X out in two shots, what was the point of shooting anymore, been there done that,,,,,,,,,,,,

Sounds like my girl. I took her fishing once and had to bait the hook etc. She caught three trout (her limit as an unlicensed kid back then) before I got a line in the water. After about 5 min of me sitting there enjoying the day she says (loud enough for all others to hear) "Dad? Can't we go now, yer not very good at this". Hootn n hollern all over the lake. I made her stay till I caught my 6 though! Same daughter last summer out shot me with my new .36 Pietta (from billinoregon) first time out.

 

[David Austin]

Sounds like my girl. I took her fishing once and had to bait the hook etc. She caught three trout (her limit as an unlicensed kid back then) before I got a line in the water. After about 5 min of me sitting there enjoying the day she says (loud enough for all others to hear) "Dad? Can't we go now, yer not very good at this". Hootn n hollern all over the lake. I made her stay till I caught my 6 though! Same daughter last summer out shot me with my new .36 Pietta (from billinoregon) first time out.

Embarrassing ain't it.

 

[azmntman]

I consider myself a pretty good shot. Wife best me too first time shooting a high powered rifle. She had never touched a gun or eaten wild meat when we married. AND was a dem. Killed her first deer when oldest in the womb. Two years later a cow elk with a muzzleloader. Now a staunch rep. (Headed toward conservative or ind). Women are just natural good shots IMHO.

 

[David Austin]

I consider myself a pretty good shot. Wife best me too first time shooting a high powered rifle. She had never touched a gun or eaten wild meat when we married. AND was a dem. Killed her first deer when oldest in the womb. Two years later a cow elk with a muzzleloader. Now a staunch rep. (Headed toward conservative or ind). Women are just natural good shots IMHO.

I read an article..I think it was in Sports Afield...the author proclaimed that women can not see game.. I made the mistake of telling my wife that. So...we're driving up the Red Grade road on our way to Bear Lodge in the Big Horns of Wyoming. And she said stop. I did. "There's an elk on that ridge." Not. Atleast I couldn't see one. She pointed. Nope. She got out the binoculars and lined me up...ain't happening. Finally she honked the horn. Huge elk leaped up from the brambles. Well...I never told her she couldn't see game again...but she never passed up the chance to point out one I didn't see. She did that a lot. The wench!

 

[Brokennock]

Women are just natural good shots IMHO

If not natural, they can more easily be trained to be good shots.
They pay better attention to instruction and have a higher attention to detail (not saying they are nit-pickers or anything )

 

[bpd303]

Someone once told me it's better hand eye coordination, trying to make me feel better about my wife out scoring me with the same gun.