TheFrontRange
Member
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2003
- Messages
- 548
A blue, 4-inch S&W Model 19 was my first handgun back in 1987, purchased new for $245.00. Alas, I soon sold that gun, but an assortment of K-Frame Magnums has passed through my holsters ever since.
Back in 1994 or so, I bought yet another blue 4-inch 19, this one very gently used...even if the price had gone up to about $270.00 or so! I kept this gun as my only carry piece until one day in 1996 my father-in-law Frank talked me into trading it to him for a 1911. I'd been desiring a .45, and I made the trade quickly.
That .45 came and went, even though 1911s have also remained a steady interest for me (one serves me today as my primary carry gun)...but Frank never parted with that 19. He wasn't much of a gun "enthusiast"...he just wanted some solid protection around his home office, and he'd never been comfortable working the slide on a semi-auto. I'd most recently seen that particular 19 in about 2000 or so, admiring its wonderful, bright finish and wooden target stocks and wishing, just a little, that I could buy it back from him.
Once or twice he thought he'd managed to actually lose the 19. He sold an RV and later was certain he'd left the .357 stashed aboard the vehicle somewhere. Later, he told me he was pretty sure his wife had gotten fed-up and just thrown the gun away (she's very uncomfortable with firearms in the home). In fact, the last I'd heard, the 19 was pretty much unaccounted for. I knew he'd later purchased an AMT Backup in .380, and he was apparently able to manipulate it better than that earlier 1911.
Frank passed away last week, finally succumbing to a long battle with diabetes to go Home and be with his Lord. My wife and kids and I accompanied my mother-in-law back to her house early one recent morning, bringing items back in that had been at the hospital. I knew she'd be doing some cleaning and such in the coming days, and I knew Frank had kept that AMT in a desk drawer at one time. Long before his death, he'd told me that "if anything happened to him" I was to collect the AMT so that no one would get hurt with it stumbling around in his desk. When the time was right I brought the topic up with my mother-in-law. Her face brightened...she said that Frank told her where the gun was and that I was to have it after he passed. I told her that I didn't really "want" it, I just wanted to make sure it was unloaded and I'd just secure it at her house. She insisted that she didn't want it in the house at all and that I was to have it.
She went upstairs and returned with a briefcase. Inside the case was a zippered pistol rug. I knew something was amiss as soon as I felt the heft of the rug...and I was shocked when I found inside not the AMT but that same Model 19, still looking beautiful. She was loaded (appropriately, I thought), and I dumped out the six 110-grain JHPs and just held the revolver there, looking at it, amazed at not just its own beauty but now at this very special connection to my departed father-in-law.
I doubt this weapon has been fired in the close to 10 years that Frank owned it. Her finish is still smooth and shiny, even if the cylinder was a touch stiff at first. If a good scrubbing doesn't loosen things up, I'll have my local 'smith have a look at her. A set of black rubber Hogue Monogrips was on the 19, but after taking the gun home I slipped on a set of factory target stocks and ultimately want to get a set of Skeeter Skelton-style Roper grips a'la Sheriff Jim Wilson and others. I'll also be accumulating some leather, speedloaders, etc. for it...even though a 1911 or a SiG is my typical carry piece, I know that at times, I'll want the 19 back in place on my hip. She'll be a shooter again, and more special than ever before as it'll always remind me of my father-in-law.
Now, as for that AMT Backup...I'm still not sure what's become of that one hahaha....
Back in 1994 or so, I bought yet another blue 4-inch 19, this one very gently used...even if the price had gone up to about $270.00 or so! I kept this gun as my only carry piece until one day in 1996 my father-in-law Frank talked me into trading it to him for a 1911. I'd been desiring a .45, and I made the trade quickly.
That .45 came and went, even though 1911s have also remained a steady interest for me (one serves me today as my primary carry gun)...but Frank never parted with that 19. He wasn't much of a gun "enthusiast"...he just wanted some solid protection around his home office, and he'd never been comfortable working the slide on a semi-auto. I'd most recently seen that particular 19 in about 2000 or so, admiring its wonderful, bright finish and wooden target stocks and wishing, just a little, that I could buy it back from him.
Once or twice he thought he'd managed to actually lose the 19. He sold an RV and later was certain he'd left the .357 stashed aboard the vehicle somewhere. Later, he told me he was pretty sure his wife had gotten fed-up and just thrown the gun away (she's very uncomfortable with firearms in the home). In fact, the last I'd heard, the 19 was pretty much unaccounted for. I knew he'd later purchased an AMT Backup in .380, and he was apparently able to manipulate it better than that earlier 1911.
Frank passed away last week, finally succumbing to a long battle with diabetes to go Home and be with his Lord. My wife and kids and I accompanied my mother-in-law back to her house early one recent morning, bringing items back in that had been at the hospital. I knew she'd be doing some cleaning and such in the coming days, and I knew Frank had kept that AMT in a desk drawer at one time. Long before his death, he'd told me that "if anything happened to him" I was to collect the AMT so that no one would get hurt with it stumbling around in his desk. When the time was right I brought the topic up with my mother-in-law. Her face brightened...she said that Frank told her where the gun was and that I was to have it after he passed. I told her that I didn't really "want" it, I just wanted to make sure it was unloaded and I'd just secure it at her house. She insisted that she didn't want it in the house at all and that I was to have it.
She went upstairs and returned with a briefcase. Inside the case was a zippered pistol rug. I knew something was amiss as soon as I felt the heft of the rug...and I was shocked when I found inside not the AMT but that same Model 19, still looking beautiful. She was loaded (appropriately, I thought), and I dumped out the six 110-grain JHPs and just held the revolver there, looking at it, amazed at not just its own beauty but now at this very special connection to my departed father-in-law.
I doubt this weapon has been fired in the close to 10 years that Frank owned it. Her finish is still smooth and shiny, even if the cylinder was a touch stiff at first. If a good scrubbing doesn't loosen things up, I'll have my local 'smith have a look at her. A set of black rubber Hogue Monogrips was on the 19, but after taking the gun home I slipped on a set of factory target stocks and ultimately want to get a set of Skeeter Skelton-style Roper grips a'la Sheriff Jim Wilson and others. I'll also be accumulating some leather, speedloaders, etc. for it...even though a 1911 or a SiG is my typical carry piece, I know that at times, I'll want the 19 back in place on my hip. She'll be a shooter again, and more special than ever before as it'll always remind me of my father-in-law.
Now, as for that AMT Backup...I'm still not sure what's become of that one hahaha....
