I had a bakelite faux-Luger single-shot cap gun, it was nearly full sized and extensively detailed (it would probably get you arrested today), before I was eight years old. It fit my hand like a glove, and I recognized even then that it was something special. By the time I was 12 I had bought, on purpose and with my own money, Fred Datig's book. I collected guns and gunsmith-tinkered through high-school, but only had long guns because I was too young to buy handguns.
(A long hiatus, during which I didn't buy guns, and eventually sold most of them. I never lost my interest, and always regretted the sale.)
Six months ago (40 years later) I decided what the heck, there is reallly no reason for me not to indulge. I've been making up for lost time ever since.
--Dwight
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