Saddlesore, I'm in the young kids stage of family life, so the gun collection is way down the priority scale. I don't mind. I get the nice guns thing. My father had several, and I remember how he was overly protective of them.

I hunted with one of his rifles a few times as a teen, and I recall being terrified of dinging the stock, or marring the finish. Terrified was the right word too. I recall several times I fell carrying that gun, and I found a way to put my body between the ground and the gun, so that it didn't get roughed up every time. It wasn't worth it.

When cheap, plastic guns became plentiful, I jumped on them. I'd rather carry a gun where the globe won't explode if it gets banged around, as I hunt a lot of steep nasty stuff, and sometimes thick timber with lots of deadfall. I plan to give the same beater utility guns to my children if they want to hunt.

I belong on eroding granite, among the pines.