A little lengthy but tell me if you can relate.
Anyone else have a Dad that begs advice and never follows it? Mine has a neighbor and I always cringe when after having a lengthy talk with my Dad I call a day later to ask if he followed through on what we talked about and instead get , " I was talking to my neighbor Barry.." I instantly want to hang up because I already know he has disregarded everything we painstakingly went over.
My sister labeled the neighbor Dale ...you know- from King of the Hill. Perfect.
Dad loves guns, owned a few but hardly ever shoots them. He will if I visit and loves to chat and ask questions to me on them. His arthritis has gotten to where he can't easily rack a slide so we talked about options. I told him the easiest racking thing ever made was the PK 380 Walther I had gotten my wife. She loves it after three other pistols she picked out and won't shoot I picked this one out for her. Dad said it felt like a 22 and was great but he wanted something more powerful. I said a 9mm would be ok if we could find one that soaked recoil and racked easily.
I dug into it and explained striker versus hammer and why I preferred hammers- though it didn't mean he couldn't like striker. I also said , and I know some will question this, that I thought a polymer would be more comfortable for his hands.
In the end we settled on a Beretta PX 4 storm and he loved it. Barry- aka Dale- convinced Dad to reload because Obama was on his way to his ammo. I tried to talk him out of it saying he would shoot less than a box a year and I would be happy to contribute a box or two. That and if mom spent $250 on a blender he would go ape sh*t. So- I went down and enjoyed the time spent setting up his new reloader and worked out some loads. I shot that Beretta and never in my life shot a pistol so accurately. Very comfortable, all is good.
Until.. he came up two weeks ago and said it is missing. He thinks someone at a car wash took it. I have a feeling it will turn up.
But - he is hot and heavy to make a new purchase. He is like a kid in this regard.
We talk. Go over striker versus hammer and he says he knows for sure he wants hammer fired. Is looking at a 5" barrel. I say ok but hard to conceal. He says he won't be carrying it anyway, though he has a license, except near him in the truck. I say cool- it will help soak up muzzle flip and be comfortable. He says he is looking at an FN X. I says ok nothing wrong with one but why not just replace the Beretta with another. Likely cheaper and you said it fit your smallish hand etc... Well- he just has a hankering but wont admit it. So we discuss pros and cons of several not-too-expensive models. Eliminate the M & P, the Taurus, and some others. I make a push for the CZ P09.
He goes to a small gun show but sees little except over priced used guns. Says he is going to an overpriced shop in town to look at the FNX. Goes there and sees and FN but the guy want $700. Dad says he can get it on line for under $550. The guy says he will match it. His eyes bug and he buys it thinking the guy did him a favor.
Dad describes the gun and I tell him you don't have an FNX, you don't have its predecessor the FN P, you have a striker fired FNS. He says yeah, the guy says this is easier to conceal. He says it has a 4-1/2" barrel, I tell him no it has a 4 in. barrel and I thought you did not want it for carry - and that comfort was more important? I am thinking to myself, it is a double stack magazine and you have small hands- and the slide stop does not appear arthritis friendly....but I say nothing.
He says he looked at the STI I mentioned but they want $1k to $2k, I tell him no, Dad , look at the GP6 polymer 9mm not the ....never mind.
Of course he bought it before he called me then added he bought a box of hollow points to break it in. I said Dad...no not hollow points for......ok go shoot it, hope you like it. Congratulations. It is very pretty.
I told him to take it apart, degrease it, reassemble and lube it, and buy some round nose heavy bullets for first box. Think he will? Sigh.
Understand I am in no way knocking the gun or manufacturer. I love Dad and when he is gone one day this will make me smile even more I guess.
