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kenjs1 Online Content OP
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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.


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LOL. It is not just dads. Let them have their fun.


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My dad listens to me on my areas of expertise and I listen to my dad on his areas of expertise.

Saves money and time. For both of us.



Travis


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Trump being classless,tasteless and clueless as usual.
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Sorry, trump is a no tax payin pile of shiit.
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My young wife decided to play the field and had moved several dudes into my house
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So he must listen to you about EVERYTHING eh?

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Good stuff Ken; you're a good son. Yer dad sounds like me... A little excitable and easily distracted.

Mine passed 4 yrs ago last week; enjoy him while ya can wink !

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My dad wasn't a big gun person , most of his life he only owned and hunted with a H&R 12 ga Single barrel shotgun and Stevens Single Shot 22 rifle. I did purchase him a Marlin Lever 30-30 a few years before he died. He hunted nothing but Squirrels and Rabbits and killed every Hawk that came onto our small farm . He called them Chicken Hawks and hated them because they killed his chicken and eggs and Chickens where our food source beside the Hogs well butchered every year. Myself all i ever thought about since i was big enough to walk was guns and hunting. Me and Dad never talked about guns that much.


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My dad passed away eight years ago, be glad you still have yours.

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kenjs1 Online Content OP
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I am VERY happy to have Dad around and trust his advice when tackling anything and everything dealing with construction of anything. I enjoyed showing him how to reload and bed a rifle. He loves that I am so into this stuff and we are very close.

All through this pistol buying process I told him it was his choice to buy whatever he liked most and I was merely pointing out differences and such. It was fun to watch his excitement throw everything he said the day before out the window. In the end he knows if he is happy - then I am happy.

I am finding more and more similarities between my Dad and my grandkids lately. smile Lucky to have both here.


When a country is well governed, poverty and a mean condition are something to be ashamed of. When a country is ill governed, riches and honors are something to be ashamed of
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Dad and I have never gotten along all that well, in large part I think because am a lot like his brother, and they couldn't stand then or now to be in the same room together more than 5min (there's a Steelhead cuckhold joke in there am sure). None the less, he did introduce me to guns and taught me a bit though he's not a big gun guy nor any patience for hunting aside from walking for squirrels once upon a time.

He did mention a few times, and longingly, while teaching me how as a boy he thought a neighbor farm kids Stevens 22-410 was the neatest gun ever. It's thirty-some years later and last spring I found one, restored it, and gave it to him last week complete with a cleaning kit and some ammo. My parents are retired on the property he grew up on and first encountered that 22-410.

He called to say thanks and he'd wait to try it out until spring because he was afraid the old gun would "explode" due to the cold up there (wisconsin). Coincidentally, spoke with his brother/my uncle that day by email, and my dad had grumbled something to him about "no need for guns".

So, hey, what can you do. Hopefully he enjoyed the sentiment at least. Maybe someday I'll get to hunt that little rifle for him, I dunno.


Golldammed motion detector lights. A guy can’t even piss off his porch in peace any more.

"Look, I want to help the helpless. It's the clueless I don't give a [bleep] about." - Dennis Miller on obamacare.


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My father, as a young man, was taught how to point several .50 cal. Brownings toward the enemy and light them off at the same time, but years later, I discovered that he knew nothing about handguns and sporting rifles. I mean zip.

I had to learn from other people. Never once, when I became an adult, would my father go with me to the range. I never pressed him. He had his reasons, and they were good ones.

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kenjs1 Online Content OP
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sandcritter and tjm10025 - Do you have boys if your own- or perhaps nephews? I hope you have opportunity to share you knowledge and passion. Thanks for sharing your experience.


When a country is well governed, poverty and a mean condition are something to be ashamed of. When a country is ill governed, riches and honors are something to be ashamed of
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I'm sure you do things your dad thinks are as nuts as the things he did in your story. Your dad is his own man as I am sure you are, as he raised you to be. Be glad you still have him around to cause you consternation. Some day he will be gone and all this stuff won't mean nothing at best. At worst, you may regret some of your reactions. Fathers and sons argue, then fathers pass on and it all seems so petty. Now go call your Dad and discuss the merits of different ammo!


"The universal aptitude for ineptitude makes any human accomplishment an incredible miracle." John Stapp - "Stapp's Law"
"Klaatu barada nikto"

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kenjs1 Online Content OP
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I hope I made it clear how thankful I am to have him around. Every day he becomes more precious to me and I very much believe, I to him. The guy is pushing 80 and telling me he needs to drum up some work- in remodeling. This was more funny than anything. I wasn't frustrated.

He called to say he took it apart and cleaned and lubed as I suggested. We talked ammo and I raised concerns, then validated it was ok to shoot +P he had bought in the FN S. He said he shot it earlier in the week and had never shot a pistol better in his life. He ain't much of a pistol shot and doesn't shoot much- but the man can shoot a rifle that's for sure. I was thrilled for him. All in all it ended just as I intended- with him as happy as he could be. He is so looking forward for me to come and shoot it. Be assured, if the thing blows up in my hand I will praise it to high heaven for the loud bang it made in the process.


When a country is well governed, poverty and a mean condition are something to be ashamed of. When a country is ill governed, riches and honors are something to be ashamed of
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I think dads have trouble thinking of their sons as grown up. At least that is what I tell myself when the same thing happens with us. Either that or he thinks I am an idiot, and he gets mad when I suggest that. mad


Parents who say they have good kids..Usually don't!

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