John your article reminds me of the Vince Lombardi quote.....”Gentlemen we will chase perfection and we will chase it relentlessly, knowing all along that we will never attain it but along the way we will catch excellence” (something like that anyway) - which indeed you have done!
For myself I have always wondered if I only would have stayed with my Remington Model 700 ADL in .270 Winchester (influenced by Mr. O’Connor) that I received as a Christmas gift in 1973 at the ripe old age of 10.......because I was relentless in hounding my widowed mother that I had to have a centerfire rifle (that I couldn’t use legally to hunt deer for another 2 years🥴 - God bless that woman!) how many more hunts I could have taken??! - or my Remington 541S .22 or my Ithaca Model 37 .12 gauge.
However, in the “pursuit of perfection” I like to think that I learned a lot along the way......and that way has exposed me to some of the greatest gun artisans, gun makers, competitive shooters, writers and just all around gun loonies (many right here at the Campfire) in existence. I have accumulated way to many firearms but my fascination of firearms and their form and function have lead me down a path that I have no regrets of and will likely continue until the final day.
Thanks for the great writing - it’s always a pleasure to read your thoughts on many topics!
PennDog
