Special Interests - Groups & Societies > 1860 Henry

Forty-five years ago when the man was young and the Henry Rifle was new

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Tuolumne Lawman:
As I re-read that (after getting a little choked up again) I began to think about the fundamental differences between then and now.  We now live in a disposable society where we trade in perfectly good items for the newest and only sometimes better.  This poignant poem says much more than the sum of all the words.  It describes a very different time....

In the 1800s and first half (or even 3/4) of the 1900s people people were less likely to replace something they had that still worked well.  I read a story about a cowpoke in Montana during the 1920s using an 1858 Remington .46 rimfire conversion.  He saw no need to trade it in as it worked flawlessly.  The same with 1860 and 1866 Rimfire rifles.  Ammunition was commercially made until the beginning World War II.  80 years later, the 1860s and 1866 were still taking deer and whacking coyote in the west.  Years ago, I knew an old California cowboy from the Oakdale, CA area.  When he was a young ranch hand in the 20s and 30s, he carried his daddy's 1866 carbine.He killed varmints and hunted deer for the line shack camp with it.

While I am as guilty as most, I do have some things that I have not replaced:  My 12 ga. single shot I got for Christmas in 1968, my walnut stocked Ruger 10-22 my wife gave me 1973, and my Glock 19 I bought new as a deputy in 1994.

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