New member, old shooter

[sharps4590]

Godd morning all!! My name is Vic and my handle is one of my favorite rifles. I was....lured here....by a couple members. I've been shooting and hunting over 50 years, shooting black powder in muzzleloaders over 30 and BPC's 27-28 yrs. About 20 years ago I obught my first two German firearms, an old E. Goldmann in Erfurt double rifle in 43 Mauser...that was an education in reloading for doubles....and an Inman Meffert drilling in 16 X 16 over 7 X 57R. The old Goldmann impressed me as to the craftsmanship of German firearms. Being of Prussian extraction it didn't take any more to set my heart on acquiring more of these fine firearms. Life and other interests intervened and I didn't purchase another until very recently. A Jost & Diehl Cape gun in 16 bore X 10.5 X47R. Asking questions and receiving prompt, polite and accurate answers on another forum this forum was referenced. Well, I had to check it out and here I am.

I don't expect to be able to offer much, if anything, reference thes fine firearms. I'll probably have more dumb questions about them than anything. Maybe I can help in the shooting, casting, forming brass and reloading for old and obscure cartridges. Time spent doing those things has hopefully blessed me with some knowledge in that regard.

All in all this appears to be the place to be for learning about the firearms of Germany.

Vic

[mike ford]

Vic,
Welcome, we are glad to have you and look forward to many interesting discussions. BTW, on the other forum you know me as "Der Ami".
Mike

[Büchsemann]

Welcome Vic.

Your interest and enthusiasm has already made for some quality discussion on "the other forum"; mixing it a bit by posting on this forum as well would be good for the GGCA a.k.a. "The Cause" (as our founder Dietrich Apel used to say).

Büchsemann

[sharps4590]

Thank you Mike. I was aware of that....I think I remember your name being mentioned over there, or you mentioning it....or who knows!?!?!?? I've accumulated enough years sometimes just remembering something is good enough.....lol....hopefully not remembering the source isn't an unforgiveable sin! As I delve deeper into these firearms I'm confident I'll have plenty of quesitons to prompt discussion. I just hope they aren't about my lineage!

Thank you also Busche! You think I ought to rehash that over here? I did run it over my chrono screens Saturday, worked those numbers for fpe and put it on paper at 100 yds.

[Büchsemann]

Vic,

No, I wouldn’t think it necessary to rehash anything on this site as most of us browse and comment on both ... and others. The GGCA site was started later than many of the other sites popular with the German/Austrian gun enthusiasts so it suffers on occasion from late comer syndrom. Some of us have discussed the predicament of sorts that the club (GGCA) is in due to our late entry in the forum world and agree that we just can't bail on the others; they're good sites with healthy memberships. I was just saying on occasion it wouldn't hurt to populate the GGCA forum and help attract those who search the Internet to the many other offerings of the GGCA such as our club newsletter "Waidmannsheil", the bookstore, sponsored trips to Germany, gun show displays, and so on. If you think you’re hooked on German guns now, trust me, it gets better ... or worse. The later implies the possible conflict with the interests of "significant other" or one's limited discretionary funding.

Büchsemann

[sharps4590]

Ahhh...I understand now. Obvoiusly I completely misunderstood what you meant. I expect I'll be around! As time goes on I'll be subscribing to the newsletter and no doubt checking the bookstore.....being the sucker I am for books.

After the first 5 years we were married my wife gave up on me and the purchasing of firearms. That will be 34 years ago come September. However, since she bcame disabled at about age 45 the discretionery funds available has been considerably restricted. Not a problem, I just don't acquire them as quickly or with the same abandon as before. And, it takes a bit of time to work up loads for about any old cartridge and rifle for which there is limited information and equally limited accoutrements so it's all good! By the time I'm satisfied with one I'm usually in position to go looking for another. I even had a thought that so rarely crosses my mind it almost frightened me. I considered selling some of my other rifles to fund the purchase of more German firearms!!!! Oh the agony of that thought!!!!!!!

[Büchsemann]

Vic,

I'm very sorry to hear about your wife, I hope the two of you are managing things OK ... sensing the answer is yes.

I agree making shifts in collections is difficult, in your words almost frightening, but with the exception of a few treasures that have been assigned a boat load of sentimental value others are free to move as I see one's art collection changing hands on occasion. For example I used to be an avid Lefever collector, now I'm down to one. I still think Lefevers, especially the high grades, are very nice American shotguns but my interest in German double rifles is carrying more weight these days. Rather recently I acquired a choice Brenneke (E. Schmidt & Habermann) 7X64 Brenneke bolt gun which I suspect will be taking me down yet another road, we'll see. I see the Brenneke as an addition to the others as I know I won't be moving away combination guns.

If you need any help in the way of counseling, to help relieve the agony of "letting go" of a past love, there are a bunch of us here that I'm sure will be willing to offer some words of comfort.

Büchsemann

[sharps4590]

Thank you for the sentiment Busche. We've always done fine and are doing so now. I just don't write checks for $4000.00 dollar rifles anymore...lol. My retirement got set back a few years also but that's ok too.

I have made a "shift" as you call it, (good way to put it too!!), a couple times in my gun collecting life. Always it was to higher quality firearms. I really do need to go through the toy box and do some culling. There are some long ago loves in there that have simply lost their passion and probably ought to be sent down the road to someone who has an interest in them. Whether that would be to further the purchase of more German firearms or merely to line my pockets for any future rifles that pique my interest doesn't matter. I would at least be in a position to jump if an opportunity presented itself. Eh, who knows?