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

[w44wcf]

Forty-five years ago when the old man was young
   The Henry Rifle was new;
And thru all the years has the pioneer clung
   To the gun as a friend proven true,
For the Henry has shortened the wolf's thieving life,
   And taken its toll of the deer;
And in troublous times it protected the wife
   And babes of the young pioneer.
Now life lies behind them – yet love smiles between –
   The glow of the sunset grows dim,
But warm is the light and the prairies are green
   In the place where she is waiting for him.
.   .    .   .    .    .    .    .    .    .    .    .    .    .    .    .    .    .    .
The rifle comes down from the antlers where hung,
   Together they pass in review;
The forty-five years since the old man was young
   And the Henry rifle was new.

Circa 1918
Charles E Easton
Courtesy of Jim Foral

[Fox Creek Kid]

Pardon me, a bit of dust got in my eyes. 

[Major 2]

that gets a sticky, thanks for sharing 

[w44wcf]

Pardon me, a bit of dust got in my eyes. 

Mine too!

w44wcf

[Major 2]

breezy here today too 

[The Pathfinder]

Pardon, gents, I musta closed my finger in a door or somethin'. Kinda touches the heart, don't it. 

[Major 2]

" It do ! "

[Coffinmaker]

(Snif) - Allergies.

[Cliff Fendley]

eyes are watering....unusual for this time of year but I must be needing my allergy medicine.

[Scattered Thumbs]

Darned dust.

[PJ Hardtack]

Reminds me of my favourite anonymous war poem:

"And yes, it's true, what they say
of war and war's alarms.
But Oh, that I was young again
and held her in my arms."

I think of this when I see the blurry eyed, aged and decrepit old vets on Remembrance Day. Once proud, young warriors; now old and broken by age and infirmity.

[Slamfire]

 "Thank you,,w44,,,"Some how the rain here today,,( lump in throat),just makes it more,,,more,,well ya'll know.








  Hootmix.

[Rooster Ron Wayne]

The Older I get .
The Better I was !

I started out Loving the Big Magnum Single Action Guns .
And ended up falling in love with the 44 special  caliber 1872 Open Tops and the 1860 & 1866 .

I have been shooting 44 specials for about 10 years now.
Its a do it all caliber I think .

My Henry 1860 is a 44/40 .
I like it but wish I could convert it to 44 special.

Rooster 

[PJ Hardtack]

There was a time in CAS (the era of ONE pistol) when if you didn't shoot a .44 or .45, you were thought to be light in your Lamas.

My first CAS revolver was a SS Ruger Vaquero in .44 magnum and I still have it along with a blued model of the same vintage. My carbine was a B-92 I still have and they burned up a lot of 240 gr ammo between them.

I have a 44-40 Henry and it would be nice to have one in a shorter .44 cartridge like the .44 Russian.

[Tuolumne Lawman]

I like it.  I think I will print it out and frame it in the den.

As I get Older (pushing 65)  I have backed off from .45 Colts with 37 grains of FFFG, etc.  I fined the Henry with 45 Schofields duplicates the Henry nicely.

[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.