Bittersweet Acquisition

[imarangemaster]

Recently, my long time friend, next door neighbor, and fellow carbine lover, Bill R, passed away unexpectedly. I have been helping his brother George, his executor, go through and liquidate his belonging, including selling off his guns (which included two M1 Carbines) through the gun shop I work at.

I was surprised when George presented me with one of the carbines, saying "Bill would want you to have this!". He also gave me a small wood ammo crate full of pouches, Carbine parts, magazines, accessories and minty M4 Bayonet.

Its just a really nice Saginaw mix-master in a birch potbelly stock, no import marks, and purplish Inland Type 4 trigger guard (I suspect CMP Bavarian or German ancestry). ME is "0" though, so it should be a good shooter. Ill post pics later. It will be a brother for my early featured IBM late war partial rebuild.

There are no words to say how touched I am. It will be cherished and shot much, thinking off hours spent talking across the fence with my friend. Nothing can ease the shock and pain of loosing a good friend that you see almost daily, but the Carbine (which I named Bill) will give me great memories every time I shoot it.

Adios, Mi Hermano....