Took a ride on the bike last week, ended up in a hole-in-the-wall bar chatting with another old guy.
Got talking guns. Surprise!
He talked about the only gun he owned that he would NEVER sell.
AK-47 that he brought back from Vietnam. Sent all the hardware back piece or two at a time. Brought the bare stock back with him. Apparently they didn't think an AK-47 wooden club was much of a threat.
He said he took it from the guy who was charging him while firing the AK. He took it after he hit the guy with 3 rounds to get him to stop charging.
I think I'd keep it too.
Mine is a Long Branch SMLE.
It was given to me by a good friend, it was his first deer rifle back in the 60's. His dad bought it for almost nothing. It was a poorly sporterized SMLE. Poorly is being stunningly polite. If I actually used the language required to describe it, it would probably fry the processor in my laptop.
I returned it to almost original condition, showed it to John, he couldn't believe that it could be brought back that close to original.
And it's a hoot to shoot with cast.
Lost him to a heart attack about 6 months later at way too young and age.
That one will be around until it's up to my daughter to get rid of my dead guy stuff.
I suspect she'll keep it too. She thought John was a pretty special guy too.