My Collection

Here’s my modest collection of military hardware

Remington 700 - 355,xxx, similar to an M24 sniper rifle. My sons and I call it “Ranger Chuck” after Chuck Mawhinney who used a similar rifle during 16 months as a Marine Corps sniper in Vietnam (‘68 and ‘69) to kill 103 Vietcong soldiers. An additional 216 kills were listed only as “probables” because it was too risky to take time to search the bodies. After the war, he returned home to Oregon and became a Ranger with the US Forest Service.

M1 Garand - H&R 4,736,xxx. My sons and I call it “Uncle Johnny” after my uncle who carried one while serving as an infantryman in the 45th Division in Africa, Sicily, Italy, France and Germany from ‘42 to ‘45.

M1917 - Eddystone 457,xxx. My sons and I call it “Daddy Con” after my grandfather who carried one while serving as an 81st Division infantryman in the trenches in ‘17 and ‘18.

M1 Carbine - Inland 4,967,xxx. My sons and I call it “Uncle Bob” after my uncle who carried one like it while serving as an Army combat engineer in Korea in ‘52 and ‘53.

M1911A1 - My sons and I call it “Cousin Jack” after our cousin Roland “Jack” Hale who carried one like it. He was fatally wounded fighting the Nazis in February of ‘45 while serving with the 30th Infantry.

M44 Mossberg - Civilian model of an armed forces .22 training rifle. My sons and I call it “Grandad” since it was given to my Father by his Father in ‘44. My Father used a similar rifle while taking basic training at the Great Lakes Naval Base in ’47.  It is the first firearm I ever shot.

M1903 - Springfield 969,xxx. My sons and I call it “Cousin Bud” after our cousin, Vernon “Bud” Hale. While serving with the 24th Division, he fired one like it at Japanese aircraft attacking Schofield Barracks on December 7th, 1941.