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In 1944, my uncle was fighting in Bastogne Germany. A group of Germans crossed the road in front of him, and my uncle fired, killing one of them. They advanced up the street, and when they reached the dead solider they paused. My uncle picked up the soliders Mauser rifle. Here he is in the middle of battle, and he thinks how nice it would be to send his brother a rifle.

He carried the rifle for several days before getting a break. There were restrictions on the size of packages you could send home, so my uncle cut off the stock and barrel, and somehow managed to send the rifle home to my grandfather. We don't know if this happend during the war, or after, but it was sent home via mail. My grandfather was working at a Continental factory in Muskegon Michigan, where they made tank engines. He took the Mauser to a local gunsmith and had a 30-06. barrel put on and a nice stock fitted.

For the next 50 years, every year, my grandfather hunted with the Mauser his brother had sent him. As a child, and later as a man, I always loved the solid 'crack' the action made as it closed.

My grandfather died in 1995, after a long happy life.

This November, my father and I will take to the woods, the same woods the men have hunted for 50 years. My father will be carrying the Mauser.

Neither my father nor I hunt as much as we used to, but the guns we have weave together our family history. I look at that rifle, and I can feel a sense of connection with my grandfather and father that I cannot put into words.

Anti gun and anti hunting folks are welcome to their opinions, but perhaps if they understood the deep family threads that these guns represent, they would understand our utter contempt for them.

I don't mind saying that I had a tear in my eye a couple times typing out that story above......