Good morning gang..

My story with Dan Wesson pistols starts as a High School kid(freshman), in either '81 or '82.. My next door neighbor was part mad scientist, prepper, computer geek, machinist/welder, and avid gun collector/shooter..  By day, he drove a city bus for the city of Oakland Calif., but by evening he was a tinkerer in his garage, making cool stuff like homemade miniature cannons on his lathe, mill and welder that shot broom sticks cut down into dowels, with gun powder and fuses he literally cooked and made himself.. 

With every "boom" that launched a wooden dowel into the air from his back yard, he had a seriously infectious giggle that made you laugh all the more just to hear it..  I could go on and on about my neighbor Dennis, about how he built his own computer on which I played a Star Trek game for hours many times, or about his 19yr old girlfriend(he was in his 30's-ish) who had some of the biggest boobs I had ever seen(again I was a freshman in High School) and she loved showing them off when we she would come over and swim at our house, but alas I am sure you guys would rather hear the more relevant parts about the Dan Wesson pistol..

One weekend, Dennis, his girlfriend, his best friend(also a gun guy) and myself went camping and shooting..  While I got to shoot some very cool guns, some full auto(pre-86 ban), the one thing that is forever etched into my memories is the very first hand gun I had ever shot..  Now just to back up a bit, I grew up since about 3rd grade shooting my BB gun at my little green army men on our acre lot(I lived in Louisiana for about 6yrs of my younger life) and shot rifles and shotguns with my father, uncle and grandfather while hunting everything from deer down to snakes..  I was a DAMN good shot with a rifle or shotty..!! But had never in my life fired a pistol until this camping weekend..!

First day there, after setting up the campsite and targets, he got right down to business..  Dennis asked me if I had ever played "Gun-golf"..?? I was like "Huh??"  He laughs..  He takes two soda cans, and sets them beside each other about 10feet down a dirt road that has berms on either side of it.. Pulls out this big beautiful blued pistol that looked like something straight out of a Dirty Harry movie..  Tells me all about the kick of this .357 magnum, shows me the proper way to grip it with both hands, and says "We both have six shots, the person who shoots their can the furthest in those six shots, wins"..  We both hit our cans with all six shots, but my can went further.. Here was a 9th grader little punk kid who just shot a magnum for the first time, in a new-to-me game, and beat him with his own gun..!! Hooked is an understatement of a word, but that was the best word for that weekend.. I didn't want to shoot anything else, just that magnificent pistol and play "gun-golf"..

Fast forward a few years, to '93 and my father bringing up the idea of he and I getting into "Cowboy action" shooting and my very first hand gun I ever owned, my JP Saur and Sohn .44 mag replica of a Colt single action.. I still have that pistol, and since my father passed in '97 I now have his Dakota 45LC he used in those cowboy matches.. A few years later in 2005, a man by the name of Rob Leatham(yes, THAT Rob Leatham) would convince me into getting a 1911 style pistol and ditching the Glock I was carrying for my CCW pistol.. That developed another love affair with the 1911 and oddly the HK p30 series of HK pistols, and of course I have fallen deep into the AR platform as well.. 

At this time in my life I am a single father of twin 14yr old daughters and a 12yr old son who all LOVE shooting..  About a week ago, one of my daughters asked me what got me into shooting.. I told her my story of BB guns, and little green army men on an acre lot, and all the way up to that Dan Wesson pistol, cowboy shooting and those memories with my father.. During this conversation I realized I still own my first ever rifle, Marlin 336 30-30 given to me when I graduated High School, my first ever pistol the JP Saur and Sohn, my first ever shotgun a Stevens 311 in 16ga.. That's when it clicked that I need to find a Dan Wesson pistol.. Not that it would be that same pistol, but it would symbolize one of my most cherished memories pertaining to shooting..

Two days ago, I was fortunate enough to win a gunbroker auction for a 15-2VH6 at $600.. It's still not here yet, but I am salivating at the chance to take my kids out to teach them "gun-golf" just as soon as the fire restrictions lift in the desert(I live in Arizona now)..  It's no beauty queen and I won't be refinishing it as it's going to be a shooter, but it's still damn beautiful to me or at least based on the gunbroker pics..  I am sure my kids will cherish the memories too, and hopefully use all my guns far beyond my years..

Thank you all for taking the time to read the ramblings of a sentimental old fool..!!

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