by Wapiti » 01 Jan 2026, 8:02 pm
My first centrefire was a Garand. Springfield Armoury, 1951. I was 15, and a first-year apprentice Boilermaker.
At 12, I looked after a neighbours house over Easter and he gifted me a Stirling Model 20, a 22LR semi-auto, with my dad's blessing.
For my 21st, my oldies gave me a refurbished ex-Israeli M14.
After that, I had a few M14's, one had actually escaped Peter Cue's removal and grinding off of the auto-sear, what fun that was. I still can't work out how that one got through. That one I sold on the "Qld Trading Post" paper in 1996, just before the "stealback" ended. For the buyback price, to a bloke who was not going to hand it in.
At the time, I was too scared to disobey the new laws.
Same thing happened to my 1984 SLR, 10/22, Colt AR15 Hbar that I used in IPSC rifle comps, and a mint FN49 30-06.
My H&R M14 truly was an MOA rifle, and I cut down a 20-shot mag to a flush fit 10-shotter for hunting. Nothing escaped me, and I could take out crows at ranges that a good shot wth a 22-250 could, as well as a mob of pigs.
None of them were handed in, all were sold legally just before the stealback ended. I wonder if they are still out there.
And today, to tell the truth, I wish I hadn't gotten rid of them and it is one of my life's greatest regrets.
Obviously, at the time, I was a homicidal maniac and could have snapped at any time and massacred my whole neighbourhood. But I didn't.
Because I wasn't a religious imported neanderthal, or a mentally ill drug addict let out with a smack on the wrist each time I pleased a judge in his chambers prior to a court hearing.
Regards G,
AKA Dr. Doolittle