Musings on a new rifle rack

Let me be clear ... there was absolutely NO blank spot on my office wall crying out for more clutter. Shifting things around on the wall to make room was tantamount to a sheriff's eviction of some poor squatter (on my wall, mind you, not necessarily in my office) in order to make room for the new rack. (That's RIFLE rack! Get your minds out of the gutter!)

But the wall wanted a rifle rack. Everytime I glanced over at my Geoff Hunt Napoleonic Navy prints, with row upon row of US Navy coffee mugs displayed below them, I saw in my mind five or six stacked, gleaming, metal-wood-and-plastic beauties in their place.

Mind you, there was nothing wrong with the rifles' previous storage. Kathy and I built an "armory" when we first moved in here, that would provide all the firearms a safe, dry storage area, standing (locked!) in their transport cases.

Gun owners will understand, tho. Fully HALF the joy of owning a quality firearm is just GAZING at the darned thing -- polished and lethal-looking -- in a place of pride where you and the rest of the world can see it.

Even though I've read the Aubrey/Maturin series of novels of the British Navy in the Napoleonic era 15 or 16 times, I never would look at the Hunt prints in my office and imagine myself aboard a square-rigged ship of the line. (For a modern sailor like myself, it always seems like WAAAY too much work, and some of the wormiest, lousiest food in the world.)

But like the fine pieces of machinery they are, fine rifles displayed on a wall (you should pardon the expression) "fire" the imagination.

Looking at the AR-15, I can almost feel the semi-anemic recoil, and hear the high-pitched "Clack" it makes as the bolt comes flying back. Looking at the M-14, I can almost feel the smooth, oiled action and hear the roar as it pounds rounds downrange. I can sense the weight of the darned thing, and the natural way it shoulders and fits itself to my hands. Looking WAAAY up at the 1943 Mosin/Nagant on the top rack, my shoulder twinges at the thought of firing the beast in the spring ... and I can't wait to feel the ache in my shoulder from a full day at the range with it. (Provided some historian can unearth some ammo for it.) Looking at the thorougly modern Steyr's blunt muzzle, I am reminded that the Assault Weapons Ban has finally expired, and that it now would be legal to put a genuine flash hider of muzzle brake on this rifle. (The current blank barrel just looks so ... abrupt. I mean, this rifle wants a HAT!)

So one of the Geoff Hunt prints came down, and a homemade rack went up on the wall, perched right over my red rolling tool cabinet/camera storage unit.

Some pounding and cursing later, the rifles now adorn my office wall: Mosin/Nagant M91/30; Springfield Armory M-1A (the civilian version of the veteran M-14); DPMS AR-15 carbine; Steyr USR rifle; and the Fabrique Nationale PS-90.

Looking at the rifles now, I have discovered that (RATS!) some rifles just don't sit well with others.

The top two, all fine oak, mahoghany and blued steel, are just classic and timeless. Holding them, one can almost smell smoke from campfires and battlefields around the world.

But the other three look like something from Star Wars: all swept back fiberglass and scoped steel. Perched under the older models, they almost look WRONG!

(Sigh)

Well, they're just going to have to learn from their diversity, 'cause there's way too much clutter on my office walls to fit another rifle rack. (Although, maybe the Hunt prints all want to go into storage awhile. Hmmmmm)