| You're right, there ain't nothin' funny about M1-thumb, except, that is, how it's gotten. I was set up at a Fort Worth gun show several years back, and had four Garands amidst other goodies on my table. This fellow all but races up to my table, declares that he's in heaven, and asks me if he can pick one of them up. I told him that he'd be more than welcome to, and he did. "A man of fine taste" I told myself, as he'd chosen the WRA to play with. He asked my best cash-right-now price, which I gave him. He whipped out his wallet, layed down the bills and swooped up his new toy. He asked if I could please remove the secure-tie for just a moment, which I did, telling him that I'd have to replace it with a fresh one before he left the table. "No problem," he said, "...I just have to take care of something real quick." He jacked the operating rod a couple of times to get the feel for the spring force. Then, to my amazement, he stuck his thumb down and let fly. BAMB! Well, he danced around for a moment or three, then seemed to get over the pain somewhat. He grinned at me and said; "...I've always heard of M1-thumb, so I wanted to go ahead and get it over with. Now, could you please show me how to charge this thing so I don't ever do it again?" I loaded an en-bloc with 8 dummies and spent the next few minutes demonstrating, then let him try. He got it right every time. I re-secured the bolt, he thanked me and left the show. He returned a bit later and slid a bottle of single malt under my table. "Thanks for the lesson, NOW I'm ready for the range." |