worst ff thing to lose

"David LaCourse" wrote

Dave ( who was NOT a diver in the Navy)



tales of the weird: about 30 years ago, pamlico jim and i and another guy
were way up a tiny tributary to the alligator river in far eastern nc, jump
shooting ducks. water was black as tar. the boat owner/operator was
reckless as hell, and we were winding our way upstream far to fast. he
rounded a turn in the creek, the boat hit something (never found out what),
and out we all went, asses over elbows. my brand new browning pump came
along for the ride. miraculously, no one was hurt, and the boat simply
stuck itself in shoreline flora. i figured my gun was a goner. jim said he
would come back with some equipment and look for it, but i didn't figure
there was any chance.
next weekend, i'm back in greensboro, and jim calls. says he has my
gun, but it's "frozen up". he had taken another buddy back to the scene of
the crime, and they dove in 6-8' of black water feeling along the bottom.
amazingly, they found the damn gun. i asked him to take it to a gunsmith
and have him try to render it at least minimally operative. a couple weeks
later, i go down to pick up my browning, once again thinking the gunsmith
would just sadly shake his head and present me with a bill for his failed
efforts.
long story short, the damn gun, which was a pump, had been transformed
into the smoothest, sweetest functioning firearm i have ever experienced.
the smithy had torn it completely down, and cleaned/honed/polished every
surface. the action would operate by gravity alone. yeah, i paid him a ton
of money, but it was worth it. i ran a bunch of shells through "ol' swampy"
for about the next couple decades, until it was stolen from my old homeplace
by some sonofabitch from southern rowan county.
i hope it blew up in his face in some godforsaken dove field.

yfitons
wayno