WaPo on Winchester

Who would have guessed. The gun banning bigots at the Washington Post turn out perhaps the best newspaper story on firearms in a generation.

Wayne, something of a gun expert himself, knew that a handgun's only purpose was to fight your way to the rifle you were going to win your fight with. He used the Winchester a lot.

Read the whole entire story. The detailed description of a lever action's mechanical process is startling in its depth of understanind and its clarity. Post staff writer Stephen Hunter should be commended for turning out such a well written piece that conveys both his emotions over the demise of Winchester but also the intricate role of Oliver Winchester in the rise of America.

The tough old capitalists who invented it wouldn't shed a tear for it: If you can't sell it, dump it, was their motto. Actors, farmers, hunters and lawmen have all found better guns, and so have Cowboy Fantasy shooters.

But here's a vaya con Di os for the old smokepole. May it go to a Long Branch in the sky where the whiskey's always flowing, the gals are purty and the clock always reads High Noon