Health & Firearms Collecting

[Retired Sarge]

Had a range outing back in March and it wasn't fun at all.

Shooting my AR and a few bolt action MilSurps was highly uncomfortable. If that wasn't bad enough, the young kid 3 lanes down from me was shooting a 22. Everytime time he fired it felt like a 50 cal concussion in my chest. I ended up shooting 12 or so rounds and called it done. Everytime I pulled the trigger, it felt really weird in my chest, and the concussion felt overly exaggerated. I actually had to leave the firing line to lessen the feeling.

Then I had my semi-annual Cardiologist appointment in April, and had an echo and stress test done. They found a tear in my lower heart chamber. Now whether this is due to heart disease progression alone or if the shooting aided it or worsen it somehow I don't know. Or if what I was feeling was due to the tear.

I'll talk to my Cardiologist about it during my 90 day follow-up, to see if continuing to shoot is safe.

That could mean my shooting days might be over. My wife and I have been discussing whether my MilSurp collecting days are coming to end also. In other words no more actively looking to add to my collection and just enjoy fondling what I have.

I had my Widow Maker heart attack in Nov 02 between scheduled deployments, in Jul 06 when I had my first ICD put in, I was told by my Air Force Cardiologist, that in 10 years I would either have a new heart, a pump keeping my heart pumping while waiting for a new heart, or be dead.

I never was good with math, so instead of 10 years we are coming up on 20 years. But the heart is starting to tell me I won't live forever.

 

[DizzyDigger]

Sarge, heart problems are never a good thing, but it is amazing how well the body can
do even with some minor glitches in blood pump performance.

There's a whole lot of new heart technology that's come out in the past 20 years,
and hopefully the doc's have got a few tricks up their sleeves to keep that thing
running for a couple more decades...

 

[ToddsPoint]

You can be a collector and not a shooter. That’s pretty much where I’m at. I’ve worked on guns for 46 yrs, engraving and stock making. I used to shoot a lot but not much anymore. Now it’s just pride of ownership having a nice collection. I have a couple that I restored and never fired after I finished them. Like this M-42 Winchester 410.

 

[russau]

Sarge my prayers are with you during this ! My weapon collecting has stopped but I still like to look and think of it ! I have a small collection of rifles & pistols BUT due to my current health I don't shoot anymore ! I still like to goggle my old eyeballs at nice weapons like the ones ToddsPoint (Gary) posts ! NONE of mine look antwhere as nice as his !

 

[k0bgalan]

Way back in 1965, one of my friends got into the firearms thing (Civilian Marksmen??) administered by the NRA. One of the weapons he got, was an M1. It was well packaged in cosmoline. The problem was, he didn't completely disassemble it, specifically the bolt. He shot it first a few times, and then I fired it. When I woke from my daze, a spring was gangling from my forehead! Not much damage or blood, but my ears rang for several hours even though I was wearing muffs. The trigger assemble was hangin from my right finger, and the stock was in about 5 pieces. Couldn't find the bolt to measure the head space which is something he didn't do either. In this case, it was no doubt a stuck firing pin, but folks need to realize some of these surplus guns are assembled with standard off-the-shelf parts so a thorough "smithing" is a dead-on necessity (pun intended).

 

[BennyV]

When we are all constantly on the go it is easy to forget about ourselves. Get well soon. Take care of yourself.

 

[releventchair]

Concussive force nearby affecting the bodies hydraulics of being mostly water.... Yeah that seems entirely possible.

Take it easy a few till the cardio folks give you a green flag.
(That might include bigger fireworks nearby too.)