My good friend, shooting mentor and dealer Bill Lewis passed away on February 24th....coincidentally the day I turned 40.
He'd had a long battle with cancer that started in his bowel and ended in his brain and it really ruined his last days.
What he really loved to do was chew the fat with people, tell tall tales and listen to others tell them, and talk specs and performance on anything from guns and cartridges to cars and aircraft to tools and, well, anything technical.
He also loved history and he was a wealth of information on all matters most trivial.....which meant we spent long hours chatting about all sorts of complete rubbish.
But the cancer took most of his hearing and then it took most of his voice and the last visit I spent with him was very hard.
Gone was his lively voice and his responses were conducted in the loudest whispers he could manage.
But he still laughed long at my stories, especially about my eldest's spotlighting trip where most of the rabbits were shot in the car headlights while son waved the spotlight around randomly.
And at our last parting he promised to leave a BRNO Model 2 .22lr rifle that he had in his stock for my son.
So one Saturday not long after his funeral I headed across and met up with another dealer friend of his who I'll call Don.
Don is an excellent fellow who I met at the funeral and I really wish we'd met under better circumstances.
Now, since everything had happened quickly and some things had not been ironed out it turned out Bill had 4 Martini Cadets still in his dealers stock that he'd (somewhat ironically) acquired through deceased estates.
I've always loved quirky old rifles, something that rubbed off from Bill, & I love Martinis in particuluar.
I already had 2 Cadet sporters, a 22 Hornet & a 25-20.
I've wanted a proper pukka 310 Cadet for years and not that long ago Bill said he'd keep an eye out for one for me to buy.
It kinda seemed fitting that it was his dealer stock I'd finally got one from.
I asked Don about them and he said frankly that anything that would speed the removal of these sort of items would make life much easier for Bill's widow.
The cash was also very desirable.
So, since I had the necessary permit to acquire for an additional centrefire rifle I was able to pay for it and take it on the spot.
First out of the safe was my son's BRNO Model 2.
These really are excellently made rifles.
They fairly fly to the shoulder and it's no surprise they were choice of farmers all over Australia.
I hope one day my son realises what a gem Bill has left him.
Then I had my pick of the Cadets.
They were a mixed bunch.
One was pitted and not too bad but didn't look promising.
Another was in lovely shape but was missing that wonderful elevation AND windage adjustable rear sight having simple iron sights instead.
Number 3 was frankly appalling and needed much more fixing than I'd bother with.....in fact it probably needed a replacement bbl.
So I took No4 for a couple of reasons.
I've posted 2 pics because neither of them really showed it off properly:
Yup, look at the figure in that timber!!
Don commented on it too.
And there was the sights.....I apologise for the bad photo:
The knurled knobs on the sides adjust the windage and the knurled wheel in the middle adjusts the elevation.....out to 400yds!
I was very pleased & Don also included a brand new Lee 3-die set in 310 Cadet which Bill had had stowed away in his cupboards in the purchase.
Here they all are, my small trio, top to bottom - Sportco Martini Hornet in 22 Hornet; a custom BSA Cadet in 25-20 and my acquisition BSA 310 Cadet:
I now have brass & cast bullets on order for the 310 Cadet so I hope to have it shooting within the month, a fitting tribute to Bill.