Here’s a nice print of Terry hanging in Tank’s basement.
Terry Murbach was a lovable ol’ cuss! He’s been gone a few years now and I miss him, as do a lot of other folks. For the past 10 years I’d see him every June at the NRA’s Whittington Center. Words describing Terry would be cranky, cantankerous and opinionated. He reminded me of a cross between Festus on Gunsmoke, and a Tasmanian Devil, for you never knew what was going to set Terry off. It was also one of his most lovable traits.
Those who didn’t know him well weren’t quite sure how to take Terry. But like most, once he warmed up to you, you found out he was the nicest guy in the world, willing to do anything for you. I know he was bestfriends with John Taffin, and that speaks volumes. Over the years, I got to know Terry pretty well. Besides talking about guns, handloading, Elmer and Skeeter, we’d talk about old authors, particularly Russell Annabel.
Here’s the Murbach gun with some nice, easy shooting pink powder coated .38s.
Book Club
Back then, I’d recently read a few of Annabel’s books and was hooked better than a steelhead on Rusty’s stories about Alaska. I mentioned his name and Terry said he kinda’ remembered reading him as a kid in Outdoor Life and Sports Afield. So, I sent Terry a book, the first in the series of short stories by Annabel from Safari Press.
This opened the floodgates to our relationship. After he read the book, he let Judy, his wife, read it also. Terry joked it was the cause of a few arguments later on, as Judy would tell Terry to hurry up and read faster, so she could get her hands on the next book. Over time, I’d sent the whole series to him. Every year we’d talk about the different stories Annabel wrote.
Terry would ask, “Whatever happened to that Indian girl, Olinka?” and we’d stop shooting and talk and talk about the stories. Later, after some of my articles were published, I’d always get a phone call from Terry, giving pointers, praise, or opinion, in a warm manner. I looked forward to the calls. My last call from Terry, he told me about getting hit by a car and how banged up he was. It was his last.
The S&W model 14 is in perfect shape for Tank’s purposes.
Special Guns
Terry had an extensive gun collection. I knew I wanted something from my amigo. Some were out of hand, pricewise, but then I saw the perfect gun.
Terry didn’t like recoil much. None of us really do, we just tolerate it, to be quite honest. But Terry made no qualms about it. Shooting .22 LRs, or easy loaded .38 Specials were more to his liking. He could shoot, “so why would I want to ruin it with recoil?” he’d ask. Terry was full of bitterly honest statements like that.
The gun I saw was a well-worn S&W model 14 .38 Special. The price was low enough to not make too much of a dent in the bean fund, so I bought it. The fact it was well used made it even more attractive. Terry’s DNA is oozing from this gun, I’m sure, making it even more special to me. I only shoot low-recoiling loads in it, the way Terry would want, keeping wear and tear to a minimum, on both me and the gun.
This gun speaks volumes, if you know how to listen.
The Terry Load
I have a nice 130-grain RFN slug from a Lee six-cavity mold perfect for this application. My standard load is four grains of 231 with this bullet, but my “Terry Loads” use a scant three grains of Alliant Bullseye powder, for 700 FPS of recoil-free plinking perfection. It’s also a very accurate load! I’m sure Terry would approve, but I’d have to raise his hackles a bit and use pink powder coated bullets. We’d get a good chuckle from that, but he appreciated the wonderful traits powder-coated bullets provided, as I’d let him shoot some before.
Special Guns
Most Gun men/women have special guns they hold close to their hearts from special people in their lives. While hating the circumstances of obtaining such special shooters, they are indeed well appreciated. They keep memories alive, the powder burning, and the stories to be re-told, every time the pistol rug is unzipped, and someone asks, “Nice gun, where’d you get that one?