Taylor Meadows with his Enfield rifle (photo by Taylor Fowler).
Taylor Meadows with his Enfield rifle (photo by Taylor Fowler).
During the late 1950s the Danville newspaper included an advertisement from an establishment stating they had received a number of surplus military rifles they were selling for ten dollars apiece.
I wanted one. I had an extra few dollars from my job making forty-five dollars a month as a student school bus driver for Chatham Elementary and Chatham High School.
The rifle I am holding in the photograph is the one I purchased so many years ago. It is a 1918 .303 caliber British Enfield military rifle. The .303 Enfield was the main infantry rifle for the British in World Wars I and II. It is highly accurate, and made to withstand warfare abuse. I was 16 years old at the time of the purchase. Unlike today, no paperwork or background check was required. Just pay ten dollars and take the rifle (no sales tax, either).
It has served me well in my hunting adventures. It will do its part, if I do mine.
Note: It's difficult for today's teenagers to comprehend that bus drivers during my student years were in many cases students themselves. The average high school student in that day was mature, responsible, and could be counted on the do the job.
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