Been married 55 years. My dear old dad loved guns , but had little money. He worked three lobs to keep our house that he built for us in 1945. When I turned 6 years old , he swore me to secrecy to never tell a sole , about what I knew about his guns. My mom wasn't from a firearm tolerant family , because guns cost money and things were financially worse in the family she came from. When dad needed a gun , he worked extra for the money to buy it , or if it was a bolt action ctg. rifle ,he got surplus WW-1 or WW-2 and built it himself. When I got old enough to need a shotgun for hunting for food animals in small game season , I was to inherit dad,s used gun and to pay for a new one for him ,he quit smoking and saved the 35 cents a day he spent for a pack of smokes . Year later , he bought the first new gun I ever saw him buy as a kid, all this totally clandestine. Eventually, when the coal mines came back after the war , we had a little extra money to spend , but still kept our gun needs out of the family budget. After I put myself through Engineering school , there was no money for guns , the wife came from a non gun , city family, so I did what Dad taught me . It took a while , but I wanted to get into muzzleloading guns , again w/no funds. I got a Dixie Gun Works catalog and built several m/l guns from scratch , and the rest is history. I've always kept my m/l hobby separate from my wife's interests. Only comment from her these days is , what will I do with all the stuff in your work shop , if you die? I have one word f or her , Auction........oldwood