I took Bob to the sheriff's department shooting range not long ago so he could shoot a few guns from my collection for old times sake. He'd told me his primary firearm, besides the 1911, was a M1 carbine when he was an MP, but before that he carried a M1 rifle.
Bob had not shouldered either one for over 50 years and he had a blast. I was impressed that his older eyes still held a fine bead as he put the rounds downrange and even at 100 yards with the M1 rifle I could cover the holes in the target with the palm of my of my hand. We laughed when he mused that the Garand seemed heavier than he remembered, and the carbine seemed smaller, but he said the carbine was his favorite back in the day.
There were half a dozen co-workers at the range that morning doing some range time so I introduced Bob to the guys. Several of the deputies were sighting in new AR's and Bob commented that he'd never held one so the range instructor handed one off to him and another handed him a full magazine and fixed him up on the firing line. After giving him some familiarzation instructions, the range instructor declared the range hot and turned him loose. Bob fired off about 3 rounds, put the gun on safe, and turned around and asked if it was just a .22LR or what? We all laughed and so no, it's the real deal. He emptied that magazine and we handed him another . . . he was like a kid in a candy store.
When he finished and handed the AR back he shook hands all around and thanked the guys for letting him try out the 'new hardware'. The guys in turn thanked him for his service.
When we loaded up and got in the car to drive home he told me he'd not had that much fun in a loooong time.