Johnny outshot his dad at that match. And me. And everybody else.\u00a0 He set a record time to come up off a shooting bench on a start signal and stop the timer when the last of five bowling pins were blown off a table 25 feet away.<\/p>\n
Johnny was thirteen years old at the time.<\/p>\n
You can read about it here: http:\/\/americanhandgunner.com\/1978issues\/HSO78.pdf<\/a> .<\/p>\n Johnny and Jack hit the Second Chance Shoot every year after, and when the Bianchi Cup came along, they shot that too.\u00a0 That came to an end in the mid-1980s when Jack, who had never smoked a cigarette in his life, died of lung cancer at 47. Johnny came to Second Chance by himself the year after that, but it wasn\u2019t quite the same, and\u2026he stopped going.<\/p>\n Jack Robbins, you have to understand, worked at Eglin Air Force Base and was the prime mover in the legendary JSSAP (Joint Services Small Arms Project) tests that led to the adoption of the Beretta M9 pistol all-service-wide by the United States military at about the time Jack passed.<\/p>\n As John and I reminisced (while all the shooters called the kid \u201cJohnny,\u201d his father Jack called him John, which is what he has gone by ever since), he remembered that when Jack told Smith & Wesson officials why their guns of the period were failing in the tests, they ignored him, but when Jack told Beretta officials what they\u2019d have to change to pass the tests, they listened. That link from the 1978 issue of American Handgunner <\/em>has a picture of Beretta\u2019s 9mm circa that period. Compare that to the M9 of today. You can see<\/em> Beretta listened.\u00a0 A fuller account is in my book \u201cGun Digest Book of Beretta Pistols.\u201d<\/p>\n John Robbins is 52 now, a proud dad and grand-dad himself. Still a shooter, just out of competition for all these years; it was something he shared with his dad, and when Jack passed, it lost meaning.\u00a0 (Gonna try to get him to shoot a match with me now, though.)\u00a0 Retired from a career as a firefighter\/paramedic, John is now a paramedic working with a Florida hospital. He\u2019s carrying on his father\u2019s tradition of taking care of others.<\/p>\n Before we parted, John presented me with his dad\u2019s Milt Sparks custom holster\/belt\/magazine pouch set for the 1911 .45 he preferred to compete with. \u201cMy dad was right-handed like you, I\u2019m left-handed, and besides, he\u2019d have wanted you to have it,\u201d he said.\u00a0 It\u2019s going to occupy a place of honor in my library\/gun room.<\/p>\n Read that old article. Please. It will show you how a fine man raised a fine son with guns. For Jack, the guns \u2013 like other icons of adult responsibility \u2013 were tools of parenting.<\/p>\n Wherever you are, Jack, know that a lot of us still miss you, and it was great to re-connect with your son.\u00a0 You\u2019d still be as proud of him as you were when he was younger\u2026and I just want you to know, I was glad I was carrying a Wilson Combat Beretta 92G when we met again. Without Jack Robbins, I\u2019m not sure that fine pistol would still be in production, and the iconic American protection weapon it is today.<\/p>\n \n \u00a0 John and Mas today.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Without John’s dad Jack, I don’t think we’d have today’s cool Berettas like this one, from Wilson Combat.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n![\"J_Robbins01\"](\"http:\/\/backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/J_Robbins01-300x200.jpg\")
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