Redheaded Stepchild of the Gun Safe: M43 Firestar

This looked like a pretty cool idea when I first saw it; a small single-stack, single-action auto. This was when all I had was a great big .357 Magnum, a great big .45 Auto, and a Browning High Power. Before I realized how utterly futile it was to apply for a Maryland CCW permit, I looked for something I could hide in an inside-the-waistband holster and found this little Spanish beauty at a gun show. Arggh...the Maryland waiting period. If that wasn't bad enough, the gun shop hosed the paperwork, so I wasted a trip out to Crownsville to pick it up. By the time I finally got to bring it home, the gun was just an interesting range piece. Pleasant to shoot, accurate...it enjoyed the darkness under my truck seat for a while. Now I've got lighter guns for pocket carry (the small, yet deceivingly hefty M-43 would make a good throwing weapon), so it sits in my safe wondering when I'm gonna shoot up all that Greek surplus 9-mm my Uzi doesn't like. Several other stepchildren wonder the same thing.