More than just a pistol....
George said it took him about six months to make this pistol.
I'm a little older than George. When I see something like this, I like to try to see what isn't in the picture. It didn't take him only six months to build the pistol, it took him nearly a life time. He could not have produced what we see in the picture without having spent many many years learning each and every different skill required to make all the parts that come together and become the form that we see here. First he had to learn about and then learn to operate and use all the various machines and tools and processes that allowed him to make what we see.
When we think in terms of symbolism when we are presented with not only the pleasure of viewing such craftsmanship, but also, in this case, we have a rare opportunity to communicate with the person who accomplished it, we come to understand and appreciate more than what we see.
I think I'm safe in saying that George will agree that most anyone of us can do what he has done, but only if we had or will invest the time and energy and have the desire to gain the knowledge and skills and then take the time to practice and polish those skills to a level that can produce such a fine piece of work.
From a symbolic standpoint, what we see is not all of what we get.:)
Marv