brickhistory

'Fess up. "I forgot," or "I didn't know I needed to write that down back then," or whatever now, but getting "outed" after the fact is always (nearly anyway) than admitting it yourself. The intent is to show you are trustworthy. Lieing from the get go pretty much answers the basic question of that.

Not averse to a safe by any means. The security and fire prevention as noted is a bonus. If you are still in the moving every 3-4 years or have a spousal unit who likes to shake things up, that mass is not fun however. That said, I am going for a really nice cabinet. As this is yet another skill I lack, I am once again exercising my check writing muscle and have forked a fair amount for one being built as I type. I'm hoping I get it in late October/early November. If I have a fire, then I lose them granted. But that's what insurance is for. If I get burgled, same thing. I'd lose the sentimental value of Dad's M1 and .45, but the rest is replacable. I want the whole manly thing of it beside my liqour cabinet that matches. Technique only. Guns and bourbon. I love my country.

2 I put pre-1990s or post-2004 Charter Arms snubbies and the Bersa line of pistols in the former category. I use/carry/possess both and trust them to work every time. They are not going to last 10,000 rounds, but they do the job without breaking the bank.

Define "leadership." If you mean POTUS, then it's re-election regardless of the individual in office (or his party keeping the office if in 2d term). The odd national interest does come into play. If you mean SECDEF, then it's all about budget and/or ego as far as "best interests." If you mean SECAF and/or CSAF, see SECDEF. If you mean MAJCOM, see CSAF. If you mean WG/CC, it's often, but not always, about the next step up the ladder. If you mean SQ/CC, see WG/CC. If you mean the bro on the Air Staff and/or AFPC, he/she is simply trying to survive a very ugly assignment with long hours filled with pain and doing whatever he/she can to make the bad man go away until he can get back out to the field where usually, not always, the tempo to SQ/CC is picked up. Save yourself some time and heartburn; get cynical now.

The good Lord says I'll be fine 'cuz I'm retired, but you guys are fooked." Instill it in basic, AMS, ROTC, OTS, USAFA. Use it sparingly as a commander's call/unit bbq morale challenge - coin/beer to the one who can actually recite it. Challenge folks in a so-called "combat zone?" Not so much...

A bit old but definitely related.Broke ass DC speed cameras Is there a way to seek the calibration records on that camera? Might be worth a letter and have a copy of it when appearing in court to fight the ticket along with the basic math in public from your opening post. But you know as well as I do that DC is a money whore with a third world standard of living and mentality.

The Dan Wesson (a subsidiary of CZ now) 1911s have a good reputation. Their CBOB "bobtail" is the sh1t and high on my "to get" list. You'll need about 1/2 of that magical $3000 uber-gun price you described. Springfield maked a very solid, reliable, affordable 1911.

Think I paid $69.99 via Cheaper Than Dirt.

not my photo Smith & Wesson M&P 15-22 I bought this rifle about a month ago. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about first-hand for a black rifle with the near-infinite variety of options. And I wanted to do it for cheap before I shelled out (no pun intended) $1200-1500 bucks for a big boy version. The last, and only, time I fired an M-16 was 1992. My GCI squadron had its own inventory of self-defense weapons so I got to qualify on Vietnam-era M-16s (slick plastic foregrips and stock ((don't even know if it had a bolt assist)) which underwhelmed me but then they were ragged out POSs. But I also got to qualify on the M-79 and M-60 so it was a fun week!) (We also had an M35 2 1/2 truck from 1968 in our fleet). Since then, Big Blue only authorized the M9 for annual, then biannual, then once every three years, qualification so I never shot a 5.56 again. So, the wild popularity of the many M-16/AR-15/M-4 and other black battle rifles (SCARs, etc) has largely passed me by. I prefer the old-school wood and blued steel of days gone by and am more a pistol guy anyway since I'm not likely to be part of a walking patrol where I need a modern rifle to keep me in one piece and without extra orifices. So I went cheap-ish (reading some of my other posts in this thread, I see this as a trend item...) and got the M&P 15-22 which is a .22LR kinda version of S&W's M15. I got it on-line and even with the shipping and dealer FFL use fee, it was $80 cheaper than buying retail with that mark-up and state taxes. The basic controls are in the same places and work the same way as the full size 5.56 version (save for no bolt assist on the junior model). Sights, picatinny rails for mounting everything up to a sink, etc, etc, etc. I had never played with rail systems even with the pistols I have that have such. Thus, seeing how it works and how a rifle can be tailored in about a gazillion ways is interesting. However, this IS a .22, I'm not planning on any "Red Dawn" scenarios, and I didn't want to sink a ton of money into this, so I chose not to "tacti-lol" this rifle. I got a sling, a front sling attachment point, a cheap red dot, a raised rail adaptor for same, and have called it good. Using a red dot is also a new one for me. I've been an old-fashioned iron sights or at most an optical scope for deer hunting in my farmboy days, but nothing that required a battery (probably a sts would work here). Finally took the rifle to the range this morning. It comes out of the box with one 25-round clip that is the same size as the full size, but is necked down at the top for the .22. There is a handy cartridge loading assist button in the middle of the clip to help feed the rounds in. I purchased two additional clips and a Blackdog 50-round drum magazine as well. Before shooting, I cleaned and oiled the rifle. At the range, I spent about 100 rounds sighting in the red dot. Again, I'm totally unfamiliar with using one, so cut me some slack for taking that long and that many rounds. And I'm still not satisfied with the results, but as I said, it is a cheap one, so I'm sure I got what I paid for. In 350 rounds, I had one failure to fire - that was the CCI bullet not the gun as the rim of the cartridge was well struck. I had two failures to feed - in two different magazines, I found that if I didn't have the first round pointing up at a slight angle when inserting the clip, releasing the bolt just rode over that first round and nothing went into the chamber. So that's a magazine design flaw, to me and not the gun's. Those issues aside, this was fun! It was easy to shoot the thing as the gun weighs in at 5.5+ lbs. empty and there's very little recoil or barrel rise. It IS a .22 after all. With the 50-round drum, it took forever to empty the thing. Much quicker than loading the beast obviously, but way different than a 15 round pistol clip or 8 round M1. The drum does look goofy on the rifle but it worked flawlessly. Final review: a fun plinker, served what I wanted which was to see if I wanted to join the black rifle bandwagon which I don't think I do. Just not for me, but no slight for anyone that does. It's fascinating to see the Lego type approach that a modular system allows. Once again, another stunningly obvious idea that I never had but which makes perfect sense to see it in action.

2. But the trend of letting SrA/SSgt Snuffy be a uniform nazi has developed, so there's a failure developing among the NCOs. Who is supposed to fix it? Same technical expert guy/gal who is now the WG/CC and letting the E-9 run wild? At some point, the "technician" has to be the "officer."

I turned down O-4 on AD, but had to finish a training ADSC (f'in' JSTARS...), so pulled the trigger with 11 years in. My (then new) wife had also gotten picked up for O-4 and school while I was destined to be a crew dog, i.e., a career filled with endless deployments (this is late 1990s), line swine for eternity, etc, etc, etc. Doing another 9 years of slogging seemed like an eternity at the time. She was going to go places, I wasn't. We made the choice to go with success. I thank God, however, that she convinced me to go Reserves as an IMA while I worked for Boeing. That IMA job turned into a six month set of orders which turned into a three year EAD gig, then as an AGR for six years and ringing the retirement bell with 22 years total time = 21 years for paid retirement. Since I'd made O-4, the Reserves called it good, then another promotion before saying so long. But we wound up being apart (save weekends and burning up all our leave) for 4-ish years. Your wife is doing well, but there is no guarentee that the company might downsize, outsource, etc, etc, so that is not a sure thing either. You might or might not get promoted. Big blue might or might not go back to the historical trend of majors going to 20 (or more). Will your timing match up with the flood of end of ADSC pilots who say they are leaving? If so, USAF will suddenly need rated bodies and you'll be a shoe-in. Look at the cards you are holding - wife's career potential, your's (you should know in your gut if you think you are a slug, on the fence, or fairly home free), and what the lifestyle for each career would most likely hold for you and your family, then make the call. Can you live with ditching it/trying for Guard/Reserves (how realistic is that?; seems lots of others want that as well). Will you be competitive/have the right contacts to make that happen?. Will your wife be ok with ditching her opportunity so you can follow you? Is a long (and expensive) dual lifestyle if you try that something that sounds attractive? Previously, I said that another 9 years of grind sounded endless. Three years after retiring and it's a blink of an eye. But the retirement check (x 2 with my wife's) sure is a nice cushion every month. Good luck.

Mark Berent's stuff is superb.

Disappointing but not surprising. The bucks he's bringing in from merchandising and/or endorsements must be much more than he is in actual hardware currently. No doubt he's striking while the iron is hot. Some months ago I was TDY to Vegas and killed a Sunday afternoon by going by the "Pawn Stars" shop. Besides the "magic of TV" making the dumpy shop seem pretty big, the small store was about half filled with show merchandising crap. And I'd bet the Sons of Guns producers are pushing to do or at least only broadcast the "weird" projects vice practical but "boring" gun mods. And there should be a code - no butchering of classics like that 1919.

Givin' it a shot (pun intended) Not much of a shotgun guy - bird hunting/skeet are usually beyond my eye-hand coordination (I'da been a horrible AAA gunner), but for home defense or camping, I can see a real use for them so I have one. Afer seeing a side by side in a gun store, I decided I wanted it, so now I have two shotguns. I picked up one of these Friday: not my photo for a decent price. It's a Stoeger 20ga. coach gun. The company is the importer; this one is actually made in Brazil. It's not expensive and I didn't want to go deep in the wallet for a classy side by side until I knew if I liked them or not. So I spent yesterday doing my annual self-qualification on my home 12ga. pump and this. The quality of this gun is pretty good; the stock and fore-grip are hardwood/walnut(maybe) with good checkering and the metal is smooth with no tooling marks and the blueing very good. So for looks and craftsmenship, I'm happy with the gun. It has a 20" barrel, gold bead sight, and I went for the single trigger instead of the traditional two triggers for a SxS. It's a handy little gun, short, easy to manuever/manipulate. It takes a couple of seconds to reload so not having multi-rounds shouldn't be that much of an issue in an emergency. (If you've fired off two rounds of buck and the bad guy is still coming and not cowering/hightailing out, it's gonna be a bad day anyway...IMO) My thought for getting this gun was as a basement-level ready piece, a leave it in the truck piece (when I move and get a truck again) or a camping piece. In other words, something I don't mind if it gets nicked/dinged, etc, as long as it works when I need it to. I think this shotgun will do that. As to shooting it, it works fine. Kicks pretty hard, however. Worse than my 12ga, but then that's got a recoil pad and this doesn't. Definitely could use one, but then I start to defeat the purpose of a short, handy gun with some "oomph" behind it so I probably won't put one on it. Reviews of these coach guns show folks using them for birds, clays, and for cowboy shooting. I can see that easily with this and without breaking the bank. I also see where bikers like it because it can break down in a couple of seconds (true) and be easily stored for traveling on such. That won't ever be me, but I like it well enough. Not enough to spend a grand or more for a true, classy English double-barrel, but for my purposes and as a "let's see" purchase, I'm good with it. My shoulder hurts this morning.

I'd like to amend my remarks, er, report on this S&W M&P 9. I put my 1,000th round through it this morning. It has yet to not work. I stick by the trigger being a little goofy, but this gun is rock-solid in reliability, in accuracy, in craftsmanship, and in its 17+1 capacity. I like it a lot now.

Try a band-aide or two over the point of greatest pressure before cinching the straps. That was one way I fixed the air leaks and reduced the irritation prior to getting a better fitting mask. Cleaining the mask daily also helped with lessening the skin irritation. Good luck with this, your medical situation, and retirement.

Yes. I used a CPAP for about 15 months before saying f*ck it. It did help initially; slept better, woke up more rested; wife muchly relieved that she could sleep without either waking me up or leaving for the couch. Had the sore spot rubbed (sts); loosen the mask (assuming it's a full face type) from the forward upper straps; you've got it too snug. At least I did. After a while though, the aggravation of sleeping with a mask on grated to where sleep was not being accomplished. Finally stowed the machine permanently, threw an additional pillow under my melon and pressed. (Lost 20 lbs as well). Make damn sure that the diagnosis is in your VA paperwork before separating/retiring. It can be at least a 10% or more disability rating. edited to clarify the VA disability rating minimum in light of M2's maximum given below.

\ Nice snag. Revolvers are interesting because you can get different calibers. While modern semi-autos are very, very reliable for the most part, there is also the complexity of the mechanism to consider. A revolver is simpler mechanically thus statisically (I would think, no research done nor planned) more reliable. However, that risk is more than compensated for, in my opinion, by the number of rounds available and speed of reloading a semi vs. a revolver. And there is nothing quite like the bank vault-like sensation of thumbing a quality revolver and having the cylinder rotate, the hammer retract, and trigger go to single action. But both are cool. Viva la difference! Post up a report if you get and shoot the 638.

I have seen my future with my latest acquisition and I can be at peace with it. A dealer has been handling the consignments of an old man who collected for years and years. In all, more than 300 handguns came out of the various safes. Some, as he grew more frail, he put scopes on so he could continue to target shoot. Others simply sat in the box waiting their turn to the big leagues. This is the same collection that I got a barely used Springfield Armory Champion .45 from. One of those awaiting the light of day was this: Smith & Wesson Model 29-5 .44 Magnum Classic Hunter with 6" barrel. While it was sold as "used," this gun had never been fired. It was in the original box with the papers. The barrel was pristine as was the unfluted cylinder and mechanism. Not the slightest hint of residue, solvent, or oil. It was immaculate and at $800 I was very happy to get it. Don't tell me I overpaid (I don't think I did) because for me it's simply buying a piece of Americana and worth every penny to me. That cylinder looks like a very pre- and early Civil War-ish revolver from back in the day. That said, I made it definitely used this morning with 50 rounds of 240gr Magtech and 50 rounds of Blazer 200 gr .44 special. With the magnum loads, you could tell this was impressive, but it was not a wristbreaker or even mildly painful. With the specials, it was absolutely nothing, like a 9mm or the like to me. The mass of that heavy barrel and frame took everything and made it a dream to shoot. The action is simply impressive and rock-solid. The target, i.e., wide hammer spur and trigger were very comfortable and the trigger is incredibly smooth. Totally guessing on the pull, but would put it a 4 lbs or so. Very light and smooth. While I couldn't duplicate M2's bullseye photo, at 50 feet, every single round out of 100 went in the 10 ring of a B-27E target. The total area of that is probably 5" high and 4" wide. Now I've been shooting 200-300 rounds nearly every week for some months now so practice certainly helps, but this is the most solid, accurate handgun I've ever shot. (My dad had a pre-Model 29 when I was a kid and while I remember shooting it, I just remember the extreme weight and recoil of the thing. Being 13 and gangly vs. being late 40s and 200+lbs changes one's perspective immensely. Unfortunately, that gun went to an older brother upon my dad's death.) All the shots were slow aimed fire so nothing tactical attempted. That said, it's heavy. While the recoil is very manageable, by the end of those 100 rounds, I had had enough of hefting the thing for those slow shots. There's a lot to this thing, mostly hardened steel. I like this gun. A lot. The rich blueing and the classic walnut grips are just craftsmanship as art to me. This will never be a carry gun nor a shoot every week gun either. If it were, I'd put some rubber Hogues or the like on it as that grip is not quite big enough for my hand. I got this one just to have it and I am very glad I did. I'll shoot it every once in a while, but I look forward to enjoying a nice bourbon and seeing it in pride of place in my gun cabinet one day.

"How the Helicopter Changed Modern Warfare" by Walter J. Boyne. Good opinion piece on how the helicopter developed, engaged in war with significant development during its first 30-40 years, then stalled in the 1980s until today. Lots of good historical episodes from, mainly, the United States and Soviet Union to make his point. That slowdown is having significant impact on the current, modern battlefield at the cost of crews and machines. Lots of praise for the crews making it work; lots of finger-pointing at the political and military system that condones, indeed perpetuates, such.

Sweet gun, classic lines! Any concern about buying used in the blind, i.e., not knowing the gun's history/upkeep?

M2, yeah, I remember the "why" you collected FSU/bloc stuff. I just didn't/don't know much of the "how." Thanks for the explanation about swapping parts.

M2, I knew/know nothing about them there Commie typewriters, but have learned a lot here at baseops' non-PC gun thread. (Funny how every gun is fantastic in the gun magazines (no pun intended)). But, does it change the value of the weapon to hang different furniture? Also thanks to baseops' thread, I've got a Saiga semi-auto shotgun on my wish list now. Just think of the charities I could be donating to instead...

Yes. We trust him/her enough to pull a trigger or turn a wrench and put his/her ass on the line, then we should trust him/her enough to have a brew on base/post.