Leaderboard

Back in 1993, the Brady Bill and separately the Assault Weapons ban were enacted. I was an opportunist and cashed in as a new FFL gun shop owner on the fear it sent through people. I enjoyed very good successes, but within 2 years that bubble busted, and my sales dropped over 75%. I couldn't make it! Finished my college degree, and sold the business, and live the 8 to 5 life working professionally for industry. Those were the best years when you can combine a hobby that you love with a business that you run. I met a lot of good people that told hundreds of stories from guns, hunting, to personal sad stories. We didn't have the internet back then, but I enjoyed researching sources for a special gun/part that one of customers were wanting. Man, I miss being in the business at that level. Running a business when it is your sole income taught me a lot that still spills over to this day. The takeaway from my story, I suspect many gun shops have enjoyed a good run. Have made lots of money. If they used that money to pay down debt maybe they will survive. Hopefully they own their site instead of renting. However, I suspect many will fail in the next 1-2 years due to over saturation of the market and no high demand. Supply and Demand principals will always make or break you unless you are flushed with cash.

A few friends and I just leased some property this year. The one area I usually hunt is too small to carry a rifle on so that place is a muzzleloader or bow area only. Taking a couple deer off the new place makes it worth doing. The rifle I used this morning hasn't killed a deer in probably twenty years. The 7400 was passed down to me many years ago and I put it in the safe as a gun to hand down at some point. The 06 did its job. Being bucked out, I have to focus on coyote with the .22 mag and taking pictures with the big camera.

Hey, thanks! At the end of the day, I guess I'm really just an engineer who's interested in people and the ways in which things work. I'm long on this American experiment, and I suppose as a father, taxpayer and business owner I've got some skin in the game. The thing I absolutely love the most in life is getting to watch people do stuff they're awesome at - and I really don't care what it is. Whether you're researching cancer vaccines or running conduit in perfect rows doesn't make a difference. I'm just as fascinated by someone who can run heavy equipment setting bridge trusses as I am in meeting with world leaders. It doesn't matter. If you're good at, I'm interested. One of the things I really love about this board is getting to know individual member's stories. Because truthfully, I'm certain we've got hundreds of really fascinating folks on here. Frankly, that's why I encourage good debate. I expect we've all got something we can learn from folks on here.

Shoot, I use my 30 oz RTIC as a coffee mug.

So i would have to pour my coffee before i went to bed so it would have cooled down enough to drink when i get up in the morning. I like it. voted for 1

I'm still don't have a great interest in ARs, but somehow have managed to accumulate quite a pile of them around here.There's no denying their accuracy, ease of use, etc. That S&W will surely serve you well. I expect it'll have company shortly. Buy plenty of ammo. They seem to eat a lot!

And you still only have one?

"...... There is not many problems that a Man cannot fix, with $500 or a 30.06......"

You now have immunity from all future panic buys. No one panic buys .30-06 ammo. Why? Men with .30-06s don't panic.

Men, I've been waiting for a while to write a review for this one. This past Saturday I was fortunate to kill a deer. The knife you see above was used to field dress it. It performed flawlessly! It came from Sybo with a razor edge, ready to use. The knife is perfectly balanced and felt like an extension my hand while opening up the deer. It's weighted and shaped to cut just enough without applying excess pressure. I'm thoroughly satisfied with the knife and highly recommend it for hunters. Even after dressing out the deer the knife is surprisingly still razor sharp and ready for another one. Thanks Sybo! Mike

Resurrecting this thread. Academy Sports has these Caldwell Lead Sleds DFT for $99.99 both in store and on-line. I just ordered mine with free shipping, but with TN Sales Tax. The link ad says $109.99, but the shopping cart will show $99.99. Enjoy................. http://www.academy.com/shop/pdp/caldwell-lead-sled-dft-shooting-rest#repChildCatid=33496

Well folks, i decided a few weeks ago to upgrade from my sks to a AR 15 platform gun...But didn't want to spend for the higher end models...So i went with the Smith and Wesson M&P 15 sport... :) Got it new at a local gun shop for $632 ( $701 out the door) So far i am very impressed with the guns accuracy...some pics of my first shots at the range today, all with stock iron sights... Pic of the M&P gang together :) the very first shot with the gun at 50 yards... Second shot @ 50... First shot @ 100 yards... Second shot @ 100 yards... rapid fire @ 100 yards..All on target :)

I will get at least two. Will make a nice xmas gift.

In the stand, small breeze but not too much. Great looking morning, seen three does, no shot, and a fox out hunting and warming itself in the sun. Been using the squirrels to practice acquiring targets in my scope, the fox too. Fox was difficult, minimal movement and blended well with the tall grass.

Amen. Being in the woods is great! Seeing wildlife is a bonus, seeing deer a big bonus and putting meat on the table is YUGE..!!!! Haha....

Something about these little 100 plus year old wheel guns that is intriguing. With a working one in my hand, I often think it may well have been assembled by an old Civil War vet. Well anyway, I picked this up on GB about a year ago for about a hundred bucks. Last month I did a similar rebuild on a little 22 short called a Captain Jack. The Ranger is a good choice for a rebuild since it uses coil springs for the cylinder latch lever and cylinder locking lug. Also the hand is sprung very nicely with a strong spring arm pined into the hammer. Many of these early mouse guns used tiny leaf springs that would be a real pain to fab up since they are usually shot. As with a lot of these, I had to beat the cylinder pin out of the gun. The cylinder had about .016" end shake so the picture shows the building up of weld that will extend the length of the cylinder and I will turn the weld into a thicker bushing face. The original diameter over the cylinder pin was very thin allowing the hammer to beat the cylinder forward over the many firings. Heres the turned cylinder with a new pin made from oil hardened drill rod. Once the cylinder is fit into the frame with virtually no forward to back play, The barrel face is turned back and drilled out to .250". Then a new 22 sleeve is turned to fit and epoxied into the barrel. most any of these early guns will have the hammer and or the trigger sear wiped out as seen here. The fix is once again a build up of weld and recutting the hammer sear notches. Reshaped and the trigger spring was trimmed to lighten it up to a far more comfortable let off. After the trigger is re-timed with the action, I simply hardened it with Kasenite. The front sight was missing so I soldered in a new blade and trimmed it down to POA. The target is a 7 round cylinder string fired off hand at 6 feet. The only rounds that I would say is safe to fire in a well functioning BP mouse gun are CCI #0026 22 SHORT CB rounds. These round have no powder in them. only a primer charge. I'm always on the look out for those CCI #0026 rounds. I use them in an old Belgian Flobert type rolling block I have. You gotta love putting life back into these grand old guns! I sure do

I went out this afternoon and swayed in the tree tops. A bit windy. I got a little chilled, too. I had nice marino wool long johns at home, lol. Too bad I didn't wear them. I'll wear them tomorrow afternoon when I head back out. I enjoyed beng out today just feeling thankful for my time in the woods. I saw one squirrel.

They just let him take the rocket launcher? Good grief. I'm pretty sure rocket launcher beats baseball bat

Thy should also realize that likely lots of them will be going out of business, too, as Trump ain't likely to be anywhere near the gun salesman that Obama was, or Hillary would have been. - OS

Unless you have BAR

Kinda hoping you'll tell us what it is.

My papered business days are over. I had a full service Gunsmith/retail business back in 82-96. I was nearly back into one this past year with all the TN requirements done. I was just about ready to do the 07 FFL until I learned about the BO inspired "new" ITAR permit requirement for gunsmithing activity. The ANNUAL permit costs $2,250 with an additional $100 for a mandated Gov wire transfer of those funds. Im retired now and don't need this political BS. So I get around this as so many here in the Great State of TN with a little creative advertising. My card is self explanatory. I once tried to patent a free floating, adjustable gas system for AK's and other similar gas operated systems but the USPTO threw up one rejection after another until I was tired of the "moving target" of specific regs. I lost a lot of $$$$ there. Anyway I most enjoy going where most gunsmiths rarely venture like one of my franken XT guns like this SKS with a plethora of QD furniture like the built in flood light & red laser hand guard and the QD buttstock that hides a 5 rd mag inside. And uses outstanding VZ58 mags w/ holdopen intact. And a newly designed Left hand bolt handle, finned barrel, adjustable gas, ect,ect. Just fun stuff...

Hey, it's legal in TN to make your own silencer (or SBR/SBS/AOW) without a stamp too, but it's funny how the Feds don't agree. - OS

It's funny you guys mention "buying in celebration", because that is almost exactly what I did. Admittedly I had bought a few evil rifles in the weeks leading up to the election. As I sat in bed Tuesday night with about $1000 worth of ammo in my Sportsman's Guide cart watching to see how the election went down...TRUMP WON! I was thrilled! I woke the wife up, did a few Tiger Woods fist pumps, and then was in such a good mood, I thought "F' it, I deserve a new rifle after the last eight years of tyranny!"....Then I realized it was 2 am, I could hardly see straight, and decided it was probably best to gun shop with a clear mind the next day. Woke up in the best mood since I was 10 on Christmas morning, did some clicking around on Mr. Gore's interweb, and picked up a 9mm AK pistol....weird I know, but it was the perfect "I'm buying this for no damn good reason other than I want it" firearm. So I concur, let the celebration buying commence, we've earned it ladies & gents!

whew, I can finally stop

I thank all the good comments on my tinkering. And since it looks like folks like to see a "how its done" here at TGO, I will take the time to photo post the next re-furb. I have a Marlin #47 pump 22 that was in a fire. Its pitted pretty bad and the wood needs to be replaced. I will also post the process of relining the barrel. There will be a lot of before and after shots. My goal is to resurface the metal to a factory cut. The 47's are quite rare in that they were never offered for sale to the general public. Stay tuned to the Gunsmithing postings in the next few months.

Nice, that'll do exactly what you want it to and a lot more. Exactly what most people should get for their first AR. <---Yes, this is your FIRST evil black rifle, if you don't believe us, come back to this post a year from now and let us know how that worked out for you :up:   Nice rifle and nice shooting, enjoy it!

Welcome to the dark-side. :cheers: