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People in the restaurant I am in are wondering why the hell I just shot coke out my nose laughing.

The best caliber is the one you carry daily.

Anyone remember these? I got one of these for so many merit badges awarded by the Scoutmaster in the Cub Scouts back around 1958 or so. It was well used and old but the Scoutmaster had it from when he was a kid as I recall and still worked like a champ.

Aaaaaand can anyone tell the class what caliber handgun was used by a super tough F.B.I. agent to end the Miami shootout and finally take the (admittedly already wounded) bad guys down? A 9mm Luger? Nope. A .45acp? Nope. A 10mm? Nope. It was a .357 Magnum revolver loaded with .38 Special +P ammunition (ftw).

Kind of related but unrelated. While I was in the military in Germany I travelled a lot with a team. The team was made up of different soldiers depending on what we were escorting. We were on a mission and had a few new soldiers one of which was a German citizen who joined the US Army so he can expedite his citizenship. Anyways, one of the stops was at Bergin-Belsen, a concentration camp during WWII. While there the conversation turned to us talking about concentration camps and things related to it. The soldier, who was German, obviously had some sort of personal connection by the way he spoke about it. After a few minutes the German mentioned that his grandfather was killed in one of the concentration camps. One of the other soldiers piped up and said his grandfather had also died in a WWII concentration camps. The German perked up and started to say something until the other solder said "yeah, my grandfather fell out of the guard tower and died". At that point there was a lot of pushing, shoving and yelling. Needless to say those two never worked together again.

Well, after two months, some very good news. I took Ellie back to the breeder with no expectations, but low and behold they went above and beyond and did the needed surgery to fix Ellie's heart murmur. I just brought her home for the second and last time. She cleared 3 different vet's with no sign of the murmur. She should lead a long, normal life with no side effects. It's pretty remarkable what they can do these days. Here she was at 8 weeks. And today at just over 4 months.

9mm vs. ?? threads of recent are not as colorful compared to some in the past. Maybe the horse has been beaten into oblivion. However, just because I can, I dug up an old visual to add to the seemingly never ending debate, PERIOD.

We're not into dude on dude stuff like .40SW adherents are.

I found this in some stuff my Dad brought up to me. This was my banner year in Cub Scouts. I think I sold 1296 tickets. Take a look at the prizes. BB Guns, Pellet Guns, hatchets. a Bow set, and Knives. These were the good old days when you did not get a plastic Frisbee or drawstring backpack for fundraiser prizes. Some parents would go ape sh!t if this was the prizes they used today. Also at the bottom it says if you sold the most tickets in the Council you got a free Disney Trip. Also shows sponsored by Ogles Water Park up in the corner. Simpler times.....

Took a while to finish, but I think it's finally 'done'. 700-800 rds through it so far (probably, maybe more ), 6-inch groups at 200 yds w/ Wolf .223 factory rounds. 3" groups at 100 yds. Anderson Manuf. Lower w/ Houge grip, Anderson 5.56 upper w/ 24" Stainless Bull Barrel 1:8 twist. Nikon P-308 scope, Reflex site, and CAA Group Stock w/ cheek rest. Starting to become a fan of the AR. Want to get another upper in 300 blk. out so I can use that as an excuse to buy another lower! It truly is an illness. I should be able to get government compensation somehow, shouldn't I? - K

Oh come'on....we all know that the best handgun for self defense is the one you have on you at the time of need. You can't talk self defense without talking conceal-abilty in the venue you are in when attacked. 22 - 45 beats a knife at a gunfight every time.

The CZ is head and shoulders above striker fired pistols. Everyone has their own opinion, but hammer fired guns just feel right to me. I started off on striker pistols. I intend to shoot my new P09 along with my XDM in the next few days and I'll be able to give those two a good comparison after that.

I grew up mowing and just like to do it. I like machines of all sorts and mowing is relaxing to me. You are looking at probably $250-400 per mow to do 5-6 acres depending where you are. That pays back quicker than most realize. If you have 1/4 acre, ok, but at that point you might as well buy a condo with no lawn.

My Ruger 22/45 is a fun plinker and used a lot for new shooters in carry classes. Last time out had a couple of FTE (American Eagle Ammo) but worked fine with standard CCI. Soooo, broke down watched a couple of videos on takedown and more importantly reassembling the 'Mark" pistols. It was a close call and I decided not to break my promise to myself.......I promptly went outside and sprayed liberally with brake cleaner, worked the action numerous times, sprayed again, ran a bore snake through it and then sprayed liberally with Hornady Clean and Lube. Wiped it dry. Looks like it is good for several hundred more rounds. That was a close call, almost ruined half my day if I had taken it apart.

You want the shorter barrel with a threaded muzzle. You will be able to shoot cheap bulk pack 22 and it will remain subsonic. With a 4.5" barrel certain brands will be supersonic and they will be about as loud as without a silencer.

Get a Redding body die to bump the entire case back into shape when it needs it. Get the Lee collet die and use it to squeeze the neck back into shape. I normally take a few thousandths off the diameter of the pin to get it a bit more neck tension so I do not have to crimp. I have used a factory Savage barrel to shoot .2's at 100 yards. It was a 26" 7 twist barrel with fluting. If you are wanting the most accuracy you MUST do a lot of work to your brass, even new or quality brass, and bullets. One of the things I do is uniform and deburr the flash hole. Lyman makes the perfect tool for this. It made such a big improvement that I do that to every single rifle case now. Size, trim and weigh the cases into lots. This will ensure the cases are as identical as possible. Use quality brass. Winchester is about the best "budget" brass. For the bullets I would get two Hornady comparators for a 223 and attach each to a caliper. That way you can measure the bearing surface of the bullets. Sierra tends to be pretty uniform in weight but their bearing surface can vary. Sort them by bearing surface length. The longer the bearing surface the higher the pressure and the higher the pressure the higher the velocity. So if you have an identical case with an identical charge of powder and you have two bullets that weigh the same but have different bearing surface lengths the gun will string vertically. I never got into turning necks because consistent .3's was good enough for me. I would start out with 24.5-24.7 grains of Varget under a 69 SMK loaded to 2.24". That seems to be a very, very accurate load in a lot of guns (not just mine). Velocity will be down some with shorter barrels but boy was this accurate in a lot of my guns. In a 16" barrel it ran ~2,350 fps and in a 26" barrel it ran ~2,950 fps. My barrel did not mind the jump and actually shot better loaded to magazine length rather than to the lands. The key to accuracy is consistency. There are also things that you must do to a Savage to squeak every last bit of accuracy. Make sure the cocking pin is not bottoming out on the bolt body. Make sure firing pin protrusion is as close to .042" as possible. Savage's are the easiest guns to make adjustments to and anything you might need to do to a Savage doesn't require a gunsmith. The best trigger YOU can install in a Savage is the Sharp Shooter Supply competition trigger. But DO NOT order directly from them, it will take them a lot longer to deliver and they are temperamental if you complain. So buy it from anywhere else that sells them. Matter of fact do not buy anything from SSS directly, just not worth the risk. If you want I can PM you my number and we can discuss Savages and how to make them shoot.

Just about. lol. I know I got the Campmaster frame pack, tent, buck knife, bow, bb gun, swiss army knife, hammock, canteen, hatchet, and cook kit. Probably more that I forget. I still have most of it. I was a motivated kid. Would you believe i was not the top seller though? I remember my Dad dropping me at the end of a street in a subdivision and he would pick me up at the other end. Then we would do the next street. I was chased by so many dogs, I can't remember them all. I met a lot of nice people though. Lots just gave me the money and said keep the ticket. Sadly, no way would I do that with my kids now. Too many crazies.

My wife and I have gone for the last 3 years. Wouldn't miss it for the world. Not much there to buy,but you get to check out all the gun related stuff from every manufacturer. Even if it's not on the shelves yet. One day isn't nearly enough. We plan on being there 3 days. Go early, leave early, enjoy a running away from home weekend. The grass will still be there when you get back.

As readily available as the AR lowers are and at the prices they are going for it's not really worth the effort to most. Now, I'd be down to finish a few sig frames, an mp5 kit, or a 1911 or two.

UPDATE apparently the lawyers in Germany took care of all the paperwork as my friend received a crate of personal items at customs. After signing a pile of papers he opened the crate and the mosin was included. I haven't seen it yet but he did say the front stock has been cut off. Cool to have a wwII rifle that you know the story.

Guys Just thought I would update you. I did get that Taurus Model 94 Ultra-lite Nine. I ran 50 rounds through it and was really pleased. The sights are good, it feels good in my hand, and works like a charm. This model does have to hammer key lock, but I will probably never set it. I did get the keys and manual with it but no box. I am pleases for now, but I have decided I need a SR22 also. I will probably get the 3.5" threaded barrel model just in case the whole HPA goes through. I wish the 4.5" model came in a threaded barrel.

Has a DCAP rulebook been published?

Quit hitting on the ladies, they will get you for sexual harassment. JK you know.

I've made several bets offering to give the microtech to coworkers if any of them could open and close it with one hand. I haven't lost yet.

Great news about the pup......I'm happy for you both.

Another thing that hasn't been brought up, is that above the $3k mark, you need to consider having serviceable transmissions if you plan on keeping it for a while. The cub cadet I had was not serviceable, which means if something small broke, the entire unit had to be replaced. Not sure if Hustler's come with sealed units or not.

With 100% lowers as low as they are why bother?

My subsonic rounds are under a nickel a shot. I cast everything I shoot so the only cost I really have is the primer at $100/5000 and the ~8 grains of powder. Been working with the 300 Blackout since before it was a caliber. Have a couple of successful bullet designs with a third on the way. Newest one is a 265 grain behemoth that will feed from a magazine and is stable in anything 8 twist or faster at subsonic speeds. Get it to ~1,100 fps and it is stable in a 10 twist. It also uses about 1/4 less powder and that means your silencer has less gas to deal with so your gun is quieter. And single shot loads are magical in how quiet they are, most people think it is a misfire without ears on. The bullet was designed around the 300 Blackout rather than trying to find an off the shelf solution. We are getting 1.5 MOA groups WITHOUT load development. Several testers think they will get them to shoot MOA with a little work.

That's quite a bit. I can tell you without a doubt that i would want a commercial for that much. I have a John Deere z950m that I think is perfect. Got it for $9900 out the door. Well worth the extra 4K. Better built and you can mow much faster. If you aren't limited to 5k, I highly recommend going for the commercial series. John Deere or Exmark for me. JD will mow better if you ever mow damp or wet grass. The Exmarks are too tightly baffled for wet grass.

I absolutely, whole heartedly agree that 9mm is the best handgun caliber ever. Period. I mean, after all, .357 Magnum/.38 Special is, technically, 9mm, right? Heck, there are even Ruger single action revolvers chambered in .357 Magnum/.38 Special that are capable of also firing 9mm Parabellum. We all know that .357 Magnum/.38 Special is the best, all around handgun caliber ever invented, right? So, even though Mr. Vickers may have gotten a little confused as to which 9mm is the greatest of all time, the basic premise as described in the thread title is 100% correct as well as being indisputable fact. Period and exclamation point, no semicolon required.

9mm is European.

I like 9mm. A lot. And Larry's done more cool stuff in service of our country than I ever have, and for that I am grateful. But... he backed the hell out of FireClean too.

So as this thread progressed I decided to get a Bersa Thunder .380 Plus that the wife and I could both make use of as well as a Ruger SR22. I followed all the area forums just in case someone put either on the market within reasonable distance. Today I went into an area shop that I enjoy and behold. There in the case was a Bersa Combat .380 though I was really looking for the "Plus" series. I decided I liked it anyway and it looked like it needed a home. Then I saw a Bersa Thunder .380 with Crimson Trace pink grips. I thought my wife would really like that and then we would not have to "share". Also, this would give the Combat a similar caliber in the household and it wouldn't feel inferior around all the other much larger calibers at home. Oh yeah, of course I had to have some extra magazines for each and about 250 rounds of ammo for breaking in, and then more for actual carry loads. Then as I reviewed my pile I remembered that I was looking for the SR22 which just happened to be at the far end of the case. Yes, it fit my hand very well and I do believe I must have one, yet after a quick calculation of what I had laying in the go home with me pile in relation to cash in my wallet, I resigned myself to the reality that I was going to have to make a second trip for the SR22. As I drove away I hoped that my wife would be pleased with the pink crimson trace grips, and remembered why I try to avoid gun shops. So, two guns, ammo, and accessories later, I am still in the market for a Bersa .380 Plus and a Ruger SR22, only now I have an empty wallet. Follow-up to above: I want to thank all those on this forum that sang the praises of the Bersa Thunders. I stepped out back and burned some ammo and have found a couple of new favorites in the Bersa Thunders. Triggers were really good in both single and double action, had no feed issues at all, and they were extremely accurate. The Crimson Trace is a nice feature and I like it but I also found the sights to be quite good as well. I give the Bersa Thunders 2 thumbs up. I will probably still get a plus series, just because, and I may well acquire one in .22 as well for I really like the fit - feel - function of them.

I'm turning 70 and got the lifetime permit this month... call me an optimist.

I got the lifetime at 66, because I am afraid they might not let me out of the nursing home one day to go and renew it.

At my age, every time I renew, I think it is probably a lifetime renewal.

Main reason I never quite bit on a 22/45 or Mark x and bought a S&W Victory. The sales of which obviously prompted Ruger to finally re-engineer the quick takedown Mark 4. - OS

Sport coat optional.

I hope somebody steals it. Or better yet, just takes it away from him.

This is how you do campus carry wrong... A true asshat.

If you did so it would be doing all of us a favor.

S&W 617 10 shot would be my choice.

Or among the wave of people who were getting permits back around 2008. In TN, the law says that they have 90 days to either get your permit to you or let you know it was denied and why. Mine took very nearly the entire 90 days. In fact, it was getting so close that I contacted someone at TDOT to find out what the hold up was. Miraculously, mine arrived in the mail a few days later. I think the TN permit system is (fairly) efficient now partly as the result of having been so relatively inefficient and unprepared for sudden, increased demand just a few years ago.

I have been laughing for over a minute straight at this sentence! Haha! So perfect! To the OP. My carry gun is my Shield, and it rides in a leather Bianchi model 100. It gets taken out of the holster for the night if the holster has gotten damp with sweat throughout the day. I shoot my carry gun every few weeks and it gets wiped down every time and cleaned as necessary. I don't worry too much the finish of the Shield, though the regular Shield I carred for 3 years before I got this performance center model looked absolutely brand new when I sold it. Dude who bought it didn't believe me when I told him how much use that gun saw.

I feel the more times you remove a loaded gun from a holster and reholster it, the higher odds of a negligent discharge. So for me, I just leave it in the holster. If someone gets in the house and close enough to me that I don't have time to remove the gun from the holster with both hands, I'm screwed anyway...Just let it happen

LOL. Same here Randall! I unholster several times a day. Done safely, appropriate backstop etc. It's free drawstroke practice. I use my carry gun as my "nightstand" gun lying beside one of my Surefire's. I have my jeans on a chair at bedside with holster, spare mags, flashlight, BOK, cellphone, BUG etc. If, God forbid, there is a fire or other emergency and I need to unass the area quickly, then I'm ready. We have 2 small yappy and territorial dogs that sleep in our bedroom. Their hearing is better than mine!

I leave all loaded guns in a holster so nothing can accidentally get to the trigger and I know they are loaded. I still follow the four rules of gun safety.

Beautiful pup. We got a new friend a few weeks ago as well. Josey is now 11 weeks. Border collie mix. First week, she'd need to go outside at about 3 am, but after that she could go all night. Pups are a lot of work but great fun.

She is beautiful! Congrats! After my little buddy passed, we didn't want another for awhile so we could have a bit of a life. That lasted about a month till this little guy ran in to our lives. Nothing like mans best friend!