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Congratulations! Retirement is great. Prior to retirement I had a lot of negative people who are programmed to be permanent worker bees asking what I would do with all of the free time. Throw away your clock . I travel, I have my guns, my wife and her one hundred miles per hour social circle, my side by side that I tinker on almost every day and I’m finally getting around to building a respectable work space for my all of my tools in my garage. Some days I stay in the garage for hours. Other days I drink beer or scotch and watch westerns and sports. I find it hard to believe working was ever important to me. I don’t miss it at all. Don’t let others dictate what you do with your time. Enjoy!

Thanks to Hipower, I am now the proud owner of a Henry Classic 22LR lever action rifle. Can’t wait to get it out and do some plinking. Good to meet another great TGO member.

I am an accumulator of Smith & Wessons. I say accumulator rather than collector simply because I can't afford collector grade guns. The guns I buy may have worn finishes, been refinished, modified in some way or otherwise imperfect. But they are still very serviceable and good examples of their particular model. I buy shooter grade guns and I do shoot them. Granted, some may sit in the safe for a couple years between being fired, but I do shoot everything I own. Ain't no safe queens in my house. I also tend to focus on a particular type or model. I find one that's interesting and begin a search for every barrel length or variation of it just to have a full set. I have several of these searches going at any given time. I dearly love the .44 Special cartridge and the guns that use it. I also love the early Smith & Wesson Hand Ejector revolvers. My goal was to get one of each of the named models made before S&W started using model numbers in 1957-58. Yesterday I completed this quest. Top left: S&W .44 Hand Ejector 1st Model. AKA the New Century Model, The Military Model of 1908 but most commonly referred to a the Triple Lock due to its unique third cylinder locking point in the crane. This is the only S&W to ever use this system. Factory letter states the gun was shipped May 21, 1910 to Birmingham Arms & Hardware Co., Birmingham, Alabama. Top right: .44 Hand Ejector 2nd Model: S&W eliminated the ejector rod shroud and the third cylinder locking point. Factory letter shows gun was shipped January 22, 1924 to Police Department, Joplin MO. Middle left: .44 Hand Ejector 3rd Model (prewar). Made in 1930. AKA Model of 1926 or the Wolf & Klar Model. At the request of large gun dealer Wolf & Klar in Ft. Worth, TX , the ejector rod shroud was brought back. Note: the 2nd & 3rd Models were produced simultaneously up until 1940. Middle right: .44 Hand Ejector 3rd Model (post war Transitional) aka the Model of 1926 Military. This new version of the 3rd Model now featured a passive hammer block safety, Magna style stocks and the "S" prefix in the serial number. Factory letter states this gun was shipped July 22, 1946 to George Lawrence Co. Portland Oregon ordered for John H. Young, Portland Police Dept. Bottom: .44 Hand Ejector 4th Model aka Model of 1950 .44 Military. Made in 1955. Just an updated version of the previous model with a few engineering changes. Later to become the Model 21 in 1957 when model numbers were assigned and continued in production until `1966. Now on to my next quest!

I retired today. I've never not had someplace to be tomorrow. How did you make this transition?

I really identified with my job, and I thought there would be a long adjustment period when I retired. Well, that adjustment period took as long as the walk from my desk to the gate. I've never looked back, never missed it, and never been bored. I should have retired at 25!

Weather depending, I’m planning on riding to the Gulf Coast Monday.

Sounds similar to “Grandpa was an obese diabetic chain smoker who was rushed to the ER after having a heart attack, but his death got chalked up as covid…”

Oh, I am so sorry. I’ve got tears in my eyes as I write this. My prayers will be with you in the days ahead, that a God who knows sorry will surround you and bring you peace and healing. Please let me know directly If I or the community can help in any way.

Growing up my dad always said when he retired, he would get a job a a small nursery selling plants and flowers because he loves to garden. Instead he got his Master Gardner’s certification and built a large vegetable garden to support a retirement and Alzheimer’s center. Then he got into bees to help the garden, and then got me into bees. He is almost 82 now and still trucking along.

I saw them online in stock. Couldn’t believe it! Ordered online, picked at front desk a few minutes later. Have also seen large pistol primers in stock at midway and Natchez today. So maybe things are getting a little better.

Good paying manufacturing jobs? Yeah, that’s exactly what Memphis and Tennessee as a whole need. It doesn’t matter if you like the idea of EVs, or hate Memphis. Quality manufacturing jobs in Tennessee are a great thing that we should all be happy about.

Here's the rest of my .44 Special family. the 1st & 2nd models have already been covered. I also have all three barrel lengths (3.5. 4 & 6.5") of the limited production Model 24-3 reintroduced in 1983. That was another quest completed. A Model 696 No Dash made in 1997. This is a L-frame 5 shooter. 44 Special. One of the last of the old style S&Ws before they went to MIM parts. The 696-1 and -2 had the new MIM parts making the No Dash version very desirable and hard to find. And every .44 Special lover should have a Charter Arms Bulldog just because.

Having something that hopefully will help prevent serious COVID infections, especially for people that might trust it but are vaccine hesitant, is a very good thing. But the internet told me it is rebranded Ivermectin.

My friend, I wish we were closer together. I’d be honored to hang out with you anytime.

That's a good start. Notice I said start. There will be more.

I switched from Evan Williams to Jameson.

I walk around with a Ruger Super Blackhawk 44Mag with a 7 inch barrel, or a 45 Colt revolver with a 6 inch barrel.

Old powder and primers, make up a bee and snake load, no bang no loss.

I took early retirement 15+ years ago and always find things to stay busy. Lot of hobbies and such. I took two weeks of planned vacation soon after I retired and came back and just continued vacation mode and never missed work. A few things I used as my guide: I wake up each morning with nothing planned and if I get half done by evening I'm happy. Doing nothing is very hard to do ... you never know when you're finished. Procrastination is totally a good thing. You always have something to do tomorrow, plus you have nothing to do today.

I retired from the military after 26 years. I've been all over the world and thought I'd miss it. Not!!! Then went to work as an interior trim carpenter and after 6 years ending up with my own company. I made a boat load of money but the 12 hour days 7 days a week nearly killed me...literally. A quad bypass convinced me to sell it and get out. By this time the missus got transferred to Arizona and I packed my stuff, left the house for the kids to maintain and went with her. We had an awesome 5 years in the southwest. Upon returning to TN I decided with what time I may have left I was going to lead a stress free life. I watched a YouTube video one day about knife making and thought "I'll bet I could do that". The rest is history. All this said my wife is my best friend and has been for 35 years....and I've had some totally awesome friends. If you're fortunate to have one that supports you you're half way home. The key is stay busy doing something. A hobby or something you have always wanted to do. Keep your mind and imagination going...just know when it's time to pack it in for the day and relax. Don't make it a second job. Don't be afraid to stop what your doing at the moment and have a beer or cup of coffee. Whatever you were doing will be there when you're finished. God bless you and wish you all the best with your new beginning...whatever it may be. It's not that hard really...if I can be happy retired anyone can...trust me.

Signed up earlier this month, finally decided to post. From Mid TN, but moved to the Knoxville area a few years ago. Former LE 8+ years, did some time in the Marine Reserves. Although I carried a gun(s) for most my adult life, I'm kind of at a point now I have more interest in other hobbies, so my goal the past few years has been more bare minimum needs/ quality over quantity in terms of firearms. I still enjoy shooting, especially non-tactical stuff like sporting clays.

How the Hell do ya pronounce that??? I think that sword is wrong. I don't think there's that much metal in a AR.

I'm hearing that maybe ivermectin ain't all that hot. But, if you yell at some doctors, they will give you the good stuff. Got this in a text from my brother earlier today.

Same here.

Thank you. I've been accumulating S&Ws for about 40 years now. In all that time, you do manage to get lucky once in a while.

Nah, Drano. - OS

Merck plans to file for EUA status this week for Molnupiravir as a antiviral treatment (think Tamiflu) https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/10/01/pill-to-treat-covid/

Well I guess that depends on a load of what, s$*t maybe?

Hmm, maybe they are onto something. So you send me an aluminum and steel weapon, and I send you back a chicom piece of stainless steel, which you can only use as deco. Sounds like a good trade to me, how can I start my own business?

Sometimes I think about how I would try to explain something like this to someone who lived 200 years ago. Eventually my brain starts to bleed.

Partnership Park North on Louisville Rd is the site being reported for S&W. Just south (or southwest depending on how you look at it) of the airport. Same site that Advanced Munitions was supposed to locate. https://blountindustry.com/smith-wesson-brands-inc-to-relocate-hq-operations-to-tennessee/

I retired from the military a long time ago, in 1993. Nearing the end of my second career, but I go to the store and buy 'retirement' tickets (lottery) every week, lol.

Thought I'd be slick and run the price up on a South African hunt at the Bowling Green, KY RMEF banquet and ended up they had two of them to sale, so i guess we are headed to South Africa next Summer for at least Blesbuck and Impala. Looking at rates, I will probably go ahead and try for a Warthog and possibly Wildebeest. Just not sure how accurate i will be with my spear. Fear of my loin cloth falling off may impair my accuracy. Has anybody on here been on one of these hunts? What to expect? Will be myself, my wife, best friend and his wife going.

Ten if you don't! I've always wanted to hunt Africa, but alas, too dear for me. I'd really like to hunt lion or leopard, but in the unlikely event I ever go it will probably be for Cape Buffalo. S Africa has some amazing fossil fields, too, I understand. Wouldn't it be great to stumble across one!

Soak those old presses in a 5 gallon bucket after taking off the grips or push out the pin and take the whole arm off. I mix up ATF with acetone and get some fine bronze wool and some rubber gloves and go at it.

Well...first off, look at their site: https://vaers.hhs.gov/ Look at 2. If you wanted to, you could report an "adverse effect" after receiving a vaccine. You could stub your toe on the way out of the clinic but that doesn't mean the vaccine caused it. But guess what, if 35% of people that get a vaccine stub their toe, maybe that means it affects their depth perception. I think I queried the data right on the site. After selecting vaccines for COVID-19, theoretically data for all three of them being used in the US would show up. Myocarditis shows up in 6 different places on the list, the "biggest" of the listings is 1,647. Pericarditis shows up 4 different places, the "biggest" of the listings is 1,082. 61 cases of hip fracture show up, and 8 cases of hip surgery. Heck, maybe we could just give the vaccines to people that need hip replacement, apparently it takes care of it for them. I'm not saying that the data isn't important, but seriously, query this and look through the list yourself. It's telling.

Thanks, I think so, but then again, my opinion might be a little biased.

I wouldn’t worry about the primers… It’s hard ta hurt them. As others have said, check the powder for clumps or an acrid smell. If the powder looks like it should ( ..light graphite..), is loose, and smells a bit like acetone it should be good. leroy….

Greg, get the notion out of your head, that you have to do something, or nothing to do. Believe me there will be plenty of things pop up to do. In the mean time, go fishing, hunting, or whatever you never found time for. It'll fix itself.

You'll be surprised at how fast you can get used to not working for a living. I'm retired, single, financially sound and the kids are grown and out on their own. I go where I want, when I want and do what I want. Other than the law, there's nobody I have to answer to. Its a kind of freedom I never knew before. Honestly, some days I get downright bored. After the life I've lived, I like that! But then you have a wife and kids. Trust me, they'll keep you busy.

I hope that worked, and we can all get on with our lives.

Just hope you don't wind up like a friend of mine who's partner said, "I married you for better or worse, not for lunch. Go find something to do." Congrats! That's a big deal. We're it me, I'd take some time to truly to enjoy it. Then if I were in your shoes, I think I would look at it in terms of, "I'm financially secure, healthy, and my kids are more or less out of the house. I'm also in the prime of my life. What is it that I want to involve myself in next?" You've got options and security. That's worth a lot.

That's murvul if you ain't from round here. I'll be curious to see how many of their current employees come too and how they compete with Denso, Clayton, and Alcoa for wages. Hopefully this goes better than the ammo plant and SCCY.

They're moving HQ and their Massachusetts assembly plant here. This is a major slap at Massachusetts for proposing to ban manufacture of ARs. Also selling their Columbia, MO distribution site and relocating it to TN. Happy day, Whisper

A Brother " True Believer ". ! I love em too. A genuinely fabulous 44 special collection Brother. Admirin leroy.

For all you .45-70 shooters, you might notice that mine has a butt cover on it. John Browning may have been a genius, but putting a curved steel butt plate on his big bore 1886 wasn't a smart move. The rifle is rated for Level II loads. But I keep my reloads at Level I for a good reason.

I've only been to Africa once & that was bowhunting in Namibia, so I have no gun advice to offer. But one thing I know is common & relevant, is the upsell. Set yourself a budget. I'm sure you're 'package' includes the common species (warthog & Impala or springbok, occasionally blue wildebeest) but you're going to see a BUNCH of other stuff & your PH is GOING to tell you what a trophy it is & you'd be simply mad to pass it up! Red Hartebeest, Zebra, Waterbuck, Blesbok..... it's all there for the selling. Find out trophy fees in advance & set a limit. It might be one exceptional critter or a good mixed bag. Up to you. But you HAVE to stick to your budget. Think of it like setting a limit in a casino. Don't forget to tip your skinners. Cheap pocket knives are always welcome. If you want to be super nice, leave a big bottle of ibuprofen in your room, along with a bunch of AA batteries when you leave. The cleaners will share them out with the cooks, skinners & their families & their are incredibly appreciated. Also, you'll need to check on trophy shipping costs. The 2 trophies I had shipped to England (Black Wildebeest - $1200 trophy fee & Springbok - $300 trophy fee) consists of 2 skulls, a skin & a cape & the shipping alone cost more than the hunt. I want to say the shipping & import fee was around $2800. They shipped in a wooden crate that weighed about 30lb by itself!

And that's why we love the TGO family!

I have a Winchester 70 in 375 H&H you are welcome to borrow.

Wish I could find a faux silencer for this.....