10-Ring

Sounds like you had a good day!  I was in Destin over the weekend and caught a few from the pier but nothing worth bragging about.  There was a charter that had a big grouper and a few big red snapper. 

And you are correct.

Not currently but I heated a 1000 sq ft house for two winters with an insert and wood.  It was a lot of work and I enjoyed it.  My wife didn't want anything to do with it and it doesn't sound like yours does either.  If you go this route then you should probably duct it into the dog house. 

     Absolutely!  I own neither of the rifles myself, both belong to people that I deer hunt with.  I hunt with a .270 Mauser myself and that has always been my go to deer gun though I have hunted with others.  If you want to do some deer hunting I highly recommend the .270 based on the fact that it just plain works.  In the past 15 years that I have been using .270 I have taken about 3 dozen deer.  I've lost 2, and besides those 2 I've never had a deer run more than 40 yards and at least half were dead before they hit the ground.  My deer ammo of choice is Winchester Silver tips, they aren't cheap but they work.       Although I love .270 for deer hunting I use it to deer hunt and check my zero before deer season.  Though it is one of my favorite rifles to shoot it is expensive to feed. For your purposes I still recommend the .308, just based on its versatility and price.  Just a possible point of interest, I've been considering a Ruger American Stainless Compact in .243 for deer hunting.  IMO the .243 is more than fine for Tennessee deer and the light weight, synthetic stock, and stainless steel appeal to me for a working gun.  I  know that you aren't really going after deer, just thought that I'd throw that out there.       I'll also add that I to had a 3rd degree shoulder separation in my right shoulder (primary shooting shoulder) three years ago, after the initial healing I've had no trouble with any calibers.  I broke my left clavicle 5 years ago and have a plate on it that is very close to where I shoulder a rifle so I do have to be careful with left handed shots as it does hurt if I get the butt of the gun too close to my plate. 

I have shot the Ruger American in .270 and .308, I was very impressed with it for the money and would recommend it for what you are looking for.  If you are looking to stay on targets inside 200 yards I think that the 7.62x39 is a good choice, you can buy cheap ammo for plinking and get some good stuff for "other occasions."  BTW 7.62 comes out to .30 caliber in case you didn't know.  Not sure if the American comes chambered in 7.62x39 or not.  I think a SKS is a great choice for what you want to do, I have one and love it!  They can be had for $300 or even a little under if you are patient.  Omega had one in the classifieds here last week that looked to be a really nice rifle. 

Welcome!  Check into the Oak Ridge Shooting Association, pretty sure that's the name of it, someone else will be along shortly to correct me if I am wrong.  That's the go to place for long range in east Tennessee.  I believe they do have a waiting list for membership though.

Man, I really hate that I'll be at work when the world ends.

Y'all ain't gonna believe this $h!t but Hillary was on Good Morning America this morning and announced that she was the most transparent person in the world.  You can't make this kind of stuff up.

Isn't it ironic that law abiding gun owners are being attacked by someone who should rightly be in prison on several different offences?

I haven't seen them loose any close games yet, though I have seen them blow some pretty big leads.  I'm just hoping next year we can figure out how to play for 4 quarters.  There is no good reason that we shouldn't be 5-0 now.  No matter how bad it gets Tennessee will always be my team, there is nothing lower than a former TN fan wearing a Bama shirt.  Former Tennessee fans that jump on the Bama bandwagon should be made to live in that horrid state.

Am I the only person that is excited because Tennessee isn't behind all 4 quarters anymore?

I've really heard the term "common sense gun laws" beaten to death in the past few days.  I really believe that this phrase was coined to 1) insult anyone that does not agree with the proposed measures and 2) subtly convince the uneducated, uninformed and the fence sitters that going against the proposed measure would defy logic.    I know that I am preaching to the choir here but only a fool would simply go along with any government proposal without examining the contents for themselves and drawing their own conclusions. 

.308 isn't bad as far as cost of ammo, in fact I'd say that it is cheaper than most anything in its class.  If you start chasing down the cheapest ammo you will drive yourself nuts trying to achieve accuracy.  If your goal is to make noise and send lead in the general direction of your target then cheap ammo is fine.  If you are trying to shoot tight groups anywhere past 50 yards, please buy decent ammo.  If you don't believe me after you buy a rifle get something cheap like Wolf or Monarch then buy some quality ammo, shoot a few 3 or 5 shot groups of each at 100 yards from a rest and see which groups better.     A couple of notes on Mosins.  Yes, they are cheap and the surplus ammo is fairly cheap, though not as cheap as it used to be.  Any other 7.62x54R ammo is not cheap, and you will need it if you are shooting at game or going for accuracy.  A scope can be mounted to a Mosin but there really isn't a great way to do it.  Nothing wrong with a Mosin, 5 years ago they were a great value for what they are, with what they are going for today I would buy something better.

You can always use the trick where you put out a cheapo camera as bait and have another well hidden camera close by to get pictures of the theif, just depends how bad you want to catch them and how much risk you are willing to take.

Very cool Dave S!

I'm in the same boat.  I'm attempting to change positions within the company.  I like the company that I work for but my particular position simply requires more time than I want to give.  Maybe it's because I've had some really good employers in the past, I just don't care for the attitude some employers have where they act like they own employees and don't care of their employees have something else they had rather be doing, like spending time with family.

The Bobbitt.

There are plenty of self centered people out there that would do anything imaginable if they think it will get them ahead a little, we call a lot of them politicians and there are plenty more willing to roll over for a dollar.

With this cold front rolling in I'm really regretting not participating in archery season.  I think anyone that has a half decent spot should see some deer this weekend.

Dead serious, sorry I don't believe everything NBC tells me.   I also don't put it past our government to blatantly lie.

That's what I was wondering, the ATF would need a starting point.

I listened to news radio for a good part of the day today.  At one point I heard a recorded press release from the ATF special agent in charge of the case and she was talking about the shooters firearms being traced, she used this term, "traced" several times, she stated that they had traced some of his firearms and were in the process of tracing others.  I don't know about yall but I'm kind of thinking that the tin foil hatters that said that they believed that the government was using 4473's as a defacto registration may have been right.    I'll give props to the local sheriff up there, he is refusing to release or say the name of the shooter so as to not give him any attention.

I thought that exact thought today.  Some say I'm a crazy conspiracy theorist, I say they are crazy for not taking the conspiracy into consideration.  I've said it once and I'll say it again I don't think what we were told happened at Sandy hook was what actually took place at Sandy Hook.  I'll say the same about several other shootings as well.

  I haven't ridden since I moved back to middle Tennessee.  The bikes are either gone, are for sale, or will be for sale after I finish one that is a project.  Drivers are way worse here than in East Tennessee, not saying that the ones in East Tennessee are good, part of the problem here is that there is more traffic volume.  That issue paired with the fact that I have to travel an hour to find a decent road did it for me.  There is no way I would commute the 8 miles to work, too congested, too many people not paying attention. 

They have been off of my list since they posted.  Waffle House is just one of those places that you DON'T visit without a gun.  There are a bunch of weirdos and drunks there so you never know what could happen.