Moped

I understand Grimel's point. At one time and maybe still now, the Military was looking to move away form the 7.62x51 in favor of the .300 Winchester, because it's power and performance at 1000 yard was superior. I suspect that has taken a back seat to the two wars we've entered into in Iraq and Afghanistan, though it would seem to me that now is the time to be testing a new sniper rifle. I'd throw another caveat until the meddled mess, by saying the AK and AR platforms are really doing two different tasks. The AK is designed to be used by anyone with as little training time as possible. It's cheap and easy to produce. The accuracy was everything the Soviets wanted from it, because they only wanted to keep our heads down while they brought in the Artillery. 3 to 4 inch groups at a hundred meters were plenty acceptable for this mission. The AR was designed to be light and portable while delivering accurate shots out to 300 meters (600 meters for you Marines out there), which allows us to fire and maneuver on the enemy. The U.S. Military as always taken pride in it's ability to shoot accurately. We also take great pride in not causing a lot of collateral damage, unlike the Soviets whose basic doctrine was to blast large chucks of earth to smithereens. Honestly though the rack grade M16a1s that I trained with and carried in Desert Storm were about as accurate as the AK47s I've shot. I don't consider them to be overly complicated as far as maintenance goes either, though they are harder to clean than an AK. And I think with the advent of the AK on our shores, we will wring out much more accuracy from it. As more ex service members started buying ARs and working on them, their accuracy improved. They are a much better weapon than what was first issued in Vietnam. Now back to the original comparison of the AR to an M1 Carbine. Placing a M4 side by side with a M1 Carbine, I think there is no comparison. I'd take the M4 hands down over the carbine. The sights are better for one. The M4 shoots a superior round to the M1 Carbine, because it shoots flatter, faster and for a much longer range. I bet that the M4 shoots cooler over sustained shooting conditions as well. Go shoot 300 hundred rounds as fast as you can down each one of them and see which is easier to grip afterward. That's important in a fight. I also suspect the 5.56x45 round deals far more damage than the .30 Carbine at a longer range as well. Maintenance wise, the M1 is maybe a little easier to keep clean just because it doesn't have all those little crevasses to negotiate like the M-4 does, but as long as the M4 is kept clean it will function perfectly in most all environments. The M1 Carbine was a fine weapon for what it was called on to do (arm cooks, admin and supply personnel) with something better than a pistol, but it was never meant to be a true battle rifle. The M16 and it's offspring was and is. And Gregintenn your opinion counts too. If you don't particularly care for them, there's a lot of other stuff to shot out there. I like them all!

Thanks for the info and links, BD! I need to order a couple items form them!

Didn't watch and don't care. Quite caring in 1997, as all good Tennessee fans should.

It'd work for me!

They are good people at Sevier Indoor Range!

I saw a lot of M1 Carbines. You'll have fun looking at all of them. They were pretty scattered around. I hope you find the one you are looking for.

No. I got this one from a skin young in bluejeans and a baseball camp. He wanted $150. I offered him $125 and he took it. In hind sight, I wished I'd have offered $100, but I felt that was too low. I need to find some dog collars and a sling. It also doesn't have the cleaning rod. I've seen them at SARCO or someplace in Shotgun news. As for prices, I heard one dealer complaining about the the lack of interest in his "older" guns. He had some old Iver Johnson looking revolvers. The old kind. Said he did a lot better online. If that was the case, I didn't understand why he didn't just sell them online. There was an old Charter Arms Bulldog .44spl that an older fella wanted $275 for. The finish was about 60%. I thought about offering him $200, cause I've always wanted one, but I didn't figure he come off of it that much, so I moved on. Seemed to me that there were a lot of AR's there. People were carrying them around and they had a tables on top of tables of them. Can't believe they are still selling at those prices. I saw nothing under $799, but I wasn't looking that close.

Went to the show this afternoon with my son. We had a good time. Didn't see much I wanted, but I did manage to snag a Mosin Nagant M-44 for $125. The wood seems to have been shellacked. Looks clean though. Didn't get the sling or oiler and other stuff. Guy just had the rifle. A man at one of the tables took a liking to my son and gave him a lock back knife and another gave him a tootsie pop. He made out like a bandit! He had fun, but I think he was ready to go after two hours. Of course, part of that might have been because I promised him we'd go to Hooters for lunch. His momma is to thank for that. I met them at the Red Lobster on Kingston Pike for dinner last week after work. They got there before me and he asked her what Hooters was. She said that was the place where the waitresses have big boobs and daddy likes to go. Soon as I sat down, he said Daddy, you need to take me to Hooters. So we made it a guy day, gun show and Hooters!

I'd like to have several of those weapons in that photograph! That's make for a hell of a collection! I see a SVT, a M14, a 98K and that StG44! And is that some sort of Berreta submachinegun maybe?

You should become a Benefactor and post it here. FAL's usually don't stay around long.

I love a good beaver!.... Beaver tail!!!! Yeah!!! Still I like the lines on a good looking milspec 1911. But if I'm going non-milspec, it's going to have a beaver tail.

The problem with M1As is the magazines are getting to be hugely expensive. A good mag costs upwards of $45-$50. You can get crap for around $25, but that's exactly what you get. CRAP! Not to mention the cost of any work you want done to it. Parts are really expensive too. An Op rod will go $200 plus. New barrel, $200 plus, etc, etc. Not many people are all that good at working on them anymore either. If it were me, I'd go with an AR platform or maybe even a Saiga in .308 if cost were a problem. Plenty of stuff to be had that can be added to it and it's an AK with AK dependability. Not as accurate as a AR, but accurate enough for hunting or a SHTF scenario.

I love colts. The guy I bought it from a long time ago was a postal inspector and this was his BUG. He's the one that told me about my pistol really liking the Nyclads. Sadly they are hard to find now. I still have a box. He carried it in an ankle holster. The Agent only weights in at 16oz. Part of the bluing has worn off over the years, but the timing and lock up are perfect. And like all Colts, it has a awesome trigger. This little gun is really my primary defense gun at home.

Oh too bad! That was a good deal!

Oops! I think it was 70Below that got the CZ! Anyway, did it show up out at the range? Sorry about that OhShoot!

I thought they were design at almost the same time. The SKS was not the main Russian Front line weapon for very long. Maybe less than 5 years before it was replaced by the AK-47. Then the Russians turned almost all the SKS's over to their satellite states. Later on they started sending them Aks. The SKS was never a very prominent weapon. That's not to say they were aren't any good. Just that they were pretty much obsolete when they were adopted. Mostly because of of their lack of a removable magazine.

They tend to blow up with modern shells. The barrels aren't very strong.

Dang! Why don't I ever run into deals like that!!! I have a 2nd Gen Colt Agent. You are in for a treat at the range! Those a great little pistols! They are every bit as accurate as you are with good ammunition. Mine likes Nyclads. Just about all Colts have great triggers! Congrats!

I didn't want to hear that. Now I'll be kicking myself in the butt for not buying it. I thought about buying the Bearcat, but I already have a colt peacemaker with a 6 1/2" barrel. It's a great little single action too. Just didn't need another. I also saw that Oh Shoot bought the CZ82. Don't suppose it got shot any...

So how did the Bearcat shoot?

Wii's are cool! Best game system we own. Gets used the most too!

We had about 2 inches here in Knoxville. Kids have already been out and played in it and are back in drinking hot chocolate. Needless to say there is no more snow in our front yard. Love the quietness that comes with snow!

For what those guys are doing though, I think a shotgun is a great weapon. Far superior to a pistol without having to worry about how many walls the missed shoot is going to penetrate. I tend to prefer a regular stock though. Easier to aim with than a pistol grip. Doesn't look as cool though.

I was in Coal Creek Armory, in Knoxville, this afternoon and they have a M-44. I looked hard, but I didn't see any gold on it. No silver either. Just blue steel and orange wood. It didn't do any fancy tricks. As a matter of fact, it didn't even move. Looked kind of boring. I tried hard to figure why it was $330, for about a minute and then I moved on.

Removed to another area where the comment was more pertinent.