Luke E.

Everything weapons in Cool Springs had about every AR "small part" you could think of the time I went in there. You could buy any piece of an LPK or BCG that you needed so I would think that they would have a crush washer. I'm almost certain that I have a few spares and would be happy to give you one. The only catch is whether they are .22 or .30 cal washers. Let me know if you can't find anything close by and i'll check to see what I have.

Well if you need some help killing some hogs let me know. I've been trying to find some private land to hunt them on in that area. Been looking to make a trip to do some hog hunting and get out in the boat for redfish and speckled trout. I hope you're able to get your gator tag!!

My dad has a place in Suwannee (RURAL). It's a very small fishing community on the gulf where the Suwannee River spills into the Gulf about 30 miles straight out form Old Town. I love the Ocala area! I lived over in Daytona while I was going to school and would find myself driving through Ocala National Forrest pretty regular on the weekends. Plenty of gators through that part of the state.

Yep, I'm glad it came up too. Even if I was wrong ha. The bad thing about it is that now I'm feeling the urge to experiment with it some. Like you, most of the places I hunt, I have no problems getting the deer to just walk in. I might be interesting to try to bring an "end of the rut" buck within range in the woods if he has decided that he going to be mostly nocturnal otherwise.

     I would almost swear that it used to be illegal for deer too. Of course I've been wrong before ;)

   I was just giving a heads up. I know that I should but I do not read through the current reg booklet each year but I know that most others don't either. I would hate to see someone get in trouble for something they didn't even realize was illegal in the first place. 

I was talking about Omega using electronics to call deer in particular. I never thought about an electronic call for gators though. I don't know why it wouldn't work so long a relevant sound for the time is used. What area of Florida is your family in? I've got family scattered all over Florida.

 If ALL the neighbors are good to go with this method of controlling the problem then I see no legal nor ethical issue with it. I'm not sure that I would consider it hunting so much as damage/population control. I'm thinking of it the same as I do when folks go on a hog killing spree when they overpopulate and start moving into subdivisions. Good luck getting all to agree on one solution because while you can't count on every person in the neighborhood being on board with this method you can count on the deer running or staggering over into the yard of the person that was against the method... That is if your luck is anything like mine. I shot a doe with my blackout last year and every organ in her looked like it had been run through a blender. She still managed to scramble close to 3/4 of a mile if not more and i'm talking about straight up and down hills and bluffs. It was a "good' shot yet she still ran so the whole use good equipment and make a good shot thought isn't always the case. Good luck in your decision whichever you decide.

   I might would remove that comment just in case there happen to be any TWRA agents that cruise through here. Unless something has changed in the last handful of years, it is very much illegal to hunt deer using any sort of electronic call in TN. I haven't checked the regs regarding this in recent years but I was thinking of rigging up an electronic call for deer 5-6yrs ago and the law was very clear. There's an outside chance that i'm remembering this from Florida but I don't think so.

I haven't made it all the way through the thread yet but one option you might want to think about is finding a motor home generator that someone has upgraded or from one that has become run down from sitting in a fence row because the owner can't afford to feed it $3-$4 per gallon gas. I picked  one up for $400 already mounted on a homemade wagon type thing. Has a live front axle and a tongue that you cant just drag it around or hitch it to a mower or ATV. I would have to look to make certain but I believe it is either 5,500 or 6,000 watts continuous. Another option for those looking for something to use strictly as alternative power for your house should look into picking up a big mil-surp genset. We sent 2 40' shipping containers full of them to Liberia about 4 years ago and I had to go through and make sure they were all ready to go. The things are built like a tank and most models are "multi fuel" so will run on pretty much any fuel that you can make or buy. The ones we had would run our house with power to spare! I forget what we had to pay for the things but we bought them from the gov. online auctions. I will check what we paid each for them tomorrow and report back in case anyone is interested. They were WAY cheaper than buying any other generator that size.

I see you have had a few offers of .243 brass already but if they didn't work out or weren't enough shoot me a pm as I've got more .243 brass than i'll ever shoot out and would be happy to send you some if you wanted. Pretty much all the .243 brass that I have is once fired and the ones that have been fired more than once are ones that I have fire formed and don't want to get rid of anyways.

It turned out great!

Most instructors will tell you when they say something that is going to be on the test, allow you to make notes of that and have it out during the test. If someone fails the classroom portion they have no business owning a firearm. A friend of mine instructs HCP classes and says that he has NEVER had anyone fail in the classroom portion and i'd say he has had into the thousands of folks come through his classroom. Nothing to it, IMO the whole thing is nothing more than a formality and a way to have a record of those carrying a gun.

 I've spent a lot of time out there because one of my best friends lives out there. Most of the places that we used to go probably wouldn't interest you guys (I know that it wouldn't interest us anymore). I will recommend one thing though, when walking the strip and you see the "card poppers" (guys with cards making popping sounds with them) do not take the cards. They are promoting hookers so some of the card can be quite unsavory ;)

 Like others have said, 50rds is what the class calls for. The size of the target and scoring HAS changed in the last year or two though. You used to shoot at one of the full sized silhouette targets and as long as you kept them on paper you were good to go. Now the targets are silhouettes  but they are maybe half the size and all have to be on paper. You start off with 100 points and and you get penalized 1 point if you hit paper outside of the scoring circles and penalized 2 points for missing all together. My wife scored a 98 because she he had her fire double taps off handed and my sister scored a 98 as well. My sister had only shot a few times in her life before taking the class so if she can do it i'd say you're good to go. (she ended up being a REALLY good shot though). I think you have to score an 80 or better to pass the class. Good luck.

I'm assuming you aren't crimping these ;) This bullet/load kind of has my interest piqued. I haven't spent the time to experiment with deeply seated heavy bullets and reduced powder charges but if one loaded a 90gr hunting bullet like this is would make a deer hunting AR for a youngster that wasn't ready for the recoil of most deer sized cartridges.

 I load mixed 5.56 and .223 brass exactly the same for blaster ammo but i'm not near max load. 5.56 brass is a bit thicker netting less case volume so you will need to be careful with any loads near max. If you're going for accuracy loads then you will benefit from sorting them because it will make a little difference. I did load some test rounds in mixed brass one time and the 5.56 brass consistently started showing high pressure signs before the .223 did so there is cause for caution when working up towards max. If you're going to continue to load mixed brass my suggestion would be to work your load up using only 5.56 brass and then you know that the larger volume .223 brass will be fine. I know some really sort their brass seriously but I will tell you this, Another member and I load and work up loads together most of the time and we worked up a "blaster ammo" load using pull down mil-surp powder, pulled bullets and mixed brass and he can somewhat regularly shoot half inch groups at 100yds through his Rem700 bolt gun.

Those are great prices these days

   Awesome bro. I'll see if he keeps showing up and let you know. I haven't shot a bow in years so I'd need to get some practice in before I felt comfortable shooting at a deer.

I Just talked to Momma and she said that she saw one a little smaller up in the yard a couple mornings ago just before daylight when she was leaving. May end up being a good year.

   I won't be hunting tomorrow. My bow and archery related stuff was in the house when it got broken into so I am bowless now-a-days. If he starts making appearances during daylight hours then I guess i'll find someone with an extra bow I can borrow for a week or two. We're putting in food plots and shoot houses tomorrow and Sunday after church so hopefully we won't spook him so bad that he leaves us. Where he was at was only about 30yds off the driveway so he's not to skittish. That property has had very little hunting pressure on it for the last 8 years. I hunted a fair bit on it last year but only in one area so even then they had a lot of "safe haven"

   LOL well first you go past farmer Johnson's black tobacco barn and when you get to the bed Red Oak tree head 20 degrees West until you come up on a small waterfall. Go through the water and into the cave and at the other end of the cave you'll pop out in "the" spot. ;)

We'll see if he ever shows his rack again. I'd say he'll be hard to catch out during day light hours this year but I'd say after this season hell about be smart enough to not get shot. If he one of the 2 I got a glimpse of earlier on in velvet then there is another that should be about like him. The first few years after momma and daddy moved out here they would see deer like this fighting/sparring in the driveway (or as momma says "you should have seen that 8 and 10 pointer playing all over the yard this morning"). I told her that I didn't figure them to be " playing".

Red, is that why you shot your pool full of holes, so he'd quit taking his evening drink so close to the house?

And in case it isn't obvious, My a.m. and p.m. are backwards