quickbiscuit

According to the website, Biltmore's official policy is no firearms in the house. It's been a couple of years since I've been, but I'm pretty sure I remember seeing several signs to that effect.

I value this website and the information here, but not so much that I would want the membership to start sugar coating reviews just because a business may or may not become a sponsor somewhere down the road. Maybe if a business realizes how poor service can lead to a bad review on the Internet, costing them business, then some of the issues will be corrected. Nobody wins if we get scolded for posting the truth.

In your next email/message tell them that you are going to ask your bank/CC company to issue a chargeback if they don't respond. That will probably get a response. If it doesn't, follow through and contact your bank. I've been on the wrong end of a few deals before, and my CC company has always taken care of the issue and got my money back. It's usually easier with a credit card than debit though. You'll probably have to visit your bank and fill out some paperwork if you used a debit card.

Food and water are of the highest priority. You can survive without soap, and it can also be made at home. If I had to operate a store/trading post, I would rather have a supply of canning lids (jars and rings can be reused) or other items for preserving food. Then you would be a valuable person to know, but you would still have a finite supply to work with. If you are really serious about being "important" in a post-apocalyptic world, I would focus on something sustainable. Learn to grow fruit/vegetables and how to preserve the seed from one year to the next. Now you've got something that everyone needs, and you can do it year after year. Then you can trade a basket of beans for someone else's Irish Spring! I think the idea of operating a trading post is going about it backwards.

Consider this: you are talking about building a business in a time of chaos by offering only low-value items of which you will have a limited stock. What items will you need in exchange? Let's presume that you will need food (meat) since you aren't a hunter or farmer. Now assign a value to what you have versus what you need. Using figures proportional to what we see in stores today, your bar of soap has a value of 1 where a pound of meat has a value of 8 or more. So...are you prepared stockpile at least 8 bars of soap to exchange for 1 pound of meat that you and your family will probably eat in one day? If so, you will need a HELLUVA LOT OF SOAP. The point is, if you only have low value items to trade you will only get low value items in return. No one is going to need 8 bars of soap at a time. If you're going to make that idea work, you need a huge variety of items and a lot of it. Time might be better spent trying to figure out how to take control of the nearest Colgate-Palmolive warehouse!

The random dug out spots in the yard are armadillos, and the soft spots/tunnels are voles. I have them as well. My neighbors use some poison from the co-op to combat the voles. You'll have to stand guard at night to take out the armadillos with your favorite scattergun.

In the world of production 1911s, Springfield probably has the best overall reputation for customer satisfaction of any manufacturer in the game. I've never heard of a pistol that they wouldn't or couldn't fix. Good luck with whichever direction you take, but I would not give up on the Springfield.

Fixing your Springer shouldn't be that tough. 99 percent of 1911 problems can be solved by an extractor adjustment or using better magazines. Springfield will take care of you if there happens to be a manufacturing defect (which is not likely). PM me if you want to discuss the issues you're having. But since you asked, have you ever looked into a CCO model? I like the Colt Wiley Clapp CCO for a more compact 1911. That's an officer size frame with a Commander length slide. Dan Wesson also makes a CCO.

Thanks, Randy. I'll keep that in mind. I don't think so. I'm not a Grand Master level shooter, and they all know that. I've never pushed training or drills on them either. I guess there are plenty of gun owners out there who just aren't into shooting for the sport of it and don't understand the need for proper self defense training. I can understand and relate to that. I would love to shoot every day but can't always find the time between work and family. That would hurt the wallet quite a bit too. Handloading helps ease the blow. I try to order large amounts of components when I can, so that way I mostly forget about the cost when I start using them months later. Haha! I'll be the first to admit that I probably wouldn't shoot very often if I had to go to Walmart and buy a couple hundred rounds of .45 every time that I wanted to visit the range. I would have to think about the expense too much then. It's an expensive hobby, but most of the fun ones are!

+1 for Mike at Triune Trailers. His trailers are very well built, and he's a great guy to boot. He also owns the Saddle Shop, which is part gun store.

I've been trying to get a group of 5 friends to come shoot at my house for almost two years now. The are all long time gun owners and outdoorsmen, and all have their HCP but show no interest in getting together for a day of shooting. I've got a safe, private range here with lots of reactive steel targets and know lots of great drills, but none of that interests them. I guess the cost of ammo might deter some along with having an overall busy life, but I think the lack of awareness is the biggest problem. I got some funny looks from the guys mentioned above when I told them I was going to Texas for a handgun training class a few weeks ago. They just don't seem to get it, or say something like, "Oh, I'd like to do that sometime." Well get up and go do it! I agree with what was said before in that there is a big difference between gun owners and "gun people."

"If you would like to try to take this course in lieu of paying a traffic citation, you must come to court on your court date to request it. The court will determine if you are eligible." That's how it works. They're going to get their money too (court costs).

Do not pay the ticket without first finding out if it's going on your driving record (MVR). The general sessions court clerk should be able to tell you this. I've never heard of paying a ticket before a court date and then signing up for driving school on your own. That's not going to work. Once you pay the ticket, the court is done with you and the damage is done. Generally a judge will allow driving school to keep your MVR clean. But you have to appear in court for that. Driving school usually costs as much as the court costs that you will be assessed, but at least your insurance company won't have an excuse to increase your premiums. And be careful with asking for legal advice on the Internet!

I can't speak to the condition of all the guns listed, but I do know a bit about 1911 pistols. Unfortunately, the pistol you have pictured has a commercial model (civilian) slide on an M1911 (GI issued) frame from the first big production run in 1913. Being mismatched or rebuilt (see below), this kills all the real collector value. Originality is key with collectible 1911s, so this is not going to be a $2,000 pistol. The frame looks to have been parkerized, pointing to an Arsenal Rebuild. The commercial slide might have been sourced after the original cracked from shooting over the years. Early model slides were not properly heat treated. This commercial model slide might have actually been used in the Arsenal rebuild, as there were times when the Army had to contract with Colt for new slides years down the road. The slide has 1946-1955 markings, however the "Calibre" spelling was supposedly discontinued in 1949. I know the Army had a contract for replacement slides in 1951, so there is a small chance that may be where this one came from, but with the "Calibre" spelling I don't think that is very likely. Also the finish looks different from the frame in the pictures. Both should be parkerized if it is an Arsenal Rebuild gun. The slide looks like it still has bluing left. Some folks can tell the difference from a commercial model slide and those sold to the Army in '51, but it would take a hands on inspection or some really, really, good photos. There are some differences in milling marks, but otherwise they look exactly the same. Keep in mind that the last M1911A1 pistol was produced in 1945. The military has operated on existing inventory since then. There are still old warhorses being used on deployments today even though the Beretta was adopted 30 years ago in 1985. So what you have with the 1911 is a shooter-grade pistol, but the right buyer might give a little bit more than a shooter price if the slide can be traced to an Arsenal rebuild. It's worth whatever someone will pay, but you may find that you have more value in parts than trying to sell the assembled pistol as is. I would encourage you to post very detailed pictures on 1911forum.com in the Vintage/USGI section. Make special note of all the markings and stamps on the frame and small parts, including the barrel. The magazine might also be valuable if of the right vintage. Some of the most well known collectors in the world are active on that site and will give you more guidance than I can.

I had to laugh a bit at this post. I live in a rural area and see A LOT of them. Most aren't alive very long after though. They are constantly rooting into my yard and landscaping. I have a strong hatred for those creatures. They are mostly nocturnal, and I don't think they see very well in the first place. I have kept a light shining on them and have walked as close as 7-8 feet before shooting. I had wiped out the population pretty well here at my place a couple of years ago but it looks like they have made a comeback. I have a treeline about 25 yards from my backdoor and usually hear them making their way through the leaves and then I'll find them with a flashlight. They make a lot of noise in the woods.

I'm watching as well and rooting for KC. I don't have cable so rarely see a baseball game during the regular season. Being aired on Fox, the World Series is a treat for me every year. I've really enjoyed watching the last couple of years.

Any more info on the BG check issue? RK guys are telling sellers that the new policy was only in effect for the Nashville show and that they were under pressure from Metro. Doesn't sound like that's the whole story though.

Wet tumbling works great. It takes a little more time and effort, but the results are amazing. The biggest drawback is the need to deprime each piece of brass before wet tumbling. If you wet tumble with the spent primer still in the pocket, water will enter the pocket and is very hard to dry. Some people get around this by drying brass in an oven or dehydrator, but that seems like a lot of trouble as well. I deprime all my brass so I don't have to worry about it, and the primer pocket gets squeaky clean too. I bought my setup from stainlesstumblingmedia.com

Tucker did not have a fire. TT Gunleather did. Both good choices.

The patent application shows that at least 80% of Fireclean's composition is a blend of three different vegetable oils. Crisco is a trademarked name but that's irrelevant. People are using Crisco to name vegetable oil in this context just as you would use "Coke" to refer to a soda. No one has a "patent" on vegetable oil.

I agree. Hillary scares me a lot more than BHO.

I'm not disagreeing with you, however, the law already requires all "legally incompetent adults" to have a representative payee. In this case, the decision has already been made by a medical board and/or through an adjudication of the court. These individuals cannot purchase a firearm anyway. As I said before, it would be a very rare situation for someone of sound mind to hand over their Social Security check to someone else. Personally, I think it's all a bunch of brouhaha from the NRA and won't amount to any big "gun grab" in the future.

It sounds like this will be enforced on anyone using a "representative payee" for payment of Social Security benefits, not necessarily for someone who needs a legal guardian or "conservator." This could potentially affect a lot of people who are still of sound mind, however, in my experience most people using a "representative payee" are in fact mentally disabled and would not have the capacity to purchase a firearm in the first place.

Please disregard, I finally got it to work. Maybe the problem was on the PayPal end.

I'm trying to renew my premium membership from the invoice that was sent in March, but when I click confirm to go to the payment page I am getting an error message. Please help.