Grayfox54

Para-Ordanance makes a good gun, but they're noted for needing an extended break-in period. Generally takes 300-500 rounds to get them running smooth and trouble free. 

I don't see what's in it for the U.S.? After 50 odd years of communism, Cuba is nothing more than a third world dung heap.  I'm bettin' there's some big money to be made in this somewhere and that most of it will be under the table and at U.S. tax payer expense. 

Patton, I understand your  concern about me trying to trade off the 624. Let me clear that up so I don't appear as much the idiot y'all think I am. ;)   I stumbled across it locally from a private seller at a very good price. It doesn't have the original grips. It wears goodyears. I also don't have the box. While the gun is in very good shape, it does show a few minor handling marks. And its been shot quite a bit. Mostly by me.   :D  So its not like I'm trying to sell a mint collectable. I figure this one to be about an $850 gun.  I might also mention that I have several other .44 Specials including a 3" 24-3. I just like blue better than stainless.  Also, in the OP I said it was a gun I was "willing to sell or trade". I never said I needed or even wanted to sell.  This gun was actually an impluse buy.  I actually bought it with the intent of reselling it.   So this 624 is more or less an extra in my collection. I like it, but don't necessarily need it. If I can sell it for what I consider a fair price or trade for something of similar value that I want, I am "willing" to do so. Otherwise, I'll keep it, enjoy it and continue to shoot it.  :up:

I was at the Germantown gun show today. I had with me a couple of revolvers that I was willing to sell or trade.One fo which is a Smith & Wesson 3" Model 624 Lou Horton Special. Been totin' these guns around to various gun shows for a while now and although I get lots of lookers, so far no buyers. Same thing with trying to trade for something I liked. I know that dealers have to make money on a trade, but most of the offers I got were downright insulting. Frankly, I'm gettin' tired of carrying these guns around. My younger son has a Sig P220 Compact. Nice gun, but I don't care for the short grip frame. I've shot it many times and and while I'm not realy a DA Auto kind of guy, I've often thought it might be nice to have a full sized one of my own.    So there I am at the gun show. Once again, many want to look at what I have, but nothing but bad low ball offers.  Anyway, I'm making my way down through the show and a voice from behind one of the tables asks about my 624. Its a pretty good sized dealer with lots of tables and the inquiry came from one of the salesmen. I show him and the guy is about to pee himself. He's been looking for one of these for his personal collection for quite some time. He looks it over and agrees that my asking price is fair, but sadly, he can't spend the money right now what with Christmas coming, small kids and of course the wife to deal with. We all know the story.  :rolleyes: They have lots of guns there, so I ask if maybe we can work out a trade?  I look around and find a brand new Sig P220 Carry. That's the full size frame with the slightly shorter barrel and slide. I like it. It feels good in my hand. So the salesman goes and gets the owner, who is the only person allowed to make trade deals. So we commence to haggling. At first it was no go. But over the next couple of hours I drop by occasionally, make and offer and he counters. After about the 4th time, we reach a deal we can both live with. I figure I'm loosing about $50, but that's to be expected when trading with a dealer. So I'm ok with it. I sit down at the table and start the paperwork. The dealer tells some other saleman that I hadn't spoken to pack everything up and bring it down for processing. Then right in front of me, this (insert appropriate term) DROPS THE NEW SIG ON THE CONCRETE FLOOR! :eek: . :censored:  :wall:  He  picked it up, gave it a quick look see and announced "its ok, it doesn't look hurt."  But its already too late for me. I was so mad that there was no way I was going to take this gun now. I demand my gun back and say "The Deal's Off!"  :mad: Needless to say I was not in a good mood when I left the show.    But now that a few hours have passed and I've calmed down, I think maybe that God, fate, nature or whatever forces may control our lives was just telling me that for semi-autos, I should just stick with my 1911s.  ;)            

Not a fan of bobtails myself. But its your gun, do what you want.   I sent my Pre-70 Series Commander back to Colt for a refinish a few years ago. Came back beautiful. As I recall the cost was $235 + shipping. Probably gone up a little since then, but well worth it.  :up:

I never heard of him either. Now I wish I hadn't.  What a   :poop:

Y'all might wannna hold on  minute. Seems BATF&E may be back peddling. Ot at least there's some confusion in the ranks.  Here's an article I got in e-mail last week: End of the Sig Brace? Bear in mind that the guy who wrote this letter is the "ACTING" Chief of the BATF’s Firearms Technology Branch.  Lord only knows what ruleing comes down when they get a permanent chief. Wouldn't be the first time the feds have changed their minds or the first time the right hand didn't know what the left hand was doing. Also remember that BATF&E can change the rules whenever they want to and have done so in the past.  Looks like the lid is loose on this can of worms.

I've never done business with Bud's and really don't know much about the company or its business practices. So I can't comment about them. But I did read several really nasty rants by PO'd customers on a couple of different forums. Each and every one of them amounted to the same thing. Some person missed out on a deal they felt they should have been entitled to get and immediately jumped on the internet to whine, cry, blame and generally act like a spoiled child.  So for the benifit of those who may have missed it when growing up: Life ain't fair, you don't always get what you want. Deal with it.   

When I was still working for the city, part of my job was taking care fo all our small engine stuff. Our saws worked hard and the crews were pretty rough on them. So from a mechanics point of view.......... Stihl is the very best, easy to work on and find parts for. Husqvarna makes a good saw, but getting parts can be a real PITA. Echo, don't even go there.    As for myself, I've got a 20 year old Poulan Woodsman. Yep, just a cheap hardware store saw. But its still running strong and takes care of what I need to do.   

Unfortunately I have certian dietary restrictions. Some things, like onions, peppers or heavily spiced foods, just never have set well with me. Messes my stomach up. Other restrictions are due to medical problems (diverticulitis).  But there are some things that I just plain don't like. Green peas for one. Never cared for the taste of the things. Another is raw tomatos. Its funny that I like pretty much everything made from tomatoes like tomato sauce, ketchup or tomatoes cooked into another dish. Just never liked the taste of them raw. The one thing that I've never understood is when people take perfectly good food and then start adding spices, peppers, sauces, etc to make it hotter than Hell. I've seen people eating stuff so hot that they're eyes are watering and then talk about how good it is. What's that all about?  :squint: I make it a rule not to eat anything that hurts.  :shake:  

That feller is Jerry Miculek, A top tier competition shooter and the world's fastest shooter with a revolver. I tend to listen when he speaks.  :up: I met him once. Really nice and down to earth kind of guy. Check his videos on You Tube. Some of the things he can do are amazing.

Around 15 years ago I personally witnessed a Glock ka-Boom. In this case the gun was a 9mm using factory ammo. Myself, the Rangemaster and a couple of other seasoned shooters all examined the gun and agreed that it appeared to have fired before locking completely into battery. The gun was ruined, but thankfully, the shooter only recieved minor injuries.  As I recall there was some discussion going around about that time about wear on certian parts which would allow this very problem to occur.  It wasn't my gun, I didn't know the owner and I'm not a Glock guy, so I have no idea what the final outcome was.   

I used to, but don't any more. One day several years ago some of us were standing around in the shop BSing. A couple of local LEOs were in the group and somehow the subject came up. They both told us that the vast majority of stolen gun reports they do have the weapon stolen out of a vehicle. Also said that vehicle burglaries are far more common than home burglaries. To my way of thinking, leaving a weapon in something as insecure as a vehicle is irresponsible. I don't care about the cost of the lost firearm. I just don't like the idea of some criminal out there with one of my guns.

The entire infrastructure of this country is on the verge of collapse. Power grids, roads, bridges and water supply. It seems congess would rather waste our tax dollars on worthless government programs and sending billions each year to countries that hate us.  All the Chinese have to do is wait. 

About 7-8 years ago my best friend gave me a Nagant Revolver as a Christmas gift. (he does have a C&R) It came with a holster, lanyard and tool kit. He never would tell me what it cost him,  But when I suggested $75, he just grinned.  :devil: At the time 7.62 Nagant ammo was very hard to find and expensive when you did. For $35, shipping included, I bought a .32acp cylinder for it. Ammo in that caliber was cheap and plentiful.  We were at a gun show about a year ago and we both saw them at the same time and thought "What the.......". Several dealers had Nagants, just the revolver with no accesories for $239.  :screwy: Over the last year or so I've been running across Nagant ammo pretty regularly at gun shows. Made by Prvi Partizan for around $25-30 for a box of 50.    I fear the cheap surplus guns are a thing of the past.  :cry:    

Looks good.  :up: Waitin' for the range report.   

Start by replacing the recoil spring. Also check for an overly tight extractor or the extractor tunnel caked up with gunk.

Body work is extremely expensive these days. I'm thinking your estimate is way too low. Let State Farm deal with it and get it fixed. I think any atempt to come out ahead on this will come back to bite you on the butt. 

I wouldn't buy one. But ya gotta give Taurus credit. They're thinking outside the box, innovating and have to stones to try it. And that right there is what American industry needs. 

Welcome to the club.  :up:

Yep, prices will never go back to what they were. I'm thinking that when the supply eventually does catch up that around $5 for a box of 50 will be the norm. Most of us will be happy to pay that too. 

Colt's situation is currently being discussed on a number of boards right now. One of the most common comments is that people think Colt should start making DA revolvers again. I'd love to see it, but the fact is that it can't happen. One of the main reasons Colt quit making DA revolvers was that the machines and tooling used to build them was worn out. Colt either didn't have or didn't want to invest the money in new machines. Most of the old machines have been sold off.  Not to mention that those guns required a lot of hand fitting and all the skilled craftsmen who used to assemble them are long gone.    There is a good bit of speculation that Colt will be bought by some large corporation and be revived. Hopefully in some place other than anti-gun and overly taxed Connecticut, which has also been one of Colt's major problems. I, for one, would like to see that happen. But, even if it does happen, this "New" Colt will be a completely different company. The Colt that we all knew and loved would be gone forever.       

Nope, its all one company. In 2002 Colt split into two companies. Colt manufactuering, which made products for the civilian and LEO markets and Colt Defense LLC, which handled military contracts. However, last year ( 2013) Colt Defense aquired Colt Manufactuering and reunited the two companies.  This was done to avoid problems with licensing agreements which were set to expire in 2014. Colt has been one of the most mis-managed companies in the world for many years. Going back to a 5 year long strike by union workers in the 1980s, Then major quality control issues in the late 80s and early 90s caused by poorly trained replacement workers. 1998 then CEO Ron Stewart made a public statement favoring mandatory licensing and training for gun owners leading to a boycott. Then the mistake of all mistakes was hiring Retired Marine LT. General Willian Keys as CEO who ran the company into the ground. (2002-2010). Along the line, Colt excutives decided to forgo R&D for civilian products in favor of concentrating on Military Contracts which they eventually lost.  Colt was banking on three products keeping them afloat. The Single Action Army revolver, the 1911 pistol and the AR-15/M-16 rifles. Of course now everybody and their brother are making these guns AND selling them cheaper. So Colt put all their eggs in one basket, then lost the basket. I do love my Colts and would be saddened to see such a historic company go under. But they brought it on themselves.        

 I think many of the bad opions of some 1911s are actually the fault of the magazines. I befuddles me how some makers build really good pistols and then cheap out on the mags that go with them. I like Springfield 1911s, but the mags they supply are just so-so. Some work just fine, others not so much. And while my Remington R1 is a great pistol, the magazines that came with it are pure junk.  So if your new 1911 doesn't want to work quite right, try some better mags before condeming it.  For .45acps I highly recommend the Wilson Combat magazines. Yes, they are expensive, but they are the best. These are the only magazines I use for competition or carry. If your 1911 is in 9mm or 38 Super, Metalform is the way to go. Metalform also makes Colt's factory mags.  The magazine is the heart of a semi-auto pistol. Buy the best.

I've been wearing flannel shirts, blue jeans and work boots my whole life. No, beard, but I got a mustache. Does that count?  :confused: Good Lord! After 60 years have I suddenly become cool?  :eek: