56FordGuy

What price range? A blue light or blue filter helps blood stand out. Personally, for a (hopefully) seldom used first aid kit light, I'd probably go with a SureFire E1E with a blue filter. It's a single 123A battery incandescent light. However, cost may be prohibitive. In any case, if you don't plan to use the light often, look for one with a CR123A battery. Those batteries generally have about a 10 year shelf life with no leakage. Cheaper option, you could always go with a Mini-MagLite. Keep an eye on the batteries if you don't use it often, and I'm sure someone makes filters for them.

You can adjust the front sight to move the point of aim to match the point of impact. Some rifles shoot fine with or without the bayonet mounted, I think the M44s are more affected than the 91/30s.

Another +1 for Surefire, but that isn't my main point. Be careful when dealing with Deal Extreme. They are known for cheap lights, not good products or customer service. They operate out of Asia, it's not unheard of for orders to take months to arrive. I wouldn't bet the farm on their products working every time, either. The prices are good, though. If you want a light to play with, maybe open up and modify, they have a few that could be good host lights. I'll stick with my SureFires, though.

Welcome! I'm right outside Gallatin.

I wouldn't mind helping a bit, if that's alright. Might be enough for Daniel to sell another one soon. We're talking about the .45, right? Heck, it doesn't matter. They're all fun.

Lots of folks here have Mosins. Some have several. They're inexpensive, and ammunition is still relatively cheap. They're a lot of fun. In my experience, they don't need much work. Clean it, go shoot it. Not much to sighting in, either. They aren't match grade target rifles, but mine seems as accurate as most other surplus battle rifles. Not much sighting in, either. You might need to bend the front sight post one way or the other, but that's about it. Two things to know. One, they have a very noticeable recoil. Your shoulder will probably be sore after 15-20 rounds. Might not hurt to invest in a slip on recoil pad. Two, all of the surplus (inexpensive) ammunition for these rifles has a corrosive primer. If you don't clean the rifle within about 24 hours of shooting it, corrosive salts left in the barrel will begin to cause rust. It's not a bad idea to run a few water soaked patches through the bore to dissolve the salts before you do your regular cleaning. Some people use Windex, ammonia mixtures, and other methods for cleaning them. I've used a couple of patches soaked in hot water, followed by a regular cleaning, for a long time with no rusted guns. The corrosive primers are something to be aware of, but not a really big deal.

Time for bed.

Murphy nothing. You tried to grease the chain with a coffee can and an air compressor, didn't you?

I agree on ordering from Cabelas, but the Midway USA website takes forever to load on my computer. I was thinking that if the Hornady press was worth having, he might be able to buy the Lee kit and trade it for the progressive.

There is an indoor range in Gallatin called the Indoor Shooting Academy, or something like that. It shares a building with a pawn shop, right next door to the police station. I shot there once for my permit class, and it was okay. If I were going to shoot at an indoor range though, I'd make the drive up to Guns N Leather. They have, in my opinion, a much nicer facility. Much nicer. Well worth the drive.

I was going to ask about that, originally it looked like the holster would leave the end of the barrel pretty low. How tightly does it pull in to your side? I remember being pretty impressed with how close the Raven held the firearm to your body, how would you say the Shark Tac compares?

What kind of extras does he want? You can get a brand new Lee single stage kit for under $100.00, without shipping factored in. Cabela's -- Lee Anniversary Reloading Kit

In my research, I've found that you can get into a Dillon 550 in one caliber for just over $400.00. I did some searching, and found Hornady sells the case activated powder drop for $64.25. There is also a rifle micrometer metering insert that's an additional $34.77. I'm not familiar enough with the Hornady stuff to know if the metering valve is a necessary addition. From looking at it, it appears you may also need a primer feeder, bullet feed, and maybe even a case feeder? Again, I'm not familiar with Hornady presses, but it appears that a lot of things could be missing. Going off the Hornday site, it looks like roughly $65 for a powder measure, and $50 for a primer feeder. So $175 looks more like $290. Still might not be a bad deal. I'm going from prices for the Lock N Load press parts. Not sure if the press you're looking at is that model, or if parts will interchange. If it's old and incompatible with Lock n Load stuff, it might be difficult to find the accessories. It's not necessarily a bad deal, but it might not be too much of a great one either. More information would be helpful. What specific model of press would be good to know. Or are all the Hornady presses compatible? That would also be good to know. Good luck!

Slow moving vehicle emblems used improperly. You know, the reflective orange triangles? Those are for slow moving vehicles, i.e anything traveling on a public roadway under 30 MPH. They do not go on your mailbox post, they do not go on the back of your trailer going down the interstate. Likewise, idiots hauling a half secured load with their flashers on. "I know I've got 3,000 pounds of scrap metal stacked on my truck with a piece of twine tied over it, but it's okay! I'll turn my flashers on! Hey everybody, look at me! I'm too stupid to operate a tie down strap! Blinkie blinkie!" Burned out marker/ clearance lights on trucks, too. Three light on one side of the cab, then a gap, then one light on the other. Go buy a .50 cent lightbulb and fix it.

I shoot my reloads, and as a general rule I don't shoot anyone else's reloads. Likewise, I don't want anyone else shooting mine. I might, maybe, possibly consider letting a very good friend shoot some, but a coworker, someone I just met, or selling them? No way. Not at all. While I trust my loads, there's way too much potential liability in selling them. I've had a few folks ask me about loading for them. I usually offer to let them come load on my press if they're seriously interested in finding out if it's a hobby that they want to get into, but they'll be the ones doing the work.

That's a great looking gun. My wallet is very glad I didn't see it when I was there. An HK .45 is on the short list, too...

Lots of folks shoot reloads in 642s and 442s. A properly reloaded round should not be outside the safe operating limits of any firearm. However, some folks push the envelope, and unfortunately, it can be easy to push them just a little too far. Or, maybe an ordinarily safe load was accidentally double charged. Whatever happened, it's a reminder to everyone that reloads that you have to be careful, and pay attention to what you're doing.

For a brief time, demand went up faster than the supply. Thus, prices went up. Some places did try to stick it to folks and play on their fear, others didn't. That's a fact, too. Prices tend to increase over time, too. When was the last time we saw 100 rounds of 7.62x39 for $10.00?

Sounds like the shooter's very fortunate. Glad there were no major injuries. Did you by chance get any pictures of the damaged gun?

Welcome.

Some of us do wear hats...

I've done retail, I've spent time self employed. I couldn't agree more with what Joe's said. There is a lot of overhead that any business owner has, that the customer just doesn't see. For example, it took me half an hour to replace a tire on your semi truck at 2:00 AM, on the side of the interstate, in the rain. The bill is $100.00. Do you know how many times I'd get the job done, then have to deal with "Well, you're already making $200.00 bucks an hour, I deserve a break"? My service truck costs money. Insurance on the truck costs money. Fuel, tools, parts, it all costs money. At some point, I'd like to get paid for getting out of bed because you called me at 1:30 in the morning, too! Not to mention, I usually didn't have a call lined up for every moment of my time. Some days I'd work 18, 20 hours and have to turn work down because I just couldn't get there. Other days, the phone just wouldn't ring. What then? As a customer, I don't want to spend way more than I have to, and I may ask for a deal. But I won't ask a retailer to knock $150.00 off a gun, even if it is priced for less down the road. Maybe split the taxes with me, or sell me a box of ammo at cost if I buy the gun for retail? They have rent to pay, employees to pay, lights to keep on, and at some point the shop owner needs to make some money to justify the risk they took opening the store. Does that mean I'll pay an extra margin for something? Sometimes, sometimes not. My selling point isn't price. It's service. I can buy a gun anywhere, just like truck drivers can get their rigs fixed anywhere. But what business is willing to go the extra mile? Who's going to be the equivalent of showing up in the rain with a smile at 2:00 AM, and thanking the customer for calling? That's why when you find a good shop, you need to support them. It has to be worth it for the shop to stay open. In my case, it wasn't. I got out of the road service stuff a bit over two years ago. I want my favorite gun shops to be around a while, so long term it is in my best interest to occasionally spend a bit more on some stuff than I could get it elsewhere for.

Another +1. I don't own either, but have shot the XD and thoroughly inspected the G26. For me, the XD felt and pointed much better than the Glock. That said, I don't care for the grip safety on the XD. It's not an XD isue, but I don't want any extra 'safeties' on a carry weapon. If I had to pick one, I'd go for the XD. It felt better in my hand and pointed naturally. I don't care for the grip safety, but it doesn't add any extra steps to using the weapon as your hand naturally releases it.

I've worked on a bunch of 7.3s. I believe that engine will fit into automotive history just like the small block Chevy and the Ford 351. It was just a good engine. I even worked on a few V10s, mainly ignition coils. +1 for getting a long bed. My truck has a 9' bed, and it's been so useful I'd hate to go back to a 'regular' 8' bed. I couldn't imagine having a short bed.

I'm fairly certain that safe gun handling was not on his list of priorities.