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I bought a 1958 Ford with a in line 6 cylinder with a straight shift, 3 speed on the coelom transmission. I kept it for 2 years then purchased a 57 Chevy convertible which I sold for 300.00 cash when I went on my senior trip to Southeast Asia in 1966. Man, what a dummy! After Vietnam, I treated myself to a brand new 1968 Olds 442, with a 400 cu in engine and 4 in the floor, bright red. Only car I ever owned that would switch ends, if you dropped the clutch, and held the wheel straight, in a mall parking lot. It would run....Then I got married in 1970......this coming March, will be 50 years of wedded bliss.

Sig Ammo, with the V Crown bullets, looks promising when you look at their stats. I may try some. They are loading their ammo on the hotter side compared to most ammo of today. Most ammo companies have down loader their ammo, velocity wise, as of late. Hard to find ammo for the 357 Mag that reaches the 1450 FPS range. This velocity once was the norm, but not today. Sig has been advertising theirs's will reach this range of speed. Edited to add; I just researched some gel testing on this ammo. Results were not good. It is hot ammo but over penetrated, and the hollow point did not open when fired through 4 layers of denim. I take back what I said! I can do that, can't I?

Rex Allen JR's Greatest Hits CD

Prayers for you loss, luckyforward. I lost my mother 12 years ago as she slipped from this realm because of Alzheimer's. I hope to join her in the next realm, after my departure down the road, or maybe before tomorrow! . All things are possible with God and Jesus. Mercy, grace, and peace comes through them.

Thanks for the post. I have the MP 9 C 2.0 4"and carry it(no Red Dot). Have developed and real fondness for this pistol, however I find the red dot hinders me from making fast follow up shots. Excuse, "old eyes."

My daily carry is a 2" 357 Mag 7 shot Taurus mdl 617 pocket carry or a MP 9C 2.0 15 shot with 4" brl carried IWB or belt slide, or both. The revolver is a K frame size revolver, if you are familiar with the K frame mid size, and the MP is a mid sized to full size pistol, call it a tween size(not full size but not small). My bedside revolver is a Mdl 629 44Mag/44Spl which I keep loaded with 44 Spl ammo. If one is forced to use either, one will want the largest gun available so why not have one at hand. At 71 Y O, with health issues, that is my choices and yes I own several J-frames and smaller semi auto pistols(Kahr P 9, Kahr PM 40, Colt Pocketlight 380 etc), but I choose bigger because I can shoot them better. I dress around the gun. Yes, I purchase, and utilize mid to full size handguns, all the time, and have a preference for them. These market items are not dead by any means. I have an 8 shot 5" brl 38Spl/357Mag on my bucket list, at this time, and would purchase one for my bedside gun, but just have not put out the coins (900 to $1000) "YET". I pray, daily, that I will never be forced to use one of the guns, but "if forced too", hope I will be up to the challenge.

I just finished reading Tom Givens new book. It was my first time reading the new one. It is a great roadmap for someone starting their choice of adding the ability to protect one's life and the lives of loved ones with a gun. It has a lot of good information for the beginner to set goals for productive beneficial training so one will do it with the goal of bettering themselves rather than just going to a range and bustin caps while punching paper and plinking. Also gives good all around advice on how to be aware while we concealed carry, and establishing a proper mindset while gaining the skills to be effective with your chosen tools. Gives recommendation on hardware and selection of one's chosen tools. I thought the line he had in it about concealed carry, "You need to realize that when you strap on a gun you may be forced to kill someone with it," (Paraphrasing from memory) was a very important statement. Goes a long way with cultivating a proper mindset. I highly recommend the book, even for old timers because we all need to be reminded of the seriousness of what we do when we carry, and the responsibility we incur because of that very personal decision. We owe it to our families, loved ones, and ourselves, to be trained to use our tools to the best of our ability. Tom said, (again paraphrasing) "When you hold a gun in your hand, you possess the power over life, over death." That is a huge responsibility, and It's not to be taken lightly by any. Serious stuff guys, as most of you know.

How well do you guys shoot these guns at 30 or 40 feet? I really don't like very small pistols.

This will be coming to Nashville, and other big cities in TN, the way our leaders(I use leaders very loosely) are going. Thankful they got rid of Briley in the "Vill". Who knows, as bad as the prison system is in private hands, in TN, they will probably outsources the Police next. Atlanta just enacted a no chase policy, for fleeing criminals, in that city. I know that city will be a lot safer now, and you right, the reported crime will decrease for sure. Bill O riley once said, " A white male puts his future in jeopardy, when going to Atlanta, because there is no justice for white males in Atlanta any longer." I make it a point to not hang out there.

California has the greatest out of state migrants (citizens leaving the state) in the US. This is some of the reasons why. What they have done is allowed street vagrants(homeless people) and others(mentally ill), to which the big cities are full of, to steal without fear of consequences . NYC is in the process of doing this also. Mayor Deblageio was on TV, the other day, and said they were decimalizing several crimes in NY City. I seen this in Wash D C one morning. A heugh guy (mental problems) came in a store, got a large cup of coffee, and simply walked out the door. I ask the clerk didn't yo see that guy steal that coffee, why didn't the do something? He said don't want to get hit in the mouth. Said the guy does this 2 to 3 times a day and sometimes gets him something to eat. Said the owner considers it a cost of doing business in that area of D C. I paid for my cup of coffee and left in total amazement. Really sad world we are living in today.

I saw an interview with Elizabeth Warren, dem running for Presidency. She watched the church shooting film and her response was, "I don't feel any safer since watching that man shoot another man." Do you feel safer watching that. I don't" She still will not admit a good guy with a gun can stop a man evil man with a gun. Her answer is to take all guns away from all people. However what she really is saying I don't want to be that person that needs to use that gun to protect myself. She wants someone to do it for her, IMO. I guess her and Joe Biden will shoot their shotgun, up in the air, to run off evil people. I really would like to know what her answer is for being attacked herself? What would she do? Wouldn't you like to hear her answer to that question? Better still, since she wants to be Commander and Chief, how does she want all of us to respond if viciously attacked? Why is it no one ask her that question?

Let me give you an excerpt from the chapter on awareness. Tom writes, Awareness and alertness are not, for most people, innate behavior traits. This is a learned behavior pattern, and like most skills is learned through repetition. You should have been taught this as a child, but unfortunately, most children are not taught this or other vital social skills. One thousand years ago, all children were taught at a very early age to be aware, alert, and in tune with their surroundings. If they were inattentive, they might get eaten. One hundred years ago, children were taught to be aware and pay attention to their surroundings, or the hay bailer might tear off their arms or legs. In our time, if you fail to pay attention to your surroundings , someone might cut your throat. Each example is simply a different manifestation of the exact same problem. On the street, you must be aware of your environment. If you know who is around you and what they are up to, you are in charge. If you don't know who is around you and what they are up to, YOU ARE MEAT. It's that simple. This book if full of this kind of advice.

I just purchased a copy of Tom Given's new/old book, "Concealed Carry Class-The ABCs of self-defense Tools and Tactics." I did not read the first edition, but the copy I have now has pictures!!! A guy like me, "I lik-em." It is a large paperback book 8 1/2 x 11, 272 pages. My sweetie ordered my copy from Amazon and it cost 23.00 after free shipping. First 4 chapter titles, out of 30 in the book, 1. Why Carry A Concealed Weapon, 2. Legal Issues In Carrying A Handgun, 3. Appropriate Use Of Force, and 4. Principals Of Personal Defense. Last 2 chapters, 29. Continuing Education, 30. Practice Courses Of Fire. For a slow to mind person such as I, "I HIGHLY RECCOMEND THE BOOK." Contains very practical and useful information. IMO, worth the time and money.

I recently gave my son in law 3 guns for his son when he comes of age. All 3 were Gifts. He liven in S Carolina, me TN. I had to take them to S Carolina and transferee them to the son in law through a FFL there. Rutherford Co Sherriff's office told me that is the only way I could do this legally. These were guns I have owned for years. So I traveled to S Carolina and did the transfer.

The Texas church video, as bad as it is, will do more good than anything that has been recorded in the recent past, IMO. Mr Wilson, who was the head of the security team, went to the audio booth and requested them to put a camera on the shooter when he walked in amongst them. He told a reporter that fact yesterday in an interview. He said red flags went up as soon and he was visualized and entered the church. Now it is not my intention to be callous about this, but to learn from it, and try to stop it from "possibly" happening in our congregation. . Kinda like how many times must one be burned before they actually see the elephant in the room! I tried to get our church leadership to allow our team to not allow these type guys in the building, but try and deal with them outside. We already lock all entrance doors. I wanted the usher, when he recognized a possible problem, to come and get 4 or 5 team members and then intercept the suspicious person, and deal with them before they enter. With our experience with the mentally ill person, in our church a few months ago that had the hoodie on and scared the begebbies out of the people, I believe this would be a much better solution rather dealing with a potential problem in the auditorium where everyone is exposed. Turned out our guy didn't come for the spiritual food at all, but only wanted money to buy food. That need could have been met before he entered the building and terrorizing those around him. Just like the church leaders in Texas, our leadership wanted all to be allowed entry. Well, how did that policy work for the Texans? IMO, that policy is deeply flawed. Yes, spiritual blessings and encouragement should freely come to those who truly seek it, so I ask did the shooter in Texas come for spiritual edification, or did he have another purpose on mind? Our hoodie guy wanted a cup of coffee and a doughnut. IMO, he should have been able to receive the means to attain his wishes in the outer area rather than in amongst our church. I was unable to convince the leadership this policy would work better. Since I don't attend there any longer, I have no say in what they do now. By the way I changed congregations because I can't see how to drive well at night, any longer, and we are attending a congregation very close to where we reside. I love the brethren, at our previous church, very much and sincerely care about their well being. Dave, in my experience, our leadership is lagging far behind in seeing the elephant in the room. I had hopes they would after the Antioch(18 miles from our building) shooting, and the incident where a converted Muslim kook was firing his pistol into church buildings, in 2 surrounding counties plus our own, on multiple occasions, but it didn't. I just don't know how to help people with those attitudes. I do understand our previous congregation gave out lettered to al the congregants about church safety, yesterday morning. Yes, this film will get some doubters attention and hopefully for the betterment of them all. If that happens that will be a good result of a sad very situation.

Same here. Happy and prosperous. That dog is putting a lot of trust in that chair.

Just read an article where they interviewed Mr Wilson. He stated that he had to wait for a second so someone in the line of fire got out of the way. He urged other churches to use the film, and train security teams also. Stated it is a necessary thing in todays society. Said he was sorry for what they did, but they were forced to do it. That brings to mind a saying that was transcribed, on the Indian's Monument, at the Little Big Horn Battlefield, when we visited a few years back. That saying has stuck with since. It stated; "We killed them because they came here to kill us." All I can say is WOW! The article/sister also said the shooter, who was dressed in disguise the day of the shooing, had attended the church on several occasions prior to the shooting. His brother committed suicide, on that same date, 10 years ago. His sister said she though he was on a suicide mission himself. She thinks that was his motive. He is a white middle aged man who had a prior record and had some mental illness. People, their walking amongst us.

It is my opinion if a church is going to have a safety team, the other church goers should be talked to also(train the audience). These church goers, most of them, ducked down, which is a good thing. It gave a clearer sight picture of the shooter plus got themselves out of the line of sight (fire) of the security team and shooter. After training our safety team, at my church, you would be surprised how many people did not even know the street address of our church building. How can one call 911 and not even know the address. I had 2 guys that were designated 911 callers on our team. My idea for 2 was one would be there on the day we needed him. This incident took place over a 6 second time period. How many of us would be ready and have lethal shots fired that quick. Common guys, you can't argue with success. True some of the guys made mistakes by, what appeared to be muzzling innocent church goers, but it has been my experience, we don't really see the sight angels they were looking at from one camera angle. Those "volunteers" did great in protecting their church family. It takes special men to go to the sound of gunfire, and apparently we see at least 6 men, mostly mature men, doing that. One can nit pick this to the death, but look at it for what it is. A sad day for these people, but the best training film in a church setting, that has ever been filmed and shown to the public in real time. Mr Wilson is to be commended for his excellent actions. Those two poor volunteers, at almost point blank range, suffered greatly and in reality had very little chance of success coming from behind the curve in their own defense. I told my members that most times, when you respond, you draw the perps attention away from his intended targets, to yourself, and you need to understand that fact. This shooter reacted to the two volunteers, and had to deal with them, before he could continue his original purpose, what ever that was. Mr Wilson hit him at the perfect time causing him to react and miss his next intended target. Guys, that is textbook on what a safety team is put in place for. Fighting, for sure gun fighting, is nasty business and not antiseptic. Our team never faced a deadly confrontation, but had to deal with 11 bad situations, one just like this guy coming in with the hoody on and causing a disturbance. Ours turned out to be non life threatening, but still it happened and had to be dealt with. This hoodie guy was the real deal. We need to be praying for these good people, and even for Mr Wilson, because most likely hew ill need those prayers in the future, while dealing with taking another's life, even though he was totally in the right. This won't happen until he has settled down and has to begin assessing his actions in the darkness of his thoughts. PTSD is very real even if you are right, to most, not all, but most. I say well done, for a very serious situation and the security team brought this awful situation to an quick end. It could have been much worse, even though it is bad. Edited to add: Mr Wilson will need to adjust because he will now begin to live with "The Mark of Cain Syndrome."

Only one light is on in our home. That is a florescent 18" tube light which is mounted over the sink and under the cabinet and does not shine down the hall way. The kitchen is on one end and we sleep at the opposite end of a 45' hallway. The light is 70' from where we are and provides indirect lighting. Our home is 100' long so the kitchen light does not illuminate the end of the home where we are. I can see if anyone is in the house, however they can not see me unless they have a flashlight. Sorry for not making that more clear. Dennis you can get lots of advice. Lights, security doors, securing windows, good locks, and dogs were my precautions. It has worked for us, however all of this was done knowing if a dedicated burglar comes, they can defeat almost anything, but my plan was to try and set a scene where they must make noise to gain entry. Hopefully we can react in time. My intention was to make it as hard to get in as possible, although knowing nothing is perfect on a working man's budget. I have considered some type of alarm system, however there recently are horror stories with hacking some systems attached to your phone and with internet involved. Not against burglar alarm systems just haven't researched any thoroughly yet. I know monitored systems have drawbacks and are expensive. Would consider some type of early warning system if I had a pressing need. Barky dogs are an option, but they are not perfect. I got one now that just barks sometimes.

We live in the country 8 miles from town. It is fairly secluded and no houses are really within seeing distance from our home. More houses have been built since this happened, but we are still kinds secluded as tree filled lots surround us. Back several years ago, we had 2 daughters that were car-hops at a Sonic drive-in when they were in high school. They often worked until 12 on weekends. One of my daughters came home after work and someone followed her home. She had brought a cheeseburger home and a drink and was eating while siting in my lazy boy chair. Whoever followed her home was looking in the side view window on our front door and on the front porch. My wife had several flowers on the front porch and one was on an old mettle TV stand. The peeper hooked his tow under the stand and turned it over on the front porch waking everyone in the house. By the time I got my revolver and made it to the front door the peeper was exiting my driveway and alI I seen was taillights going out the end of our 300' driveway. It really upset my whole family and my wife went berserk. It really shook our since of safety and security so I had to do something to counter that. My wife and children had problems sleeping. I started researching and decided to make some changes. I set about hardening my entry doors and lighting up the outside of my home. I had lights installed on every corner of the home, and had the Electric Company install a security light on top of the pole where the main line comes to my home. Also put lights in behind the home, under the roof of the porch, and on the corners of my front porch. I installed tow flood lights installed where they would light the whole front of our home. Also got a German Shephard dog and kept him outside for years. On hardening my doors, we have 5 entrance doors. I had deadbolts, that only open by key, on both sides, installed on all the solid wood doors. Now a days that is against codes, but codes don't live here. I installed 3 additional locks, two of which can only be opened from inside. I used 3 1/2" screws on all locks and hinges of the wooden doors. Went to Lowes and purchased 4 Larson Security Storm Doors (they still sell them 400.00 ea) that have a 3 point locking system on the side of the door that opens. The glass in the doors are double-pane with 3 M puncture proof plastic between the plate glass and are guaranteed break in proof. The frames are heavier than normal with 3" screws that go into the house studding around the doors and screws in-between the door and frame that cannot be screwed out unless the doors are opened. These doors are great, but heavy! They are kick-in proof. I talk to people through them and never open the door to strangers. Now I have posted this to say, I know determined burglars can get in, however they will be forced to make noise before that can get in. My revolver and shotgun are within reach now, and loaded. Hopefully, if someone try's to come in now, with us in the home, I will assume they are not coming for tea and crumpets. Hopefully they will make a lot of noise, and I will have time to get ready to greet them. At any rate it finally settled my family down, and they felt safe in our home once again, after tow or three months. It cost me some serious money, but we have been here for 35 years now, and no one has tried to come in while we were home. I do leave several lights on all night long inside and out. The outside of our home is well lit, and when I go to the restroom, at night, I can look out the window, and the way the lights are pointed both in front and back, If anyone is outside, in front or back, I can see their shadows on the grass outside. I see deer eating in the back yard under our bird feeders all the time. I do go and check to make sure though. My windows are wood frames, and I drilled holes and put small nails in both sides of the frames where they will not be able to be opened without removing the nails by hand while inside of the home. Cost nothing really. I know they can break the glass, but there again, they will make noise. Also one would need a ladder to enter the windows from the outside. Dennis, I would do something similar in your situation. I mean you need to light up the whole outside of you home BIG TIME. Fix the doors and windows where they are harder to get into. I even have electric eyes on my outside lights so the lights will come on at sundown and go off in the mornings when we are not home. I have 5 lights, 3 in the front, and 2 in the back plus the security light, and it lights the outside of my home completely. I never really noticed a large increase in my electric bill, but considered it necessary expense rather than being forced to deal with a very unpleasant situation. I do not want to shoot someone over a 10.00 a month electric bill and 500.00 worth of lights, or take a beating, or even worse. Your choice Dennis, but you do have a serious problem. Someone intent on entering your home, with you in it, is not coming to exchange pleasantries friend! Time for you to take defensive actions.

Was able to go out and shoot my Taurus revolver yesterday. This is my EDC that I carry when not sleeping. Discovered my holster is worn out as I tried some draw and shoot drills, and several times the holster came out with the revolver. These holsters last about 6 to 9 months and one must get another. They form to the pocket and the sticky wears off somewhat. I usually keep 2 or 3 on hand for this reason. I have some Remora pocket holster, which are mostly the same as the Desantsis Nemesis, that I purchased a few months ago while they had a good sale. I will switch the old one out, and put the new one in its place this morning. That should cure my problem. It is good to get out and practice shooting as often as one can. I am really enjoying this warm spell. It was 67 and sunny here, on Christmas day, in mid TN. It was a real good day to do some more practice. Supposed to be about the same today, but have something I need to do today. Need to help do some more work on my first born daughters horse trailer and truck.

Merry Christmas to all.

Been my experience, if you paint the front sight, apply a coat of white before your permanent color. It will make the red redder, or the green greener, or the orange oranger. I learned that from experience. One thing though, thoroughly clean all the oil from the surface of the ramp or the paint will not stick well.

Jeb48, I can get 100 yards on my range, but the sight picture is tight right now. Will need to cut some trees to widen the approach out a bit, and get a better visual. I don't shoot a lot of rifle, but have 2 new ones I need to sight in in the spring. Hopefully I will have the trees removed by then. I need to purchase a bigger chain-saw to accomplish the tree removal. I have had some trees downed in storms and my small saw is not adequate for larger tree removal. Thinking of a Stihl Farm Boss saw.

I was able to go out this afternoon, and get some shooting done. The weather is 64 and sunny this afternoon. We got 1" of rain yesterday and the new filled ground was soft. I had to put about 1 foot of fill dirt to level out my range and the apron in front of the targets. I have a good new stand of fescue grass and some of the clods were still very wet so my shoes had to be cleaned, I guess one could say it was a tad bit wet. At any rate I shot a 50 round box at 30 feet, into a new H frame target I purchased a couple months ago. I went to Home Depot and got some 8' 1'x4' lumber and cut me tow 4' stanchions to put in the H holder frame. I also ordered some cardboard targets that are a little smaller than the FBI B 27 targets. They also have much smaller heads on the cardboard than a B 27. I purchased them, and the mettle H frame stands from Midway this fall when they had good sales on them. The target zone is much smaller as the A section is 4", the B section is 5", and the C zone is 6" in the chest area, and the semi triangle in the head is a 3" triangle. I like them better because the target areas are smaller and one must take care to get them within the A B C zones. That is good enough for me. I will say the center mass on these targets is still a little low for my liking. My zone is a little higher on the target, say inside of the breast nipples to lower throat zone. I was shooting my M P 9MM C 2.0 pistol. All hits in the chest, were in the mostly A or few in the B zone. I had 6 shots in the head, and hit the A zone 4 out of the 6 at 30 feet off hand. I was satisfied with my shooting. My aim was testing the HP ammo and practicing a smooth trigger pull. I used 4 different kinds of ammo, some hollow points and a few round nose. This was all ammo I had previously carried in my EDC and had collected of the past couple years after prolonged carry. I wanted to see how the M P handled the different H P bullets. I had Cor Bon, Gold Dots, Golden Saber, and Federal in the H P side, and Winchester W B practice round nose to round out the session. This pistol has shot everything I have fed it and I now have around 650 through the gun. I am now carrying it when I go out and using either a Cross Breed IWB or Aherns Belt Slide with a good long tailed LL Bean Flannel shirt, mostly untucked. I really have fallen in love with the trigger on this gun. I reminds me of the single action double action trigger on my Sig 229. It has some take up in it, but the final pull is very short and sweet. Like double action on my 686 after cocking the hammer first. I like that. I almost like stage the trigger, like on a revolver, then when I hit the wall I know it is a very short distance to fire the pistol. I don't know what the poundage is on this trigger, but it is light, guessing maybe 4 pounds, but not as light as my DL 23 Glock. I am still pocket carrying the 7 shot 357 mag in the Desantsis Nemesis pocket holster. Something comforting about that revolver. Been my constant companion for 7 years now. I home carry this revolver 24 7 when not sleeping, and I feel it saved my bacon 3 years ago now. I had an incident going to the Mail box. I would have liked to spend more time shooting, but we have Christmas goodies to take to friends, and a lot of my time was spent on prepping the target and getting tables and metal targets moved to the new shooting range. I have 3 targets with steel plates hanging on chains I shoot at sometimes. Left a short window to shoot. Will try to do more the next time. I can see I am really going to enjoy my new range this coming summer.