JAB

I have looked in the Lenoir City, Madisonville and Maryville locations so far and have not seen a Select Fire at any price. Apparently those stores don't even stock them. I did see Kershaw Crown knives at all three locations but they are priced at the regular price. I think there was some minor change to the Crown last year. The Lenoir City store had them on clearance about a year back so I picked up a few (a Crown is one of the three knives I EDC most days) but that store later restocked them at the regular price. I seem to recall reading somewhere that something about the Crown was changing so I assumed that the ones I got on clearance were 'pre-change' models.

Since the OP question seems to be answered, I will throw in this off topic comment: When I was a kid I couldn't understand why my dad didn't like going to movie theaters. He'd go to drive-ins, sometimes, but I never saw a movie in an actual theater with him. Now that I am forty I am glad that there are still a few drive-ins left. Of course, they depend on the weather cooperating, etc. but I can see a movie at a drive-in, get something of the big screen experience and not have to worry about posting, etc. In fact, I can have a loaded shotgun in the back seat if I want (not that I do, necessarily - just that I could) and I don't have to worry much about rude/annoying people sitting beside or behind me. I just hope my favorite drive-in (Midway Drive-In in Athens) can stay open. They are still using projector film and either have to convert to digital this year or shut down as the movie studios will no longer be distributing movies on actual film. All that said, there are still some movies that just cry out for the 'theater' experience - the sound, the immersion in the movie and just the overall ambiance. For those, I try to wait until the second or third week they are out so that the theater won't be quite so crowded.

I have a Mossberg Maverick Security 88 that came NIB with a 20 inch barrel and factory extended mag tube installed. I tossed an inexpensive light with tail switch (where I live is more or less in the woods and there are no street lights, etc. - it can get pretty dark at night) and a cheap sling (just so I wouldn't have to put it down in order to use both hands for something) on it. Might do a side saddle one of these days but if seven rounds of 2 3/4 00 Buckshot don't do the trick on a threat then I'd probably be better served spending those last, few seconds writing a 'goodbye' message to my friends and family than fooling with a reload. Most aftermarket accessories for the Mossberg 500 will work on a Maverick 88. Barrels are said to be interchangeable with the Mossberg 500 but I have never tested that out, myself.

In no, particular order beyond separating for wheelguns vs. bottom feeders: Revolvers: Colt S&W Ruger Rossi Taurus Heritage H&R NAA Nagant M1895 Semi-autos: Ruger Titan (FIE) S&W Kel Tec Phoenix FEG CZ (vs 82) None of mine are what anyone would call 'high dollar' firearms. In fact, I am just contrarian (and broke) enough that I kind of prefer less expensive firearms that just plain work, for me. I would consider owning more firearms from any company on my list.

Sooner or later this podunk cop or others like him will accidentally stop some real drug dealers with real drug money. Maybe some members of the Mexican cartel looking to prove themselves. That is the day that Deputy Fife will find out how real drug dealing criminals react to cops who want to seize their drug money. Of course, who knows? All the pieces of his body might be found. Eventually.

And some people are irrationally convinced that a law which prohibits something will somehow magically prevent it from happening. Last I checked, murder was against the law and breaking that law often has some pretty severe penalties. Someone who is willing to break that law likely isn't going to be deterred by a law preventing them from having a gun in a park. Of course, I am preaching to the choir on this one. The example I like to use is this: How likely do you think it is that some criminal would say, "I'd really like to rob that bank over there. I've got this gun I stole and I'd shoot anybody who got in my way. I'd shoot the teller if she wouldn't turn over the money. Killin' ain't nothing, to me but, dammit, they went and ruined my whole plan by postin' that 'no guns' sign on the bank door. How am I supposed to get on with my robbin' and killin' with that sign keeping me from havin' a gun in there?" Yep, the idea is just as stupid as it sounds.

I thought so but since the Knoxville location stopped selling guns, ammo and fishing gear I don't really go in there. I couldn't remember for sure if they stocked Coleman stuff or not.

Having those extra shells 'right there' certainly is convenient - especially with a single shot. I put those elastic buttcuffs on all my single shot shotguns after seeing a video on YouTube of Clint Smith demonstrating how quickly a single shot could be run for SD/HD applications. I don't really use my singles in that role although being prepared to do so as 'backup' to my HD pump shotgun is probably not a bad idea. I like the elastic holder on my single shot 12 gauge and on an old, three shot (two in mag, one in chamber) 20 gauge bolt action I have but on the .410, for some reason, it kind of gets in the way. Loading from a sling-mounted carrier won't be as fast but hopefully I won't run into a situation where I need to reload the .410 that quickly.

Thanks. In all honestly, these are pretty easy to make. I think it took me longer to mark off and punch all the holes for the lacing and the stitching than it did to sew it together and lace it onto the gun. I normally use something like an 8 ounce vegetable tanned leather for holsters. For this project, I still used a veggie tanned but chose leather that was more thin. Not sure of the exact weight but I'm guessing something more like a 5 or 6 ounce. I am glad I did because I don't think it would look as good with thicker leather. For that matter, buckskin would probably look pretty good. I just have never worked with buckskin and wanted something a little more stiff for my application.

This. Exactly this. I will also add: Democratic Party Platform: Pass laws to ensure that people's thoughts and opinions are 'correct'. Try to force 'tolerance' via legislation (all while acting in a very intolerant manner toward things with which they don't agree.) Censor and punish any ideas which don't meet their standards. Republican Party Platform: Pass laws to ensure that people's thoughts and opinions are 'moral'. Try to force 'morality' via legislation (all while many of them are behaving in a highly immoral manner.) Censor and punish any ideas which don't meet their standards.

I worked with a lady who was bitten on the arm by a copperhead while working in her garden right here in East Tennessee. Arm swelled to two or three times its normal size and part of it turned black. At one point, the docs thought she might lose the arm. A year later, she still had mobility issues in that arm and the docs told her that she would likely never regain full use. I think I want nothing to do with even such 'mild' envenomization. A copperhead in the wild will be avoided. A copperhead in my yard will be treated as a threat.

But, Lester, it doesn't matter who is right or who has a better handle on where this country is going. All that matters is who can win the game...er...election. No matter how crappy a president he (or she) will make in his (or her) own right. And those of us who would dare vote for the person we consider to be the best candidate rather than the one who can kiss enough babies (and butts) to win the World Series of Politics are, of course, in the wrong, hate apple pie and secretly support Obama, Jane Fonda and Nancy Pelosi and have Lenin posters on our bedroom walls. Don't you know that?

You are probably right. I still would have liked it better if it had read, "Once his wife recovers, the homeowner will be taken out for celebratory beer and pizza."

Thanks for the comments. I did think about incorporating some shell loops into the buttcuff but decided I like the 'sleek' look without a built in shell carrier better. Also, I had one of those elastic shell carrier buttcuffs on it at one time and, to me, while having the extra shells there is convenient, they tend to kind of get in my way. If I decide to put a sling on it, I will probably somehow incorporate a way to carry extra shells into that. In fact, the ability to do so is a major reason I might end up putting a sling on it.

My first firearm - a Christmas present from my parents when I was in my early teens - was a Stevens single shot, break action .410 shotgun. I still have it. Unfortunately, a couple of years ago there was a mishap with it that resulted in the butt plate and butt stock both being busted (unloaded, left lying on a shooting table at Spring Creek range - it fell off onto the concrete and hit butt-first.) I glued the chunk that broke off the corner of the buttstock back on and also glued the buttplate back together. I haven't shot it very much and so far the stock has held just fine but there is still an obvious line where it broke and was glued back. The buttplate, however, simply broke apart again. I have been meaning to come up with a fix for some time. This past week/weekend, I did something about it. I like the look of the leather 'buttcuffs' I have seen in pictures of some guns (including old, musket-style muzzleloaders.) I have kind of wanted to do something similar to one of my guns for a while. I decided that a break action .410 would be a pretty good candidate and that such a cuff would cover the line where the crack was. I also decided to come up with an alternate for the buttplate. Starting with the buttplate replacement, I had an old mousepad lying around. I ended up tracing the end of the buttstock and using the broken buttplate as a partial template to help me cut out a couple of pieces of approximately the right size and shape from that mousepad. I figured that with a .410 being pretty low recoil, already, those cushy mousepad pieces along with a layer of leather would eliminate any 'kick' it might have. I made holes in the two mousepad pieces in the appropriate places then screwed them to the end of the buttstock. I then made a paper template of the buttstock and used it to cut out basically a flat-topped 'triangle' of leather for the buttcuff. I used the buttplate template to cut out a piece of leather for that. While I was at it, I also made a template for the forestock and cut out a piece of leather for it, too. I used a 'groover' to mark the lines where I wanted my stitches and lacing to be, punched holes for the stitching with a punch and maul, marked off my stitching holes then punched them with an awl and the maul and used an edge beveler on the edges. I wet the main piece of leather for the buttcuff so it would be a little more malleable, folded the edge of the buttcuff that was to be sewn to the buttplate section over and then used waxed thread with a double-needle saddle stitch to sew the buttplate section to the rest of the buttcuff. After that, I laced the buttcuff onto my shotgun with some leather thongs. The leather cover for the forestock was even easier. I just punched lacing holes and laced it on. I left trailing pieces of the thongs hanging from both the forestock and buttstock and liked it pretty well. This is how it looked: As I said, I liked it pretty well but saw room for improvement. I ended up taking the forestock leather piece back off and cutting it shorter. Also, I hadn't originally wet-molded the forestock piece as I didn't want to expose the barrel to that much moisture. When I put the shortened piece back on, I wrapped the forestock/barrel in plastic wrap to protect the barrel from the moisture, wet the forestock leather, laced it back on and molded it more tightly to the barrel and the barrel/forestock junction. When the leather dried, I loosened the laces, slid the forestock leather forward, removed the plastic wrap then slid the forestock leather back into place and tightened the lacing back down. I also ended up cutting the extra length of thongs off of the buttstock , put a third piece of thong in with the extra length on the forestock and partially braided them. I found that twisting that braid around my hand helps to further stabilize the shotgun when shouldered, sort of the way some folks use a sling for greater stabilization. I also kind of have an interest in 'natural' dyes, finishes, stains and so on for leather. I decided I wanted to use walnut hulls to stain the leather. I used some walnuts left from last year that still had part of the outer hull on them. That outer hull was pretty dried up so I soaked a few of the walnuts in warm water until it reconstituted a little. I then rubbed the walnuts directly on the leather. It gave a nice color - quite literally a walnut stain - but unfortunately the hulls were more abrasive than I realized. Even rubbing lightly, the leather got some scratches on it. I am now planning to soak/steep several of the walnuts in a fair amount of water then remove the walnuts and boil the water to reduce the volume. I am hoping to make a natural dye by doing so. I am not sure if I will use it to dye the buttcuff/forestock piece any darker or just reserve it for future projects. This is what I have right now: With the mousepad pieces and leather buttcuff in place, firing 3 inch #6 shot it honestly feels like shooting a .22. Normally, I am a bit of a recoil junkie but I can also appreciate low recoil, sometimes. I'm thinking that this little .410 may regain its 'woods walking shotgun' status that it had back when I first got it. I am now even considering making a leather 'possibles bag' so I can carry extra ammo for it (being that it is a single shot) along with some other stuff. I am also considering making a simple sling for it that would be integrated into the buttcuff/forestock leather. I know that single shots are perfect for just carrying in the hand but can envision times during woods walks when I might want the use of both hands and a sling would be handy for those times. Also, my mom has decided that she can no longer handle the weight of a 12 or 20 gauge pump shotgun well enough to be effective with one (she has fibromyalgia as well as some arthritis in her back.) To that end, she recently bought a Mossberg 500 in .410. Part of her Mother's Day gift was that I bought her some of the Federal SD .410 rounds (the buckshot loads made for the Judge) as well as some of the Winchester PDX1 SD rounds so she could pattern them and see which ones work better from her shotgun. I took my .410 to show the leather work to her (I know she also likes this kind of thing) and when she saw what I had done to my little .410 she liked it so much (actually, she said, "That looks nice. I want one of those on mine!") that this ended up being another part of what I did for her for Mother's Day: She has said that even the recoil of this little .410 is a bit painful for her with the physical difficulties she has developed. I took the opportunity to address that by cutting a couple more pieces out of the old mousepad, gluing them together then gluing them inside the buttplate area of the buttcuff to give her a little extra cushioning. Maybe not exactly what most moms would want but I think mine loved what she got.

They are 'just' .22 revolvers but I am pretty sure that H&R made some models (I think the 686 was one) that were 'cowboy' style, double action revolvers. Some of them may have even been convertible (one cylinder for .22LR and one for .22WMR) but I am not sure. Of course, they aren't made anymore but you might find a used one somewhere if a .22 would be enough to fill your need.

For that matter, there are plenty of other places to buy Coleman products. I know Bass Pro sells Coleman stuff. I am pretty sure that Academy does, as well. The last time I was at the 'blue mall' there was still a Coleman store there (but that was before that mall was, apparently, sold to new owners.) Heck, even Wally World sells some Coleman stuff. That statement is almost sig line worthy. The same is true of me.

I know what you mean. I graduated from Loudon High School, Class of 1989. Even back then I would have thought twice about having a loaded gun on me in school but I carried a pocket knife every day (sometimes the female teachers would ask to borrow it - the male teachers all carried their own.) No one would have thought much about a student having a rifle or shotgun and ammo in their vehicle in case they wanted to go hunting, etc. after school. IIRC, one of the male teachers often had a rifle in a gun rack in the back window of his pickup truck. I remember one day in middle school when a buddy of mine brought a two-shot derringer to show off to some of us other boys (it wasn't loaded.) None of us were freaked out and, to my knowledge, no one said anything about it to a teacher. We weren't afraid of the gun or what he would do with it - we just thought it was cool and knew he wasn't going to start shooting up the place. It probably wasn't the smartest thing this kid ever did but no one came to any harm over it. It only took a few, unhinged idiots and a gang of anti-gunners to ruin things for a lot of people.

I like my Taurus revolver, like my Heritage Rough Rider, liked my Rossi revolvers (and would own another), think the .40 meets a 'need' that doesn't really exist, don't like Glocks, generally prefer revolvers to semiautos (although I do own and sometimes carry bottom feeders) and feel that carrying a low-capacity semiauto that relies on a mechanical safety to be safely carried in a 'ready to use' mode (1911) is greatly over-rated. How can I ever be one of the popular kids? Oh, the agony!

By the same token, why do some people want to tell others that their choice in carry weapon is somehow sub-par or inadequate? If that person likes the gun and thinks it will do the job for them, in their situation and lifestyle, why do others feel the need to criticize it?

This was along the lines of what I thought of when first reading the thread: I honestly can't come up with any answers to the 'which three' right now, though.

I have heard of people catching a big snapper and keeping it tied up or penned up for a week or so - feeding it 'clean' food in order to make it taste better - before killing it to eat. My mom has a story about herself, her grandmother and a snapping turtle. Seems my great grandmother loved eating turtle. She lived on Lookout Mountain and when mom took her to the store, etc. if they happened to see a snapping turtle along the road she would want mom to stop and get it. Mom talks about one particularly 'feisty' one with an unusually long neck that nearly got her when she was trying to catch it for my great grandmother. She finally caught it and tossed it in the trunk of the car. By the time she got my great grandmother back to her house, that snapper had severed the wires to the tail lights. Mom said that my great grandmother would get the turtle to snap down on a tree limb, etc. then take its head off with an axe. My great grandmother would then sever the bottom plate from the rest of the shell, open it up, clean the turtle, cook it and eat it. Mom said she tried some that my great grandmother had cooked and it was really good. It seems like she said that my great grandmother would pound the meat out then roll it in flour and fry it. I killed one a couple of years ago and was going to cook it. I found a book that claimed the best method was just to kill it and boil it whole then remove the shell and clean it so I tried that. It did prove easy to clean/remove the skin but the smell while it was boiling was horrible. In fact, it was so bad that by the time all was said and done I couldn't even eat the meat - the thought of that smell turned my stomach. I would kind of like to try it, again, and shell/clean it first the way my great grandmother did but every time I consider it I think of that smell and my stomach starts to churn.

I do own a Heritage Rough Rider. I have had zero issues with it. The target pictured below was shot with Winchester 40 grain JHP WMR ammo at 100 yards at the Spring Creek Shooting Range back a couple of years ago. All shots were fired using more or less a Weaver stance, not from a bench or shooting rest (I don't generally shoot from a bench, rest, etc.) and so are offhand shots. There was just about zero wind that day and I shot the first cylinder full more as a lark than anything. Seeing that I put holes in paper, I decided to try and 'dial it in'. With the second cylinder, I did better on judging windage but overcompensated for elevation. You can see that, with the third cylinder full, I put four holes in the paper with one actually near the bulls eye. We didn't have a spotting scope so I was walking the 100 yards to the target stand and back between each cylinder load. If I had a spotter with a spotting scope to guide me on each, subsequent shot rather than basically just 'guessing' the Rough Rider might have done better. This was with a 6.5 inch barreled Rough Rider with fixed sights, just as it is shown in the picture that I took right there at the range after retrieving the target. Could I do it, again? Who knows. I am not that great a shot so I give the gun a lot of credit. As you can see, there was no keyholing even at that distance. The Rough Rider was inexpensive but it throws the same lead downrange and makes the same holes in targets as a Single Six or any other, more expensive gun in the same chambering. I love my .44 Mag Super Blackhawk but I really can't see paying Blackhawk money for a single action .22 Revolver (i.e. the Single Six.) Likewise, my Taurus 66 has given me no trouble whether shooting .38 Special range ammo, full-house .357 defensive rounds, 158 grain JSP or even 180 grain Buffalo Bore hardcast rounds. I bought mine used (according to the serial number, it is a late '80s vintage) and there was a tiny, little burr in one of the chambers when I got it but about thirty seconds with fine sandpaper wrapped around a pencil fixed that - why no one else had done so over the years I cannot say. It throws the same lead as a Smith and Wesson or Ruger .357 and does so with at least as much accuracy as I am capable of using. It is my bedside gun and if I have to use it 'for real' then the target will be no less shot than if I were using a S&W. What I think would be interesting would be if the two companies would work together to come up with a 'Buntline' type (16 inch barrel or so) convertible .22 LR/WMR with a non-removable reproduction of the old, removable wire buttstock - effectively making a convertible .22 revolving carbine. I think that would be a somewhat unique product that would go along well with the idea of the Circuit Judge (which is the only Judge I would want to own.) Heck, if they could figure out how Beretta got away with the Neos being legal to switch back and forth from pistol to carbine maybe they could even make the butt stock removable.

Thanks for the info, guys. It has to do with federal government's legal definition of 'firearm'. The way I read it, most muzzleloaders are not considered to be firearms and neither are most cap and ball revolvers. Instead, they are 'antiques' or 'collectibles' - even if they are reproductions. For this reason, felons can legally possess most muzzleloaders, etc. There is a restriction on possession by felons of a black powder firearm that can be readily converted to fire centerfire or rimfire cartridges, however. The ATF actually has a list of 'exceptions' which are black powder guns that are still considered to be firearms for the purpose of possession by felons. Here is a link to a PDF giving an explanation that comes 'right from the horse's mouth', so to speak (although sometimes I think the ATF is more like a bunch of horse's...well, you get the point.) The part about most muzzleloaders, etc. not being firearms is covered in the first question/answer about felons possessing black powder guns. http://www.atf.gov/f...-top-10-qas.pdf I do have to wonder how TN state law interprets cap and ball revolvers and the like. Obviously if one can receive a cap and ball revolver at their place of residence in TN without an FFL then it must not be considered a firearm for the purpose of purchasing one in TN. What I wonder is how far that special category extends. In other words, would it be legal to have a loaded cap and ball revolver in one's possession on school grounds, in a post office, etc. as such isn't a firearm? Would it be legal for a private citizen to mail an unloaded cap and ball revolver via the United States Postal Service? Would a concealed cap and ball revolver (like, maybe, one of the 'pocket models') be exempt from the stupid $500 sign law penalty? Would it be legal to carry a cap and ball revolver 'in public' without a carry permit? Sorry if that reminds anyone of 'he-who-should-not-be-named' but it does make me wonder. I don't even own a black powder revolver and would not 'push' things just because it might be technically legal as that would probably just result in the exemptions being removed. I am simply curious.

As others have already clarified the facts for you, I will simply add this: When an idiot on the 'other side' engages in BS propaganda and photo ops to make himself look good, no matter how much of an ass he is and even though he really had nothing to do with the event being lauded beyond ordering other people into harm's way, it should be ridiculed. When, however, an idiot from your side of the aisle engages in BS propaganda and photo ops to make himself look good, no matter how much of an ass he is and even though he really had nothing to do with the event being lauded beyond ordering other people into harm's way, one must always find a way to defend his actions. Geez, don't you know anything about politics?