JAB

  I think daddyo is right on - it is a process and everyone has to reach their own level of comfort with it.  I often carry revolvers but when I first started carrying semiautos on occasion (the first was my P3AT) I carried with an empty chamber and actually did a little 'experiment'.  I would make sure that the gun was cocked, even though the chamber was empty. before putting the pistol (in a pocket holster) in my pocket.  At the end of the day, I would check to see if the trigger had somehow gotten pulled while in my pocket (if the trigger was slack and didn't actuate the hammer, I would know it had been pulled.)  Never, not once, did i find that the trigger had been pulled.  After about a week or a little less of conducting that experiment, I decided that it was safe to carry with one in the chamber.  Of course, the DAO trigger on the P3AT is long and heavy enough to be about like the trigger on a revolver so that helped my confidence level regarding carrying with one in the chamber.

  I agree.  I think this ammo is a solution to a problem that doesn't exist - and not a very good solution, at that.  Of course, different people have different expectations and theories as to what they want out of a handgun round and I realize that my opinion is no more 'valid' than anyone else's.  That said, here are some reasons I don't think I would use this ammo unless I had no other choice:   1.  To my understanding, one of the reasons 9mm Luger got a bad rap, especially in the military where they are limited to ball rounds, is that 9mm ball just pretty much zips right through an assailant, leaving a 9mm wound channel with an entrance and exit wound.  It is said that these wounds don't do enough immediate damage to stop the threat in a timely manner.  So, why would I want a round that, basically, causes my .380 to mimic those negative properties of a 9mm Luger - i.e. just passing right through the assailant and leaving a 9mm wound channel without doing enough immediate damage to quickly stop the threat?   2.  26 inches of penetration sounds to me like a good way to get overpenetration and increase the chances of injuring or killing a bystander.   3.  After Kel Tec released the P3AT, many ammo manufacturers turned their eyes to making more effective .380 defense ammo that could both penetrate adequately and expand.  In fact, many of them used the P3AT as a test platform to develop said ammo.  When Ruger released their Little Copied Pistol, there was even more attention cast on pocket .380s.  True, even some of the newer ammo may expand but not quite reach the F.B.I. standard of 12 inches of penetration but then I am not in the F.B.I. and feel that most of them do adequately penetrate for the purposes of a private citizen, like myself, using a pocket pistol to repel an assailant.  I don't really envision a scenario in which I would get involved in a lengthy gun battle where I am trying to shoot through barriers and the like with my pocket pistol.  Could it happen?  Sure - and (as I have said, before) a piece of space debris could fall from orbit, hit me in the head and kill me but the chances of it actually happening are so remote that I really am not concerned.  That said, I stick with Hydroshoks in my P3AT because, in the test results that I have come across, they seem to generally penetrate to between 11.5 and 14 inches while giving at least minimal expansion - plus I have shot enough of it to know that my pistol will feed it just fine.   All this is, of course, just my :2cents: and worth every bit that you paid for it.

I know I have seen them somewhere for sale. Maybe BassPro in Sevierville but don't hold me to that. Honestly, with a few, simple pieces of equipment it wouldn't be hard to make your own and then you could customize/size it to fit your gun. Just lay the butt of your shotgun on a piece of cardstock, posterboard, cardboard, etc. that is big enough to trace both sides. Trace along the bottom edge of the butt then roll it over so that the top of the butt is lying along the same line as it was and trace the bottom, again. Cut along those lines. Cut straight across at each end at whatever length you want the cuff to be. You will have a roughly triangular piece with a flat top. trace that onto a piece of leather (it doesn't need to be very thick leather for this) and cut that piece out. Punch a few holes along the bottom on each side and use a leather thong to lace it onto the gun. Now mark where you want your shell holder to be, remove the cuff from the shotgun, take a strip of leather that is longer than what you want the final shellholder and sew it at intervals to the butt cuff (leaving enough 'give' to insert your shells but making it tight enough to hold them - you will need to either punch or drill small holes for sewing and will need a couple of leather sewing needles and the proper thread - I use waxed thread - look up how to do a saddle stitch.) Lace the finished cuff back onto the shotgun, insert your shells then enjoy your new, custom, handmade leather butt cuff shell holder. I have made a few leather buttstock covers for myself and a couple of family members. This is one I made for my mom's Mossberg .410 pump. I didn't put a shell holder on it but you get the idea of what I am talking about. I did this one to cover the buttplate, too (with a little padding cut from a cheap mouse pad inside it) but you could just leave it open-ended for your purposes. Also, I probably did a lot more lacing than necessary. This is a shellholder I incorporated into the shoulder pad on a braided leather sling I made for my .44 Magnum Marlin lever gun. It was my first attempt and the last, few loops turned out better than the first ones as I figured out the best way to do it. This shows what I mean about just sewing a solid strip to form loops. I am far from being a 'professional' at this leather stuff but I hope this helps.

Have watched the Blacklist since the beginning.  One of my favorite scenes is one where Reddington wants information from this guy and the guy comes home to find Reddington sitting at his table, holding the man's little lap dog in one arm and a paring knife in the other hand (maybe using the knife to eat an apple or something.)  The guy gets all upset, begging Reddington not to hurt his dog.  Reddington replies something along the lines of, "What?  No, I'm not going to hurt the dog.  I'm not a monster.  Hurting you, on the other hand (he throws the paring knife and sticks it into a non-lethal area of the other man's body) I have no problem with."

I really like the overall shape of that knife.  Recently, I noticed a type of old trade knife called a "Coureur des bois" knife after the French trappers/woodsmen who largely used them.  The thing that caught my eye about that knife style is how - at least the ones I have seen - seem to be an almost continuous arch along the spine and back from the tip of the blade to the end of the grip.  That shape is very pleasing to my eye and looks like it would be very comfortable to use.  Your Boker has a very similar shape although it is much smaller.  As I think of a knife as more of a tool than a weapon, I also like the beefiness of the blade - it looks like it would hold up well to general, light to medium utility cutting duties.

  Good thoughts.  I kind of go another direction and try to make sure that all of the battery lights I use are either rechargeable, themselves, or that they run on AA or AAA batteries because I have a good supply of rechargeable AA and AAA batteries that I keep charged.  I am sure you are correct about the expense but, to me, battery operated lights (for example) are simply safer (or maybe I should say more 'clumsy proof') than liquid fuel lights.  That said, my mom pretty much uses kerosene/oil lamps (many of which she inherited from her grandmothers) when the lights are out.  Hers actually put out quite a bit of light.  Maybe not as much as my multi-LED lights but enough to see by and some of them even enough to read by.  I think it would be kind of neat to have one of those old, bullseye type lanterns that was actually in working order.   Have you ever used one of the camping ovens - just basically a folding, metal box with a rack or two that sits on top of the stoves?  I have a camping stove that runs off of 'white gas' somewhere and one that runs off of the small propane bottles (I know exactly where that one is.)  I am just wondering how well the ovens work and if they use more fuel to do the job than they are worth.

Thanks!

  Oh, THEY know exactly what the purpose of the Second Amendment is.  They simply want to convince everyone else that it is about hunting, etc. so that the real purpose - kicking their sorry butts out of office by force, if necessary - will never come in to play.  If they went by the real purpose of the 2A, not only would it be illegal to ban so-called 'military' type weapons that have 'no sporting purpose' but, indeed, those would be the most protected weapons of all.

Honestly, I believe that the 'green tip' ban is a way for the ATF to put out feelers.  If banning that ammo succeeds, they will start looking to ban any and all ammo that could, potentially penetrate soft body armor.  Of course, given the 'right' circumstances and testing protocols their results could likely include at least some varieties of pretty much every medium to high powered rifle ammo and likely some handgun ammo, as well.  It won't matter if such ammo has ever actually been used to shoot a cop and defeated body armor or not.  As I mentioned in another thread, I seem to remember the late and not lamented Teddy Kennedy pushing to get some varieties of 30-30 ammo banned because they could defeat soft body armor.  Think about that - a firearm, usually a lever action rifle, that is likely viewed by most non-gunners as one of the most 'benign' of the deer rifles and some jackhole has already tried banning at least some varieties of ammo it uses.

I have a 9mm carbine that I really like.  It is both reliable and accurate to the point that, if need be, I would trust my life to it.  I do wish HP would offer higher capacity factory mags but in reality - for my use - that probably isn't all that big a deal.   A few years back, I bought my mom a barely used HP 9mm pistol just because I wanted her to try out a 9mm handgun (her HD weapon at the time was a less-than-completely reliable semiauto .22 rifle.)  I figured that if she decided she liked the caliber then she could trade it and upgrade.  Yeah, not gonna happen - that HP isn't going anywhere.  It has also been reliable and accurate.  She took her HCP class with it and apparently shot better than anyone else in the class - to the point that everyone else was asking what gun she was using.  Of course, she doesn't carry that brick but she loves it - so much that she bought a Hi Point .45, as well.

Well, being a vet is all well and good but that doesn't give anyone the right to take what was essentially your property until you had clearly relinquished any claim to it.  For all he knew you, too, might be low on brass and wanting to keep yours for reloading and as it was your brass you should have first claim to it.  If that were the case then his 'need' for your brass does not outweigh yours and being a vet does not change that.

  I agree that this bill would improve things over allowing almost invisible signage to be considered 'legal'.  I simply think that - given the limited energy and time available for addressing firearms issues - a bill that removes the weight of law from a stupid, printed piece of paper taped to the front door of a business would be a much better use of that time and energy.

  The way I read it, the legislation would require the circle and slash 'gun buster' be a part of the sign along with the phrase 'No Firearms Allowed' and the T.C.A. wording in order for the sign to be 'legal'.  In other words, just the T.C.A wording or the circle/slash would no longer be a legal posting.  Both, along with the 'No Firearms Allowed' phrase would be required.  Further, there are size requirements for the circle/slash symbol (four by four inches) along with color requirements (red circle/slash with a black firearm) and a size requirement for the 'No Firearms Allowed' phrase in order for the posting to be legal.   This does seem largely to be a waste of time bill.  To me, it looks like the intent is to make posting a legal sign more complicated and, possibly, more trouble than it is worth for businesses.  One good thing I believe it would do is that it would do away with businesses trying to 'ride the fence' by posting a small circle/slash on a sticker with a clear background in the bottom corner of a glass entry door where it is very difficult to see.  They probably do this to 'welcome' those who oppose carry by being able to point out that they are a posted business while not offending carriers by making the sign so unobtrusive as to be almost invisible.  The real outcome, however,  is that they post in such a way that a person legally carrying a gun might inadvertently break the law by not seeing the sign.  The new posting requirement would do away with that and force a business to post in an obvious way or not post, at all.   I am with K191145 on this, however.  Simply remove the weight of law from the sign and let the business file trespassing charges if the carrier is asked to leave and refuses.  Given the hoops we have to jump through, the fees we have to pay and the background checks to which we permit holders must submit in order to receive an HCP there is absolutely no reason for a legally carried firearm to be treated any differently than any, other item that a company might want to restrict by policy but that has no legal restriction beyond charges of trespass.

  One must wonder why he would want to associate himself with such a 'disgraceful' country by becoming a citizen.  I'd think that he would sleep more soundly at night knowing that he was still a member of a much more 'enlightened' society whose government doesn't believe its citizens' subjects' lives have enough value for them to be allowed to have the means to act in defense of their own lives or the lives of their families.

  So, fantasizing about often over-the-top gun violence, including scenes which show the protagonist engaging in unsafe or even downright unrealistic gun handling as a form of release from stress is okay but people who own guns and(by and large) use them in safe, responsible and legal ways for hunting, target shooting or self defense are a 'disgrace'?  Shut up and get back in front of the camera.

  Hypocritical douchebaggery, that is.     My problem with supporting such actors through paying good money to see their movies in theaters, etc. is that doing so continues to help them in being 'famous'.  Being famous, in turn, provides them with a 'bully pulpit', as Teddy Roosevelt called it.  Through use of that bully pulpit they can, in turn, have a forum to speak out against my gun rights in venues that give them a wide audience.  In other words, by supporting his films financially and helping to maintain his fame and, therefore, his venue to spew his opinions to the public at large I am, in effect, paying him to speak out in opposition of my gun rights and helping to perpetuate his access to a venue from which to do so.  I will not do that.  It is unfortunate because I do often enjoy his movies.  My way of resolving those, two issues is that I will only watch his movies if I can find them in the $5 bin at Wally (because he would receive little or no $$$ from the sale) or at a used DVD store (where he would receive no $$$ from the sale and it wouldn't count as another copy of his movie sold.)

  My understanding (IANAL) is that, unless you are dealing with LEO with a warrant or probable cause, no one has any right to search your vehicle regardless of what their 'employee manual' may say.  You can simply refuse to allow them to do so.  Of course, they have the option of terminating your employment if you do so but cannot force you to allow them to search your vehicle.  This is generally speaking, of course, and may be different if you work for a government agency or government contract agency, such as in Oak Ridge, etc.

  The 'mean something' part can backfire.  My dad carried a pocket knife pretty much all the time.  Knowing this, I bought him a few over the years that I thought he would really like.  I noticed that they usually ended up in a drawer and one day asked him why he never carried them as I'd thought he would really like them.  His response was that he really liked them but that because I had bought them for him they meant too much to him to carry and risk losing them.

Academy's Monarch brand of ammo generally runs a little less expensive than other brands.  I have a couple of boxes of their 30-30 ammo but have not shot it, yet.  I have fired some of their ammo in .380, 9mm Luger and 9mm Makarov (and maybe some .38 Special) all with satisfactory results.  I have heard that Prvi Partizan makes a lot of the Monarch ammo.  I like that I can just walk in to Academy and buy as much or as little as I want.  Generally, although I have ordered some things online, I prefer to buy in a brick and mortar location where I can have the product in hand when I pay for it.  They appear to offer 150 grain and 170 grain, both in flat soft point. http://www.academy.com/shop/pdp/monarch-8482-fsp-30-30-winchester-150-grain-rifle-ammunition/pid-28711?N=131541340+4294963024   http://www.academy.com/shop/pdp/monarch-8482-fsp-30-30-winchester-170-grain-rifle-ammunition/pid-28723?N=131541340+4294963024

  Even there, if I believed it could be safely fired (and if I could actually afford such things), I would probably load it up with a 'light' load and fire it, at least once, just to know that I had fired Wyatt Earp's Peacemaker or Daniel Boone's long rifle, etc.

I'm in late to the thread but I figure what use is an 'upgraded' (target) trigger and upgraded (target) hammer, etc. if you aren't going to experience/enjoy them by shooting the gun?  To me, that would be like putting an upgraded motor, transmission, shocks, brakes and suspension in a car just to look at it sitting in a covered, climate controlled garage from which it is never moved.  Just my opinion.  Then, again, I don't buy guns with the idea of reselling them  - and probably couldn't afford to buy a gun that would be valuable enough to be an 'investment' in the first place so I don't really care if shooting them means someone else might get less out of them after I die.  To me, you can still consider it to be a special collectible even after you put rounds down the pipe - and would probably enjoy having it in the collection all that much more.

I liked that they apparently asked that the press NOT be notified beforehand so that it could be about the sick kids and not a 'look what great guys we are' event for them.

Nice.  Kind of resembles the style of the old coureur des bois trade knives - a style that I think looks really nice.

  I like that setup and have been trying to think of a good way to put together something similar.  I might have to rip off your idea.  I do have a question, though, regarding the 'big buddy' heater you mentioned.  Are you talking about a type of portable propane heater?  I ask because 'Big Buddy' is the name of one of the portable propane heaters I am looking at.  Does it need electricity to light or are you talking about running the built in fan?  if it is just for the fan, is that absolutely necessary or do you think it would work okay to heat a fairly small space working just as a 'radiant' type heater?

I understand your frustration.  A few years back I talked my mom into getting her HCP.  She bought a Kel Tec P32 to be her carry gun (I managed to talk her into that because I knew she had fired.32 pistols in the past that she liked and the LGS had a distributor special 'Lady .32' with a rose engraved on the slide.  She likes/collects things with roses on them so that put it over the top, for her - sometimes it is more about 'knowing your audience' than giving advice.)  She shoots it well and I am confident that she could defend her life with it if the need arose.  The problem is that she never carries it - even though she recently renewed her HCP.  For her it is more of a, "That way I can carry it if I want to," thing than, "I need to carry whenever I can."  When we go places together she even sometimes asks things like, "Why do you need that gun?  We're just going to Walmart."  Of course, I respond with something like, "Well, we might go to Walmart five thousand times and never need a gun but if is that one time you need a gun and don't have one that gets you killed."   I am a little unclear as to exactly what kind of gun your dad has.  Is it an H&R revolver chambered in .32 'short', an H&R revolver chambered in .32 Long or a revolver chambered for .32 H&R Magnum?  If it is the first, I don't see any way to redeem the gun for SD use and hope you can talk him in to something else.  If the second, at least it is probably better than a .22LR if you could find decent ammo.  If it is a .32 H&R mag he could probably do worse.  For this post, I am going to assume that it is an H&R revolver chambered in .32 Long.   My ex-wife's (now late) grandfather had an old H&R in .32 Long.  He pretty much turned it over to me for an extended time and even asked if I wanted to keep it when she and I got divorced.  The only reason I didn't (he didn't shoot it and had other guns he did shoot) was because his son had given it to him and I thought that his son might want it back if he got rid of it.  I actually enjoyed shooting it because the recoil was so low that, even though it was a snubby, it was still pretty much a tack driver.  My understanding is that .32 Long is generally known to be a round with a high degree of inherent accuracy.  I think the accuracy of the round means that someone who practiced plenty and had good, modern self defense ammo could probably do okay in a self defense situation.  The problem is that I am not aware of any really good, modern self defense ammo made in .32 Long.  In fact, as I sometimes fire .32 Long from my old Nagant revolver I have kind of half-heartedly looked around and the only .32 Long ammo of which I am aware is the lead round nosed stuff like your dad has in his gun, wadcutters and maybe a brand or two offering FMJ.   Actually, that got me to thinking about it so I went to Midway to see what they have in .32 Long.  I saw that they only offer one hollow point round - a semi-jacketed hollow point from Magtech - and that is listed as out of stock and no backorder (which might mean it isn't even in production.)  I have fired quite a few Magtech rounds in various calibers through various handguns and have found them to be pretty good, at least in my experience so if one were to find some available somewhere - maybe at a gun show, etc. - that could at least be a step up from LRN.  For a lower powered round like a .32 Long, the exposed lead at the tip is probably a good thing if there is to be any hope of expansion from the hollow point.  Of course, that gets into the trade off between expansion and penetration so wadcutters might be a better way to go.  I think either would be better than LRN rounds.  The only wadcutter that Midway shows in stock is this one:   http://www.midwayusa.com/product/912242/lapua-ammunition-32-s-and-w-long-83-grain-lead-wadcutter-box-of-50   The same company apparently makes (or made, anyhow) a slightly heavier wadcutter but it is out of stock.   Otherwise, maybe you could start with what he has in mind and talk him 'up' to a .327 Magnum or at least a .32 H&R Mag (either of which would still allow him to shoot his current ammo for practice) and make sure he has good SD ammo to go with it.   One thing I want to bring up to you in the short term is a potential weak spot.  The H&R .32 Long revolver I mentioned, above, had a trigger spring that rode on a guide rod that was in the grips.  The guide rod had a plastic 'saddle' at the top end that interfaced with the trigger mechanism and that plastic 'saddle' broke in two (across, not lengthwise.)  As it wasn't a carry gun, I just used Crazy Glue and glued it back together (the result was probably as strong or stronger than before) and it worked fine.  If that is the only gun your dad is willing to carry, I'd be sure to at least inspect that part.  Numrich offers (or, at least, used to offer) replacement parts with the plastic saddle and even an 'upgrade' in which that part was metal instead of plastic.