Darrell

My wife made me stop at the one in Crossville a few months after they opened. That'll be my last visit.

I'm loving the sunshine, but unlike you, Erik, it'll be a while before I'm wearing shorts. The wind this morning wasn't "almost chilly", it was downright chilly. Very nice this afternoon, though, and I just came in from rocking on the porch for a spell.

Hi. Did "Me" take the scope? If not, and if you'd be willing to meet me in the Harriman / Rockwood area, I'll go $350 for it. I don't need the rings. Thanks! Darrell

I'm sorry I failed to communicate my thoughts clearly enough. The distinction I intended to make was between service-connected injury and non-service-connected.

It's a terrible thing that servicemen were blamed for poor political decisions during the Vietnam war. Besides our thanks you probably also deserve an apology for being sent into a no-win situation by politicians who were unwilling to do what was necessary to win.

Hmmm, I've seen VA benefits increase quite a bit since I got out of the Corps, and with the budget crisis I think that it makes sense for every part of government to accept some cuts. 22% seems a lot, though. Doesn't it seem strange that a government agency, the VA, would publish a press release like that? It does to me. I would think that government agencies would follow guidance from congress without taking their individual cases to the people. That release seems calculated to stir up the vets, doesn't it? The VA, the Army, the IRS, the DNR etc. are not supposed to try to influence policy, they should follow it. (I know that's complicated.) But the fact is, somebody is going to have to make some tough budgetary decisions. We simply cannot keep on spending ourselves into a deeper and deeper hole. But, man!, it isn't easy to do. I ran a group of about 100 people as a Navy civilian before I retired. I can't begin to write an account here of how hard it was to try to reign in spending. People wanted their overtime, and would go to great lengths to assure themselves of it. There's a LOT of fat that could be trimmed from the federal budget. And by the way, I am always embarrassed when someone thanks me for my service. I think I got by far the best of the trade for my time in the Corps. I learned a trade that carried me throughout my entire career, got GI bill benefits, and got preferential hiring for my civilian Navy job. I've been thanked enough. The nation absolutely owes a lot to vets who were wounded in combat, and I'm glad they get the benefits they do. But I do have a bit of an issue with paying lifetime benefits to someone who was injured playing basketball during their off-duty hours.

I have an R1200RT and I love it. It's not too expensive to own if you do your own maintenance, as I do. Parts are readily available and maintenance intervals are reasonable. I've not had to adjust the valves on mine at all (2017) I keep checking, though. I've also got an S1000RR and it's been very reliable so far. BMW's cost quite a bit up-front, but they're reliable and well-built.

I carry rain gear when there's a legitimate threat. My Frogg Toggs have been with me for many years, and they work great. EXCEPT that if it's warm you may as well save the effort, as you'll be in a sauna. My main complaint with riding in the rain is having to clean the bike afterward.

I think that part of the problem is that our judicial system is WAY too easy on people who break gun laws. If the penalties for illegal use of a firearm were enforced to the full extent of the law I think there would be less of this kind of thing. Right now one can get away with lying on a 4470 (Hunter Biden springs to mind!), and criminals get away with very minor punishments. Perhaps if being caught with an illegal firearm landed the criminal in jail for a significant amount of time there would be fewer people engaging in illegal carry. (I'm thinking of those who are prohibited from possessing a firearm, either under-age or those with criminal records.) The penalty for having a firearm during the commission of a crime should require serious time in prison, and for actually using one in a criminal manner should send the criminal away for many years. Maybe the Alabama BD party shooter will fall into none of the categories I just mentioned, but I'm for taking drastic measures against CRIMINALS (not law-abiding gun owners) when they use a gun wrongly.

One of the variations of that argument that makes me nuts is, "I hunt with a [bolt action, muzzle-loader, knife, whatever] and no one needs a more efficient weapon than I choose to use." People STILL want to approach the 2A discussion as if it's about hunting, and a lot of gun owners are willing to accept some restrictions, so long as those restrictions don't include their personal favorite activity. I get why some people would advocate for so-called "red flag" laws, but the lack of due process requirements could lead to the kind of consequences that hipower mentions above.

I won't.

Wow! I've never seen a tire fail like that during street riding. Generally, a delamination like that only happens on the race track at high temperatures. I can't see the brand of tire in those pics, do you mind sharing? I run Bridgestone or Michelin for the most part, but have Dunlops on my HD. I'd send photos to the tire manufacturer. I'm betting they'd like to have that tire for analysis, and might provide you with a new one. A couple of questions: Did you check tire pressure before your ride? How much pressure were you running? Was the rim damaged? How old was the tire? (manufacture date?) It looks like it had plenty of tread life remaining. Finally, what was the approximate air temperature? Nice job of not crashing! I've had tires go flat, and it's a handful, but never had one throw a huge chunk of tread like that. It sure looks like a defective tire, assuming that the pressure was good.

I'm confused by this statement. I just looked at the vote totals and they were 72-25, 69-26, and 65-30. I understand that Ms. Johnson avoided removal by only one vote, but 72 voted to remove Mr. Jones and only 65 to remove Ms. Johnson. Still, it's hard to attribute the difference to racism in the absence of further information. Perhaps it was reverse-misogyny, perhaps it was that Ms. Johnson's action was seen as less egregious, or maybe she was just better liked. No matter the reason, it IS a terrible optic, though. And that admonition about avoiding the appearance for impropriety probably comes from the Bible verse, My mother used to this one on me when I tried to wriggle out of something. 1 Thessalonians 5:22 Abstain from all appearance of evil.

Costco can have some pretty good deals IF you can find what you want. I don't think I've ever seen bedroom furniture there, but we bought a nice couch, loveseat, and recliner there a couple years ago.

I did the Jungle Environment Survival Training (JEST) in the Philippines. The aboriginal instructors made fire in minutes using a split length of bamboo. I managed to bloody my hands trying.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/04/opinion/nashville-shooting-guns This is worth a read, I think, as it gives us an idea of what the anti-gun crowd are thinking. The comments section makes me nuts, but what else can one expect from NYT readers? (I must admit, though, that I read it, too.)

Will you fire the first mag through it?

Here's mine. I can see no way that damage could occur during normal use. Maybe the gun was dropped and just happened to land against the frame? Who knows? .

My brother sent me this photo without any information. It looks to me like some kind of outside mechanical force did the damage here. I can't think of a mechanism where this would happen during shooting, even with overly heavy loads. Interesting though... I have the same model Kimber and it seems to be well built.

Legally, they are adults, not children. And I believe that JayC's point point was that most of those deaths are the result of gang violence and other criminal activity. I don't think it's at all reasonable to include those deaths when speaking of children killed by firearms. Do you?

That's stomach churning. Interesting, too, how early reports had this animal entering through an unlocked door.

He probably should have stopped after one double-tap.

Hey LS, maybe it's time to take a deep breath and make a fresh start. I'm still a newbie as compared to most of these guys, but those I've dealt with have been honest and helpful. This isn't a "club", it's a forum of folks who share a common interest. There are a lot of divergent ideas about politics and religion, so we try to keep the conversation on firearms related topics. It's really easy to have miscommunication when dealing with terse written responses, and my guess is that you'd probably find that you like and have much in common with most of us. Good luck.

There's a book available called "Bluebook of Gun Values". It might be worth buying the latest edition in order to get a ballpark idea of the gun values. There are auction sites, too, which seem to yield top-dollar for guns that sell. But there is an attendant hassle that goes with using that route. KahrMan is on the money, too.

What that generally means is that private sales must be conducted through an FFL with a required background check.