MacGyver

Ha. I'm going to choose that one when the question is what gun are you going to choose when you only have one bullet...

Ruger #1 Tropical in 375 H&H.

That's pretty cool. I've got a lathe, but I think I'd cast k-baffles if it were my can. I might turn the first one, or just 3D print it. I'd cast from there, though.

You ever sand cast aluminum?

I'd be glad to put that thing through its paces 60 miles offshore when we get into a lot of fish. This is a specialized cooler for very specific purposes. If you've got a use for it you'll be plenty happy with it.

Pulled some cabbage yesterday. Peppers are starting to produce well. Tomatoes went in late, but looking good. My yellow pear tomatoes are already prolific - which is good because my kids have been looking forward to them.

There's not much complexity to a 9mm can. You're welcome to check out the internals on my Tirant anytime.

Could be. I can't pretend to speak for that community. That said, I have several friends who are just like you and me - they don't expect anyone to come to their rescue. They see defending themselves and their families as their job. More gun owners is a good thing. If there are Americans, gay, straight or otherwise who are taking their protection more seriously, we're all the better for it.

I find it pretty humorous that there is a portion of our population that has somehow convinced themselves that "the gays" are just now finding guns in the wake of The Pulse shooting, and that there aren't a substantial number who have been carrying as long or longer as it's been legal to do so. Guns really aren't a left or right issue. They're an American issue. And, like it or not the LGBT community is full of Americans.

A star beside the thread title indicates that you've responded to that particular topic. If you tap the dot or the star, it will take you to the first unread post.

I got my letter the other day. They did not specify the amount in the letter. I've heard the 62% figure. The state said they asked for 36.3%.

Curse that evidence based learning. That didn't work at all like I had planned...

The political rhetoric is a turn off for a lot of folks. From the conversations I've had with members, they're tired of the hate. Even people who like reasoned discourse get tired of being blasted when they refuse to blindly support the GOP candidate. And, this is a gun forum. You'd think the majority of the traffic might relate to guns.

Man... I hate banning people over stupid stuff. It's a Friday. Seriously. Disagree. Shop at one place, or another. Talk about your disappointment. Talk about the deal you got because some reseller didn't realize they were behind the counter. Write their management team. Write your congressman. But, all we ask here is that you bring something to the conversation besides self righteousness and expensive blue jeans. We're all on the same side here - even if we do tend to make it awfully difficult sometimes.

Caster certainly doesn't need me to speak to his intellectual ability, but there's no place for calling another member of this forum retarded. Check your rhetoric. The ice is getting really thin underneath you.

You had a Gen2 come in cardboard. Mine came in a nice hard case with the aforementioned coupon for discounted magazines and accessories.

Benchmade is manufacturing them for H&K. I wouldn't expect any blade play in a >$100 knife, but Benchmade has had sporadic quality control issues over the years. If it's a new knife, I might seek out a better example.

I really want to weigh in here, but I'm intrigued so I'm just going to hold off. I'm certain the chance will present itself before this thread is done...

So many things to say...

Per Mark Twain on the opening page of his travel epilogue Following the Equator: "The dictionary says a carbuncle is a kind of jewel. Humor is out of place in a dictionary."

Those are great looking trucks. I was kind of tempted to wait until September myself.

You're kind. My kids are younger than yours, so I expect my gray hasn't had quite the same time to show through. I got married when I was almost 30. While I wouldn't trade it, I really respect my friends who got married and had kids younger. I was more financially secure when I got married and we had kids, but it's neat to see some of my friends from school who have kids going to college in the fall.

I heard a lot of good things about Costco's car buying service. Basically, if the car you want it on the lot, you can use Costco to arrange a no haggle price. You end up paying invoice for the car, and the dealership actually pays Costco a few hundred bucks for the referral. If anyone here has used it, I'd love to hear about it.

Truthfully, I'm 41 and this is the first new car I've ever bought. There's definitely some truth to the saying that for most people, their car is the reason they're poor. Add in multiple cars and being upside down in vehicles, and you dig a hole that's hard to get out of. For all of my adult life, I've driven sub $10000 cars that I've paid cash for. And, man have I gotten my money's worth. A reliable car is really a necessity in today's suburban America. I've only lived two places where I really didn't need a car - Manhattan and Seattle. Both have excellent mass transit, and I was single in both cases. Seems like for most of us these days, the line between wants and needs is really blurred. In this case, I bought a new truck because my financial advisor showed me that the money was leaving my account one way or another - either to the Feds in taxes or to Toyota. Basically, it's the one benefit you get as a small business owner. I used my bank to get a simple loan when we bought my wife's truck when we had our third kid. We bought it right when cash for clunkers was going on, and there just wasn't much available in the range we wanted to spend. We had the cash, but decided to hold onto some of it to keep the emergency fund a bit higher. I think it was a 2.5% loan for 2 years. The dealership was appalled that we would qualify for so much but didn't want it. It's going to take a while, but the current model is going to change. Either the Teslas and Apples of the world will just start selling direct, or the Ubers and Lyfts will just start supplying their own cars. It may take a generation, but what we've got now isn't going to last.

Dave is probably right that we're so out of the norm that most salesmen don't know what to do. But find one that gets it, and they realize that's probably the easiest money they'll make all day. Invoice is readily available on about anything out there today. There's no reason someone should walk onto the lot not knowing exactly what the car with the options they want us going to cost. In my case, knowing invoice I called several dealerships and told them what I wanted, that it was going to be a cash deal, and that I was willing to pay a price that was $1000 above factory invoice including their doc fee which is almost all profit to the dealership. I gave them that number and simply asked if they were interested they give me a call back. Really it was a simple pass/fail. Beaman never even acknowledged my request. Rude, but I expect with all the condo owners who are already leveraged up to their eyeballs surrounding them they don't have to search too hard for business. Roberts Toyota called me back and emailed several times, but never got past, "why don't you come in, and we'll find you something at a payment you can afford." Frustrating. Toyota of Cool Springs was happy to work with me, but was really only interested in selling a truck that they found at one of their sister dealerships. It was 90% of what I wanted, but if I'm paying that much for a truck, you better believe I'm going to get what I want and not just take what you can find and act like you're doing me a favor because, "these things go fast you know?" The guys at Toyota of Murfreesboro found two trucks exactly like I wanted, one that was in freight and one that was in a dealership out west. They offered to get the first one or trade the dealer out west for a similar one. They had no problem doing the deal exactly like I wanted. The finance manager even said that a lot more people ought to buy cars this way. The dealership model that has existed for the last 50 years will change in the coming generation. Most people my age and below simply have no interest in going through that process to buy a car. Dealership associations have lobbied successfully to put a lot of protectionist practices in place, but this industry will be disrupted sooner or later.