MacGyver

When it comes to holographic sights, it's pretty much EOTech and "looks like an EOTech".  There is a real difference both in performance and longevity of the sight.  Since an EOTech uses holographic technology, if you can see any part of the window, then you can see the recticle.  That's important.  There are plenty of imitators, but they're pretty much just plain old red dots in a different housing.   However, if you've not used one before, it's worth finding someone who has one and trying one out.  They're not for everyone.   That said, I love mine.

That's gorgeous, Steve!  Tell me about those scales. 

Gorgeous old pistol!  I've always had a fondness for the classic Woodsmen.

I don't know why anyone still does business with Bank of America.  It's not just their anti gun stance.  Have they left any shadow of doubt in anyone's mind that they have total disregard for their customers by expecting them to bend over and take anything they dish out?   Seriously.  Why does anyone still do business with Bank of America.   Get your money out of there. 

They are definitely a survival tool and absolutely NOT a replacement for any type of sleeping bag - summer weight or otherwise. I do have a friend who probably owes his life to a space blanket and a tea candle that he used after an immersion accident while we got a fire going.

Space blankets are well proven survival tools. Personally, I like the emergency bivys made by Adventure Medical. It's a fist sized addition to your kit that can absolutely keep the reaper out of your business. http://www.adventuremedicalkits.com/product.php?product=146 As someone who has probably consumed 100's of space blankets in my life, the Adventure Medical space blankets are so much better quality than any others on the market, they shouldn't even be in the same category. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001GAOISI

Oh, that's terrible. Life is so short...

Westinghouse M1891 Infantry Rifle.  Better known as the M91 Mosin Nagant.   Folks with way more knowledge in the area will be along shortly.

The rifle by itself can be had for around $800 if you look around. I really like the lightweight HS Precision stock. That was the selling point for me. It simply fits my frame better. I like a shorter barrel in .308. Mine is 18" vs. the 20" that they've got on it now. I don't really put much in the fluted barrel. I don't think I shoot it enough to take advantage of the cooling it might offer. I've got Leupold glass on mine, but nowhere near as nice a setup as is listed here. Mine's an easy MOA shooter. That is, the rifle makes it really easy for a guy like me to shoot sub-MOA groups. That said, I don't think there's anything that makes the LTR any more accurate than any other similarly equipped 700.

I've had a 700LTR for about five years. It's a great rifle.

There are a lot of things in life that can seem important.  There are only a few things that really are.  Community is one of them.   We are blessed with a great community here, and frankly, most of the moderating decisions we are forced to take come from people who are disruptive to the commuity at large.   The interesting thing about community is that every individual member has an impact on the rest, whether they are actively involved or only seldomly so.  All it takes is one member taking advantage of someone else to sour it for everyone else.   We've got a good thing here.  Don't screw it up.

Within a proper distance window, I'd have exactly zero issues going after a coyote with one of these.  They're little bullets, but I've never seen a coyote take more than a couple of steps even after being hit with a .17HMR.

Maybe other people's experience is different, but I can't see this as a squirrel gun. A great coyote gun for small game season like the OP suggested, but not squirrels. A 17HMR is explosive enough on squirrels. I can't imagine this thing leaving anything other than a red spot where a squirrel used to be. Neat cartridge, though. I've always had a soft spot for the .17 Remington Fireball.

You're playing with fire at best...

Several people with whom I often disagree, but enjoy both talking to and reading are calling the speech linked below the most important speech of the century thus far.    It's well worth a read, and I would be interested in your thoughts on the matter.  As is often the case, Alexis de Tocqueville was eerily correct in his assessment over two centuries ago.   Although the subject does concern the subject of religon and government, I would ask that anyone commenting below actually take the time to read the article before commenting.  It's well worth the 15 minutes it will take you to get through it.   George Will at Washington University

Ryan makes the best hawk on the market today. If I had to carry one as a piece of my kit, I would have no issue grabbing a shrike, talon or kestrel...

I only order from Jet's Pizza. They fully defended and supported a driver that had to defend himself in a robbery last year.

Travis, I'm glad you like the cuff links. I put a note in with your present only to find that I left it in the shop when I went to mail it. The real gift was the cuff links. I turned them down from some spent .308 brass and thought they would make a unique gift. The rest of the stuff got thrown in as I was looking for a box. I was originally going to mill down a wooden box, but couldn't find a hinge I thought would work. So, I put them in a survival tin. After putting them in the tin, I thought that it would be in bad form to send a survival tin with nothing to put in it. Hence the matches and the compasses. As I was digging through my spare kit stuff, I found the locking cable snares and decided to throw those in. You don't see many bug out bags with snares, but I find them useful. I don't know if you have the occasion to dress up much, but even if its just for church any now and then, the cuff links are fun. Hope you get some use out of them...

David's a good man. If I find out anyone who received something without turning around and sending something to someone else it will not be a good day for their membership status. That said, it's only a few days after Christmas. I guess we can give it a week. Let me know privately if you didn't receive a gift.

I think Kerry's comments over the last couple of years praising Bashar Assad are going to be problematic.

No.

I really see this as a family and community problem as opposed to a government problem.  Like Hurricane Katrina, there are times when we expect way too much of our government (and they are complicit in gladly taking on the role of sugar daddy.)  Our society has this nice shellac of modernity and sophistication, but at our core, we are as broken as we've ever been.  In fact, with our modern disregard for things like personal responsibility and the public embracing acceptance of any position under the stars, we may have set ourselves up for an even harder fall.  When you strip away that outer veneer, you see quickly that we're not really at all as sophisticated as we thought.  The things that we think are important really show themselves to be worthless.   The media and entertainment companies are producing exactly what the public wants and demands.  You're not going to legislate away brokeness.  As long as there is a demand for violent, hyper-sexualized content, there are plenty of people and companies willing to produce and provide exactly that.  And, they will always continue to push the boundaries just a little bit further.   But like the failure we saw in Hurricane Katrina, we blamed the wrong group.  This wasn't a government failure, because it wasn't something the governement could reasonably fix.  It was a family and community failure.  When you don't care about anything more than yourself, it shouldn't surprise you when no one around you does either.  We're asking the government to do something which they cannot do.  You cannot legislate brokeness.   There is certainly something I can do, though.  I can be involved with my family and community.  I can care about my neighbor.  I can monitor what games my kids play and what movies they watch, just as I should really regulate what I play and what I watch.  I can surround my family with people who support those same values in their families.  I'm not going to act surprised when media companies act according to Adam Smith's laws and provide content for which there is an audience.  Hopefully they'll not be surprised when I fail to partake of it.   None of my three children are old enough to shoot, yet.  But, two of the three already know what not to do with a gun.  I don't expect someone else to teach them this.  That's my job.   Maybe it's my libertarian roots showing through.  Maybe it's my belief that the governement is incapable of creating value.  Maybe it's something I've not even thought of yet.  But, I don't expect the government to keep me safe from all harm and provide for every need that I have.  But I do expect it stay out of the way while I do it.

They did alright.  Mind you, this was an opening move to show their position.  Now the real work has to be done on convincing legislators not to throw us under the bus.   Breitbart is reporting 8,000 people a day joining the NRA.

Here's a link from the beginning:   http://www.c-span.org/Events/NRA-News-Conference-in-Response-to-Newtown-CT-Shooting/10737436772-1/

Now there's one of those...what do they call it? Shovel ready projects? Somehow I don't see anyone pulling out the stops to get folks back to work.