Mark A

Sorry but currently the score is Bersaguy 7, Bigun 0...

  you set your DVR, let it record for about an hour and put something else on the TV. Take that hour to eat your killer superbowl food with friends and family and have actual conversations without worrying about missing a play or something. Then, once everyone is done you start the game, watch the commercials you want, skip the rest and fast forward right through 1/2 time. You will be caught up before the end of the game and still leave at the same time...   Works every year. Don't delete the recording until the next day. That way, if everyone says the 1/2 time show was a spectacular life changing event you can fast forward right to it and watch it and experience the moment...   Or, if it is like most 1/2 time shows you can be happy you didn't waste your life on it.     I thought Lady Gags me was ok. She is a good singer as her duets with Tony Bennett have shown. Little Big Town was 1000% better at the NFC Championship game.   Mark

WHAT!??? No Samar? You should be on high alert as you appear to have a cute girl pup headed your way soon...   And, it's on you to make sure Ressler is properly armed. Nothing less than a 10mm collar will do.   Good on you again. You're building up good karma points at a ridiculous pace...   Mark

I'm a bit confused by the article... Are we going to start putting seat belts on pistols?   Will that help us be safer?

So... here is my snow story. A co-worker and I had to fly to NYC to check on a few projects and for me to meet our main customers up there. Had really hoped not not ever have to go up there but we have a ton of work up there so even though I would only be the third resource I still needed to meet everyone and get my bearings. When we first got there the big story was the storm coming in mid-day on Friday (we were supposed to leave at 4 PM on Friday. The next day they'd pushed that back where it wasn't a concern. Then  on Wednesday we started getting emails and texts from folks back home asking if we were worried about the storm coming in here...   We checked and decided to move our 4pm flight up to 11:30 and felt pretty good on Wednesday. We did have to pull a couple of really long days on Wed and Thursday to make up for leaving early on Friday. Thursday night at dinner at 10pm the texts started up again and sure enough the storm had moved further up in the day. We stopped eating and changed our flights to the earliest flight possible. This of course meant getting back to the hotel around midnight, packling as best as possible then getting up at 4am to make the journey to LaGuardia.   When we got there any flights anywhere in the NE were all ready all cancelled but flights out west and to the south were still being scheduled. As we boarded our flight everything else south except for 1 flight to Atlanta were cancelled.. We were the 2nd to last place out. Cruised down to Nashville where we had to circle while they plowed the runway. Once we landed we had to follow a plow down the taxiway... SO we got lucky and made it out of the hellhole that is NYC by the skin of our teeth...   Then, it took almost as long to drive to franklin on 65 as it did to fly from NYC... But, now I have a great story to tell...   Mark

I just KNEW a 30x40 would be more than I would ever need. After all, how much room can a tractor and a few implements take??? When I saw the pad I went: Huh... There was this sinking feeling in my stomach. Couldn't do anything about it as that was all the money I had at the time.   Biggest mistake I made was with the main rollup door. I started with an 8' wide and at the last minute I switched to a 10'. Once I get a few more infrastructure things done this summer the 10' is coming out and I am putting in at least a 14' wide door. Way to easy to hit the sides with the implements. Forgetting just how faaaaaar the front bucket sticks out has gotten me a couple of times as I started my swing a tad bit too soon...   On the advice of my builder we put 4 of the clear panels on the roof. Best decision ever. I could actually use 2 more but the 4 do a good job when it is fully sunny.   I retrospect I should have saved a little longer and built a 60x40... To get around that I am going to build a 20x30 shop that will be for woodworking and car projects etc and use the bigger building for storing the tractor and implements and maybe one day, if I'm really lucky, a skid steer...   On the new building I'm going to make one whole long side a series of roll up doors. I recently attended a couple homesteading workshops that had set ups like this. It makes it really easy to host a larger group   Mark

Thanks DS. The heaters we bought are mainly in case we lose power when I'm on the road. They are easy for my wife to manage  and will keep her warm until I can get home.   I will add checking this into my early season prep with your fix in mind...   Mark

I'm curious about the mr buddy heater. Is it older? Do you think it was the thermocouple that failed? We have a couple and have only run them a few times but they seem to work well. I can't wait till we build our house next year. We are going to get a wood stove for it. I would like a wood boiler but I don't think we can justify the expense for the short heating season we have... Mark

This would be a good time to get your Berkey filter out and filter some snow water. If you drink a lot of bottled water it will pay for itself in no time...   Mark

Man oh man... I have a hankerin to get into the .41 mag bidness and this is NOT helping any...   I need to stay away as this would be a gateway drug to one of them there fancy 6-shooters...   Mark

Btw... I think people that go to any kind of store and then go buy it online are lame. It is just not something I do nor do I think it is fair. But I travel a lot and it is hard for me to get to typical brick and mortar stores, especially gun stores. When I am sitting in a hotel somewhere at midnight after getting my quotes done I can go online and see if there is anything I want. It is just as fair to reward the online retailer with a sale at that point. If you are a LGS and want to capture my business get your inventory online and accessible. It just isn't that hard to do these days. You don't need a super fancy site, just a functional web store. Gosh, they might even catch some biz from other people who live in different states... Mark

Seems like it would be pretty easy to get info on transfers and compile a list all year long. On 4/16 of the following year you indict everyone that didn't file a use tax form. For all I know the feds could stretch the truth and somehow how make it a RICO case. I know that is probably a stretch but it wouldn't be the first time the feds "creatively" interpreted the law. Flood the news with 1,000's of indictments 2 years in a row and tax filings would go through the roof... The first year you give them 30 days to file and the charges get dismissed. The second year you prosecute as many as it takes to get compliance flowing... All it takes is a couple of gun store owners that are convinced they are getting screwed... I know that may sound far fetched but so many things have gotten out of control with both state and fed gov that nothing would surprise me. Mark

  You mean something besides the Sales and Use Tax already on the books?

That is interesting. I have a load for each of my Ar's based on TSX projectiles. I have one gun that oddly likes 62gr and for it I use the TTSX but the rest are all heavy TSX's. My sig 5.56's especially like heavier rounds.   The performance through glass was pretty interesting. I did some testing through auto glass and had better results but I was shooting into old books not gel...   I have a friend that works in a larger PD in Georgia that has done a bunch of ballistic work with the GBI. He said that for precision shots through auto glass his team was moving back to 5.56 from 308. The 5.56 did a better job when they needed to put a round in a specific place. The 308 tended to shred everything in sight after going through a windshield.   Since I'm not too worried about a precision shot through windshields I built several 308 AR's. I figure if I need to fire into a car pretty much everything inside is a threat...   I'm really hoping to get my range set up this year. If I do I will have to try some of these factory loads and see how they perform. I wish I had the patience that these guys on AR15 do when doing tests like that. I am too easily distracted...   BTW, I've been happy with Wolf Gold in training classes.   Mark

The Titans need new owners...

12 - Kate Web act... Sounds to me like this is the creation of a mandatory DNA database...       On a lighter note: I'm pretty sure I used to be married to a class 1 carnivore. A chip would have been useful in narrowing down which bar she was drunk in when I had to go find her...

Man this is killing me... If this were this time next year we could take her and I want one very much. I'm just traveling too much with my job right now...Killing me...

BTW... speaking of properly sized cartridges, I bought a G29 before we went to Alaska a few years back. I tried like heck to find a 20 but there were none to be had. I've been suppressing a hankering to go pick up a  20 and the other day I found myself at the Cabelas in Bristol. The had a G40 MOS that felt great in my hands. If they'd had a deal with a local TN based shop that could do the deal right then I would have bought it.   I see one of those in my near future and I happen to have a Dr Optic looking for a home... Apparently the stars are aligning...

We just bought a M&P 9 CORE that we are beginning to put through the paces with a Trijicon RMR. My wife loves to shoot but is right hand/ left eye dominant and her right eye is pretty bad. She's practiced a ton and taken plenty of classes but really struggles with seeing the sights without cocking her head every which way. With only about 50 rounds so far with the sight she's cut her typical group in 1/2. Once we get the pistol broken in a bit and I stick an Apex trigger in it I anticipate that getting better. I also FINALLY convinced her to shoot left hand dominant and she knocked the center out of the target at 15 yards. So, we are going to dry fire the heck left handed and also keep working with the RMR and see where she is in about a month.   For me, I found myself chasing the dot a bit. I finally worked into looking for the irons just like normal and the dot started just showing up.   I don't shoot my M&P's enough so I'm going to concentrate on them for the next few months and then start timing some drills and splits and see if there is a difference.   I can tell you that when I'm wearing my bifocals I sometimes have a hard time seeing the irons. I've mostly trained around that but I think it is a sign of things to come for me. I had no problem finding the dot once I got used to looking for it.   I'm also curious about doing some low light work with it. In general I like a pretty dim dot which will probably be fine for the first shot but after that and with a flashlight I will probably want it brighter in general at night.

Waynesboro and the Lutts area got pounded pretty hard from various scanner reports...

Everyone stay safe... a full tank of gas in the car and a decent 1200 watt inverter will power just about anything you need. You just can't power it all at once. Don't get me wrong, I have a generator for a lot of reasons but a decent inverter will run your fridge or freezer for enough time each hour to keep things nice and cold for days.

Sig 5.56 pistol for me. I keep a single point sling on and a 20 round mag inserted at all times. Fits in a standard size backpack. The pack has a hydration sleeve in it for a bladder. I keep (4) 30 round mags in the front pouch. I also keep a buffer tube with a sig brace mounted on it in the front pouch. It is nice and stealthy. I can roll out of the car pretty quickly with it and using the single point sling for a cheek weld I can provide highly accurate fire out to 25 yards no problem. If the unthinkable were to happen and I'm walking home with a deployed carbine I can remove the back plate and screw the buffer tube with sig brace on it in about a minute. That empties out the backpack and provides a space for weather appropriate gear and clothing along with a few mre's. I always keep a case of water in the truck for when I'm travelling so i fill the bladder up and I'm pretty much ready to go. Last piece is a battle belt with a pistol holster, light holder and pistol and AR mag holders. That stuff stays in my get home bag. I keep more in my bag but that is for getting caught in weather related road closings. Has happened a few times to me. My total load out with weapons, ammo,food, and water is about 30#'s. My days of carrying a 60-70 pound pack are years behind me. Mark

Somehow I missed the latest Joe Nobody book was released. I will probably get going next week.

I don't understand how Nashville is a part of Tennessee.

For a brief moment humor was far from my mind but the PD was a good department and they had an older officer with them who knew me so things calmed down quickly. Better was seeing my wife react as we planned. She was still madder than a wet hen though...