musicman

Yep, eventually. I was gunna buy one anyway, before I heard about them opening a plant here. Everybody's gotta have an Inox 92 in their collection, right? However, there is an M&P Pro, 10MM CZ75 clone, S&W 1911, and S&W 442/642 in line ahead of the Beretta. :-)

How are you liking the Shield?

I'm late to the party, but CONGRATS!!! I hope he calls you soon... and for real!   My buddy Todd at Corner Music got to hang out with him a bit, and Billy took his number.  A few days later, Todd was butt dialed by Billy Gibbons!  He says it sounded like he was driving some monster hot rod.  :-)

Oh, and glad to see you back, Tanker! ;-)

Wow! Amazing stuff! I knew absolutely zero about the history of the AK before Kalashnikov. Fascinating!

I heard about this as well.  I got a PTAC from the Christmas sales too, but thankfully all seems well with mine.  It's eaten about 400 rounds so far with sufficient enough accuracy for me and not a single hiccup... which is better than I can say for my buddy's fancy Colt! (wink wink, if you're reading this! Hahaha!)   I'm stupid happy with mine.    I got a couple extra BCGs from the TGO lower buy, and a built out lower sitting in a drawer... really tempted to get PSAs $250 M4 upper next time they have them in stock.  It won't be a $400 AR, but close!

I have NEVER liked camo painted rifles... or camo anything, really.   UNTIL I saw YOUR gun!  Holy smokes that is just incredible! That thing must just plain old disappear outside.  Better not put it down!   Just today I started looking into another AR build.  I'm thinking a 16" lightweight, iron sights, bare bones, lightweight weapon.  Now, I'm thinking it's gotta end up with that camo scheme on it.  You wanna paint some more?!  :x:

Another former 'Zoner here... the Duralast "Professional" batteries are pretty much the standard red Duralast batteries in the store, but made especially for distribution through their commercial sales with local mechanics.  Warranties were about to change when I left a few years ago and I haven't kept up with them, but "back in my day" the warranty was the same 2/7 years the red Duralast batts had.   Though I worked there for a few years, I really have no special love for AZ.  But I gotta say, their standard (red) and Gold (yellow) batteries seemed to be really well made.  I swapped a lot of batteries of many brands in tons of cars.  Whether it was our battery or not, I always liked to check the manufacture date on the batteries.  Maybe I was skewing things in my mind, but the DL stuff just seemed to last longer vs other batteries made to similar price points.  On the other hand... do EVERYTHING you can to stay away from the Valucraft 1yr wty batteries.    As JTMaze said, there are only a few battery mfgrs.  AZ uses JCI/Johnson Controls for most of their stuff.

"Lamar Alexander.  He breathes a lot, and that's something I can believe in."   Wilbert H. - Possum Nut Hill, TN

Thanks for that link!  Looks like I'll fall into the XXL- regular pants size.   I'm going to keep searching around my area for now... a 1.5-2hr each way (and $25 in gas) trip to Ft Campbell just for pants and such is just too far... now if my WIFE wanted something out that way, we'd have been there yesterday!  :squint:

You said he doesn't want a Glock looking gun... I'm guessing that includes the Springfield XDs, S&W M&Ps (my pistol of choice), and pretty much all the other poly striker fire guns.  All I'm hearing is 92/clone... what about CZs?  http://www.cz-usa.com/products/view/cz-75-b-sa/  they make the 75 in about any configuration you could want, and they are awesome shooters.  EAA Witness make excellent copies.  Even Academy now sells another clone under the Tristar brand, Turkish made, I believe, for just over 3 bills that seems to be a decent weapon.   There are also a slew of 9mm 1911s out there now, but that is probably going to take you up to the $500-700 range.   How bout a used Smith 3rd gen auto like a 5906, 6906, etc?  Those can be found in fantastic shape around $300-400 pretty easily... less if you can handle some wear and scratching.  I have a 3913 single stack bought from a forum member and it's one of my favorite range toys.  Check CDNNinvestments.com for good deals on police trade-ins.   Good luck, and let us know what you end up with! :usa:

If I have to stand like that... I change my mind!!    :rofl:

Thanks for the info, all!   I've got friends up in Lebanon I haven't seen in ages... maybe a visit is in order, with a side trip!   I'll check out BDU.com, and I had completely forgotten about Sportsman's Guide.  I've sworn off CTD.    Yea, I've gotten a few little items from eBamazon.  I'm just old fashioned I guess... wanna touch and feel some things before I buy 'em.  For instance, I saw a folding shovel on Amazon that didn't look too terrible... then I saw the same exact thing locally and it was the chintziest (sp?) thing ever... probably would break trying to shovel a little ant hill!  I did find a 12 pack of those mylar emergency blankets for about $7 shipped on Amazon, though!  They're $2.5-3 ea locally.   Keep 'em comin'!

A friend of mine in Smyrna had her car broken into and some valuables, including a laptop, stolen last night.  Bummer.   No way to completely stop this kind of thing, but alarms, keeping valuables out of plain view, and good neighborhood relationships can hopefully help deter the less dedicated thief.

I'm wanting to get some old pants, jackets, etc on the cheap for general outside goofing off and working.  I'd also like to get some basic tools like trench shovels, etc.   I'm a big dude, so I'm not having much luck finding stuff that fits.  I have no military background, so this may be a dumb question... do they even make stuff for fatties, or do they pretty much kick you out if you're more of an oval than a rectangle?  Is that why I can't find much?   I'd appreciate any help in good online sources, or recommendations for local shops in the S Nashville/Smyrna area.   Thanks!

I hear what you're saying. I think Smith made the Shield to be a good shooter, and not just a pocket cannon, too. Real sights, great trigger, excellent recoil mgmt, etc. If the G42 is only a teen tiny bit smaller and shooting a 25-40% less powerful round, I kinda' consider that a fail. :( This guy feels the same way: http://looserounds.com/2014/01/05/glock-g42-the-disappointment/ I guess I should shut up.... just being a negative Nancy. I'm sure there will be many Glock fans who are happy this gun is coming out. I'm really hoping a few of them will decide to let go of their pristine examples of S&W Shields in 9 and 40 to me for a heckuva deal. The one I have now is "the wife's" and I want one in each caliber for myself! :-D

More pics! More pics! MORE PICS!!! I absolutely LOVE old pocket revolvers like this! An old Detective Special was going to be my very first revolver, but the guy sold it out from under me to someone with deeper pockets before giving me a chance to raise more funds. :-( I ended up with a S&W 64-4 2" which I love tremendously, and shot a little bit just today! That gun was what turned me into a Smith & Wesson fanatic. (Definitely not the Sigma I had prior!) I often wonder how different my gun collection - and bank account! - would look had I been able to get that little Colt instead.

Does anyone know of any side by side comparison pics of this to a Shield? I spent some more range time with my Shield 9 today and fall more and more in love every time I shoot the cute li'l booger. Ask w0lfattack, that little thing shoots just as accurately as any full size gun we had out, and handled just as well. I've never shot anything that small that well. If this Glock 380 is anywhere NEAR the size of a Shield, I just don't understand the appeal. Probably just the big G on the slide and blocky styling maybe?

Would the current trend of "chopper" pistols work form you? I've seen a number of examples (M&P, Glock, etc) where one would take a full size gun, then modify (cut & shape) the grip to mimic their compact brethren, and then use the compact's magazines. Kinda' nifty. I thought I remembered someone here doing that to an M&P, but I could be confused with another forum. I thought it was cool... then I just went ahead and bought an M&P9c to hang out with its fullsize 40 brother. Somehow I ended up with a Shield, too. Why cut up one gun, when you can just buy another one! :-)

If for some CRAZY reason you're going to be in the S Nashville area this Saturday, I'm planning on going to the range around 10 AM. I'll have my Smiths and a few others with me. You're welcome to try all of them. I know that's like 2 hours away from you, but I thought I'd put it out there.

I've got a 40 full size, 9 compact, and Shield 9. I absolutely love them all! For the 40, I also have a 9 barrell. I have been able to use the same 40 cal mags loaded with 9 to shoot the lighter rounds. It only choked with the 9s when I was shooting upside down, TRYING to make it malf. I'd say that's pretty good for using the gun in a way other than designed! I've had the 40fs the longest, and it's trigger has worn in to be pretty awesome! Ask w0lfattack, it's pretty amazing for a stock striker fired design. My 9c is only pretty good. It has about 300 rds through it so far. The Shield is AMAZING!!! Completely different trigger than the others. It's a genuinely fun gun to shoot; accurate, with REAL sights and excellent handling. The recoil is way more tame than any other little gun in a "real" caliber I've shot. Sorry for the gushing... I flippin' love these things!!! You can decide for yourself whether you trust their reputation, but Botach.com has M&P mags for $22-30 with free shipping right now. Best of luck! Oh, and my plan is to have an M&P Pro by the summer. I want one of each!!!

I'm a die-hard S&W man and LOVE my Shield and other M&Ps, but an R51 WILL be joining my family. I'm in love!! I'll wait til all the rich folk buy theirs at MSRP+$ and wait for the price to come down a little... and make sure they don't have any issues.

Wowzers! Thanks for sharing!

I had that phone. Worked great, and it was tough as nails. Multiple falls directly onto concrete (with NO case) one time from an 8' ladder with no damage other than the battery cover and battery flying off. Snap back together - go on with life as normal! I've got the Razr Maxx now. I dig my Motorola phones. If you keep it, enjoy! If you sell it, enjoy the money! :-)

News stories like this will be coming from farms here in America pretty soon. Very sad.