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So... any of our members here have an interest in firearms?

  1. BradleyJ. Sep 4, 2020

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    you were scared but you still wanted to do it..... I don't have kids but I try taking my nephews out and they could care less.

    times have certainly changed.
     
  2. The Father Went out for smokes in ‘78 not seen since Sep 4, 2020

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    My Dad would hang the key to the gun case around the handle. Obviously not worried about a burglar. So if I as a kid, had the hankerin to take a rifle or pistol out for a test drive it was no problem
     
    Edited Sep 7, 2020
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  3. Zapatta Sep 5, 2020

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    My father has some really cool friends
     
    Screenshot_20200905_100721.jpg
  4. MikiJ Likes songs about Purple spices Sep 5, 2020

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    Pop's is really COOL :)
     
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  5. noelekal Home For Wayward Watches Sep 5, 2020

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    Say, what's the context of the wall display Zapatta?

    I see some really cool stuff there. Is it DEWAT or relic grade? If not then a bit of maintenance, RIG (rust inhibiting grease), and raw linseed oil on the wood wouldn't be amiss.

    Sort of like mechanical watches, guns don't thrive on neglect.
     
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  6. Zapatta Sep 5, 2020

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    When my father bought the land to make a cottage/weekend house, while digging the foundations he found 7 crates full of weapons. This is just part of the weapons waiting to be restored. There were even a pair of sabers from the time of the Habsburg Monarchy in the chest. As for these classifications, I really have no idea, not my area at all. :)
     
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  7. lindo Sep 7, 2020

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    A week or so back my eldest son said he wanted to take me to his local range for an afternoon for Father's Day. I was a bit reluctant because it had been 30 years since I last fired a rifle (I had been more of a pistol shooter) and I am now 74 with dodgy eyesight. However he was keen for me to try a couple of the rifles he had bought recently, and as we both had fond memories of shooting together when he was a teenager it seemed like a nice thing to do.

    What a great day. Clear blue sky, no wind, just a few shooters on the range (a Monday afternoon). Maximum range was only 200, but that was fine with me. Alex's Tikka .223 used 60 grain Hornadys that were little tack drivers: he shot several groups at 100 that measured 5/8" before going to 200, where he shot just over 1". To put the icing on the cake of a perfect day, I managed to match his best 100 group. What a great little rifle - and what a nice thing for a middle aged man to do, to take a day off for his old Dad.

    IMG_2716.jpeg
     
  8. noelekal Home For Wayward Watches Sep 7, 2020

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    A great day. Love to shoot rifles best.
     
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  9. DSotW Sep 7, 2020

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    I've got a K31 which I shoot on the range from time to time... man does it kick like a mule compared to an M4!
     
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  10. Professor Sep 8, 2020

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    In the 70's I was visiting a ship salvage yard in Florida and was told they had begun cutting up the hull on a wreck and found several cases of BAR and MP40 guns. These were well concealed so they believed it had been a smuggling operation.
    Around the same time excavations near an old lighthouse uncovered cases of WW2 German weapons and explosives buried there by German spies that had landed on the coast intent on destroying a power plant that could have crippled aircraft aluminum production.
    Some years ago when a long disputed estate was settled the heirs had an old factory which had been padlocked since the 30's opened up and found it had been used by smugglers to store weapons contributed to the rebels of the Spanish Civil War. Many cases of new in the crate surplus Krag rifles were discovered.
     
  11. Wryfox Sep 9, 2020

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    My father-in-law passed a year ago from lung cancer. He was army all the way and acted like it his whole life, a brash man. Stationed in post war Germany as a Private, he met his wife there, moved back to the US and lived a quiet life after the army as a mechanic for 50yrs. My wife has been Air Force for last 16yrs and was promoted to Colonel earlier this year. Due to COVID, a formal pin-on ceremony could not be arranged so we did so in our yard 2 days ago with her mom. My wife tearfully lamented that her dad would have been so proud of her and that he missed it. I told her he was there in spirit,...and created this photoshopped pic for her, melding her dad's early days in the army as a tank mechanic in 1957....63 yrs ago. Rest In Peace, George, and Congratulations, my love.
    Trish Colonel Pinning 09062020 - New (2).jpg
     
  12. kboyle Sep 9, 2020

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    Never owned one but I like to go to the driving range every once in a while
     
  13. noelekal Home For Wayward Watches Sep 9, 2020

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    I regret that your wife could not enjoy the formal ceremony, but glad y'all honored her accomplishments just the same and with her mom present. Your special photograph is touching.

    Please tell Mrs. Wryfox that someone from the Forum is grateful for her service.
     
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  14. Waltesefalcon Sep 9, 2020

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    Great job on the photo Wryfox and congratulations to your wife.
     
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  15. noelekal Home For Wayward Watches Sep 10, 2020

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    How the mighty are fallen.

    Deja Vu All Over Again - 40 Years Hence

    Some silliness 'cause that's what Mrs. noelekal and I are good at doing. Some things never change.

    It was September 13, 1980, a Saturday and we had gone to the old family place on the lake for fun and frolic. Long time Texans may recall the infamous "Summer of 1980" when it remained over 100F for two months straight in a large portion of Texas. https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/heat-streak-scorches-on-126138273/2121542/ It was still hitting 100F that September day in 1980 when we were out there. Mrs. noelekal still has the T-Shirt "I survived the summer of 1980" and she was wearing it on that day the 1980 photos were taken. I don't now recall whether any dove hunting was undertaken, or fishing, or just what was on the day's itinerary. Probably some sitting in inner tubes in the lake, floating around in the duck hunting slough was in order for later that particular day.

    Sometime, likely late morning by the look of the shadow, Mrs. noelekal snapped a couple of Polaroids of me posing with .38-40 weaponry, a .38-40 Winchester Model 1873 and a 7 1/2-inch Uberti Colt SAA clone also chambered for .38-40.



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    Can't now explain why the revolver was worn in cross-drawn fashion with knife on right side. Was an attempt to look studly apparently. The very tight fitting T-shirt was the Lucky Hunting Shirt, worn for dove hunting in warm weather and as an inner layer under additional layers for wintertime deer and duck hunting. That shirt was a well worn 10 years old when the 1980 photo was taken as I'd originally gotten it as a young teen. Was probably only a medium when new and long shrunken in the wash by the time Mrs. noelekal snapped the photographs 40 years ago.

    So, we moseyed out to our place on Labor Day holiday with a view to recreate the occasion during our planned hiking about. We're a week ahead of exactly 40 years, but we have a commitment next weekend on the exact day and it's suppose to commence raining in this region for several days straight. The unimproved roads on our place become miry after rains. I've never been stuck, but have come perilously close. I'm getting too old to deal with being stuck and am too cheap to want to call a wrecker to a location so remote and inaccessible for rescue.

    For this occasion supporting props were carefully chosen. As the first '73 Winchester was later sold, the present '73 Winchester .38-40 stood in for it. The long-barreled Uberti was also long gone so the 1st Generation Colt Single Action Army .38-40 made for a good substitute. Though that Uberti's holster is still around here somewhere my Uncle Albert's Brill holster for a Colt SAA made an almost more appropriate prop as it would have been at the place on various occasion in the distant past.

    I dug deep within the British military duffel bag containing spares of my cold weather hunting regalia, to the bottom of the duffel to root out the original Lucky Hunting Shirt which I still have (important artifact that it is) and was worn on the first occasion and which at least still goes along on hunting trips in the duffel even if it hasn't been worn in decades.

    A suitable pair of holey jeans were fetched out of the closet. Old fashioned "track shoes" were out of the question so my oldest pair of walking shoes were worn rather than the much more practical hiking boots. Topped things off by wearing the knife and scabbard worn in the 1980 photos. My dad made the knife for me. When I was a kid I kept it in his scabbard for his Mark II Navy knife, but by the time I was grown I'd purchased a leather scabbard from Tandy Leather that "sort of" fits it.



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    Some things noted.

    1. The Lucky Hunting Shirt has not expanded one bit in 40 years time.

    2. Carry in cross draw fashion is weird and pointless for me.

    3. The dark hair went missing somewhere along the journey.

    4. 95F feels hotter now than 100F did 40 years ago.

    5. Winchester Model 1873 rifles have gotten heavier in 40 years.

    6. Mrs. noelekal's still a cutie pie after 40 years.

    7. The shinnery sure has grown since the original photographs were taken.

    8. The ravages of the high temperatures and drought are evident in the 40 year old photographs.

    9. Same rocks were used, but both had shifted since the first photos were taken.

    10. The left knee of my blue jeans still wears out first.

    We had an enjoyable day out together except for this shoulder which was killing me all day because of a recently diagnosed full rotator cuff tear. Hiked about 200 yards from the pickup to the photo locations toting the '73 Winchester then back to the pickup to lock it away for the rest of the hike after the photo session for it hurt too much to carry it. Had intended to carry it along for the entire hike in case of encounters with the feral hogs which have moved in since 40 years ago.

    Had an appointment with the orthopedic surgeon Tuesday, hopefully to sort out the shoulder and schedule it for surgery. Hate the notion of shoulder surgery, but ... yippee!!! It will be welcome in this instance for I'm tired of the pain.

    A snatch of verse from Pink Floyd's "Time" kept running through my head while Mrs. noelekal was taking the photos.


    You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today.

    And then one day you find ten years have got behind you.
     
  16. Waltesefalcon Sep 10, 2020

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    Great set of photos, and at least you can still get the lucky shirt on.

    During the summer of 80 my folks lived in OKC without A/C and my mom was pregnant with me.
     
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  17. Wryfox Sep 10, 2020

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    To all of us Avengers fans out there, Diana Rigg passed today. Rest in Peace. You were the makings of many young boys fantasies.

    She was also quite fond of a number of firearms in her work....
    Screenshot_20200910-132816_Metal Pro.jpg Screenshot_20200910-132806_Metal Pro.jpg Screenshot_20200910-132753_Metal Pro.jpg Screenshot_20200910-132644_Metal Pro.jpg Screenshot_20200910-132624_Metal Pro.jpg Screenshot_20200910-132613_Metal Pro.jpg Screenshot_20200910-132601_Metal Pro.jpg Screenshot_20200910-132548_Metal Pro.jpg Screenshot_20200910-132516_Metal Pro.jpg Screenshot_20200910-132505_Metal Pro.jpg Screenshot_20200910-132448_Metal Pro.jpg Screenshot_20200910-132437_Metal Pro.jpg Screenshot_20200910-132416_Metal Pro.jpg Screenshot_20200910-132403_Metal Pro.jpg Screenshot_20200910-132348_Metal Pro.jpg
     
  18. Ritzwatch Sep 10, 2020

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    Well, if it is hot out, and one doesn't have A/C, people wear fewer clothes...things happen. ;):D
     
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  19. Waltesefalcon Sep 10, 2020

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    That part happened in the springtime.
     
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  20. Wetworks Sep 30, 2020

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    More problems, more advice needed, sorry. From what I can see, the PX4 is next to impossible to find in a compact/subcompact size. The gun dealer suggested a SS 365, but I do not find that particularly appealing.

    On the long gun front, the Saint is out because it has a threaded barrel, which is forbidden in communist NY. So I would also appreciate suggestions on a AR/Mini14 type of rifle that isn't in that forbidden class. Thanks as always!