I just don't wear a rash guard. I figure my skin will toughen up (like my stomach from AIWB)Originally Posted by 45dotACP
You know, like the Soviet "gently padded concrete" mentality...
I just don't wear a rash guard. I figure my skin will toughen up (like my stomach from AIWB)
You know, like the Soviet "gently padded concrete" mentality...
Skulls for the skull throne!
I guess I was lucky: I always loved guns, especially handguns, but realized early on I didn’t want them to admire. I’m a perpetual kid with no interest in things I can’t play with.
In my early 20s, I swapped for an S&W 17-3, joined a gun club, and spent every evening after work for the summer of 1984 on a bullseye range poking .22 holes in B8 & B6 repair centers.
I carried some fairly heavy family obligations in the intervening three decades, where obtaining a new gun meant trading or selling another. But there’s only a couple I regret letting go.
Now, with an understanding wife, I can afford to indulge a bit and the collection is growing.
My biggest problem is the internet. I can literally shop for and purchase guns from my sofa. Seems so wrong but feels so right!
I am, however, stuck in the 80s and double-action revolvers. I did buy a 3913 last year, but I’m still not convinced this whole 9mm autoloader thing isn’t just a 116-year fad.
Looking at the resources available to pistol shooters now vs when I started, there’s really no excuse for not developing good marksmanship skills.
Back in the day, ranges were all outdoors and in the boonies. The nearest was a 30-minute drive for me. Most were designed for bullseye, so the nearest you could set a target was 50’ and often 25 yards. You shared the range with grumpy old farts who regarded anyone under 40 or not shooting bullseye as a pinko sissy. They used to have conniption fits when I cut loose with a .44 Magnum, grumbling how silly it was to hunt deer with a handgun. Training was pretty much non-existent. At least here in Texas, the only competitions were bullseye, NRA Hunters Pistol, and, if you knew the right people, PPC.
I thought I’d update this thread a little. I’ve given up on the idea of consolidating my ARs into one really nice one. I did sell my AR pistol but then I replaced it with a Steyr AUG. I have no plans to sell my two remaining BCM and Colt ARs. Ideally, I just wouldn’t buy any more ARs. Realistically, I’ll probably end up buying the recently announced Geissele AR too assuming the $750 price quoted in the article is accurate. I’ve never bought a product solely to support a company before but if Bill Geissele delivers a duty grade AR marketed at LE users at a price almost any officer can afford if they saved a little bit more than the cost of a junk AR, I’d happily buy one to encourage him.
I have decided to make a list of guns I want to acquire and try to stick to it. It’s not what I consider a small list lol.
My posts only represent my personal opinion and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or official policies of any employer, past or present. Obvious spelling errors are likely the result of an iPhone keyboard.
I have said list made, last I saw it it was on the fridge but the wife may have moved it. It was nice to consolidate my wants onto a piece of power and actually made me feel better about my last two purchases because they were both list guns and not a random whim.
Mine wasn’t real long I’d have to double check but I think it was in the 6-8 range with two checked off now. There are always others I want but those are the focus.
Where? I didn't see the distinction, clearly listed in this thread.
I was a couple days from signing up for one of EL's classes, when a coworker quit. Two weeks later, one of the owners went down for medical, for what was to be most of the year. I went from 40-50 hours a week to 80.
With that money, I have bought a few thousand rounds of two calibers, both practice and hollowpoint and I want a few more of other grains. I have multiple of the same gun, in various sizes (PX4) and realize the ammo that may work best in the subcompact, may not be the best for the full sized or compact. Doesn't mean the same controls, don't help with training.
But I have also bought some other guns, based on several factors:
1. Price, bought almost all guns this year, used, most in the $400 range. (let others take the hit and less of one if I don't like them)
2. Availability of something that has interested me, so I can compare/contrast my choice of defense weapons. (what made you KNOW you had the right gun, without trying others?)
3. Hearing from so many people, how this is the cheapest they have seen in a long time.
4. When I was 21, I was taught to shoot by a friend. When I passed on a gun he offered me (let one of his former coworkers have it, as it was once issued to him), I said when I am debt free, I will revisit. After 40, I bought one from a friend, getting a divorce, then later a subcompact striker, based on recommendations/ammo and a whim after being robbed. I hated that gun and traded it on a full sized one out of the used cabinet at the LGS. (give me an external hammer/personal preference)
And lastly, when I was taught, I was taught with a 10mm and have wanted one again, as well as a revolver, since that is what I almost bought from him.
So I picked up a CZ PCR and P01 (thoughts were backup/range and carry), but I don't like the controls as much as my PX4, so range toys. A 4" stainless GP100 (revolver want/dry fire/trigger practice) and a Sig 1911, in 10mm (LGS used cabinet, filled want to try another 1911 and a 10mm, range toy). These last two guns, I have around 600 rounds of practice ammo. One new gun is the LTT Elite, when I realized a number that meant something. (It is on loan to my LGS dealer, he is going to get one and wanted to compare/contrast to his Wilson)
I could have stashed most all this OT money (one bonus was required to buy a gun or ammo), but only four range trips this year and feeling the effects of all this work, has meant my only real practice, is/was dry fire:
I have seen an improvement in shooting, but feel MUCH older.
An impulse purchase that I did, after four years of looking, is a new laptop (Purism). I don't think that counts as non impulsive, because I did it on Black Monday, due to a decent discount. So I am scolding myself on that one.
Elsewhere...
Other threads, other fora.
It's a point that gets discussed from time to time. Usually when someone opens their safe(s) and realizes that a lot of stuff has accumulated, with no real rhyme or reason. If you can afford it, in terms of money, time, and storage space, fine, but accumulating stuff because it's cool and/or a great deal is not the same as assembling a collection, or assembling a battery or system for training and defense.
Last edited by Drang; 12-02-2018 at 12:03 PM.
Recovering Gun Store Commando. My Blog: The Clue Meter
“It doesn’t matter what the problem is, the solution is always for us to give the government more money and power, while we eat less meat.”
Glenn Reynolds
Accumulating stuff (crap might be more accurate) is definitely the problem I have. Movies (VHS/DVD/Blu-Ray), books, board games, & guns are my biggest vices. I'm no doubt past the half way point for this body and it is time to sell things if only to make it easier after I die.
One idea I don't remember seeing in this thread (I'll admit to skimming the trumpet posts) is one I've seen on black powder forums, that we are merely the current custodians of the things we own. If that's the case, the romantic in me likes to think so, I should definitely move things that I haven't touched for years on to someone else that will enjoy them and take care of them.
My forum name comes from a Shiloh Sharps 1859 Sporting Rifle I haven't shot for years. Does it make sense to keep it when someone else can be enjoying it? Probably not. In a moment of weakness last year I ordered a Clark Custom Meltdown Government Model in .38 Super and am seriously considering forfeiting the $500 deposit or selling it after delivery for a loss as I can't imagine it it getting much use.
I already do the minimalist thing with clothes why not do it with everything else?
Re: Collecting vs accumulating guns.
I used to accumulate random guns. Now I have 3 categories:
Work guns - current working guns or copies thereof. I have these because I have the most time and training with them. Currently ARs, 870 shotguns, Glocks and Sig P320s.
Collecting I try to keep a copy of each of my prior working guns. I have a P229DAK, a USPC LEM etc. Besides nostalgia, I have a fair amount of support gear for these which really isn’t worth much on the resale market.
Fun guns: these are guns I have just because. Because they are fun to shoot, I always wanted one as a kid, they were in a movie I like or I just shoot them well.
For example shotguns. I primarily have 870s because /work gun copies. I have a a Winchester Model 12 riot gun because / The Wild Bunch. I have a Benelli M1 with two barrels because they were super cool when I was a Kid, it was the first long gun I bought after I turned 18, and I shoot it well. I also saw a Benelli with an Aimpoint or gas o pro point mounted around 1990 or so and thought it was cool as hell. The owner was a local PD officer who used to travel every year to the Soldier of fortune match before 3 gun was its own thing. I never got around to drilling and tapping my M1 so I’ve added a Beretta 1301T to the herd as an RDS gun and so I can stop swapping barrels on the the M1.
Some fun guns I keep and shoot for a while and pass on. For example I always wanted a Galil after handling and drooling over them as a kid in the 80s. I eventually got a preban 16” with a top rail. Neat gun, kept it a few years, shot it some for fun then decided to convert it into cash for something else I wanted to try. Sold it to a guy in MA which makes me feel a little better about selling it since pre-bans are that poor soul’s only option. I was sad to see it go but there was a good feeling of “John has a Long Mustache” sending it behind enemy lines to someone still fighting the good fight in the liberal occupied zone.
Last edited by HCM; 12-22-2018 at 02:21 PM.
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