BrianK

Welcome to the forum!

Thanks!

Never had real moonshine and I'd like that to change. I'd try it in a heartbeat. Mostly Scotch and Irish for me and I severely limit the consumption. I was told that limitation would be a really good idea.

I know very little about Rep' Gaetz, but just from that I like him alot.

Thanks, I didn't know. Whenever older folks and slides are mentioned it's always the effort to retract that's discussed (or so it seems) the tip barrel solution is so common sense.

I saw this in the latest Am' Rifleman and thought, "What a fantastic solution.". As some people age they find it more and more difficult to operate a semi-auto. This removes any requirement to operate the slide of a semi-auto. Or you can if you wish since it's still a semi-auto. The Girsan mc 14t. The woman in the video looks like it's the first time she's ever fired any gun, but other than that... Full size semi-auto, .380 (not my first choice), no slide racking; It's made for older folks. Maybe others? https://eaacorp.com/product/girsan-mc-14t/

Nice chicken coop! I need to tear down our hens retirement home, make soup, build a new coop, and get new layers. I think this time I'll get 2 breeds and 2 coops. Good layers, and Jersey Giants for their meat. There's nothing like a slow growing heritage bird for chicken flavor that's off the scale, and real dark meat. We've always started our birds indoors so that the dogs can see that they're part of the family. But DNP, they've got to be putting lots of chicken dust into the air at that size. Yeah, time to go outside. We got some snow the other day, just enough to remind us the winter was still here. But then it went into the 40s and will be there during the day for the rest of the week and might not go below freezing at night, but it'll be close.

Yeah, for whatever reason Kimber stopped production. I had to search the country for my Ultra 10 II and found one in PA. Maybe it was too non traditional those years ago? IDK. I had problems with mine at first. I failed to read the manual. It stated to use ammo with highly polished cases, that pretty much means the really good stuff. But I'm a cheapskate and don't use the good stuff for practice. so I used lesser ammo and got jams where the DS funnels down to single stack. I tried the good stuff and it worked 100%. Then I tried even worse ammo, steel cased Russian and it jammed every time. So I got out the secret weapon, carnauba paste wax. I waxed each round of Russian ammo, wiped off the excess, and it fed them 100% because now they were slick enough to work in the magazine. Now I wax any ammo that might be an issue in the 10 II. I like it because I have smallish hands (stubby fingers?) and even a SS 1911 doesn't fit me 100%, made worse with the long triggers manufacturers insist on using. But the 10 II fits me OK despite being a DS. No panels on the frame is the difference. What I need to do is get all of my 1911 triggers swapped out. But it's a low priority so I live with them.

Glock... When they first came out they felt like a 2x4 in my hand. I'm sure I wasn't alone in thinking that. That turned me off immediately and for decades I wouldn't even handle one, why waste my time? Maybe a year ago a gent at my LGS handed me one and I had to admit that it no longer felt like a 2x4, it felt pretty good and I was surprised. But that was years after me shooting an M&P competitively and buying an M&P 9c for EDC. Then I bought a Walther PPQ and it was even better with a really nice trigger. That was something I couldn't like about any Glock, the triggers just suck. But if I was going to buy a Glock it probably would never be a Glock, it'd be a Shadow Systems "Glock". I still don't have a Glock and probably never will. Other than the M&Ps and the PPQ, in semi-autos I've always been a fan of John Browning, to include the P-35, designs. If I do buy another semi-auto, and that's highly unlikely, it'll probably be a double stack 1911 in 9mm flavor. Why screw with trigger perfection? Yeah, I'm a trigger snob and I want that trigger to break like a glass rod and not feel like I'm bending a plastic straw. Full disclosure, the M&Ps did NOT come through with what I'd call acceptable triggers either, it took $ and work on my part to get them where I wanted them. Like 98Z I'm heavy into Kimber and I'll add heavy into the 1911 grip angle. Ideally, Kimber would redesign the BP 10 II in 9mm and add provisions for a red dot and they'd sell at least one (to me). I'd buy an Ultra 10 II in 9mm at the same time if it was similarly designed and make it my new EDC. The Ultra 10 II is smaller all over with a 3" barrel. Unlike many other DS 1911s the BP 10 II fits my hand. https://www.genitron.com/Handgun/Kimber/Pistol/Pro-BP-Ten-II/45-Auto/Variant-1

Typical Maine spring weather, yeah, I know it's not spring yet, but tell Maine that. It's been in the 40s and things have been melting. Yesterday I let the chickens and guinea fowl out, the first time in months. Last night it went below freezing, the night before it stayed above freezing all night. I thought I woke up to fog today, but it was a flurry and there was a dusting on the ground. Where the sun touches it's all melted 'cause the sun has quite a bit of heat in it now, but the outside temp' is only in the low 30s. It's forecast to be in the 40s for the rest of the week, so more melting will happen. After a normal winter, and this winter was NOT normal, we have places where the ground is frozen solid and the melt water makes puddles until the ground thaws and the melt can soak in. Those areas haven't had the typical puddles this year and the melt is soaking in immediately. That's different. It was also pretty easy on our heating bill all winter. "They" are predicting MANY more ticks this year due to the mild winter. Nothing we can do but wait and see. Fingers crossed that we get an early spring. I have lots to do, tear down a rotten chicken coop, build a pole barn, work up a few cord of firewood, load a mess of ammo, and cast a few k 9mm and 300BLK bullets. I'll be busy.

Yeah, I know about climbing the risers to spill air and steer it, but it only does so much. That particular jump I didn't actually realize how deep the kimchee was until it was almost too late to do anything. My biggest goal was not to land on the bike. That would have ruined my day. Once the civilians realized we were using the LZ they'd come out to spectate and get in the way. And farmers fields had central concrete roads running through them. Not for thru traffic, but for the farmers use. But anyone had access to them. I'd need to find my camo band from my helmet and count the marks for accuracy, 20ish jumps, most were C-130s which I hated due to the propwash. I loved the C-141 and any chopper. Since I was also the training clerk I also got to dodge jumps I didn't want to take part in (C-130) and make sure my name was on the manifest when I absolutely wanted to jump. Many times the flight to the LZ was the hairiest part. Germany was loaded with air traffic and a 20 minute flight could take well over an hour dodging other planes. I'd sleep but a buddy got the bright idea to take a sick bag from one plane. Before the next jump he filled it with veg' soup and acted like he puked in it during the flight. Then upended it and began to eat it for what others thought was the 2nd time. I wasn't there to observe the effect on anyone but I heard about it. 😆 Our unit was nuts. We'd unass the plane in under 10 seconds if the stick was just us. Door position? What's that? Once the stick started moving it didn't stop unless other folks were put in among us. MPs mostly from what I remember. From the ground we could tell when other folks were coming out 'cause they'd take door positions and there would be distance between 'chutes. Then the plane would start to puke our unit again, like squeezing a toothpaste tube. It made for some interesting jumps when we were that close together. Chutes didn't open in faces but it was close. We heard about MC-1s, they were in development at the time but we never even knew what they were called. We just knew they had panels missing in the back through scuttlebut. I never saw one back then. Now I've seen videos of square chutes in use. I was in A co 12th Engrs and we were in support of the 509th Inf 8th Inf Div. At the time we were told we were the only Airborne Engrs on the planet. But the 509th was Airborne so we were also. We were jabbed for everything communicable. In theory we could do heavy drops and be anywhere on the planet in 24 hours. I was trained in heavy drops, but we never tried it. Our main job was in blowing the bridges across the Rhine using "classified high explosives". It takes alot of kilotons to blow a huge bridge abutment if you catch my drift. Many years later I met a high ranking officer, got to talking, and he told me that we never would have used them, but they were there on base anyway, or at least something was in a building with bars on it that they took very seriously and kept guarded. maybe the building was empty and it was all for show. We all knew what was supposedly in there. That was an entire life ago and the world was much different. FWIW, engineers and Oppenheim Germany has an interesting history from WW2. We were just up the road a few klicks in Dexheim. Blink when driving by and you missed it. Yes, we practiced shutting down river traffic on the Rhine (once), bridging it again, and crossing. That was an international exercise and the Brits were involved in it. I think we used the bridging site from 30 years earlier for our FTXes. I didn't realize it at the time, but I'd be willing to bet the rough terrain we drove our tracked vehicles on were old shell craters. Most times flood areas are pretty smooth and level. This was not that. It was interesting, at times fun, I got to do things few ever get to do, and I needed it at the time but after 3 years I was glad to be out. I've never regretted the experience.

Test what? Testing supersonic ammo in a 300BLK is no test. ALL AR 300BLK firearms should reliably function with supers. But so far I've only tried S&B subsonics in mine and they didn't function the action, my reloads were built to function reliably so I stopped buying expensive factory ammo since I'm inherently cheap and I know I can make better ammo than I can buy. Anyone can make subsonic ammo for manually operated actions (I'll state that again in a bit.). FWIW, S&B supers work fine but again, that's no test. Today was a nice day and the snowbanks were beckoning me to put some bullets into them for retrieval in a few weeks after they melt. (I can melt them down) My LGS had all sorts of supersonic ammo but that's not a test of any semi-auto. They had AMMO Inc' /stelTH/ 220gr TMC subsonic @ $30/20 (specifically made of suppressors), and VELO 225gr subsonic poly coated @ $35/20. Yeah, that's why I reload! The stelTH states 1016 fps but no barrel length and the Velo 980 fps, again with no stated barrel length. Neither stated that they were made for semi-autos either (That should be stated one way or the other IMO, but that's one heck of a can of worms to open!). Heck, anyone can make subsonic ammo for a manually operated action! I also got a mess of UTG mags in. The reviews for them were good and for $6 per I couldn't say no. On unpacking them I can state that they looked good, on a par with MagPul, but of course looks can be deceiving. Anyway, this was a first small test of one of them. They worked fine in this extremely limited test. My AR wears a AMTAC CQB can all the time. It has low back pressure so it's almost like no can at all. It does quiet the noise a bit, but it's main job is to attenuate blast. It is NOT ear safe but it's not at all painful to the ears indoors. What it is is short since >50% of it hangs back over the barrel. The 10" barrel with 10" can yields a 14" barrel assembly (approx'). The barrel has a pistol length gas port. I can't remember the port diameter. The /stelTH/ ammo locked the action back and cycled reliably. The VELO didn't lock the action back so I stopped testing them. IMO it's either 100% function or it's not functioning. Would the VELO function with a more restrictive can in place? I didn't test that 'cause that's not how I'll use this 300Blk, but maybe that would make the difference. My supers push a 85 gr copper bullet out of the 10.3" barrel @ 2300 fps for 1k ft/lbs, and my subsonic ammo pushes a 225gr cast poly coated bullet @ 1094fps. Both function reliably. Full disclosure, I also have a plinking load with a 180gr bullet that is supersonic @ roughly 1400fps if memory serves. I bought a few hundred of the bullets and the mfgr' shut its doors so I used them for plinking ammo. Like all supers should, yes, they function reliably. There's plenty of gas to work with when it's a supersonic load.

We didn't have the choice. the orientation of the T-10 (it was 50+ years ago) and the wind decided for us. Yeah, I guess with rope you'd have a choice, but we didn't. The only time I ever did a PLF correctly was when I was coming down on a concrete road with a red and chrome motorcycle in the way. I slipped as much as I could to miss the bike and did a textbook perfect PLF on the concrete. Clearly part of my brain knew all along how to do one but just never saw much sense in them until it was needed ( I guess). But while I saw what was coming I had an "Oh S--t!" moment and had to think fast. I have idectic imagery of it. I was trying to remember what LZ it was and all I can come up with is Wackernheim in what was West Germany back then.

I think that might have been an introduction? If so, welcome to the forum. Sorry, not from N central Ohio, but a 33% match, central Maine.

Well, what they're trying to tell you is do it because you want to and not because it needs to be stronger. Unless you are going to abuse it in some major way, and that means have a pack horse roll om it as it goes over a cliff or some such you just won't abuse it enough so that stronger parts will amount to anything meaningful other than lightening your wallet.