John in AR

Not this week but last week, ordered six 100-watt solar panels and charge controller to allow for a full-on camera system at the construction site. Already have a couple six-volt 220ah batteries on hand for the purpose. The main steel building is supposed to arrive in a couple weeks and I don't want to keep relying solely on the cellular game camera for security purposes. That size solar & battery setup will allow power for up to four (will probably only install 2-3) 1080P HD cameras with their IR illuminators, as well as the DVR for 24/7 operation, with more than adequate reserve for cloudy days.

Figure once the house is done and the conex is moved, we may use the solar setup on an aquaponics greenhouse eventually; but that's way down the road.

John in AR

Traded off one of my M&P's to one of my sons. His only full-size defensive pistol was an older smith 5906, and while a functionally fine gun, it has a weird grip size and angle. He mentioned that he was thinking about buying a Canik (he has a cousin who has Caniks and they're surprisingly good guns). I offered to trade him one of my full-size M&P 9mms for his old 5906 instead. A more modern, more comfortable gun for him, and it gives me another gun that uses the same magazines as my old Camp-9 carbine. Win-win all around imo, with no cost to anybody.

Also said our final goodbyes to Granny; my wife's grandmother. She turned 99 in September and we buried her yesterday. When my sons were little, they would be enthralled by her stories of traveling with her parents to "the city" twice a year to buy supplies in the 20's & 30's in a horse-drawn wagon; a three-day round trip, trading with indians along the way. In her later years, she did some traveling around the country, primarily with my wife; but in 99 years she never lived more than 7 miles from where she was born.

One time a few years ago (when she was somewhere in her 80's I believe) we were watching the news one night and some state-level politician got busted for bribery and some other things, and she cracked us up by saying "They all need killin. A life-sentence just ain't as scary as it used to be." She was a cool old bird.

Garand

Just got a call from my gunsmith, he has finished with my Cimarron M73 in .45LC. I guess that means more indoor range time next week.

Terry G

My Son started the 2017 Deer Season off with this four pointer a half hour after the season started. I heard the single shot so I headed for his tree stand. We spent the rest of the morning gutting it, hauling it, and then hanging it. Small rack, but pretty big deer. He made a perfect hit, hear/lung, with a 180 Grain Hornady. It ran about 60 yards anyway. It was only a 40 yard shot, so I gave him grief about my spending a $1100.00 for a Browning A Bolt and riflescope for him to make a shot he could have made with one of my SKS's. His response was "Yeah, but I SHOT a Deer Dad." No respect.

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John in AR

And that's a big part of why I gave up on handgunning for deer - in arkansas, as nice and big as that deer is, it would be illegal because of our stupid three-point rule. And my eyes aren't good enough anymore to tell fast enough. A buck is legal if it has three points on either side, or if it has NO points more than two inches on either side. So a five-pointer is legal, most four-pointers are illegal (although a four-pointer can be legal if it's a weird distribution of points), a button-buck is legal, a spike is (usually) illegal, and (in most areas) a doe is legal. Way too much detective work and decision-making required imo.

And it causes a lot of perfectly good deer to be left to rot in the woods when a hunter shoots a good size buck, only to find that its antlers are either too big or too small and he doesn't dare do anything but leave it where it lays.

Basically, we can shoot big bucks, small bucks, and doe even in most places, but the medium-small ones and even some medium-large ones (like that one) will get your gun confiscated and get a substantial fine dropped on your head.

So even though I can still see plenty good enough to tell that a deer is a decent one and to hit it humanely & effectively, without a magnified optic I can't see well enough fast enough to tell if it's an ok deer to shoot in the first place. What a stupid law.

Terry G

That's crazy and IS a good way to have normal people break the law. Here it's 1 Buck tag, never mind the points, and one bonus antlerless Deer, button buck or doe. The herd here is very large due to two mild Winter's and bumper crop's. As far as shooting a "wrong" buck according to your State's rules, your average excited Deer hunter is very apt to make a mistake.

John in AR

Found a new religion this week - HONDA. Never again will I buy a generator without a Honda engine unless it's a low-dollar 'throwaway' unit like we use on jobsites occasionally. Been fighting a gas leak on the TSC-bought Champion brand that's only three years old, and have decided I'm done with bargain generators for anything other than the little jobsite stuff.

I should have listened to my own advice to my sons & others over the years - "Sometimes the cheap stuff is just too expensive."

BigBassMan

Braved to cold today an visited a couple shops , found another lightweight Colt Defender in 45 acp. That makes two, they make great carry guns. Three day wait here in IL so I have to go pick it up next week. Plus got it for a good price. First gun this year.
Had to work on one of the son's ARs, he had a steel case stick in the chamber an rip in half. Damm russian krap. He also picked up a darn AK but has not shot it yet. And he got smart an traded one of his Sig 938s off. Still bugging me for a model 14 an a commander that needs to be checkered. That might get done this month.

Terry G

After hours of checking and re-checking, I came back to square one on the converted Mauser I was cleaning and getting a ball park price on. The caliber is the original 8X57 MM. The trick here is it is designed to be loaded from the magazine, you can't just drop a round in the chamber. The bolt won't close. All my firing and getting empty cases was for naught. Any 17 year old Gefreiter from the Wehrmacht could have told me this, but I don't know any. Feel like a FOOLE!

Garand

Got back from the range yesterday and had some problems with my S&W M66. It will shoot single action no problem, yet when I close the cylinder and shoot the first round double action, the trigger then locks up. Any ideas?

BigBassMan

Remove the sideplate an clean, check the rebound spring, polish the rebound slide an channel. Sounds like some grit in it. Use light lube up there where you are. USE THE RIGHT SCREWDRIVERS!

Garand

I did a full disassembly yesterday, the pin that is connected to the inside of the frame that holds the hammer in place, broke off. Its a gunsmith repair job. Will send it to the S&W Warranty Center even though I've had the revolver for 31 years.

BigBassMan

Lifetime warrenty. Call an they will send you a shipping label, they pay postage both ways. It is no problem to replace, some are pressed in an some models are screwed in.
As a bonus, they will do a action job an replace whatever else needed like springs.

Garand

Can't expect that service in Canada, since I have owned the revolver for 31 years and am the second owner.

John in AR

This past week was great. Trying to do extra memory-making stuff with my wife while she still can, so we went on a cruise last week to Costa Maya, Belize, and Cozumel.

I never post vacation plans or info ahead of time anymore; always after the fact. Can’t get past the customers of ours whose houses have been robbed while they’re gone on vacation or even just gone to Little Rock for the day — they post crap on Facebook about being gone to Disneyworld or even eating dinner at Outback (in Little Rock, an hour & a half away), and come home to find out they were burglarized while they were gone.

That said, had never been to Costa Maya or Belize before and had a ball in all three ports, although we were only in Belize a half day or so. Also had a good time on the ship - there were 12 in our party, including one of my brothers and his wife. Ate way too much food but still lost three pounds because I almost always took stairs instead of elevators, picked up & smoked a couple genuine Cohibas, and came in second in the ship-wide karaoke contest. Love me some Engelbert Humperdinck & Jim Reeves…

Terry G

I try to warn people about the FB crap, but no one listens. "It won't happen to me!" Yeah, like I haven't had to associate with people that just look for this sort of fat target. Anyway, been if the FIFTIES!! Yes, right here in Wisconsin. Shot the TX22's a couple of hundred times each, and ran the Hellcat until I started feeling sore. The little SOB isn't like shooting a full size 9, that's for sure. Took the hound for a hike, but still snow on the trails. Like walking in soft sand. Went out to a Longhorn Steakhouse, never eaten their before. My Wife picked it out. Great Food, a little pricey, but worth it. Visited the SIL. Her and Husband just moved into a 1 Bedroom Apartment. No snow to shovel, no garbage to haul, no self maintenance. No shooting range, no Deer and Turkey's in the back woods, no neighbors, my land. I think I'll stay where I am.

Dorobuta

one of the best things I ever did was get off of face book - I'm happier from doing so.

This has been a good week for me. got a new computer, finally transferred all my stuff from my old one, been steadily upgrade my apps.

getting ready to go hunting for Javelina this weekend.

I like it when a bunch of good stuff falls into place at once.

John in AR

We still have a FB page for our business, because people expect it and would be leery if we didn't have one.

About the only thing I use FB for anymore is looking at job applicants. Someone puts in a job application, the first thing I do before calling any references or anything is check out their FB page. Thirty seconds of looking at what they put there usually tells me whether it's worth looking at them further; usually due to seeing what they consider funny or important. Someone whose facebook page is full of partying and profanity, is off the table pretty much instantly. Someone whose page is full of pictures of their kids is probably getting a further look.

gripper

Worked my side job (an armed security detail at an insurance/crime scene site) way up in Lebanon NH Saturday and Sunday. Working my regular job (Devens contract) tonight (as I did last night. Working my side job again tomorrow through Friday and Sunday (albeit at a location in my own city). Saturday I have to be at Devens in the morning for some paid training (recertification for the Feds).
Had an altercation leaving work in Boston last night. Two in the morning, I prepay my gas pump and am walking back to my car. Some guy is out of his car on the other side of the pump from me; but is leaning in between my gas tank and MY pump talking on his phone....and he's on a freaking HEADSET... I politely (really!) wave and point at the car...nope...he's behind his sunglasses at 2 IN THE MORNING acting like ANYTHING else is more important than the inconvenience of even acknowledging me. Or moving. I backhand the pump ..he looks all aggrieved, rolling his eyes and continuing to talk. He starts to raise up his hands..I step in closer and asked him if his eyes were OK... because Ray Charles would have seen me..I snake the has hose and hold up the nozzle... casually.
He suddenly decides to go buy his gas elsewhere... freaking wierdo..

John in AR

Got part of my christmas present from our sons. They ordered me a full two-octave set of musical targets, which were backordered. When they made the new run, they messed up one of the sets and so we only received half of them. (The chime set; the gong set are still to come.)

Got them set up on Saturday and our boys & I played with them some. Only song I can do so far is 'happy birthday'; figure my next one to learn will probably be 'amazing grace'.

I figure that may be as gloriously politically incorrect as a person can get - playing hymns with a magazine-fed semiauto. Looking forward more than I probably should to annoying some libtards...