chitchater

Wow. Impressive

My check arrived several days ago.

Missed the last one. Life gets complicated. Plan on being there this time.

Thanks for the address and directions.

What are the directions to the Brush Creek Range and times and dates for matches?

One of my sons and I just returned from another very productive day of training with Randy. We did pretty much what the description of the original post states. As always, Randy starts everyone out with clear explanations as to what and why and then emphasizes dry fire and practice before moving on to live fire. I find the combination to be a very effective instructional technique. It is not always as much fun as just going out and burning up as much ammo in as short a time as possible, but I feel that it works far better. Another really good day.

Plan on attending with one other person.

5.45? I have both an AKM and a 74. While I like the idea of the 7.62 x 39 round, it just is not that much fun for me to shoot. Sure, it is big, reliable, proven, etc., and really slams those steel targets, but I also have to have a good cheek weld or a day of shooting may give me AK cheek. Even Rob Ski uses that big after market muzzle brake to make those 5000 round torture tests easier. OTOH, the 5.45 is simply easy to deal with. I notice very little recoil or muzzle jump whether the brake is on or not (took it off several times just to see). The other comparison of the calibers that no one talks about much is the weight of full mags. Several full 7.62 mags are just heavy, especially the bombproof metal surplus ones. Everyone talks about getting an AKM for when the SHTF. Well, a SHTF ammo load of 7.62 is going to be a real load. As I said, I have both and want to keep both. If I come across another AKM that I like, then I will have two of them. My point is just that for shooting enjoyment, I grab the 74 every time.

Come on now Smith! I loved the "ARs are like trophy wives" description, but really.....then you show us a photo of a Vegas showgirl. Nobody has a girl like that living next door!

Just thinking about that makes my shoulder hurt.

Best thing that I have found is old appliances, especially washers and driers.  Last forever and are such thin metal that not much danger of  ricochets if you accidentally crowd the barricade.  The washers and driers also make great outdoor shooting benches.  Very stable and weatherproof and a good height.  I told some people that I was using them and pretty soon became a junk appliance center.   Only worth a couple of dollars as scrap now and appliances do not seem to last very long any more, so people change them out pretty often.

I plan on being there.....but I don't leave my rifle at home, even if it is a sissy lego gun/barbie gun.

Making plans to attend this one!  Will bring some of my surplus metal mags.  Even if I can't hit the target I can beat it to pieces with one of those chunks of steel.

That has got to be about the best looking knife that I have ever seen!

Still planning to be there.

Was a CW operator in forces many years ago.  In the field we used the old hand crank generator and the 109 crystal based radio.  Most of the time it was comm wire thrown over a tree limb and pointed in the right direction.  Even after all this time I can still remember most of the code and could still send and receive (very slowly).  Any recommendations  on a modest setup to play around with CW again? 

I plan on attending.

You need to decide whether your are smoking, curing, or both.  If you intend to deal with a hog you need to use a salt based curing mix that is rubbed into the meat.  This requires (works best with) the salt box that is mentioned above.  Most of the old time smoke houses had these approx. waist high boxes/trays along one side of the smoke house. Meat does not get hung up until after treatment with the mix.  This rubbing in and hanging is usually repeated several times.  Smoking is normally used later on.  There is a reason for the dirt floor...that is where the smoldering fire usually was.  On the other hand, if all that you want to do is smoke some meat,  you do not need anything so large or elaborate.

Looking over the quiz and thinking (do that every now and then).  +2 for 300 miles from a large city.  Hard to do anywhere in the Eastern US.  Even so, we once put our prisons in metropolitan areas.  Now they are in the most remote areas of the state.  Same is pretty much true in other states also.  Good economic reasons for this...local jobs, less expensive land for the newer sprawling prisons, etc.  Wonder what will happen to all those prisoners.

All those feed stores also sell 50# bags of white mixing salt.  It is just loose, coarse textured salt in a plastic bag, more like kosher salt than the fine textured table salt that we normally use.  But then, kosher salt is not kosher because it has been blessed and killed humanely, but because the heavy texture is traditionally for curing meats.  As was pointed out, avoid the trace mineral salts and keep it in a dry place away from anything that might rust.

All right!!!!  I was doing a pretty poor job of cleaning the carbon off just a few nights ago and thinking that there has got to be a better way.  I am ordering one of these.

Good design and good directions! Thanks

Hope to be there.  I know that there are many well trained and skilled shooters on TGO.  Unfortunately, I am not one of these.  Though I am not new to shooting, I am new to training in the proper handling of a pistol in a confrontational situation.  After attending the one day sessions on rifle and pistol in Knoxville on the 18th and 19th I still may not be able to claim a high skill level, but I am certainly much better trained and (I hope at least) a bit more competent than before.  Randy Harris is a great instructor.  I am certainly not the first person to recommend his classes.

I'll be there

That was a hoot!