[Anyone recently get their HCP?]

Smaller target, 50 rounds, 3 yards, 7 yards and 21 yards. After you pass class you go to DMV to apply, then call 800 number for an appointment to be fingerprinted. I took my class on a Saturday, DMV on Monday, prints on Tuesday and had my HCP 2 weeks later. There's a link about it under the women's section. Piece of cake. Scored 100 on written and 96 on target. I had 4 squirrelly shots thanks to FTE issues.

 

I took the class this week.  It was

20 rounds at 3 yards 

20 rounds at 5 yards

10 rounds at 7 yards

 

Thanks

Robert

[Carry ammo?]

I have never done any reloading so this may be a dumb question!

I have always been told to never carry reloaded ammo(i.e. Freedom munitions), to always carry factory new ammo. What is the difference? They both use assembly lines. I've had factory new ammo screwed up. Just something I had on my mind.

 

Some people have suggested that using hand reloads could be used against you in a self defence trial.  Their concern was the prosecutor could make a big deal about how you created a custom made round that was more deadly to kill not just for self defense.  The facts are no prosecutor has made those claims to date.  The argument is logical enough that if I did reloads I would still buy "self defense" rounds for my carrying.  I mean you might be in 1 self defense shooting in your life you will train / plink 1000's of times in your life.  Buying a few boxes of SD ammo to shoot a few times a year isn't worth taking the tiny change it would introduce.

 

Thanks

Robert

[I have a question for everyone.]

I think it is highly unlikely this country would be invaded due to it's size and population  If you add Canada to the math North America is larger than Russia.  There isn't a military in the world that could control such a vast land mass with such a heavily armed populace.  

 

How long before the grid is irrelevant anyway?  With the rapid advances in locally produced electricity via micro solar array coupled with further advances in the technology over a few decades the current dependence on the grid for power shouldn't last much longer.  Maybe another 30-50 years I would say.   

 

Most of those local Solar array require a power grid to function.  Just ask people in NJ after sandy came thought how well there local solar systems worked.

 

Thanks

Robert 

[I have a question for everyone.]

Or, invaded by stronger enemies to solve their food crisis.

 

I doubt it America would be in rough shape but most of our really big bad weapons would survive since much of our military command and control is generally EMP harden.  In a sense we would be a hurt bear even more dangerous as we couldn't depends on our conventional forces we would be more likely to depend on the use of Nukes to defend ourselves.

 

Thanks

Robert

[I have a question for everyone.]

Security...

 

It won't matter how well / bad you're prepared if you can't protect it. Rioting and looting are bad now, imagine how bad it will be should a major national / global emergency occur, much less if TSHTF. Whatever you have, people are going to deceive themselves thinking they need it much more than you do and try to forcefully take it. 

 

Purposely living in the country for that potential eventuality has it's pro's and con's. At our age the wife and I wouldn't be able to defend our place having to sleep and other distracting chores on any scale probably. They're are few neighbors around here but with the exception of only one, they are not interested nor capable of much physical activity. Due to the scarcity of warm bodies, there wouldn't be enough manpower for a 24/7 watch, much less any early OP / LP. 

 

There's not many people on the Tennessee Preppers website living in NW Tn. that I can find. At any rate, I can't foresee myself pulling up stakes and leaving most of my possession here and relocating to an assumed safer location? 

 

I brought up the subject of prepping to a buddy of mine at the gun club awhile back and asked his thoughts. He said he's not going to plan / prep and "I'll just come over and take yours". I believe that he was at least half serious too!

 

Security camera with motion sensors they can alert you when someone or something comes around when you are asleep.  You get an alert when someone approaches.  That allows you to manage 24/7 without actually having to be awake the entire time.

 

Thanks

Robert

[NRA Dues Going Up 2016]

Robert,

 

I hope you are right about the front runner changing.  I remember thinking about how a candidate, may have been Bill Clinton's first presidential election, and how they were like the Terminator.  Bad info kept coming out, but he didn't give up and went on to win.

 

I don't know how who is getting money among the Republicans, hopefully Rubio.  

 

4 years ago there were what a good 6 front runners for the republican's before Mitt Romney surged at just the right time to take the nomination someone who was regularly in the middle of the pack hell even well he was winning he wasn't hitting more than 50% in the polls.

 

Thanks

Robert

[NRA Dues Going Up 2016]

I agree with OS as does btq who studies politics a lot.

 

Republican voters and the Republican machine have put un-electable candidates in the first and second slot - Trump and Carson. Swing voters will consider Hillary the lesser of two evils if they have to choose between one of these two and the Hildebeast.

 

The NRA does very well impacting elections in the senate and congress.  My reasoning in getting NRA's LIietime membership has more to do with the congress and senate than the presidential election.  If we can hold on to those then we'll have a toothless and clawless Hildebeast.

 

First it is way to early to make any calls.  I expect the top spot to change more then once before the primaries start to happen.  At this point it is all about the money.  Who can raise the most and who has the best name reconnection.  Polls at this point are only good for 1 one thing to tell who is going up and who is going down.  You can also get a feel for tiers those that have a chance vs those that just aren't getting traction nothing more.

 

Thanks

Robert

[On the topic of bottled water..]

I am not sure what you do to yours but they do last a long time actually.Dropping them or handling them a certain way or cleaning them wrong can break them 

 

What exactly happened that caused the filters to last only a few months?

I will say that some filters have charcoal inside and the charcoal can settle reducing the speed with which they filter. And if your water has very fine sediment you will have to clean more often.

Our water is from a well and because of that we do have some sediment. We use whole house filters to remove the sediment then use the filters to make it 100% safe. We bath and I have drank the water so it is safe but we do worry so we filter.

 

 

The base separated from the charcoal filter.

 

It wasn't from abuse or anything like that.  When I called in regarding the issue they reported there was an issue with a batch and sent me replacements.  The problem is the replacements did the same exact thing.

 

Thanks

Robert

[Thinking about moving from .40 to 9mm ...]

Maybe it's because I was raised by a woman that is basically just like Sarah Connor from Terminator, but I've never understood why women claim to have a hard time with certain calibers or why the gun community continues to reinforce the idea that women are incapable of shooting anything larger than a 380 or 9.

I just took my girlfriend to the range a few weeks ago.. 5'1"" petite build.. And she was shooting .308, 12 gauge slugs, 45 ACP, 357 magnum, and .40 like a boss. The only time she complains is when she shoots certain revolvers because of an old hand surgery she had.

If a woman can endure childbirth, then a woman can pony up the strength to shoot any caliber weapon as effectively as any man.

Just my .02 cents.

 

My mother can shoot a 9m and .45 but a .40 will just about jump out of her hands.  Women generally are weaker then men.  There are many women who can shot anything out there and there are men out there that will have trouble shooting a .40 or a .45.    Personally I work on computers all day and am not very strong.  I can shoot a 9m and get a kill shot 99% of the time with a .45 it is about 95% and with a .40 is drops down to below 50% and that is with practicing for a while.  In the end I found shooting a .40 cal to not be fun so I stopped shooting it.  Someday I might pick up a .40 just to have a sample in my collection but when it comes to carrying I carry a 9m so I have plenty of rounds to put someone down.

 

Thanks

Robert

[Help - Question on Portable TV for camping/hunting]

All,

 

My dad wants a ~15" 12 volt DC powered portable TV to put in his 4x4 hunting van. (it would NOT permanently mount in console, etc). Budget $100 - $150 

 

Any suggestions?

 

Thanks,

 

Bert

 

(there are numerous models on Amazon, too many in fact.  Looking for good brand, etc.)

 

7" Portable LCD TV/DVD Player $89.37 & FREE Shipping

 

http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0032Z8KH0/

 

Cheap will run off battery's as well as using either an AC plug or DC car plug.  Fits the bill and under a hundred bucks.

 

Here is a 9" version http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B003XU7JSK/ at $114.90.

 

Granted not 15" but the prices is right.  

 

Thanks

Robert

 

Update:

 

Found a 15" for $139.95 but the 7" / 9" modules looks a lot nicer to me.  All 3 include a DVD player.

 

http://smile.amazon.com/dp/B005Z44QSI/

 

Thanks

Robert

[On the topic of bottled water..]

I bought a Berkey filter nice enough thing.  The big problem I had is the first set of filter broken in a few months.  Called and they said they had a bad batch and sent me a replacements and they lasted only a few months.  People keep saying they last years but I don't know how they lasted so long for them.

 

Thanks

Robert

[Bitcoin, Learned Something New Today]

Objects only have a value of what people put on them, money, cars, guns, houses etc. so the same could be said about everything that exists.

 

On the scale of worthless things, digital currency ranks lower on the board than government backed currency, so I'll stick with it :)  I collect silver, but realistically if the SHTF real bad, 5,000 oz of silver would be worth less than a potato.

 

Digital Currency is still pretty young and it really excels when you are working with people in other countries.  Personally I am not so sure that the NSA isn't behind bitcoin's myself.  When it was up over $1600 a bitcoin it was pretty clear to anyone watching it was a bubble and at some point was going to fall the real question was how far it would fall and if it would fall bad enough that it took the bitcoin network with it.  It didn't infact fall but at $300 it is still higher that it was before the bubble.  It is kinda like buying gold.  Sometime it is way above market value sometime it is below the trick to not losing your shirt is knowing the difference.  If you don't know the difference then it is best to limit the amount you put in either until you are sure you know the difference.

 

As for the tech behind it is solid and isn't going anywhere and even if bitcoin were to fail something would likely replace it using very similar tech.

 

Thanks

Robert

[22LR ammo....now if the price will just drop!!!]

Academy has them today - Winchester Western 525 boxes for $27.99 - $0. 53 per round.  They have a 2-box limit so get there soon.

 

Misplaced the period.  27.99 / 525 = .0533 not .53.  PS.  5.3 cents per round isn't bad.  53 cents per round is really pretty high for .22 lr.

 

Thanks

Robert

[Oregon county lets sheriff ignore 'unconstitutional' gun laws, raising legal questions]

There have been several laws like that have been passed and although they haven't been challenged in court yet most are likely going to pass muster since they aren't saying that state or federal can't be enforced instead they are saying that local resources can't be used to enforce a state or federal law.  In other words if the state want to come in and enforce a state law they have to use State Troupers and can't use county resource to do so.  As a rule that means the law will rarely be enforced since there are a much smaller number of State Troupers, FBI, or ATF agents for an area then compared to local LEO's.

 

Now this law may be a little to vague that is might not pass a court challenge.  If it fails or get put on hold then a new one can be created that is less vague.

 

Thanks

Robert

 

 

 

[Speeding Ticket Tonight]

Back when I lived in Greenbrier I got my last ticket which would now be over 25 years ago. I was driving through Watertown about 3:30 AM heading for a bass tournament on Center Hill Lake dragging my boat. Was cruising at about 55 MPH when I saw rollers come on and since I was the only vehicle on the road I just slowed and pulled over. Officer was nice while asking for license and registration. He walked back to his car and wrote me the ticket for 50 in a 30 and not 55 or he would have had to take me to jail for reckless driving. I signed the ticket and we exchanged good byes and I went on to fish. Upon getting home I took the ticket out and read the information on the back about what the fines where. I had already made up my mind I would just pay it rather than make that long drive back to attend court. On the very bottom of the information it said "No Checks accepted"  Well I pondered over it for a day or two and just sat down. wrote a check to the Watertown Court clerks Office where it said the ticket could be paid and mailed it. 6 days later my check cleared my bank and I never heard another word about it from Watertown and my insurance did not go up. I learned right then that it is all about the money. The say they won't accept checks but they accepted mine. They had what they wanted which was the $57.50 for the fine.

 

Now I don't know about this day in time and tickets but I did have to go with a friend to traffic court about 2 years ago for speeding. He was going 74mph in a 65 MPH Zone. Hendersonville on Vietnam Vets Highway. He wanted to fight it in court. Bad idea. He ended up paying the fine of $90.00 + $105.00 court cost and it went on his driving record. I told him to just pay it by mail and let it go but he was bull headed. Ended up costing him a day of work wages plus $195.00. .............................. :shrug:

 

He plead not guilty didn't he.  There is a lot more paper work involved with no guilty so the judges tend to come down harder on people who plead it.  Unless you have something that can be considered solid proof  pleading not guilty is generally a bad idea.  Now if you can show something was wrong with the car and fixed that can help but if you were speeding and you know it don't plead not guilty it never goes well.

 

Thanks

Robert

[Speeding Ticket Tonight]

In Collegedale/Ooltewah tonight on Little Debbie Parkway. I think but am not 100% positive that the limit was just reduced there. I was going 55 in a 40.

 

I handed him my permit with my license. He simply asked if I had the weapon in the car and asked where, then asked me just to avoid that area. I guess he handled that part well. I tried to be very respectful and polite to the officer, but didn't try and come up with an excuse or anything. I honestly didn't know I was speeding, but didn't want to come across as annoying or irresponsible. I honestly thought that he was going to run my license and checkup on my insurance and then give me a warning, but he was gone way too long for that so that's when I knew...

 

Ticketed $133.75.

 

Court date of 12/09 at 3:00 during my normal work hours. I'm in Cleveland, courthouse in Collegedale. My question is whether or not it is worth showing up. I think some/most of the time they tack on fees for showing up to the court date, right? All I'd plan on doing is showing up, explaining that I genuinely did not know I was speeding, had a clean record up to this point, etc. But I don't deny that I was speeding because I know what I set my cruise control on. Does the judge even have the capability for grace, and if he does, do they often exercise it?

 

It is not just the $133.75 ticket cost it is the increase in insurance rates that come with it.  I have gotten 2 tickets in my entire life.  That is in part because I have just plain been lucky but both times I went to court.  In both cases I plead guilty (I was guilty and knew it).  In both cause the points went away and even with court cost the total fine was less than the face value of the ticket.  For me getting the points to go away was the important part as they can really effect you car insurance rates.  Even if you have to take a day off work it will still be cheaper than paying $$$ in increase car insurance for year to come.

 

Thanks

Robert

 

PS.  What part of Cleveland do you live in?

[Cable Cutters Enter]

I can't justify cutting the cord.  Cable TV rates aren't that bad when you compare the cost vs just paying for straight internet.  Now is it right that the internet gets 30% to 40% cheap because I also get my land line phone and Cable TV from that same provider.  Than again they call those discounts a volume discount.

 

Thanks

Robert

[Warning shot fired after road rage incident]

I'm surprised they gave the man a citation for discharging his weapon in the course of self-defense.

 

Because he wasn't in fear for his life when he fired.  If he was truly in fear he would have shot to kill.  The law is pretty clear you can only fire your weapon if you feel your life IS in danger.  If you are firing a warning shot your life is clearly not in danger.

 

Thanks

Robert

[KY. man shoots down drone...]

A six foot fence is a reasonable measure to assure privacy from average passers by on foot. To say that a 6' privacy fence is a "reasonable measure" to prevent aerial photography from public airspace is a huge leap. At my other house it's not uncommon to have photographers lurking on the beach at all hours (all the beaches in that state are public) trying to catch someone famous that apparently has a house a few hundred yards down the beach from ours. I've talked to the sheriff, so long as they don't step foot on my property not a damn thing I can do, sure I could put up a 30' foot wall to block any nosey photographers from shooting my hot tub from the dunes but then I couldn't see the dunes and beach from my hot tub either. It's just something I've had to learn to live with.

 

Personally I would walk into and out of my hot tub nude.  One look at my naked body would prevent them from ever looking my direction again :)

 

Thanks

Robert

[Will you get a flu shot this winter?]

I got mine last week.  I get them every year.

 

Thanks

Robert

[Harvard Drops The Hammer On Anti-Gunners]

Ya know...facts and stuff. It's long but a great read.

http://www.beliefnet.com/News/Articles/Harvard-University-Study-Reveals-Astonishing-Link.aspx?p=1

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

 

They reason this study has largely been baried is they didn't get the results they were looking for.  I am sure the study was start to prove that lowing gun ownership would make people safer a grant was done to prove it and in the end they disproved their theory but since they took a grant to do the review they had no choice but to publish.

[Gun "Registration"]

Is destroying the records required by law? If so, who is well known for not doing that?

You think that state or Federal officials that are required by law to destroy records would risk their jobs or jail by not doing what is required by law? Who are they and why would they do that?

 

Laziness and ineptitude.  My mother use to work for the Army Corp of Engineers.  She had files that had retention dates meaning some she need to keep for 7 years and other they were never suppose to be destroyed.  When a file she couldn't destroy was no longer needed they sent it a warehouse where they were supposed to be stored so she could retrieve them later.  The only time she asked for one of those files back they couldn't find it.

 

Thanks

Robert

[Parole officers asked to leave Friday's restaurant in Franklin, Tn.]

I used to be an HR manager so you are correct that he was written up, everything was documented, one copy went in his file, one copy probably went to corporate HR, and then he probably had a side conversation that kind of said what I said  :rofl:

 

Off topic a little but when I worked at Comcast I had to sign a letter that I was getting a Vorable Warning.  If I am signing something how can it be a Vorable Warning?  Corporate HR can be fun at times.

 

Thanks

Robert

[Parole officers asked to leave Friday's restaurant in Franklin, Tn.]

This is where I'm at. I don't think the resturant should ask them to leave, but what's good for the goose is good for the gander. Plenty of beat cops only do the bare minimum to qualify with a handgun, and I'm guessing for Parole and corrections officers it's not stressed anywhere near as much. So why does a person carrying a badge have a right to carry a firearm there, but I can't. I've done my time on the two way range and have plenty of time and training behind both a pistol and a long gun. I guess it's a pointless argument anyways, I'm not spending money anywhere that refuses my right to carry a firearm.

Sent from behind the anvil

 

My uncle worked for the Correction department at a prison in PA he was forced to retire because he could no long meet the firearm qualifications requirement for his job.  Now I have no idea how tough a requirement it was but he did have to qualify every year.

 

Thanks

Robert

[I have a question for everyone.]

I don't see how such an event could be permanent.  We constructed this modern, intricate grid in less than a century.  We have more know how than when we started.  Also, after reading One Second After, I did some reading on how devastating an EMP attack or extreme solar event would be against our grid.  From what I gathered, it would not be as it is presented in literature and on Alex Jones sites, with all electronics and the power grid being fried.  I'm no expert on the subject, but I've read conflicting articles on it, and it seems the articles which play down the threat are well written by people who seem to have a firm grasp on what they're talking about, whilst the articles which predict doom and gloom are written by people who sell ad space to prepper websites, and present opinion as fact.  Just my observation.

 

Permanent unlikely but if it was bad enough to take out a large percentage of the infrastructure it would take a lot of time to repair it.  Just look at the events of 2003 ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_blackout_of_2003 ).  Power was out for at least a week for some people and it was a software glitch that cause that.

 

Think about what happens if something blow out 50% of the transformers in the US how long will it take to rebuild the grid and that is assuming that large areas of the county don't turn into war zones that requires the power company to work around those areas.    

 

Most of the major cities without power would be burning in under a week of the power going down.  With so many hot zones the military is the only one who could be called in to stop the bleeding in the largest cities.  Even the military isn't large enough to handle everywhere that means many smaller areas would be left to their own devices.  

 

Many smaller areas wouldn't get power restored for months maybe even years and the grid wouldn't be stable for a least a decade.  

 

All this assumes we can come up with the huge amount of money that would be required to get the grid back up.  Money that the government doesn't have.

 

Thanks

Robert