billt

My Encore Pro Hunter in .308. It handles the pressure just fine.

I don't normally buy on impulse, especially when it comes to guns. But the other night I made a rare exception. I took a quick trip to Sportsman's Warehouse near me to pick up some patches and other gun cleaning supplies I was running low on. As I was browsing the gun rack I saw this beautiful Remington Model 7600 Pump Action 200th Anniversary Edition in .30-06 sitting there. I asked to see it. The nice young kid behind the counter handed it to me, and the rifle was absolutely gorgeous! The Walnut was some of the best I've ever seen on ANY rifle at any cost. Both the butt stock, as well as the forend had what seemed to be endless figure and contrast, coupled with a beautiful high gloss finish. The bluing was very well done, with a very high luster and polish throughout. The gold inlays showed very nice detail on both sides of the receiver, as well as on the pistol grip cap. There is a nice gold inlayed barrel band at the muzzle. The fit and finish of all the wood and metal was as good as it could be. I had seen several of these 200th Anniversary Edition Remington's at Cabela's over the last year and a half. And I almost sprung for a 7600 they had. But I just couldn't justify the price, ($1,595.00), they were asking. It's not that the gun wasn't worth it. It was. But it's a lot for a gun that's a safe queen, and you're basically buying to admire, and not to run up a high round count on. So when I asked this kid how much, I just about fell over when he told me $899.00! I said are you sure? He double checked, and came back with the manager and said yes, they were on a special clearance. I couldn't say, "I'll TAKE IT", fast enough! For that price there is just no way I was going to leave without it. When my wife saw it, she was impressed as well. It's just a beautiful rifle. Remington sure did a nice job on it, I'll say that. This is just a quick and dirty phone pic.

I just cut up 4 yards of cotton flannel material I bought yesterday for $13.00. It yielded a total of 45 one foot square wiping cloths. I have 36 heavy duty 8 mil zip lock bags coming next week, so I can individually treat and package them. 45 treated gun wiping cloths at $5.50 each would run $247.50. These will most likely last longer than I will. I'll treat them with different oils and rust preventatives. Then mark them on the bags. You can put motor oil in a trigger spray bottle to apply it. It works pretty well. Then allow them to soak it up for a few minutes. Then fold and package them, and you're good to go.

One thing I have started doing that helps A LOT, is after cleaning, oiling, and wiping down, I allow the gun to sit for 48 hours with the muzzle down over a paper towel. (You can place it into a gun case with a piece of paper towel wrapped around the muzzle to prevent anything from soaking into the case itself). Then lean it against a corner of the room. This allows any and all excess oil, solvent, and liquid to drain down out of the action, through the barrel into the paper towel. You'll be surprised at how much runs out. This prevents this excess liquid and lubricant from running into the action and soaking into the wood surrounding it. I even do it with AR's and other synthetic stocked weapons. Then after 48 hours, store the weapon normally.

I should add that I like and use Microfiber cloths as well. They are cheap, soft, absorbent, and effective. But in many applications I find them too thick. That, along with the fact they hem them around the edges, which makes them somewhat difficult to get into small confined areas in actions, inside magwells, etc. But for a quick, overall wipe down, they are also good to have around.

I just use CRC Silicone Spray. It's available at Wal-Mart. But most any will work. I apply it sparingly. Just enough to provide a light coat on the cloth. Too much silicone isn't good for wood stocks. (Too much oil isn't either). I don't apply it with the provided tube. I just shoot it out of the nozzle. That way it provides a much finer spray on to the material, and disperses better. https://www.walmart.com/ip/CRC-05074-Heavy-Duty-Silicone-Multi-Use-Lubricant-7-5-Oz/116439439 Another great product is Boeshield T-9. It was developed by the Boeing Company. It's rated very highly in Brownell's rustproofing test. It's available from West Marine. For high humidity applications, it will provide very good rust protection. https://www.westmarine.com/search?Ntt=boeshield+t-9

All right, I'll admit I'm cheap. But I get sick and tired for paying $5 and $6 for a Silicone cotton / flannel gun wipe cloth. I go through these things pretty quick. It doesn't take long before they wear, then they transfer a lot of lint on to your gun. Especially on any matte finished surfaces. So I went to a fabric store and bought 2 yards of cotton flannel quilting fabric for just $2.49 @ yard. (I bought natural color. But you can get it in any color you like). I took a pair of pinking shears and cut it into 18" square sheets. I then spray them with silicone, (or you can use your favorite gun oil or rust preventive), fold them up and put them into 6" heavy duty zip lock storage bags. You'll end up with over 20 of them for what you will pay for one from Hoppe's or Outers. And they are of better quality. You can keep several of them at home, in your range bag, on your reloading bench, or even in the pockets of your gun cases. Then you will never be without a way to wipe down your gun. And you won't be ripped off over paying for those crappy one's they sell at the gun shop. https://www.joann.com/cozy-flannel-fabric/prd39349.html#prefn1=ecommercetype2&prefn2=refinementColor&prefv1=Snuggle%20Flannel%7CCozy%20Flannel&prefv2=Whites&icn=hpz1ba&ici=cozy-flannel&start=1 https://www.walmart.com/ip/6-x-6-4-Mil-Heavy-Duty-Plastic-Reclosable-Zipper-Bags/107397076

I had a hard enough time getting the hard drives out of the computer. I can't imagine taking one of those things apart!

I have had several old desktop computers languishing in my closet for years. One was so old it had Windows 95 in it. Finally my wife wanted rid of them because they were taking up too much space. I didn't want to toss them for fear someone could take the hard drive out and retrieve the information. So I took them out on the patio, pulled them apart, and removed the hard drives. The other day I took them to the range, along with my Ruger Model 77 Stainless in .30-06. I set them out on a berm at 75 yards, and had at them. The results were all similar to this one. These things are really tough! They're made from a very heavy cast Aluminum housing. The Western Digital models like the one in the photos seem to be the toughest. But the 168 Gr. Sierra Matchking sailed right through, no problem. The first shot hit just to the left of center, right under the bar code. The next one nicked the edge, but as you can see in the other photo, it blew the whole upper left corner of the housing completely off, exposing the platter and arm. It landed on edge, so I put one edgewise into the right side, and that pretty much finished it off. That last shot blew the unit right over the top of the berm, and I found it about 30 feet on the other side of the berm itself. The other hard drives all met with a similar fate. It was fun to be able to shoot at something other than paper all the time. And I doubt that anyone will be extracting any information off of them now!

While in theory I have to agree with you, in reality that was never possible. The cost of manufacturing in socialist run countries like Belgium is astronomical. Especially when you include all of the taxes that are levied on them, not to mention government run health care and retirement. Along with the cost of what they are required to pay their workers in both wages and benefits. Many European countries require 6 weeks paid vacations for most every employee. Put all of this together and it forces prices to be raised beyond what the market will bear. In the case of the Browning Hi-Power, that was over $1,100.00 by the time they ceased production. Americans always scream how they want quality. But they always complain when it comes time to pay for it. The end game was they simply couldn't charge enough for the gun to make money on it. Browning / FN was able to partially reduce costs by having assembly take place in Portugal. But in the end even that was too expensive to allow production to continue. This is also why Glock started assembling their weapons in Georgia instead of Austria. Now they even fully produce them here. As expensive as American workers are, they're cheap when compared to Austria along with the rest of Continental Europe. Turkey is different. Many American gun manufacturers like Weatherby are going to Turkey for many of their products. Turkey has an excellent reputation for manufacturing quality at a reasonable price that insures profitability. Assuming our political relations with them don't go south, this will continue to increase. You have to remember, if the manufacturer can't make money, it's not going to be produced. I don't care what you're making. Here is a video showing the Tisas plant in Turkey. I've worked in the metal working trades for over 45 years, and this is as clean and modern of a manufacturing facility as I've ever seen, or been in.

It's a Hi-Power... Not a 1911.

What the men who have actually been there have to say about it.

Some years back I purchased 2 Yugo Mauser rifles from Mitchell's. I know a lot of guys badmouth Mitchell's guns as not being historically correct. And while that may be true, they are beautiful rifles and excellent shooters. Mine came with bayonets, and all of the accessories. For what I paid, I really couldn't ask for more. I think they still have a few left. So if you're looking for a good clean shooter, you really can't go wrong.

First off, I'm new here, and this is my first post. I think with most any manufacturer, (Tisas or anyone else), you can get a good product, and you can also get a POS. And cost alone in itself does not control that. And this includes a lot of top American manufacturers. Anyone remember the S&W Sigma, or the Colt All American 2000? Or some of the dog POS pistols Ruger has put out over the years? A big part of the problem today are all of the blogs and You Tube "experts" out there, many of which wouldn't know a good weapon if they had one in their hand. They wind up putting a LOT of bad information out there. Back to Tisas. Using myself as an example, I recently purchased a Tisas Regent BR-9 Stainless Steel Hi-Power clone from Brownell's. It has proven to be an excellent, high quality pistol thus far. Excellent machining with very few tool marks inside both the frame and slide. And very good slide to frame fit. And a very good trigger. Especially considering the gun has a magazine safety, which is known to increase the trigger pull on Hi-Power's. The gun digested 400 rounds of 4 different types of 9 MM ammunition without a single FTF or FTE. And that included 100 rounds of Federal 9BPLE +P+ Hollow Points. With that said I did purchase the Tisas BR-9 Essential Reliability Kit from BH Spring Solutions. It give you an extra extractor, firing pin retaining plate, as well as all the necessary springs and roll pins to replace them. I have 2 other Browning Hi-Powers, and it can never hurt to have extra parts available. But as of yet they have not been needed. I know 400 rounds isn't a tell all, but it's a damn good start. So as is the case with most manufacturers, it really isn't fair to judge them on a single product. https://bhspringsolutions.com/tisas-br9-hi-power-/358-tisas-br9-hi-power-essential-kit.html And After 400 Rounds