MexicanDragon

When posed with a difficult question in life, I oft times turn to my 4 year old daughter. I ask "What do you think; Yes, no, or maybe?" Such pressing questions in this case are, for example... "Are you a monkey?" or "is your brother a monkey?", sometimes even "Do you want a pop-tart? Yes, no, or maybe." Today, my friend... in response to your query, and to quote the debut album of the band Oasis... "Definitely Maybe." **BRENT**

^^^^^^^^^^ ... thank you for paying attention! **BRENT**

So here it is, the Ides of September, and my favorite summertime drink has yet to be delivered. Am I the only one hungry for a thirst quenching? Discuss... **BRENT**

Welcome, JPH. So... my car-guyness kicked in, and I went to look up some ratings for tires, as I wasn't sure of any street tires rated to 200+, though I know they exist due to the current crop of supercars which will hit 190+. I knew of high performance ratings such as H, V, Z, W, and Y (130, 149+ (Z rated tires are listed as 149+, but I'd guess it varies on "how far above 149" they'd really go), W goes to 168, and 186 for Y rated). There does seem to be a class above Y, which is (Y). (No, it's not cleavage, it's a "Y" in parentheses "()". <g>) (Y) denotes "above 186" (the numbers make more sense converted to km, where 186 comes out to 300km/h). So... the aformentioned driver could have gotten out of the ticket, "technically", if he would have had Z rated (149+... as 200 is definately above 149, though it may not have been "technically" safe), or if he'd have dropped the coin for some (Y) rated tires. If it was a bright sunny day... it's possible that he could have been running D.O.T. approved R-Compounds (usually racing tires), (such has a Hoosier road racing tire), and been fine with that as well. I'd be interested to know which car/tire combo he had... as very few cars can actually hit 200. Even many modified cars have trouble reaching that point. Also, there are plenty "supercars" which technically CAN reach that mark, but conditions would have to be JUST right. (Long, straight stretch of relatively stable asphalt, flat or possibly small downward grade, tailwind would be nice, etc.) **BRENT*

Hmmm... on one hand, "Glock" is in the name... on the other hand... "Moderator" is under the name... tough call... tough call... **BRENT** P.S.

Does anyone else love that there is not a "No" option? I do. It'd be awesome to go pick up that LR-308B with the Magpul PRS and a burris or zeiss scope with the harris bi-pod... but i'm about 2g's short. Oh well... I'll just bring my Baer and hit up Joe's (well, I guess it's "Dan's" this week, as Joe is out playing with the boys for a couple weeks) for some ammo. **BRENT**

I'll take a Wilson Combat Pocket PC... or maybe a Nighthawk Custom Blackberry. As long as it's a 1911, I'd even spring for a Rock Island Armory Tactical Motorola. Maybe the Bluetooth headset/knife combo could be called the Moto Razrblade. **BRENT**

Yeah... Joe clarified it for me... I was talking about a shop I frequented in the greater Chattanooga area. I almost ALWAYS look at their entire selection (they have a few Kimbers, and nothing else 1911 wise... I tend to just buy a box of ammo (as a courtesy) and head to the range. The last time was the first I'd seen any mention of suppressors, class III status, AOW availabily, etc. From talking to the owner for a moment, it seemed like they had not just recently aquired the status. I asked if that one piece (for a small Walther) was all they had and he had replied it was all they had in-store, but they could get whatever you wanted. I mean... you talk to people who want a "silencer" or a suppressor, but think it's illegal, or waaaay too expensive. With HG, it's obviously right there in your face (literally... the case is eye-level with the target demographic, a shelf full of cans... it's beautiful). One can actually see what - with the asking of a simple question "Hey, what do I need to do to get one of these quiet black thingies on the end of my noisy cricket?" - it takes to get in to the wonderful world of hearing-friendly shooting. Now... I've seen people come into HG who traveled 4 hours just to check it out. I saw that guy tell the HG staff on hand (Probably Joe and Dan that day, maybe Rod was around too) that HG was his new home shop... even though it was 4 hours away. I don't even think he was from this STATE! I've also seen someone come in and get the ball rolling on a suppressed 1911 package. To me... I'd be MUCH more inclined to buy from a shop that had a nice selection, from multiple companies (YHM, ETS, Inc, maybe another), especially in similar calibers. Just having a tactile knowledge of what you're about to drop some $$$ on, as opposed to ordering it out of a book... that's just more tempting to me. I'm sure the guy at the Chattanooga shop I'm referring to would do a LOT more business in the class 3 realm if he'd advertise it a little more... maybe HE should take a trip to Winchester to see how it's done. <g> Just some thoughts... **BRENT**

Heh... too bad it took you this long to find out. Glad you guys made it out there. I knew of Joe's shop for a while before I went. I wasn't into guns, but had met Joe through something else. I had a buddy who had wanted a gun, so we took the hour drive to get there (from Chattanooga). Well worth it. I don't know if I'd even held more than 5 handguns in my life, and had never shot one. He gave my buddy a good deal, and within a month I had my own 1911. Since I'd never gone shooting before, he went through the safety stuff with me, how the gun worked, and even had to show me how to load the magazines. Went to a range, showed me how to shoot, and I even got to shoot one of his wilsons, and one or two other 1911's... and I got to WATCH him shoot his Thunder Ranch One (double stack "2011" goodness... I want one). (BTW, you owe it to yourself to talk him into letting you fondle this beast... a one-off Thunder Ranch double stack 1911 style... wow). So anyways... I've made the hour or so trip (each way) many times now... bought a couple guns (well... bartered for one of 'em), a couple knives, and a bit of ammo. And think about it... any place with THAT MANY 1911's... it's just a place you need to go. Heh... just thought of another thing. It's QUITE obvious that Hero-Gear is a Class III dealer. I went to a range/gunshop a couple weeks ago. I saw one suppressed pistol... and I was like... "Oh, you're a Class III dealer? I didn't know that." Funny thing is... I've been in there probably 10-12 times and had NO idea... Oh yeah... @ Tungsten and HH... did you see the DPMS LR-308B "Sniper" package they have setup? Yeah... I'm setting aside the pennies for one of those. Now I'm having to plan my next trip up there to check out the new Nighthawks they have in. So many toys... so few pennies... **BRENT**

Last time I was @ Hero-Gear, they had a DPMS LR-308 (guess what caliber? <g>) with a magpul PRS stock and 180 rounds through it (Yeah... a guy traded it in when I was there... and I've been looking at an LR-308B... so my interest was piqued. Just a FYI **BRENT**

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/protecting-w/presidential-suv-machine-gun-pops-up-fills-the-air-with-lead-290181.php?autoplay=true (It wouldn't embed... so here's a link) **BRENT**

Heh... don't worry... at least you still probably have your soul... I sold mine... but I got something shiny in return... <g> **BRENT**

Heh... Nah... I think I'll stay... but then again, I could swap Les Baer stories with some of the border patrol down there. (I know a couple of the first double stack LB's on Para frames are floating around the border...) Plus... its hot enough as it is... 100ish around here... 105 on the local bank thermometer... I don't even want to THINK what it'd be down there... Plus there's the whole language barrier... I speak about 37 words of spanish... many of the expletives... <g> **BRENT**

Hehe... I may be an american, but I almost wasn't. I was adopted, and I was made in Mexico... my birth mother DID hop the border to have me (in Abilene, a couple hours west of Dallas)... remember the prego? Yeah... I was the one in the middle... <g> **BRENT**

I resemble that remark... **BRENT**

So I was discussing guns, carrying, VT, "assault rifles", murder/crime rates in medium sized cities, etc with a buddy of mine from the honors program in college. He grew up in Memphis, lived through Katrina (@ Tulane for grad school), and is now back in NOLA after an excursion to Columbia (the university, not the country) while Tulane was incapacitated. He has been in acadamia for years now, and is not anti-gun, but was for gun control and regulation. When we started talking about VT, he was telling me that he doubted that anyone in the Science and Engineering building would be carrying, if it was allowed. I disagreed, but I (and I'm sure most of us here) have been away from acadamia for quite a while, and he's hardly left it. He knows much if not all of the faculty in the same building @ Tulane, and said none of the professors or grad students would carry, and out of his 150 or so students, only 4-5 would possibly do it if they were allowed to. I found this to be quite interesting... but still disagreed with him. I told him that I thought some of the engineers would probably carry if allowed (especially mechanical engineering prof's/students). Moving on... We then got into some gun control talk. He told me about having people stash AK's in garbage cans before being apprehended by the police, and they even found one under his neighbor's house. He has been woken up by gunshots (AK vs small caliber handgun, iirc), and he had a neighbor who was nearly hit by a stray bullet. He relayed to me a story I thought was completely absurd, but where he lives, after reading a little more, I thought it to be a possible scenario. I thought I'd run this by some of you guys who are dealers, see what TN has to put up (story wise) with NOLA. "a man should not be able to walk into a gun store with his 5 year old son, ask to see an ak47, strap it around his son, tell him on tape that he's going to buy him that chopper and teach him to be a solja, and purchase the weapon." This has seemingly happened enough times that at least one local shop quit selling semi-auto rifles selectively. It also seems that many people are aquiring the AK style rifles and converting them to full auto. When I explained the penalties of doing this, he replied "do you really think someone who's going to murder someone would really care about another ten years?" Which lead to the following part of the conversation. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20002651/site/newsweek/ There were 161 murders in NOLA in 2006. They convicted 3 people, that was it. It seems there were only arrests made in 37 cases, but that still leaves it at an 8% conviction rate for all of 2006. With post-Katrina numbers, NOLA is #1 in murders per capita in the US, hovering in the mid 60's to low 70's per 100,000 people (depending on data). Chattanooga was ranked 51st in 2005, for example, with 12.7 per 100,000. Those figures put Chattanooga at 190% of the national average (from the data I collected during our conversation). Nashville, Knoxville and Memphis were all on the 2005 list as well. Nashville and Knoxville were close to Chattanooga's ranking, while Memphis was, I believe, about 34th. NOLA was not even in the top 100 in 2005. I just found this to be quite an interesting conversation with an old college pal, and I thought I'd throw it out there to get some thoughts on various parts from this community, who are better versed than myself in the realm of this particular discussion. Thanks for reading what was I'm sure a lenghty post. I may add more to it tomorrow, as I'm sure I'll remember something else and want to put that in as well. **BRENT**

Manual safety... that way I'll know how fast to run when my 2 y/o figures out my unlock code of my safe and gets to the gun. Well, at least he's not strong enough to rack the slide on my Baer. <g> But serious, I'm new to the whole gun scene, and find comforting the manual safety option. I also prefer that of the 1911, as it has a visible and physical external method of operation, as opposed to a S/F switch I recall seeing on some Ruger semiauto's I've shot. Peace of mind, I guess, seeing as I've only spent about 4% of my life as a gun owner. Oh... and also, were the "bad guy" to somehow get my firearm, and not know necessarily how to work a firearm properly beyond just the "point and shoot" interface shown in many an action flick, I could visibly acknowledge the threat level of said shooter (or non-shooter, if the case may be). **BRENT**

^^^^^^^^ +1 **BRENT**

I try to not shave much, as I haven't needed to due the recent employment. I do, however, have a 7300 series Braun (with the little base station that charges/cleans). It got good reviews, but you need to use it probably a couple weeks to get used to it, and let your face get used to it. There is a company called "Williams" that makes a product called "'Lectric Shave"... this seems to make the hairs stand up more to let them be cut more easily. I have some... it works. However, I have 3 Mach 3's and 2 Fusions (I like the powered ones) as well. FWIW, my dad always used Norelco's... I don't ever remember seeing a blade in the drawer (before he passed away...) I still have some of his razors from the 80's and early 90's, and with the previous rec's... might be the way to go. Check out that 'Lectric Razor stuff too (just a splash on, should be in a green bottle). I usually just use my Remington beard/mustache shaver without a guard... gets it close enough to look like I shaved yesterday... close enough for me. But hey... if someone said "Les Baer" and "Norelco"... I may have to get a SS Norelco to match my Baer... **BRENT**

Premature discharge, eh? I wonder what kind of gun... ? **BRENT**

I went up and czeched out this little toy today... quite nice... still think it should be pink... **BRENT**

All this talk and waiting over that? Pssst... I figure you'll just Duracoat it pink and give it to Mrs. Hero Gear for a trunk gun. **BRENT**

I can second that RIA Tactical recommendation. The PT1911 came out right about the time I started looking at my first gun. I found a good price on one in chattanooga at Sportsman's Warehouse (120$ less than what the same place is selling them for now, if they can get them), but I had to jump on it THAT day... I held off, it was still a little more than I wanted to pay. It is quite feature laden, but I've handled about 5 of them... the one back in November felt better than the later one's I've felt, but I was still a bit of a noob back then. Anyways, I ended up going with a High Standard Mil-Spec from Hero-Gear. This is the same as the RIA Mil-Spec (or GI-Spec, whichever they are). It felt quite solid, and I enjoyed it quite a bit before I got the Baer. As far as accuracy with it... I let a much more experienced shooter handle it with his personal reloads (former Marine Rangemaster, IIRC, the brother in law of my shooting buddy that day). He shot a 5 shot group of under 2" at 20 yards, free hand. The last three of the group made a triangle about the size of a thumbnail. I've handled a couple of the RIA Tacticals @ Hero-Gear, and I have to say, they do feel quite a bit better than the PT1911. I'm sure the Taurus is a decent gun, but I'd give them both a look/feel in person, side by side, before I made that leap. Mrs. Hero Gear could also chime in on the RIA Tactical, I'm sure. BTW... you may not know it, but I DO believe you've already caught the 1911 bug... welcome to the club. **BRENT**

Hi there Fred. Welcome, I'm Brent from Jasper, just recently transplanted BACK down here from East Brainerd. Nice to have ya here. I'm a 1911 fan myself... now I'm trying to figure out which rifle I'm going to start saving up for... fun fun, eh? Nice to have ya! **BRENT**

@Urse, thanks for the compliment. I was going to get a Dan Wesson Pointman 7 or a Commander Bobtail, but saw this, and now I'm indebted to Hero-Gear (Joe) forever... or something like that. <g> I prolly can't afford to shoot 1000 rounds (kids/food/bills > ammo... I know, the system is flawed, such is life), but although I usually shoot at 7-10yds, I always put at least one mag through either this or my old 1911 (High Standard Mil-Spec) at 23 yds (indoor range max @ my former local range). I usually saved the headshots for that task, and consistently would hit 4-5/7. Not bad for a beginner @ 23 yards, IMO. The last time I took 'er to the range, I put a mag through @ the 50 yd rifle range (while we were talking to one of the guys there... about TGO, of course! <g>) and hit the target (it was a 25 yd rifle target, about the size of the chest on a B-27), 5 of 8 times, IIRC. It was done two handed. I'm not as good of a shot as some of these Les Baer guys on the forums (a few post 50 yd targets, its ridiculous... looks like my 7 yd... ) But most of them use the Premier II with 1.5" guarantee. Mine, if you looked at the link, is set up as a carry/defensive weapon with the tactical package (rounded edges for carry), and fixed Tritium Night sights. Its a beast, and I love it. OK, enough thread derailment... back to the subject... what was it, Glocks? Yeah, they don't fit my hand too well, the 1911 does... **BRENT**