Patton

I have had so many Wranglers it’s hard to keep count. The 97-06 TJs are pretty good vehicles. I wished they still made them; I would buy a new one tomorrow. As mentioned previously, watch for frame rust. I have seen dozens parted out because the frame was falling apart. The tubs generally do not rust. I would avoid the 2.4 Neon engines the TJs had in the later years, but the 2.5 was not a bad engine despite being weak. The 2.5 as a daily driver gets a little annoying. As a weekend toy the 2.5 is fine and would probably be ok for a teen. I say avoid the 2.4, but if it were a hot deal I would buy it. I think 10k for a super clean 4cyl is a little high. With wranglers, the years don’t matter too much. It’s condition, condition, and engine that matter the most.

Yeah, I would not hesitate to give them a try. The reports of issues are actually pretty rare.

If I recall the WC lack of a feed ramp built into the mag presented the issues for the 10round 9mm ETM, but it’s all resolved and they will replace them. I have several 10rd 9mm Tripp Cobras that are flawless. My Springfield ETM has factory 10 round magazines made by Metalform that work flawlessly too. I have never had the issues with 10rd 9mm 1911 magazines that so many people report.

Yes, the current EB magazines have been Checkmate for about the last ten years. They used to be another manufacturer’s rebranded to EB. I think they were Metalform, but don’t quote me. Checkmate magazines are definitely in the top five 1911 magazine manufacturers. I personally will rank them ahead of Chip McC. I have heard a few bad reviews of the 8rd 45 Checkmates but as a whole they are good and worth trying. The 7rd EB are the best $20 magazines for 1911s. Also, 1911s are one of those guns that what works in one may not work in another. I got introduced to a 9mm 1911 fanatic before Covid stopped all training. His thought was, if you are ok with 9rd 9mm magazines, there is no reason to buy anything other than Checkmate brand 9mm magazines. The same can be said for 38S, 10mm, and 40 1911 magazines. Even WC screwed up on their first attempt of 10rd 9mm magazines. My thought: If you aren’t trading in more than three magazines your better off buying the EB and selling your crap magazines for whatever they bring. You pay shipping both ways with the trade-in.

Some do, and I have heard many of my Japanese friends make comments about it. I spent several years stationed in Hawaii. My wife taught school while we were there and we had some close friends of Japanese decent. The truth was the attack was built around bad intelligence and fear. The whole “If there had not been a Pearl Harbor, then there wouldn’t have been a Hiroshima and Nagasaki.” Is well understood and accepted amongst the Japanese. Military strategist believe the Japanese provoking the US to join when it did was probably one of the best things that could have happened to end the war. Many more lives would have been lost around the world if the US had not intervened and dropped the MOAB. I can not describe what it’s like being on Oahu each December 7th. It just feels eerie. It’s almost as if the sea, the plants, the animals, and every person knows December 7th on Oahu is a sobering day. The sun just rises slowly on that day each year.

There is more ammo for sale at SGammo then I have seen in months. There is 9mm and even .380.

Why you ask?

I shoot 45Gap in my 45 revolvers. My supply has dried up.

Remember, Ballistic by the Inch is measuring a fixed breach and not accounting for the cylinder chamber in a revolver. The real velocity of a two inch revolver is closer to a 3.5-4” single shot or semiauto. The velocity loss through the cylinder gap is equivalent to the velocity loss operating the the blowback of a semi-auto; both are generally 25 fps is all. My 4” 45acp revolver still has more velocity, with the same loads, than a 5” GI 1911.

The Bulldogs have some snap. I actually have a lot of love for Charter Arms. I had a super reliable and accurate 40 Pitbull that I sold to one of my best friends. I had a darn nifty 70ish undercover that I sold to another friend. Neither one of these ever had an issue. I never realized, until I inserted the undercover into a kydex holster, but they are actually smaller than a j frame in almost every dimension.

Unless you are talking about Alaska, I believe your biggest threat in the woods is still your fellow man. One is known as the man stopper and the other is known as the man killer. Take you pick.

Why wouldn’t you just buy a Glock 17 or 34 with 33 round magazines?

The turd used the old “fender bender” distraction to get the victims to stop and exit the vehicle. He then kidnapped both of them. They should have fought then and there.

I met the guy at Outpost the other day. I was looking for a RCBS small primer stem and sleeve. I picked up a used RCBS single stage for cheap and described it as aluminum. He was quick to say it was not aluminum and RCBS only made cast. I was honest and said I didn’t know they ever made aluminum ones until I found this one. Ok, whatever. I find a picture on RBCS’ website of the press and the part I needed. Well, wouldn’t you know, RCBS said the press was aluminum. I appreciate that he can acknowledge he was wrong. I start talking about my old press as being a turret press. He tries to say I have a progressive press. After I tell him grandpa bought it in the 60s and taught me to reload 30 years ago he kind of realized I was not new to the hobby.

The people at North Georgia Reloading are pretty nice. If you have a liberal side to you at all you will get offended. I don’t, but I have put on a face mask after entering the front door and could kind of feel the criticism. They still made me feel welcome though. I have bought materials from them before but their prices can be hit or miss. I completely understand though with it being a small business. They have not marked their prices up to gouge and I really appreciate that. Today they did have large magnum pistol primers and large match pistol primers. They were between $31 and $36 per 1k. As far as loaded ammo there was about 3k rounds of 40s&w and some 20 round boxes of 44spl and 44mag. All was reasonably priced.

I was never as sold on Z mowers as everyone else. For most properties, as in 90% of properties, I will take a 48” hydro walk behind. They give less trouble, cut more, do less damage, and ride hills so much better. At the end of the day they are cheaper to operate and make more money. The other 10% of properties are so large that z mower guys want to cut them too cheap to compete with anyway. I had a guy tell me he will ride his Z mower all day for $10 a hour as long as he doesn’t have to do anything else. I have found that z and walk behinds do better aired down.

My friend Mousegunner, Dr. Marshal St. John’s, departed us in 2011. He had only been interested in firearms for about 15 years but researched and contributed a lot to our hobby. I really miss his wisdom. He was an all around wonderful man. I frequently handle newly released firearms and think how much he would have enjoyed many of them. I just looked, Mousegunner’s last login was nine years ago today!

I haven’t seen one of those in a long time.

I have to be careful; I don’t want this to turn into a caliber war. I work for an agency that has vowed to stick with .40s. It was decided long before the ammo shortage even started and before the oversees contract for Gen 5 .40 Glocks was announced. We just didn’t see the reason to switch. I can’t recall the last time we had someone fail to qualify and we have even recently had some agents bring the top shot award back from various schools with them using a Glock 23. I try to keep up with agency handguns across the state. Ten years ago, and maybe as recently as five years ago, we didn’t have single state or local agency issuing or requiring 9mm. There were a few, very few, feds with 9mm. In July of 2020, I think TN has a three way tie for 9mm, 357 Sig, and 40s&w being the most popular LE calibers in the state. I think .357 Sig may be dying a slow death. If THP ever dumps the 357 Sig a lot of TN agencies will follow. Some of my friends at Hamilton County SO and Bradley County SO said it will be be near impossible for them to switch calibers because a good 90% of their handguns are deputy owned. It would be a logistical nightmare for agencies like theirs to reimburse officers to upgrade to a new caliber unless they did a slow integration and just allowed deputies and new hires to adopt the new caliber. Then you have to stock two calibers of ammo. That seems to be very common for sheriff’s departments to require deputies to buy their own and it’s been 40s for two decades or more. A few local PDs have the same practice. I heard an explanation for 40 being readily available over everything else this go around. Citizens that shoot a lot tend to shoot a lot of 9 and 45 so of course they are hoarding those. A lot of civilians with a .40 keep a box or two around at most. However, I recently heard the ammo manufacturers are running all the plants wide open the best they can. The 9mm side of the plant can’t easily produce 40 and vice versa. If each line can produce 100k rounds a day, and more people are buying 9mm, it is the reason the shelves are still stocked and getting replenished with 40. If you like to shoot, and you don’t have multiple calibers and are stockpiling all ammo you find cheap, you are doing it wrong.

I have always been found of the mousers. I have played with a lot of them over the years. It’s hard to bet a Ruger LCP.

Correct, but it is possible to put a beavertail on a previous generation.

It started May 25th.

Any commanders?

I have bought some stuff from N GA reloading and I have been to their new location. If you catch something used there it will be a pretty good deal, and I don’t know how but the get some used equipment. I think some things are cheaper at Sportsmans and some things are not.

I have always been a fan of Sportsmans. Their reloading supplies are very reasonable.