Jonnin

I maybe had the wrong model.  Ive got a pair of old 38s that have short barrels and have little value, I would say its a 2 inch barrel but thats a guess.  Or maybe I am wrong about the value,  but if a finishless, heavy old pistol is worth more than $300 or so, I am surprised.

I would say the opposite.  If ownership = illegal, the price will skyrocket overnight.   I am of the opinion that forced buybacks would pay the owner the owner's price.  I think I could let one of mine go for about 1 trillion or so.

I am thinking take a sheet of paper and a crayon and try to do a rubbing of the side plates (under the hammers, the big plates with the designs in them) and the barell top towards the bore, to see if you can pick up any lettering.  Somewhere someone stamped their name on it, but where, and can you make it pop out enough to get a few letters....   that fold up sight system is very interesting and a clue... trying to find something from that angle.   I can just make out letters between the barrels behind the fireworks looking design.  Can you read those letters at all?

its a little wasteful, but we use one of those hand crank peel core and spiral cut apple gadgets.   They cut a little deep on the peel, and leave a little bit in the middle of the core, but it saves an amazing amount of time and produces a thin ring that dehydrates very well.  

I think there are a few specific hunts that are only open to handicapped hunters as well.  I know I saw one here for turkey but not deer, but then again, I was not looking too hard and just ran across it.

you can get a new junker or a solid used gun for about the same price.   An older s&w 10 (I think?) --- the classic 1960s or 70s era 38s ---  fairly cheap as they made a ton of them, everyone had one, and a lot of them were shot little and carried to death (finish and all are trashed but gun is sound).    Taurus makes a solid gun at a reasonable price, but you can still do better in the used arena IMHO.

can be hard to tell.  Take the barrel off the wood, often marks found in there?   theres a very high chance its dangerous to fire the gun, the way the barrels were made on those can have internal failures, some sort of wire wrapped & melted process that can have internal rusting or something?    A lot of googling can find you the proof marks examples of known gunsmiths.  Odds are its an import from england.    I wish I had more, went down that road with mine and still not sure what I have after a lot of research.  Just not a lot of info out there.

do be sure to mention the fellow that was stopped by the CCW holder.  That supports the NRA stance that a good guy with a gun is the only answer.    You were surprised by the low recoil because a lot of hype about 'high powered' rifles is spewed.  The 223 round is a small, lightweight round (its mass is 1/2 or so of a typical 9mm pistol bullet, and 1/2 as big around as well approximately) with a lot of powder and velocity behind it.   The standard rifle rounds of WWII were 30-50% larger in diameter (7-8mm vs 5.5), weighed much more (223 is 50-60 grains, many wwII rounds were close to 200 grains) and were traveling just as fast (2000-3000 fps depending, on par with the 223 round).  The 223 is maybe effective at 300+ yards but made for closer quarters, like 25-200 yards really.  My mauser is sighted in at 300 yards as the DEFAULT distance and has an adjustment knob to take it to 2000 yards.  It also will leave my shoulder sore for a week after 1 shot fired ... its many times more powerful than the 223 round.  The 223 round is, compared to all rifle cartridges, in the bottom 10% when measuring "physics" like momentum and energy.

nah supply, demand, condition, and quality govern the price of older guns.  A lot of stuff was made in the millions and is just not rare enough to have much value. 

Mom still finds some.  Today she handed me ....   a bill for that 1909 mauser.  1975,  $115 shipped to the house!  It also had a little insert "about your mauser" which showed how to take the bolt out and warned of shooting it before cosmoline removal and warned of shooting it with the wrong caliber.  Apparently this was an issue, it had like 4 places giving the caliber and emphasis on that.    This makes it the most value increased gun I have hands down -- lowball estimates put it at 20x that (apparently the SN matched bayo is "fairly uncommon").

I carried my mak in my pocket for years.  Its a tight fit in some clothes, and an excellent fit in others, just depends on what you wear but its at the edge of pocket carry.    Ill let you know if I find some.  No more to import, so its basically a hunt for someone that is selling theirs.

at this point, given the "we will do it" obama and company attitude, a tax & loss of private sales would be a frustrating but almost a winning situation for us (compared to other stuff that is being considered).    Its still a loss, but that would be a small price to pay vs if the AWB or mag capacity or "all semi autos" bans were enacted.

  You should be able to find a mak for 250 if you look for them.   Bulgarians run about that, east germans... 300-400 at times, but the other countries, 250 should net you a clean piece.   Tok is a poor attempt at russianifying the 1911.   Makarov was made by a genius, every bit as inspired as browning.    Only way you will get one for 200 flat is with a C&R from an importer, or if you find one that looks like it came off the titanic.   You can keep a weather eye on the makarov forum section of gunboards --- they have a trade section just for the 9x18 caliber -- but odds of scoring a gun off that are like 1 in a mil due to posted and sold inside 10 seconds issues.  From there you could pester slimtim or whatever his name is, he probably has some in stock. 

Today, not a darn thing really.  But she is as into guns as I am, and spends as much as I do.

I would just get a makarov.  The 64 is "OK" but for the same price the  mak is a better weapon all around, better made and easier to use. 

nano trigger is poorish & does not clean up with use.  Shield is a much, much better pistol.   I have the sig 938 now and its a keeper, but if not that, shield would be my #2 pick.

trigger pull is THE top thing for me when picking a carry gun.  As I have grown older, and my hands are about 20 years older than the rest of me so its a major issue.  Back in the day, a beretta 92 first shot DA was nothing, these days, I can pull the trigger but only just and the force and pain throw my aim off.    I dunno the difference between the xds but whichever trigger you like better is a big deal --- it will affect your accuracy and rate of fire directly.    Given my issues I prefer a short travel light trigger, mostly single action these days.  You may not have to go that far to find one you like, but, again, trigger pull really makes a difference for anyone in rate of fire and accuracy, even folks with strong healthy hands shoot a SAO faster than a DAO.    So to answer that question, yes, the trigger systems IS important. 

my wife is on a dehydration and canning and preserving kick.     We operate off an "eat the old, make more" agenda -- so we only preserve stuff that we enjoy, and to do that she has learned to preserve the sauces alongside the raw materials. 

I bought 7500 or something 55 grain boat tails a while back.  Using those, 23 grains of 2230 powder has done fine in all my guns.  As with yours, its a decently full case, you certainly could never double up and what little space is left would just kick it up toward max.     While I agree starting at the top end is a bit questionable, I remain of the opinion that the so-called "max loads" are still downsized and won't call you out on it.  I suspect you could exceed any published load by 10% without worry, as I expect the "max" are cut by at least 10% off the "barrel crackin max" values to ensure safety even when using only moderately precise powder measures etc and for liability reasons of the publisher, etc.  I do not recommend doing this, just saying the so-called max is, in reality, a "safe max" that should be safe even in "lower quality" firearms.   I tend to  go the other way and make light loads, because it costs less per go.

a bolt or lever action in a popular caliber from a decent brand.  There are hundreds of great choices.  I find 308 and up rough to shoot out of bolt/levers in large quantities, 243 is about all I would want to spend all day shooting with factory ammo.  Varmint guns.... depends on if you want to recover anything of the animal or not.  The big stuff ruins the target.

its ok to call an assault rifle an asault rifle.   If its full auto an in use by current military, I can live with it.  If its neither, then its mislabeled.

sorta.  I have had no luck with them for anything bigger than .22  --- they either have terrible sound reduction, work poorly for conversation, or both, unless you are willing to pay more than a new gun costs for your set.  

CNN did a "why do you want this type of gun" piece and many said the same, that it matched their training from military service.  Should read those for your piece maybe.

Now, now he totally supports the right for people in other states to own a single shot deer rifle, I heard him say so!  He is practically leading the effort on our behalf.

Well, I agree with all that.   And I will even disprove it for you and put that to rest. Number of people that own a first person shooter game, estimated: about 50+ million -- worldwide (added up sales of several popular game titles). Number of shooters who spent a great deal of time playing these games: about 10.  Of those 10 the most notable were the columbine shooters, IIRC?  And, of those 10, as far as we know the guy last week was not playing these games (?).   Similar numbers can be found for number of cars stolen to number of grand theft auto players --- there is no correlation.