Jonnin

after a number of people have shot something during shows, they no longer allow anyone to have anything loaded.  I totally understand this.  

Now that is an extremely funny pun.  

If I got a 30-06 rifle (long action) could it shoot .308 rounds (short action)? What about 300 Blackouts? -- Not really.    You might be able to shoot a 308 in an 06 but it would be a bad idea.   It won't shoot quite right,  might be inaccurate, and you would want to be sure about it (the pressures might not be compatible, it could damage the gun, not sure, I THINK this one example is safe to do).   You generally want to shoot the correct ammo in the correct gun with a very few exceptions where it works OK to cross over a little.     What a long action does is allow you to swap the barrel out and change the caliber if you are into tinkering.  The long gives you more options on what you can change out to.   And 300 blackout is 223 case ... it wont work at all in an 06 or 308: the bullet is the same diameter but the back end of the case is like 1/2 the diameter roughly.  The only time the action type matters is if you plan to tinker with the gun to shoot multiple calibers... it will fire the correct ammo fine out of the box and again, its not recommended to fire other cartridges "in general" without tinkering to set up for it.   internal magazines hold about 5 rounds, maybe 6 generally.  You put them in by opening the bolt and loading it like a pistol mag, but its not removable.   It does not generally get that hot.. you shoot bolt actions slowly, and 5 rounds isn't enough to overheat the gun.   This design is over 100 years old, and people been using it without trouble for all that time...  I personally could stand a larger capacity but the bulk of bolt guns use this design and it is what it is.   My 308 lever only holds 5 in its *removable* mag and no one even makes a higher capacity mag for it.   Sigh.  Anyway, its not hard to load these, its easier than many pistol mags as the spring isn't hard to compress.  They slip in fast.  Also, there are tricks to speedload them,  ye olde stripper clip designs etc.  Actually most of these have a sealed bottom of the gun.  If you take the plate off down there, its for fixing the gun, not loading it.     correct, caliber (calibre in Europe of course) is the bullet diameter.   People misuse this and say dumb stuff like 44 mag is a bigger caliber than 45 acp.  This is incorrect.   Its just the bullet diameter in inches (sort of).   The issue is that how the measurement was taken varied over the centuries so you have some oddity like 303 is actually .312 or so.    Also there *are* other 30 cals besides the 308/30-06.  There are a couple of 35s and some 310-315s floating around.    a short round goes into a long action as the extractor holds it in place.   Same thing works in handguns, you can put a 380 in a 9mm and the extractor will hold it in place to fire it.   This isn't good for the extractor  in a pistol but it does work. It works better in a bolt action as the back of the case is up against the back of the bolt and the extractor does not suffer (nothing moves like in a semi auto pistol).   Big rimmed cartridges the rim won't go in the chamber by design, and those stay in place by that mechanic (like a 38 sp in a 357 revolver).   Ok, there is a place for a sniper rifle in an end of the world scenario.   But generally I would focus on defense at shorter ranges and a higher capacity, faster shooting, easier to control weapon.   The military does not carry 5 round bolt actions anymore for a reason.   Just think on what you realistically might actually be doing with it, and how slow it is between shots, how brutal the recoil is over a few rounds, how much you need to reload, ....   You want an end of the world big boomer, that screams AR-10 which is a 308 semi auto long range rifle with detachable mags etc.   Forget the mauser style deer guns for *that* scenario.   From all that you have said, I can't recommend enough going to a gun show and buying yourself a used rifle on the cheap.   Shoot it for a while, get to understand the platform, and then decide on what to do next.   That or you need some range time with a buddy's rifle.  

some of us paranoid types note that when you do your background check the firearm type and serial number are handed electronically to the government who could then, if they had some nefarious secret database, store the info.

It scares and upsets you (as it should) and you won't do *that* again ...  the best outcome possible from a mistake with a gun as no harm was done.  I know such things have happened to me.   I suspect they have happened, or will happen, to many gun owners at some point in their life.   I can absolutely remember finding a live round in a gun I was sure I had checked carefully after I had been carrying it around for a while. 

  As said, GT made it ... you should look back over his posts to see some of the other beautiful knives he has made.   Another nice one here! 

Of course.  You need your security system to call the cops so their time to cut your safe open is limited.    Besides, crooks still grab what is out in the open...  your PC, TV, phone, tools, whatever is still not going to be in your safe.  

  Need both.  Wireless comms will always be problematic and the machine needs to LOOK for itself and be aware of its surroundings.    I mean, if the car 2 cars up is all over the road because its gps went nuts, you don't want to trust it to tell you where it currently is and what its doing.   It should locate and avoid the other vehicles as if they didn't have any broadcasting.   (which isn't too hard to do since the cars already on the road do it this way).

Im using a liberty presidential -- which I inherited.   Those are kinda pricy these days; this one is probably from the early 80s.   Which brings up the point that a good one will last generations...   Its good for a decent fire and should at least slow a crook down.   It weighs too much to steal, they would need a helicopter to get it off my property, it was kinda fun getting it in (going downhill) ...  so they gotta get it open on site if they want my stuff.

motor oil can affect a small number of plastics.  I have never had it hurt anything on a gun, but I have had it damage a knife before.  The weights have marginal effect in this application.   I actually do use my resizing lube on some of my guns.   Its worked pretty well for me -- using the hornady tub of grease stuff. Its thin, its cheap, and its lubeish.   YMMV.

  Competitions boil down to "speed", "accuracy", or "combat simulation".   With some mix of these ideas for actual scoring; almost all of them have some sort of timed component.      For example,  bullseye (conventional pistol is the technical name) you are in one place shooting a pistol (one handed, 1911 and a target 22) at a long range target (50 yards, for the official setups, but scaled targets are used to reduce this at many ranges) trying to put all your rounds in the same hole for the highest score ... but there is a timed stage where you do that same thing shooting rather rapidly.    IDPA is more of a combat simulation, accuracy means hitting a gigantic man sized target at short range, its all about how fast you can do it while moving thru their course staying behind cover and so on.    There is also that .22 race-gun silhouette (not sure of the official name of this type) where you shoot knock down targets rapidly at a fairly short range (the targets are not huge, though).    Stuff of that nature.   Glock has a sort of accuracy glock pistol only competition of some sort -- it was kinda weird but I saw people doing that one, its also timed. 

well yea.  Just sayin' that if you pay 500 X 3 for a gun that can mimic 3 500 dollar guns, all you have save is space :)   That is great info Dolomite!   I still haven't had a chance to move to 300 but every time you talk about it, I get the urge to do it.   My next rifle is shaping up to be 300 at this rate...   I had no idea it was capable of that kind of range.   

if you can work metal, absolutely.    I said wood because hand tools etc and woodworking are much more common and easier to do in my experience.     Guessing at what you have,  something that sorta kinda looks like it in general is probably going to be able to do the job if you get the "end piece" shaped and set up correctly (do you agree?).   That makes crafting it a bit easier if it is the case.    If it looks like what I am mentally envisioning, for example, you might can make it out of something like an old tire iron (not the quads, the singles) or similar.

Why not go?  She won't be exposed to other cons for a long period to be "corrupted" or something.   She gets to see that jail is miserable, hopefully, and not something one wants to experience.   Make a positive lesson about it, responsibility etc and go.

right, that is farther in the future.  But I agree, this is doable as well.    as for standardization, its all R&D level so of course people are doing their own thing.  If it becomes a "product" fit to be used by all, there will be standards and guidelines including behavior "rules of the road".   And the unmanned vehicle R&D is pretty good... its 30+ years old now, and people can now download free software, buy a cheap gps, and make their own which work pretty well off the roads.    Its not ready for traffic yet.  Someday, it will be.  The culture may never embrace it --- lots of things we can actually DO that people prefer we DON'T, actually.   But someday the capability will be there.   the car can look 4 or more ahead too.  IF you install the right camera/infrared/lidar/radar/etc stuff on it it can see for miles ahead, actually, if you wanted it to do so.    They can also anticipate pretty well and recognize when things are abnormal.   None of that is even cutting edge.   Trust is earned.   It takes time.   I doubt we see them in even 20 more years.  

that is totally bogus.  An entire industry in china makes money off americans by playing games to get in game items to sell to dumb, lazy americans who prefer to buy the items over earning them.   This industry is over 20 years old and growing daily.   Google "Chinese gold farmer" --- some of what you read is going to be myth and rubbish but the truth is they play the games as a JOB to get items to sell for real money.     The rest of the article is also mostly fiction, from what I can tell.  

  sweet as it is, for the price tag you could have 2 or 3 decent rifles for the all in one colt.   You are not gaining much here.  

how big is it, and how much force do you need on it?   You can buy some really strong plastic and similar pourable resin products that are extremely strong and such.  Some of it costs a lot.  Much of it is dangerous to breathe, touch, and work with.   Most of the good stuff isn't available at wal mart.     Epoxy and resins layered with wood can be very strong.  The same mixed with "cotton flux" (basically cotton dust) can be very strong.   But most of this stuff can't make a long piece that performs like a stick; it tends to make a durable static item that can take at hit or handle some weight etc but it does not make, for example, a good handle for a hammer.    If you need a stick, the right piece of wood is going to do better.

you can lighten the projectile of a 30-30 and get a bit more range.  Its classic load is pretty bad drop, though.     A 20 ga is fairly weak compared to a large rifle.    Youll see when you try them out.   Also how you shoot matters.  I shoot a lot of bench rested and a 308 lever or bolt is a bit rough with full loads shot back to back over a couple of boxes.    The same guns standing up is much more tolerable.   Again, though, you can easily cut the recoil way down and still do a 200 yard shot.       I wouldn't even shoot a 300 mag or anything bigger (full power loads) bench rested in a bolt gun.   Not now.  I might have when I was 25.   semi autos, AR esp, tame recoil a lot more.  A good muzzle brake can cut the recoil by a very large amount, though these are more common on AR type guns you can certainly have someone ugly up a bolt gun with one.   A good recoil pad does a lot too... my beloved mauser just has a metal plate... ow.

  243 IS very common and affordable and can take a deer at 300 yards easily which isn't even likely in most of TN due to the tree density where deer live.  But if you want bigger, then you want bigger --- Im getting older and the amusement of a bruised shoulder is losing some appeal but I still enjoy the thumpers in moderation.   Trying them out side by side is a great idea.

  maybe, if we can get the politicians to pay us $20 every time they open their trap or write something down.   They should have to get a license to talk/write, that's ok to do, right?

  well, momentum (MV) is mostly a measure of how hard an object is to stop, though it is conserved and useful to derive other values when its all you have. energy is MVV  --- this is why light weight, high velocity rounds can be so devastating, energy is a measure of "potential to do other physics"  when it is transferred, for example when an object is struck and it moves, that is a transfer of energy.  Energy is hard to explain, but more is better.   Stopping power is not a "thing".    Momentum and energy are "things".   People argue, nonstop like, about which is more important.  Just remember that momentum is how hard it is to stop (penetration!) and energy is damage done.  That isn't exact, but you can see, you need BOTH and bigger values is "better" when trying to invent a definition of "stopping power".   There is also a 25-06, another version of the necked down 30-06.  I have one of those.  Ive shot a 270 but not enough to talk about it.   The 25 is pretty cool, though, a fast moving flat little thing.  Ive not shot the 25 enough either, to be honest, its mostly a keepsake gun.   Use the ballistics calculators to see trajectories and esp examine bullet drop at various yards.  That is how flat it shoots (don't even try to compute how flat it shoots, a visual chart is worth a weeks' worth of math here).   The quick momentum calculation is handy for comparing penetration.   Most ballistics stuff computes energy for you.      243, 270 sound like your commonplace choices for a flat shooting gun, but anything you get that isn't a catapult relic from black powder era is going to shoot "flat enough" at 200 yards anyway, you can barely tell the difference, talking less than an inch of drop for most of them.   Anyway, momentum is handy but its not your only number to use... compare at least energy, momentum, velocity, and trajectory to get an idea of the relative comparison between things.   7.6 vs caliber...  I get confused here.  I know that eurogoobers call the 32 acp 7.65 mm.   I know that my 7.65 argy shoots somewhere in the .31 to .312 diameter.  Somewhere, along the way, someone got a bad set of calipers when measuring the ammo in the 7mm family.  The actual conversion is .3125 caliber = 7.94 mm according to wiki for the 32 acp.  You can see from there that someone's measuring tools were on the fritz.   Ill leave you to it from there, just thought I would mention how weird some of the numbers can be on ammo, esp older rounds. 

200 isn't really long range.  Catapult type rounds (45-70, 30-30, etc) can deliver all you need at that range.  Even a magnum revolver round in a rifle (like a 44 mag lever gun) can deliver a one shot drop at 200 (barely, its pushing it, but we are establishing a perspective here so go with it).  The point remains, like I said earlier, every single rifle round is fine at 200 with the obvious exceptions of micro stuff like 22 LR.   By rifle round, I mean necked, long cased, centerfire stuff that is not generally fired from a "normal" pistol.    Which means you can focus on whatever is easy to reload and cheap to buy/make, in general.  Absolutely anything you pick is probably going to be ok at 200 yards and capable of 1 shot stops.   Ask us if you are unsure, but you would have to go far and wide to find something that weak.   There are significant differences, yes.  Bullet diameter (30, 25, 40, whatever) is not related at all to velocity/long range capability. Take, again, the 45-70.  It lobs a heavy bullet and is about like a catapult throwing a brick.   The big 400 cal magnum stuff can shoot flat for 2-3 times the range.  This is because the 45-70 started life as a black powder round whereas the 400 big boys are modern elephant guns...   You can get all you need from a much lighter recoil round than a 308 or bigger stuff (308 is medium, for reference, but it still packs a punch in a bolt gun).   243 is again a good, inexpensive alternative.   Another thing is that 308 and similar rounds are *capable* of 750 or more yards one shot stops.   You can cut their power down to reduce recoil in your handloads and have an accurate, fine cartridge that will do the job at 200 yards --- saves money on powder too, and your rifle still supports the "real thing" if you want to go farther out.   I do this with my mauser and my 308 lever rifles... light loads at a shorter range, deadly accurate, can shoot it all day without being sore tomorrow.     You CANNOT do this in a semi auto easily ...  if you buy a semi, you have to shoot full rounds or tamper with it or it won't cycle and feed etc.     No, 1000+ yard one stop shots are quite doable with some rounds.  308 can "sorta kinda" do that much.  500 is not even close to a maximum, though hitting stuff that far out takes gear and skill.  500 is a good stopping point for non expert shooters with typical equipment, but that isn't the caliber, that's the scope/shooter/package talking.   I can barely hit a stationary target at that range...   style of bullet helps.  Aerodynamics is important at the mega long ranges.  Boat tails have a positive effect.  Hollow points and soft points do what they do but are often not aerodynamic.   Some rifles the bullets tumble by design and expanding ammo is not required.     300 winmag is significantly more recoil, longer range, harder hitting etc than 308.   Um, trajectory is tied to bullet weight vs velocity.  In a nutshell, the basic physics is that... if you drop a bullet and shoot one parallel to the earth, they will hit the ground at the same time.   The sideways (shooting) velocity has no impact on the gravity vector (when parallel).   If you shoot upwards some, you get an initial velocity against gravity that has an effect, etc.   So you have until the bullet hits the ground... to cover X distance.  The bigger you want X to be, the faster it needs to be moving.   This is what makes a trajectory "flat" ... pure velocity.   Lighter bullets can be pushed faster in the same caliber.  Different calibers, not as easy to compare.   But a light bullet in a 308 will go farther and flatter than a heavy bullet in a 308 (the 243 is a very light and smaller bullet in a 308 case...).   The 300 winmag with a light bullet will go even farther and flatter.  Etc.   Barrel length has an effect, you get slightly more velocity from longer barrels.   There are other effects as well, longer is typically better up to a point.     Hopefully that addressed some of your questions.

Not impressed with any govt official that buys into the tax on our rights (permits) as a valid "thing".  

  they produced a very low quality gun initially.   this would be right at 10 years back?   Since then they have done much better and rival kel-tec and similar for producing a functional but inexpensive weapon.   I have not heard a lot of complaints about DB in some time...      I can't think of many brands that have never had some major issues along the way.  Glock is one, but they only have 1 design, so they only get 1/2 credit :P