Jonnin

Too many "ifs" to answer really.   If they are not violent,  driving over them is only an option if I personally have a life threatening emergency and they will not move out of my way.  In which case, too bad for them.   If I am close to the wall of humans, I will cheerfully hold down my horn for hours on end.  I am easily amused and have a sour attitude.  I will probably also put "jesus built my hotrod" on full blast and repeat, so I won't even have to hear the horn...    If I am far enough back, get off at the next exit.    If they attack, shoot in amongst them and run over whatever is left.   If there is a shoulder etc I will try to go around it if possible.  Etc.   Generally I support the right to protest up to a point.  When the protest blocks a major road that is needed for emergency vehicles and is destructive (what if you were on the way to a game with $1000 in tickets??)  I support the right to remove the protesters, by force if necessary. 

  380 is pricy but if you are OK with it the sig 238 is like the 9 I recommended and can share ammo with the wife.  Colt (defender & new agent) and para make small .45s as well.  So do some other companies but again, guessing if you like your 1911 you might want to go with a "1911ish" variation so the safety & trigger are similar to the brick?   If anything at all is on the table there are quite a few other small 45s, 9s, and 380s that may be of interest. 

I can't imagine academy and sportsmans are different from city to city but if you do not have one near...   sportsmans often has a good supply of reloading equipment if that is of any interest to you.   shooter's has a range if you want to shoot, though it is pricy for non members its a nice facility with far better than most air exchange.   Shooters has nice people and a good selection of pistols usually.  

nano trigger is very very very bad.   Sig 938 is a great pick, a lot like what you are used to (1911ish).   Glocks are fat, they are all double stack.  If that is OK, then the small one is a reasonable pick.  

Lee will replace anything that does break and has good solid service.   I have not broken anything significant, the spring in my disk device and a shell holder come to mind, both after an awful lot of use.   If you can afford just a touch more a turret press is a lot more efficient for a little more money.   a single stage is an assembly line process: you do one thing over and over again and hand it to the next guy with a different machine / tool.   (Here, of course, you are the next guy so you set them aside).   You knock out all the primers and size them all.  then you prime all the cases.  Then you powder all the cases.  Then you cram a bullet into each one.  Etc.    A turret or similar press does one round, then another round -- you knock the primer out, and it indexes, then you put the primer in and powder, it indexes, then you put the bullet in... this is faster because you only put a round on the press once and its done, you only set up dies once (change turrets), and so on.  Taking the stuff off and on the press is the time killer esp when they are full of powder that can spill so you have to put them in a proper holder to keep them upright etc.    you do not have to steel wool polish your cases.   Just wash them.  All you NEED is to get any dirt and soot off that might be abrasive to your reloading dies or gun chamber.  Making them look "like new" is overkill, some people do it and obsess over it, but there is no point to it beyond cosmetic appeal.    Honestly dirty brass straight from a revolver to a bag does not need anything in the way of cleaning.   Its the stuff you found on the ground from semi-autos that has grit on it and needs a wash.

you can't beat something like this, low price, rugged, reliable, easy to use, good caliber, etc.   

I have my crystal ball out today and it says that the next best way for the media to continue to push this story long past its expiration date is to spend next week harping on the racial makeup of the jury, which seems to have been all "white" (by the new media definition of the term; white is now "not black"). 

Death is often enough not instant even if shot thru the heart or brain.  The body jerks, things spasm.  Its very possible to hit an easy to operate mag release with a dying jerk.  Its also quite possible on many firearms to eject the mag simply by shooting it -- depends on the gun in question but some can do it.   Basically this is one of those "not enough details to go on" stories.   I trust they fired the gun in question about 1000 times to see if it ever drops the mag after a shot?  I trust they tested the mag release to see how much of a bump it could take before letting go?  I trust they considered the possibility of a death spasm releasing it?   No, you and I all know that they put the gun in a plastic bag without firing it at all, most likely.

  Look up the video of the news clip for this.  I have not laughed so hard in a long time.  I think I laughed for 30 min over this prank.  Its a harmless prank that was funny as all get out.  Some say it was racist, but that is like saying the old jokes about "mike hunt" etc are racist against white people --- it isnt, it just makes use of common names to make a rude or funny similar phrase/word.   Sum Ting Wong and Wi Tu Lo are exactly the same thing.   People need to learn to laugh at funny stuff, it would do wonders for their health.   Whoever the intern was that did this deserves a medal or something. 

All fears that do not involve something that is actually happening (someone attacks you from behind, for example, you have the instant panic and adrenal rush etc) or likely to happen (you have a lump and it *could* be cancer, waiting on a test result...)  are irrational.   Fear of a certain type of animal or object or situation is irrational (if not actively a threat), etc.   Fear of the future and unknown are also irrational...  a person can't just sit around being worried about what their situation may be in a decade or something all the time.  Its normal for anyone to have the occasional irrational thought or fear, but if you have them all the time, you have a problem. 

long term: dehydrated for veggies.  canned for meat.  short term: frozen for either works.    Freezing 'wet' veggies makes the water expand which mushes them badly.   Dehydration makes them a little off as well but I prefer that to mush.  Canned is awesome but it takes up the most space and a lot of time and energy to do it.  

just depends.   The sti is probably the better gun, but what do you DO with it?  If you need money more, the STI sells for more, and if you only plink with it, the springer is fine for that.    If you use it for competition or semi-serious target shooting (even just for your own amusement) the sti may be the keeper.  If you do not need the extra money, the sti may be the keeper.     I would keep the STI, personally, but I do not need the relatively small amount of money (a few hundred in the grand scheme of life isnt going to make or break me at this time) and my .45 shooting is focused on accuracy. 

GZ needs to pack it up and leave the country NOW.   He is free of criminal charges -- he should be able to escape the civil and other BS easily by moving out of the USA.   I hate that for him, but that is just about the only way he can avoid having his life ruined forever.    It would be in his interest to shed some pounds and grow a beard while he is at it, to decrease the odds of recognition by some violent idiot bent on 'revenge' or something. 

  even if you did, how big around does a .25 caliber rifle bullet get when it expands?  Or a 30-30, or 357?   A 44 is already about as big around as many other rounds are after expansion, and unlikely to get any smaller.   Most expansion I have seen is at most 50% larger.   A 30 cal increased 50% is .... wait for it ...  45.   And rolling in at 200-300 grains and a pretty good velocity out of a long barrel hunting pistol, it should be fine even if you used (illegal, but if you did for argument's sake) a FMJ round.   That said I had a bunch of 300 grain JSP  (flat nosed soft point semi-jacketed whatever that is called) that expanded pretty well on nonliving targets.  Never made a kill to say what it would do on a deer.

  2) I disagree.  MOST untrained people with a light will be focused on the beam and drop their awareness of the 270 degree arc not covered in the beam.  I would bet I could ambush MOST people with a light EASIER than I could someone who had allowed their eyes to adjust to the dark and were listening as well as looking.  On TOP of that, if the untrained person with a light is up against someone armed, they have compromised their position entirely.

I am a NO guy here.   Too many studies have shown that even small amounts of drugs (booze counts) have observable negative effects on at least some people.  These effects include making poor judgement calls ("watch this"), physical mistakes (clumsiness etc), as well as personality changes (mood, and in some cases, violent or agressive behavioral changes and occasionally suicdal/depressive changes), and more.   It may not have any effect on some folks, or it may not have an effect every time, but the only safe way to be sure and responsible is to simply not mix the two.     You could probably convince me that a person who does the 1 glass of wine daily for health is safe to CCW and drive or bed down after with a gun nearby.  I won't argue that point too hard.  But that is making an exception to the above, and exceptions lead to problems.  "Bob had a glass of wine and kept his gun on, so I can have 2 glasses, or a whiskey, or 4 beers, or ....)  kind of logic follows this.   The only way to be sure, and safe, for everyone, without exception, is to not mix them, and I WILL stand by that.

  Dunno about the feebs but I was reading an account by one of our snipers and he used a variety of rifles including a 223, a 338 lapua, a 50 bmg, 7 mag, and a 308 at various times, and it sounded like all that in less than a 2-3 year period.   I dunno if he had all that stuff handy or picked a rifle for each mission or how he selected a rifle, but certainly a number of calibers are in use.  It *sounded* like the 223 was a standard issue gun, perhaps backup if he gets jumped but perhaps scoped for short range shots, it was very unclear (probably intentionally unclear).    I could be way off, or outdated, but as I understood it FBI departments could pick their own gear to some extent, and there are standard issue items as well.  Another unclear area, for many reasons the doings of govt operatives is kept kinda mum.

Welcome!

  Some people would sure.  Same as the race baiters will stir up trouble (already have) on behalf of Tm, some of the racist white folks will/would do the same for gz.  Personally if TM had shot GZ I would probably shrug it off as the obvious result of stalking with intent to confront.  I know how *I* would react to someone following *me* around --- I would be spooked and try to get away, and if they kept coming...   I can see such a scenario going very badly for the stalker in a hurry.   They get close enough to touch me after cornering me on an empty, dark street, they gonna get shot more likely than not.

the old what-if game?   Who knows?  A bright light is not going to stop some attackers.  Others, it may.  That is assuming you can point it at the person in time --- from his account, Gz was blindsided and pounded without much chance to fight back.   I know from experience how fast you can take someone down to the ground and whale on em... (I used to be a bit, erm, rowdy in highschool).   If you had it out and ready... maybe.     Or maybe TM would have a busted skull and GZ would have a busted light.  Lots of ways such could go down,  but it boils down to 1) Tm gets blinded and runs away or 2) they pound on each other and one of em beats the stew out of the other. 

I think the expert showing that TM was on top when he got shot was the last straw for even the most remote chance of a conviction.    That was new to me,  up until now there has been back & forth about who was on top but physics don't lie.     I do think that guy saying that GZ was a 0.5 on a scale of 1-10 for being in shape was funny.   0.5 to me is a guy that can't even get out of bed to hit the can without help --- that was a huge exaggeration!!   GZ is a porkchop but he can at least get out of bed and walk across the room without a coronary.   3 out of 10 at least!

  The biggest question I have about em is HOW IN THE WORLD all these people who look like they have to borrow a pot to pee in can afford $2000 in tattoos.   My wife got a TINY tattoo and it was like $150 after tipping and all that.   'Course the same question comes into play about $200 a month phones and drug habits and the other things that the "poor" always seem to be able to afford.    Always been a mystery how the "poor" have so much access to throwaway money in this country..... 

I have not been impressed with pistol shotshell past about 10 or 15 feet.   It just spreads too thin too fast.   A .22 revolver with shorts seems more useful to me past "its chewing on mah laig" distance.   At which point, with shotshell in a pistol, you WILL shoot yourself in the foot, literally.

all I can think of is it better be able to hit a dime at a mile every time at that price.   If it can, its probably worth it --- accuracy COSTS in both pistols and rifles, and I can accept that for high end competition.   If it can't, its not worth even 1.5k tops.  

Clean it, try again, see if it does it in the first 20 rounds.   If so, maybe break in, maybe needs work.  Small guns sometimes get dirty faster than full sized and even 50 is significant.