Storing firearm

If it were me, Id store the firearm(loaded magazine, empty chamber) in a Bore Store Bag. It's a soft material that protects the weapon but allows the air to circulate thru the bag. They are only $6.00-$8.00 USD for most handguns.

A light coat of CLP like Ballistol, Eezox, LPX, Gunzilla, Weaponshield, etc will aid in protecting the metal pistol parts.

Newer egg-crate type plastic cases are sub-standard for long term storage.

CF
http://www.weaponshield.com/ http://www.eezox.com/ http://www.gunzilla.us/ http://www.brownells.com/

View the original article here

Firearm raffle (Illinois)

The Bureau County Mounted Search and Rescue Organization http://www.bcmsar.com/ is holding a fund raiser raffle. This year we are offering two firearms to one lucky ticket. A Henry Big Boy lever action carbine and a Ruger Vaquero stainless revolver with “ivory” grips. Both firearms are chambered for .38 Special / .357 Magnum. The Henry is engraved on the receiver with an image of the statue at Soldier’s and Sailor’s Park located in the town square in the county seat of Princeton Illinois. The Ruger has ornamental engraving. I have held both guns, and the engraving is very professionally done.

$25 per ticket (one ticket wins both guns) Drawing to be held 12/1/2013 or when all tickets are sold. Only 300 tickets will be sold. Proceeds will purchase needed equipment. The BCMSAR is not a taxing entity. All operating funds come from raffles such as this.

Winner is responsible for shipping fees and FFL transfer fees.

Sorry, no out of state ticket sales. Illinois residents only.

All local, state and federal laws apply. A valid Illinois Firearms Owner’s Identification card (FOID) is mandatory.

I have 10 tickets for sale in hand, and can get more if necessary. Please PM me for further information or to buy a ticket. You send a money order payable to “Bureau County Mounted Search and Rescue” along with a SASE and I will return your ticket promptly.

This posting has been pre approved by TFL Staff member Mal H. Moderators, feel free to add to, and/or delete this post if you feel it necessary.

View the original article here

Unsafe firearm incidents.

I guess I was around 13-14 years old but had shot a shotgun quite a bit. A friend of my dad's was in the trap house throwing clays for me. My dad was behind me. In between shots I rested my shotgun on my thigh with the barrel pointing upward at about 45 degrees I guess.

Unfortunately when I placed the stock on my thigh I had my finger on the trigger and the safe off. Fired a shot in the air. Needless to say my dad was upset with me. Scared my dad's friend. He thought I'd shot myself.

Three things got hammered home. Keep the gun pointed down range (which I did), keep your finger off the trigger till time to shoot, and put the safety on after you shoot.

View the original article here

"Mainstream" firearm owners

I don't think the stereotype, pro or against, bespeaks to any man's character. They usually don't in my experience. I fit the mold perfectly. I DO look just like the guys from Duck Dynasty. To say that since anti gunners portray that as bad, and that we should be offended to me is kinda sad. My age, weight, and political views don't say anything of the man I am.

Since you asked I have very little formal education(as I'm sure the majority of my posts reflect). I barely scraped by high school, because I was too busy thinking a major division one football scout was gonna pick me up, (2A highschool), yeah right! I served in the military, in the infantry...I'm sorta proud of that. If it makes me stereotypical in anyway that's alright with me.

I hunt, though I can't say I'm particularly good at it. I wear hunting cammo everyday, because I work on a horse farm by myself, and I like it, so why wouldn't I? I have a huge beard, and often say, " ya'll take care now," to a solitary person. You seldom see me not chewing tobacco, and I drive a lifted 85 Ford, with mudders,and a 460 that guzzles about seven mpg. I also live in a town with a population of 1000 people.

So yeah, I'd say I fit it just fine. On the other hand, I would stop for any person regardless of race, political views, or appearance who needs a lift. I haven't ever met a person, I didn't call sir or mam. I think every person has some value, and their words, however misplaced and misguided, or should I say misaligned with my opinions(who am I to say misguided) are I'll still listen to, and respect as their own. I don't loan money I give it. I try to always practice humility. And last but not least I have a moral compass I have rarely let down.

If you're offended to be lumped in with guys like me, hey that's okay. I don't mind. I can see my flaws, and see under an educated ,scrutinized view that it might be potentially embarrassing.I thought about it genuinely and if the shoe was on the other foot, I wouldn't care. I just don't really think that much about how people perceive me. But hey, you know where you stand with a guy like me. I am self aware, and I don't ever try to be anything I'm not. Normalcy depends on where you are, and us " camo wearing mountain men" are kinda "normal" around here.So believe it or not, it might not be so bad to get stereotyped along with me every once in awhile. Heck, it might be fun, and I'd probably buy you a beer along the way.

Last edited by HungryHunter; Today at 02:49 AM.

View the original article here

How SIG Sauer has Become the BMW of the Firearm World

I want to start this with a story. This passed Saturday I was at the range. Upon arrival I noticed a couple, man and his wife or girlfriend, shooting. I put my gear down and started getting ready. I noticed they were wearing matching SIG Sauer hats and had matching SIG P226 Elite Darks with 22 LR converserion kits. Going off of MSRP we're talking $1218 per gun plus $285 for each conversion kit. That's just over $3000 worth of guns, again MSRP so actual price was likely less. My guess is they had just taken a SIG Sauer class at the Academy, hence the hats and gear.

To the man and his companion's credit they were good beginners. Definitely passed novice but not overly experienced. I noticed they had numerous failure to ejects. Apparently no one at the Academy told them that those conversion kits require good quality 22 ammo, not the cheap stuff they were shooting. Still they cleared the malfunctions just fine.

The first warning bell happened when I was loading a magazine between firing. Suddenly the woman yells out that she's going down range and just starts walking out from behind the firing line. Now my firearms were on the table but this woman had no idea from where she was if they were clear and made no effort to check that they were. This is a safety issue. The man made no effort to check on me either. I imagine that whatever course they had taken had a range safety officer that did this for them, but that's not the real world. People can be idiots and people make mistakes, you should always get a verbal confirmation, and a visual one if you can manage it, before going downrange.

The next oddity came from watching them change targets. I watched as time and time again they took down brand new Shoot-N-See reactive targets that had all of 1 magazine shot through them (shooting 22 this leaves a lot of the target left). For people not in the know these are peel and stick targets that are reactive so that when you shoot them they leave bright yellow circles around the hole (heat reactive paint). They are very good for figuring out where you're hitting. They come with little pasties, small maybe inch circles, that are also reactive. You cover up the holes with the pasties and keep shooting. It makes up for the targets costing a good 10 times that of paper targets. I looked at the table and saw a stack of the backings for the targets with all the pasties attached. I looked over at the man and asked him out of curiosity, "Do you prefer not to use the pasties?" He looks down at the backings for a second, pauses, then looks up at me and says, "For what I paid for these targets I don't really care." Now I'm not poor and I'm not rich, but that's basically throwing money away. I realized this guy was either rich that he really didn't care, or didn't even realize that was what those little circles were for. I will say that he suddenly started using them the next time he changed targets.

Lastly the man and his companion started getting ready to leave. The man informed me, "We'll leave our hearing protection on so you can keep shooting." I would hope he would, as it is in the rules and general common sense, but I got the impression he was doing me a favor. His companion came over and politely asked me what I was shooting. I explained to her and she nodded pleasantly. The man looked like he couldn't care less. They were obviously not SIGs and thus not interesting to him. This is sort of funny as I had a good $2500 in guns on me.

Anyway they leave and the woman says goodbye, man nods in my direction. Upon leaving myself I realize that the two of them had put out both the rifle range and archery range flags on the flagpole. I don't know why they thought they had to put out two flags, it's not a signal core, but I guess they saw both and put both out there.

So what's my point? This isn't really a new thing. The same situation has essentially happened before, and always with shooters of SIG pistols. They always have the matching hats and the brand new shiny SIGs. Not the standard SIGs mind you, but always Elite models with the beavertails that, in my opinion, really do nothing on a SIG. They buy the models with the most adjectives SIG can fit on the box. Or more likely the ones that the Pro Shop employees convinced them that they needed.

But it's their money you might say. Rightfully so. But when you can buy a plain jane P226 either used or factory certified for half the price of the new Elites with arguably better craftsmanship it tells me something. It tells me they don't know better. And in many cases it appears they don't care to know better.

So how is this like BMW? The BMWs of today are great cars, just like the BMWs of the past. But many of the people buying BMWs today know nothing about the car, its engine, or anything else about it. They buy it because it has those three letters on it: BMW. The same goes for SIG. They buy it for the name and not for what's under the hood. Now what's under the hood certainly helped to build that name, but that's not really why they're there. It's a status symbol to them.

Now this doesn't mean all BMW owners or all SIG owners are like this. There are a number of people in both camps that own them because they do know what's under the hood. But I have to say they're in the minority. And just like the BMW owners that buy them for the heated steering wheel you have the SIG owners that need beavertails, Diamond finishes, and "Tactical" or "Combat" written on the side. While I can appreciate these features to a point, as a purist it makes me a little disheartened.

This was a long rant, thanks for reading.

-TR

__________________
Guns don't kill people. Apes with guns kill people! - Robin Williams

View the original article here