As a non collector and without knowing more details, it just sounds like a lot of money to have the M24 stamp on the rifle and look cool.
The Wingmaster will serve your needs and then some. They are seriously built like tanks and absolutely can be handed down. I'll post a photo of my TC which was built in 1976 when I get home from work later. I WILL be handing this gun down to my son. The only thing I may end up doing to it is getting some custom wood done.
Just got a Remington 870 Express Supermag (hunted one down for $350 at Academy). Which means I won't need another shotgun for, oh, about 50 years or so.
Here's the blank that was shipped to me for my custom 40-X .22lr project- a very nice stick of Australian-grown walnut. Dense, hard, fine pored, and aged for a couple of decades- the kind of wood a stockmaker just wishes they could turn into a stock. It should carve and checker like a champ, remain very stable over time, and has grain that flows perfectly from one end to the other (priorities!) while being just beautiful at the same time too- a really nice bonus. This is the same Juglans Regia thin shell walnut species known as English, French, Circassian, Turkish, etc. depending on where it is grown and I didn't even know the Australian stuff existed before I got more into custom stock work, but it has a solid reputation even in my oldest stockmaking books. If you can't tell I'm excited about it too, because this is by far the finest blank that I've had the opportunity to turn into a stock yet. However before I can start digging into that project, I gotta finish this one up first. I ended up spending my work time on Saturday and Sunday just sketching different checkering patterns onto the stock with a soft white layout pencil, trying different designs and then settling on the exact layouts. My next step will be creating precise templates and then recreating the pencil patterns, except with the lines and angles dead on so I can cut with confidence. The grip pattern will be pretty traditional- just a classic point pattern that will "kiss" over the wrist of the stock. I'm saving the sanity questioning stuff for the fore-end. I cut the wedge shaped ebony tip with a 3.5:1 angle, which was very deliberately done to match the same angle I use to form the checkering diamonds. This way the checkering pattern can run seamlessly into the border with the wedge tip and everything will look just *nice* together. A subtle detail- one of those things most people won't notice in the big picture but it makes everything come together harmoniously. If the angles are off by a few degrees, I'll be able to notice and it will be nothing more than a tawdry afterthought. "A bit more thought and planning and it could be a lot better" is what I'd think. A maxim I'm trying to adopt in my work is "make every detail deliberate." A less subtle detail is the arrowhead shaped border around the front swivel stud and matching accents I'll cut into the pattern. There will be a LOT going on in that area around the fore-end tip and swivel stud. Over time I've learned that the pattern drawing process here is really critical to the quality of the end product, in terms of both design and execution, and I'm taking my sweet time on this one and not allowing myself to say "fuck it, good enough" on this one when I know a little bit more effort can (will) yield a better end product. Onward and upward. My work goal for 2015 is to take on less projects and just focus in increasing the quality of my work. I've done half of that already by turning down a few fun projects in lieu of that 40-X with the Australian walnut. Now the rest is literally in my hands.
We have liftoff. That moment when you go past the point of no return and begin scratching in the first master line defines the term "pucker factor."
Having a productive weekend. Feels good to get back in the groove with checkering. Not bad so far, but I'm just getting started. Gotta re-cut each line several times now to even everything out and make sure the diamonds are sharp all the way to the borders- every single one. Then it's on to the fore-end.
Just saw this on Reddit... 132 year old Winchester found leaning up against a tree... no idea how long it was there. Katokoch to the white courtesy phone please... Katokoch to the white courtesy phone... EDIT: Found an article about it: http://abc30.com/society/132-year-old-r ... rk/474974/
That find is so, so cool. I got really excited when I first heard of that. One can only imagine the stories behind that rifle. The Winchester 1873 was "The Gun that Won the West" and manufactured from 1873 to 1919 in a variety of configurations and chamberings. If they're in good condition, even the most basic ones are worth thousands of dollars today. I've posted photos of this rifle before... a high grade original Model 1873 Deluxe. Just to show what that rusted old rifle could have been. I got to handle this particular rifle when I was in Montana a couple of years ago and it is a spectacular firearm, and even more amazing to consider it was made 129 years ago. More photos: http://www.hallowellco.com/winchester_1873_dlx.htm
First, if you are in need of .22lr ammo, look no further... Federal Champion - .22LR 36g CPHP - Barrel of 60,000 rounds Ridiculous. Of course they were sold out quickly too. I've been pouring as much work as I can onto this custom KIDD project and spent the weekend checkering. It has warmed up some outside, so I can resume working in by basement in comfort again. Spoiler Took the rig to the indoor range for another test session and left kinda frustrated again after shooting 250 rounds. Even though the gun isn't complete, it is not shooting like it should and is still spitting wild shots at 25 yards rather than clean consistent bugholes. Spoiler Notice the target on the bench. Hey at least it looks good! I went ahead and pulled the barrel for a good cleaning and noticed the gas marks on the muzzle were not in a nice even pattern- they were lopsided and that is a big red flag to me. The people who bought the barrel for the project want me to send it back to Shilen. Maybe not necessary, but fine by me. Finally, with SHOT Show 2015 going on, I saw this posted on Facebook by someone in attendance and got a good laugh out of it:
I didn't get out of the cab from the airport and the fucking cab driver just had to tell me that he babysat Seal Team Six in South America in the 80s. The struggle is real.
The new Taurus CURVE looks interesting. Obviously it remains to be seen how well this performs once consumers get a hold of it, but the reviews look promising.
Lots of suppressors. The Benelli OU is weird. It has this odd receiver design that seems to add more parts than an OU needs. It looks like most of the big dogs are betting on the micro compact .380 trend. They're cool, I guess. Kimber stands above the others.
Are they talking about hunting with suppressors being legal in more states too? Spoiler Just imagine the media uproar over legalizing suppressors... silenced assassins everywhere! THE HORROR!!! I shot a Ruger LCP .380 last month and simply hated it. Not for me. Curious to see how that goes. Woah. This Benelli OU... is weird to say the least, yeah. Looks like it may work off a droplock design, which I think would be more complicated. Looks like the receiver was shaped by an asian car manufacturer and not an Italian gunmaker.
It's stranger than that. it's like they incorporated semi-auto bolts into the breech face. So, when you think it's long and lean like a good shotgun, it's actually shaped that way to hold more parts.
Shit we just had the bill pass in Ohio last month. I didn't even know it happened until I read about it on a message board after it happened. I didn't see ANY local coverage on it. Hopefully we'll get non straight walled cartridges legalized for deer hunting in the near future so I can get a decent AR in a hunting round I'd want to put a suppressor on. Baby steps. Be nice for squirrels and varmints though. Too bad the waiting list for NFA is ten fucking months or more for approval and they are doing away with the trust background check loophole. The ultimate dream would be to have suppressors taking off the NFA status. A pipe dream I know. The lib media will lib media. I read a Mother Jones article a while back that documented the rise in popularity of suppressors and started off by stating they were invented for secret Vietnam CIA death squads.
How many of you have shot a suppressed weapon? Here in NC they are legal, providing you can pay the tax stamp plus the cost of the suppressor itself, which is about 1K. Now while they have a cool factor a suppressed weapon isn't silent in the least. Yeah it'd be cool to have one but for 1K I can think of many other things or guns I could buy with that money.
Or you could get a oil filter adaptor for $75 bucks and pay the 200 dollar stamp. A Salon article on the devil's murder weapon suppressor. This was referenced in the mother jones article I mentioned earlier. The biggest piece of fear mongering Ive ever read. edit: turns out those econ-o-can things need to have the actual filter registered too and sent back to the manufacturer when a replacement is needed. I guess you can't just slap on any filter and be kosher.