I'm going back and forth between a Rock Island Armory and a Kimber. My dad's that I carried was an actual Colt stamped "US Gov't property." If I do buy one it will be a mil spec.
...and I did neither. I actually went with an even lower cost alternative. I bought another '61 Mickey Mantle. I needed one to finish off my 1961 set that was finished, but then ended up missing the Mantle card. I put my PSA 4 copy up for sale after I bought a PSA 6. I had to return the PSA 6 because it was just wrong. So I had the complete set minus the most expensive card. Now the set is complete. Again. This is a damned nice Mantle for $400. It will probably be worth more soon.
I hope you're baiting me, but if not... Any Mantle card is stupidly expensive. Back then he was the golden boy and a New York Yankee, which means the most popular player on the most popular team. In '61 he was in a head to head race with Roger Maris as to which of them might break Babe Ruth's single season record for home runs. That was certainly noteworthy, but it doesn't bump the value of his '61 card. His '61 card doesn't carry any premium other than he's Mickey Mantle. A copy of his '65 card in similar condition would probably sell for more because....reasons. I don't pretend to understand it, I just spend my money accordingly.
I have a Springfield 1911 stainless mil-spec. It is by far my favorite pistol. Bought one off my little brother that was stolen out of my hotel room during St. Paddy's Day and promptly bought another one. Year later got a call from the Ole Miss police and they had the stolen gun. It somehow migrated from Jackson to Oxford and was confiscated during a drug bust in a college kid's apartment. Long story short I now have two Springfield 1911's.
I've never owned two 1911s at one time. But I've shot two 1911s at the same time. It is as glorious as it sounds. If I were you, I would practice that at least once a week in case the need ever came up.
Yeah well, I have Todd Van Poppel ‘91 Upper Deck rookie card. Just waiting for that value to skyrocket. TOP PROSPECT, baby.
When the fuck is there a shortage of ammo panic-buying in your country? Don’t you know that a terrorist attack is imminent? Any day now, Iowa. Be on your guard.
We're in that weird gray area between normal and apocalypse. And it sucks almost as much as apocalypse.
This little thing might be one of the most surprising objects in my home for the simple fact that it punches way above its weight class. Blade about 2.5 inches long and sharp enough to go through fingernail and into bone before you even know you fucked up. It started as one of those things that come with a Hickory Farms cheese party tray, or something. Sharp enough to mash cheese into several pieces. I spent hours laying grind back far enough to even start to get it sharp. It's fun to use every now and then.
That's awesome. I love those YouTube channels where some Japanese chef takes a $5 chef's knife from the dollar store and then sharpens that fucker up to about a 10k japanese waterstone's worth of sharpness. Doing that is almost a form of therapy. I'll occasionally pick an hour and just sit in the shop, watching Netflix, having a beer or three, and sharpen knives, chissels, even putty knives (they make great wood scrapers when they have a bit of an edge/burl to them).
Yeah, it is. I picked up an old sharpener, it's a rotisserie with three stones about 3"x12" each, weighs about 40 pounds. It takes time, but it's a super stable setup and I can get an incredible edge on something. Last time my brother-in-law butchered hogs on the farm, I just sat there and kept rotating 40 or so knives for about 10 people doing the butchering. They'd dull them on the metal cutting surface and ask for another.
I got a Ken Onion WorkSharp. I never knew how blunt and chipped my kitchen knives were. Also shows you how little steels do if you dont do it right. Breathed life into the 40 year old Chicago Cutlery knives. Only drawbacks are that 15 degrees is the sharpest angle and they are notoriously difficult to sharpen and hone the blade tip. Might not be 40 thousand grit sharp but is more than sharp for what I use my knives for. Ill do all my knives once every two months. I use the honing belt during jobs instead of a steel.