I am really not much for powerful handguns. I have a 9MM Browning Hi-power I've had for 20 years, and I still prefer it to the meanest Glock. I also have an old Charter Arms Bulldog 44 Special that is surprisingly accurate and very concealable, and a 1911 .45 that was given to me by my grand dad that is pitted and nasty and still shoots like drilling tacks. If I was going to buy a new one, I would probably go for the Ruger 9MM autos simply because they look like such a good value for the money, or one of the SIIG .357 because they just look like fine guns, and because a friend of mine who spends a fortune on his hand gun collection just raves about them.

This thread brings back some fond memories. My dad bought an old farm for next to nothing back in the early '60s, and one of the best features was a gravel pit we turned into a shooting gallery. My cousin, an NRA member from way back and an enthusiast of WWII German firearms, used to haul out an arsenal on weekends. His hometown: Morton Grove, Ill. (that's irony, folks)

We'd blow off about 1,000 rounds at a crack. (J) had some fantastic guns -- German P38 and P08, 1898 bolt action, a rare T43 semiautomatic Mauser, M1 carbine to name a few. My ears are still ringing from the reports And I still own guns, mostly to kill rodent pests.

Back about '70, I started smoking pot. The old farmstead had room to plant some seeds, so I went through the '70s smoking for the price of my labor. I no longer do this, as fascist bluenoses threaten to confiscate property illegally in their doomed War on Drugs. I have since moved away from said property, and the activity to which I refer occurred 30 years ago. Just in case this post should find its way to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration. As a lover of civil liberties, I fear the DEA more than Al Qaida. The greatest danger always comes from within, IMO.

I'm all for the civil libertarians who want to keep a 9mm in their pocket when they walk through a seedy neighborhood. But I regret that a significant portion of this nation IS LOST because of a drug conviction. A young man I work with is brilliant, but he's doomed because he sold a couple joints on a college campus that included a small grade school as part of its Education Department. Drug sale + 1000 yards of a school = felony. Zero tolerance.

R (Not sure how much more of a signature I should disclose -- someone might be watching)

Maki, that is something I couldn't agree more with. All these wars where we make war on a noun are stupid, endless idiocy. The War on Drugs was Poppy Bush's fear vehicle, a test ride for what we are going thru now. Clinton should have ended it, but was too afraid of dealing with the political fallout. Now, when I see the courts, the probation officers, the cops and everyone else involved in an average kid's dime bag pot bust, I just shake my head at the utter stupity of it. Is that stupid little 10$ bag of dried out vegatable matter really worth it? To ruin someone's life? To cost the taxpayers a fortune when the cops should be fighting real crime? I just don't get it. Considering that the vast majority of people who come under the control of the justice system because of this type of crime are black people, I can't help but feel there is racism involved. It seems like the modern way to keep the minorities under check.

Sorry, I will try to get it back on track. Ok, what is your favorite gun for protecting your weed? I have an indoor/outdoor combo shotgun, with handy mounted flashlight. For ripping off dealers, I perfer my small-of-the-back-mount .38. How about you, Paul?

After some problems with prowlers, theivery, and an attempted B&E, my brother bought our mother a Brazillian (brand escapes) dbl barrel 12 ga 3" mag. Took her to the range several times and taught her to shoot it. He then cut that sucker real short. Do not visit Mother without calling in advance.

B

I grew up on a secluded farm in what was then very rural New Hampshire. My old man kept a sawed-off double barrel 12 ga on a special sill right above the front door, measured precisely for mom's reach. You didn't mess with her either. It was the Sears housebrand (J.C. Something? I forget) with internal triggers, which were pretty modern at the time. To make it run you simply had to push a single slide safety forward with your thumb as you pulled it down from the sill, I remeber my dad traing my mom in how to gracefully do it all in one sweep - my dad was real proud of that because it meant mom didn't have to mess with getting the hammers cocked back, and he felt those few seconds could mean her life. In a split second you could get it to head level of someone trying to push their way in, and rarin to go with a little squeeze.

I always wondered if any of the strangers who came to the door even imagined how close they were to very messy death. Its funny, they raised five kids in that house with that loaded 12 ga over the door - I think it only came down once in 20 years when my dad took my older brother and I to the dump to learn how to shoot it. I still can see what that thing did to an old mattress when dad gave it both barrels using goose shot. A binocular shaped double hole, each one about a 10" diameter, and nothing but daylight in it. Former old mattress $hit everywhere. Dead rats, apparent former residents of said mattress, hanging from the springs by their guts. A double barrel at close range has got to be the most serious weapon I have ever seen.

Today I wouldn't even think of having something like that around young children. We all just grew up knowing why it was there and what it was for, and no one ever messed with it, but we all knew we were welcome to if the time arose where it was needed. My three sisters all knew how to shoot it. I think my sister who lives in Vermont actually owns it now. Man, the world has changed.

J. C. Higgins. Was that a Sears brand? I forget. I think it was mfr by Ithaca and/or Mossberg and/or Marlin under contract.

Yeah, that was it. I kept wanting to say Whitney, but that was the old car catalog. The double barrel actually had a plastic stock, and I don't mean high tech plastic, I mean like toy gun plastic. It was made to go under the hack saw.

We also had a tube magazine Higgins .22 that we shot for years. It was one hell of a reliable gun. It had an action a lot like today's Marlins, but it had a one of a kind redwood two piece stock. I wish I had that one back.

Later they had a Ted Williams line, my Dad had a 12 ga pump TW he used for duck hunting, and I had a single shot .12 ga 3 in I used. They were really good guns for the poor farmer set.

Umm, I hope you didnt cut a barrel shorter than 18". Less than 18" spells F-E-L-O-N-Y in the US. Has ever since 1934, without a tax stamp anyway.


If you did, edit your post pronto and promptly put that barrel in the bottom of some river, or cut it up and melt it, or something. Just dont get caught with it attached to a reciever in your posession.

Great reminder about barrel length. We're okay on that score. Its legal but swings quickly.

I can't believe Medmech hasn't jumped in on this thread. :D

I'm here..... I prefer to keep my home defense tactics secret, ya never know, very people have seen my armory ;) I have so many guns I have trouble knowing where they are I know one forum member here has seen this first hand. No matter what corner of the house you may catch me in it's a safe bet you'll be full of lead.

I like the element of surprise.
:eek:

I think I tried to sneak through your lair in the original version of "Doom!".