steve1

If filing down the front sight is smart, then why doesn't anyone in the military or police dept. do that? Most gun fights are up close and personal, but not all are. It would be good to practice just pointing and shooting up close, but knowing how to use the sights are important too. Maybe just focussing on the front sight and blurring out the back sight is good for shooting a little further out. For a longer shot it's important to use both sights and have the right trigger control. Not everyone has a rifle on their back to use for a longer shot. You might have to make due with a pistol. There was one bad guy who was in the process of killing one person after another. A cop took him out from about 75 yards. He used his service pistol....You know he used the sights for that. Another scenario. Suppose a bad guy has a hostage, and you have to make a head shot. How are you going to do that, with no sights? I'm sure there are lot's of other scenarios, a person could think up.....but I want a weapon that is good for more than just point blank shooting. A lot of the concealed carry pistols are very very inaccurate. The fixed sights might be off. My daughter's 38 was like that. It shot very big groups. We traded it off on a better pistol. I need to do some more testing with my little Glock. It seems to shoot very small groups,(for such a small pistol). To me that is important. I read one gun review that said that the baby Glock will shoot as well as the bigger model 19. I'm sure there are more accurate pistols than Glock, but I'm happy with the accuracy I've seen so far. The baby Glock has a dove tail rear sight. I've never, ever, seen a sight like that move, unless you use a hammer and punch on it. I don't think that is anything to worry about. I've seen some fixed sights that need adjustment, yet you can't move them. I won't buy another gun like that again. Someone talked me into that kind of sight earlier, and sure enough it was off, a lot.... I guess we argued all this earlier.... I'm happy to be a target shooter. How else do you improve your shooting ability. I've shot thousands of rounds at silhouettes in the military. I'm happy to say that I've never pulled the trigger on another human being. I hope it stays that way.

Now that's a scary one! I'll have to remember that statement...."When you're stupid, you've got to be tough!" Confuscious couldn't have said it any better..... What happened to Fang? He sounded like a real character?....

I hadn't been in town very long before I was a proud owner of a model 26, baby Glock. I know I should have fired some other guns first. That Gen. 4 handle really fits my hand well,(even though it is a double stack). I've never shot at an indoor range. All my shooting has been outside. The next day I found one of three indoor ranges in Billings. I ran a target out to about ten yards. I wanted to make sure it was shooting on. I fired a few rounds from a rest. I realed the target back in, and the group was right on the money. No site adjustment was needed. I then proceeded to run about a 100 rounds through this little pistol. It shoots like a dream....I love it. I bought a magazine extension for one magazine. This would allow all four fingers to fit on the handle. It feels much better. I'm going to do some experimenting with it. I later went to my daughter's house, and told her the good news. The next day we returned to a Sporting Goods store, and traded in her snubby 38 revolver.....It never did shoot very well, even though it was a handy little package. My daughter bought a baby Glock too. She's a good safe shooter, and I'll bet she'll love this new pistol. I'd like to say that those indoor ranges are a blast. The next thing I need to find is a cheap supply of ammo.... The only problem I'm having is finding a way to carry this pistol concealed. I bought an inside the belt leather holster. I tried putting it a little right of center of the back. Maybe I need to find some bigger fitting pants. It's pretty uncomfortable. I'll do some more experimenting with this. Last week an FBI agent came into my office. First thing he did was show me his I.D. I thought, Oh Shit! what did I do now? He came in to check out a death threat someone had made....one of my clients. I work with some real crazy people At any rate, I looked this guy over. I knew he had to be packing a heater someplace. His shirt was out and over his belt. I'll bet he had an inside the pant holster of some sort. Some of this concealed carry stuff is still a mystery to me. Thanks for the input so far.

I've thought about getting a single stack 45 in Sig. I would think the grip would be nicer than a double stack. My hand isn't too large. That's another gun I'd like to look at and shoot. That brings up another question....Does a person really need all those extra rounds that a double stack would allow. I talked with a cop the other day and he said, yes. You'd think nine shots would be enough....But what do I know? I don't work law enforcement.

Well, I'm heading to town tomorrow. We hope to do some shooting at that new indoor range in Billings. I'm still having a tough time narrowing it down on what to buy. I have a hard time laying out that much money, unless I really like a gun. For concealed carry I have my eye on a Baby Glock gen 4, in 9mm. My brother has one and loves it. Another friend (who was a police chief) has one, and has nothing but good to say about it. Another police friend has a Baby Glock in 357 Sig. He says that he would recommend a 9mm because of the recoil, in that small of a gun. My brother says the FBI is now recommending 9mm over the other calibers, because they are easier to hit with. In that small of a pistol moderate recoil could be a problem. The handle still seems pretty fat to me on the baby glocks...In fact the entire pistol seems fat....maybe I can get used to that. I've heard the gen 4 handles are smaller. I hope to shoot one before I buy. The sights are drift adjustable, which is good. I've heard they shoot accurately. Probably not as good as a full sized pistol but very good for that small of a gun. I really like the sounds of those Sig pistols. They are more money and heavier. I might look them over too. Any further advice on this?? I've learned a lot from you guys. Oh yeigh....those two guys who kidnapped and murdered that jogger are sitting in the slammer. They found the body of the woman after they murdered her. They're going for the death penalty on both of them. One guy confessed. It's a pretty open and shut case. I hope they both burn in hell....

Oh, I've done stupider things than that. Maybe I should start a dumb and dumber thread....Did I ever tell about the time that I fell a tree on the cab of my pickup. The windshield was broke out and the door was sprung out. It was going to be a while before I got all that fixed, and I still had to get around. People would see me speeding down the turn pike wearing a big-black pair of skydiving goggles. My right arm was in a cast. I'd broke it earlier rodeoing. The door was tied shut with a towel and it wasflopping around in the wind. People were straining their necks in all directions to get a better look at me. Skydivers then might have been a different breed than the ones you see now days....

That statement is axiomatic and rhetorically redundant. From an existentially ontological standpoint there are no dichotomous of duality that provide the necessary categorical perceptive boundaries of the neural correlates of consciousness of the connotative and denotative definitions of "zero airspeed"... A phrased or idiom mapped directly back onto itself provides little literary or linguistic value, and ceases to carry forward the sort of meaning, function and purpose of translation and/or reduction of consciousness as it may have originally been intended. My gosh, I wish I could talk like that. I was wondering if you know how close a fly comes to a ceiling before it turns over to land?

When we were kids we'd jump off the top of a railroad tressle into the water. You could really feel that awful falling feeling. When I made my first five jumps in the army I never felt any of that. The first was out of a 141. There was tremendous wind, first step out of the door. The next four jumps were out of 119's which flew a lot slower. Later we jumped everything from C-130's to choppers....still no falling sensation. Skydiving I've never felt this either. This includes two cut aways. Maybe you do get used to it over time. I'm wondering about base jumping. You would think that surely they would feel this sensation, or bungee jumpers. I've always wondered about this....

This story is about another military guy who made good. I think I already talked about Jeff Frangos. He was a Vietnam helicopter pilot who was fed up with the army and all the B.S. in Nam. He was one of our heroes in the early 70's. They still tell stories about him from the "Gulch" days. He made good flying medical choppers in civilian life. Then there was Russ Beree. He flew bird dog aircraft in Vietnam. Last I heard he was chief of the fire dept. in Missoula. Both these guy were tougher than nails and wilder than March Hares back in the day. This story is about Randy Mosely. He was an ex-vietnam helicopter pilot. Randy jumped a para-plane back in the early 70's. When I first watched him land that thing, I was amazed....he'd flare it out and land just perfect, every time. Randy had a good looking blonde wife. He didn't spend a lot of time at the D.Z., but I sure looked up to him. When we jumped choppers in the guards, Randy was usually one of the pilots. Years later Randy became commander of the National Guard in Montana. Next thing you know he was a general. Can you believe that? You'd see his picture in the paper all the time with General Mosley doing this, and General Mosely doing that. The National Guard has a helicopter in the schools program. They fly in a helicopter and show the kids. I figured I'd call up General Mosely and see if I could jump out of one of his choppers, into the school I work at. After a few calls I got ahold of Mosley's aide. I told him that I was an old bud of Randy's. I don't think he was too impressed because Randy never called back. I guess that's what happens when you become rich and famous. You forget your old buddies.

Hell, I only got $50. a month, for jump pay. That was 70 thru 76. Those air force guys just seemed a lot happier than us. I didn't know they also got more money....If I had only been a little smarter, when I signed up.... Back when I was a Whipper Snapper, I worked with a kid who I figured was dumber than a box of rocks. We worked in the saw mill together. During those years he joined Air Force ROTC. Next thing you know he's flying jets.....Years later he became Commander of the Air National Guard for Montana. He retired as a colonel or something like that. He even flew air-liners for a while. He's is now retired and spends the winters in Hawaii. That is when he's not traveling to some other foreign locale. He often takes an Air Force hop to different places. He's got great health insurance, and a big check every month for doing nothing. Me?.....well I still work for a living in North East Montana. Last winter it got down to forty below. If I knew I was going to live this long I would have planned ahead, and joined the Air Force... Hell, I probably could have made general, if this other ding dong made colonel. If anyone needs advice on life you can PM me. I know now what not to do.

+1, and LOL... I worked with Exxon Research for a while. Every project had the following priorities: safety, environment, ROI; in that order, and no compromises. I just roll my eyes when people bad mouth Exxon. They simply do not know what they are talking about. The company is run and populated by extraordinarily smart, dedicated and disciplined people. I'm still waiting for an eco-author to write "How to Live in Trees for Dummies". I'm going to buy it, and read it. Maybe they do have so called smart people working for Exon, but they are still screwing up big time. Last year Exon had an oil pipe line break. It crossed the Yellowstone River. There was around 42,000 gallons of crude dumped into that river before they were able to stop the leak. Some people had to evacuate their homes. This is a beautiful scenic river that is damn free. Like the Exon Valdez disaster all kinds of people were hired to clean up the mess. Everyone knows this was little more than a sham. less than 1 percent of the oil was cleaned up. Some of Exon's exec's did a great job with public relations. Pictures were taken of all these hard working folk trying to clean up the oil. In reality they occomplished little. So, what is Exon up to now. I don't trust them any further than I can throw them. I'm no tree hugger....I worked ten years falling timber in the woods. What I do care about is my children's future.

I guess I don't know a whole lot about oil fracking. I know that most people can no longer drink the well water in my area. The oil industry is responsible for causing that. They ruined the ground water here thirty years ago. Maybe technology has improved things, but I wonder if even that is true. People in my community drink treated water from the Missouri River. Your tax dollars paid for that treatment plant and piping system. It cost millions of dollars. The ground water is contaminated here. This includes a large section of the Ft. Peck Indian Reservation to Culbertson and Baineville, as far North as Scobey. I remember when the Alaska pipe line was new. Everyone was saying that it was 100% safe. After all data showed that they had never had a rupture or any problems shipping that crude. Then along comes the Exon Valdez disaster. Frankly I don't trust most of what these oil company's are saying. They're out to make money....They've got a proven record of failure....

I now live in North East Montana on the Backen oil field. There's an oil boom going on. Some oil workers are making over a $100,000 a year, but are homeless. Some live in man camps. Things are changing fast. We had another oil boom about thirty-five years ago. It became cheaper to buy oil, so the boom quit. New technology created a new way to get oil that was previously too expensive to go after. This process is called "fracking". Chemicals, water, and sand are pumped under high pressure into the ground. This makes it easier to extract the oil. One argument is that this is perfectly safe. Another argument is that this will ruin the groundwater. The oil boom thirty years ago ruined much of the water in my region. Is saying that Fracking is safe, just more double talk?

And don't forget all the big money you could make as a new recruit. As an E-1 private I was nocking down $93. a month. That was Nov. 1969. That didn't stretch very far, even then. It was really fun being spit on for serving your country back then. I'd better quit. I'm getting depressed just thinking about it.

The hunting rules and regs. are getting so complicated each year, that it's getting really hard not to break a law. Is everyone who breaks a hunting regulation considered a poacher? I think that is stretching things a lot. Newspapers and the media are really good at stretching things just as far as they can. I'm not a big fan of Ted Nugent, but once in a while he says something that makes a whole lot of sense.

Seerejumper, I reread your reply. I thought you meant paracommander when you said PC. Now, I know you meant pilot chute. That's what happens when I speed read. I think you're right. This was probably a jumper who cut away when he was trained to do otherwise. I saw a picture once, of a soldier, whose canopy had totally collapsed after a collision with another jumper. His main was still caught on the other soldier. They landed under the one canopy. Part of the problem with this jump may have been the jumpmaster.....Each jumper should have been tapped out, with enough time to be clear of other jumpers. I had a buddy in the army who was scared to jump. Hueys scared him even more, when we jumped them. I'd usually jump first. This helped him leave the aircraft. The problem was that as soon as I left, he'd jump too. He wouldn't wait even a second. As soon as I got canopy, there he'd be. It was a wonder we never got entangled.

It looks like a suspension line was still on the 2nd jumper when he cut away. He openned his reserve just prior to cutting away. He's one lucky soldier. It looks like some type of Spanish jump school. Maybe someone else can add to this. I was driving in Mexico once. I was stopped at a Federally road block. A couple of those young guys looked like they wanted to shoot me with their AK's. They started digging through my wife's underwear, looking for drugs or guns. About then, their leader noticed my USPA sticker, on my car. He pointed at the jump wings on his chest and gave me a big grin. Of course none of them could speak English. He let us go without further adoo. He must have figured if I was a fellow jumper, that I must be okay.... I don't know what percentage of the Mexican army are Airborne. Maybe their training isn't up to ours....

Those are steerable T-10's and not para-commanders. We used to jump various steerable canopies back in the early 70's. Some were called MC-1's if I remember right. They were also called 7 and 9 T-U's by sport jumpers.

I watched this a couple times. I'm just wondering if the army is now teaching cut aways??? These were static line jumpers....or am I wrong. In the old days (when men were men) you were trained to just throw out your reserve in the direction of spin. When you are jumping at low altitudes with two shot capewells, it might be smart never to think of cutting away. It looked like his main canopy was distorted after a collision with another jumper. Why in the world would he cut away at such a low altitude? Was this an army jumper, cutting away when he was trained to do other wise? Can anyone add to this??? We used to jump hueys all the time in training. Sometimes we'd exit at 1500 ft. but rarely higher than that. That was forty years ago, so maybe malfunction prodecures, and gear has changed for military static line jumpers.

A bullet needs to be loaded slower than the speed of sound for a silencer to work very well. I imagine they would still quiet a weapon down a lot, but a high powered rifle would still be making a loud noise, silencer or not. Maybe someone can add to this. I'm no expert on silencers. I have a friend who has one on his AR-15. He says it sounds like about like a regular 22....

I had a High Standard 22 auto that I gave to my daughter. It had about a four or five inch barrel on it. It had a wonderful trigger, and was extremely accurate. I bought that pistol from Dad, when I was a teenager. That was almost 50 years ago. It shoots as good today as it ever did. I bought a 22 Taurus, nine shot, revolver a few years back. It shoots very well, and the trigger isn't bad. It's reasonably priced, and I'd recommend it.

I was 1-A after a tip to Butte in the Spring of 1969. I figured I was too broke to go to college. I was gun-ho back then. I gave the Marine Corps a look. I hunted all Fall, and I needed a job and a home. It was in Oct. when I joined something called the Special Forces National Guard. My old scout master sweet talked me into joining. I found out later that the draft board was in the process of drafting me. Two more weeks and they would have had me. I didn't really know what Special Forces was all about. I knew they all wore this fancy green hat. I figured I'd look cool in one of those. When I figured out my orders, I realized this wasn't going to be much fun, and that I might not measure up. I might never earn a full flash on my beret. First there was basic and infantry training at Ft. Polk. We had these old WWII baracks that you froze your rear off in. Then there was the rains that never seemed to quit that winter. Most of the DI's took delight in making you as miserable as possible. Jump School was a pick-nick after that. I even enjoyed Georgia in comparison to Louisiana. Then we rolled into Ft. Bragg. They had these really nice brick barracks on Smoke Bomb hill. I was rough and tough back then. Camp Mckall was pretty miserable. Never enough sleep, ten mile runs, not enough food, crotch rot, and athletes foot. It all took it's toll. But heh, I made it through. Then I started weapons training. I always liked guns. I kind of liked that. You'd shoot ammo, till it made you sick of shooting. I about ruined my ears one day in heavy weapons training. I forgot my ear plugs. I didn't want to flunk out for being stupid, so I never told anybody. The last phase of training was kind of a killer. You were cross trained in the different MOS's. There were classified classes at JFK Center for Special Warfare. Night equipment jumps out into the boonies. I kind of thrived on much of that training. One of the hardest parts of that training was Method of Instruction Week. You had to get up in front of a large group of soldiers and teach some classes. The thought of that scared the crap out of me. Hell, I was so shy that I couldn't even give a book report in High School...but I wasn't going to quit. When we graduated, everyone was given E-5. There was only two of us that were N.G.'s. When I went up to get my diploma the band started to play. They also started up again when this other National Guardsman walked up to get his diploma. That was supposed to have been a joke. Being a National Guardsmen then wasn't popular back then. Most of my classmates would be fighting over in Nam, in a few short months. I couldn't fault any of them for being pissed. I was headed home the following week. It felt good to walk through Ohare Airport, with my green beret and jump boots. I must have looked like a 16 year old kid. I felt like I was ten feet tall. What a let down it was to come home to my home National Guard Unit. It was a real joke. Noone took the guard drills seriously. I found out later that most of these soldiers had flunked out of SF training. I should have gone back on active duty. Instead I stuck it out for six years and got out. We got to jump every couple months, and that was fun, but most of it was a big waste of time. Guardsmen weren't sent to Viet Nam. I don't think the numbering process started till 1970. I was on active duty by then.... If I had it to do over again, I would have stayed on active duty. I'll agree with anyone who says the National Guard was a joke, back then.

I'm still wondering about barrel length. Wouldn't the shorter barrels have more muzzle flash, along with less velocity? (If you had standard factory ammo)... I would imagine that a 22 inch barrel with a flash suppressor would be just too long. I might go with an 18 or 20 inch barrel. My son in law has a 16 inch barrel on his. I imagine that there are better flash suppressors on the market, than they had in the 70's. I would imagine that muzzle flash is something a bad guy would shoot at, in the dark, in a combat situation. I've talked with a couple guys who went through a permit process and had a silencer put on their AR. It still sounds about like a 22, but is much quieter than normal. Thanks for the info. on this. I'm learning a lot. I think I'll try one of those red dot scopes along with flip up sights.

I think I told these stories earlier. At the risk of sounding like a broken record here goes. I ran out of stories.... When my Dad was a kid he lived with, and worked for, Bob Johnson....the owner of Johnson's Flying service. He ended up flying co-pilot on the early day tri-motors and travel airs. They would often drop smoke jumpers and cargo throughout western Montana and northern Idaho. One day my Dad was throwing out a cargo bundle....without a rig of course. They hit some rough air. The plane tipped, and out went my Dad. Luckily, he hung on with one arm to a static line cable inside the plane. That's all that kept him from going out with the cargo bundle. This was during WWII. Conscientous Objectors refused to serve in combat. Many became smoke jumpers during that era. One day, my Dad was flying co-pilot with Slim Phillips. They got orders to pick up a load of C.O. smokejumpers off a fire in Northern Idaho and fly them back to Missoula. Now Slim hated Conscientous Objectors. My Dad couldn't figure out why Slim had brought along a wash tub filled with ice and watermelons. When they landed in Cascade, to pick up these smoke jumpers, Slim made sure that all of them had all the water melon they could eat. It was a hot day and there was lot's of rough air on the flight to Missoula. First one of these guys started puking, and then another. Before long their was puke everywhere. Slim had a big grin on his face. When they got to Missoula these sick smoke jumpers started to deplane. About then, Slim started hollering at them. "You guys aren't going anywhere, till you clean out my airplane!" So, that's what they had to do. In those days, if you were a Conscientious Objector, it was best to keep it a secret....

We used to Army (static line) jump out of a H-34 helicopter. It looks very similiar to the one you mentioned. When it was your turn to jump you sat in the door, and then pushed out. There was one jumper in the door at a time. This made for slow exits. The Marines had these helicopters for a long time.There was a fear that if the helicopter crashed and went over on that door, it would be extremely hard to escape from. We had an S.F. jumpmaster who never tied himself in. He never wore a rig either. There he'd be (with nothing holding him in that chopper, but gravity) looking out the door, spotting the load. I don't know how many tours of Nam he had, but he had lot's of guts....