Mrs. Peel

I know, right?! I just got back from my curbside pick-up. I bought almost entirely shelf-stable preps (pasta, canned goods, etc.) - my original online order totalled 344. and after all the sales discounts, it was only 183. at pick-up! (Can't beat that with a stick! I'm still flushed with shopping victory!!) I usually hit this sale twice-annually (they run it in January, and again in early summer) to "top off" my supplies. So far, I'm staying true to my goal of always having a minimum of 3 months' worth of food in the house - without buying those pricey dehydrated meals (that I would probably never even eat). I would encourage others to check out the sale! It's a good one.

I hope you're wrong on this one! The more healthy & effective gun rights organizations we have, the better. Perhaps they can turn it around. Mark Smith, Four Boxes Diner, made an interesting video with his own opinion about what the NRA should do, including some leader recommendations --- perhaps spitballing, but in his usual logical, spot-on fashion. My reaction was "yikes, that sounds good... if only!"... but hey, you never know! Good leadership can do wonders for any failing organization... the question is, how deep does the rot go... and is there enough healthy tissue left in that organization to embrace and follow a good leader if one was chosen?

You're totally right! If I have 2 cans of canned soup a month , it's a lot, so most of the time... I don't worry about it too much. But if it was Zombie Time, and I was relying on that stash with some frequency... yeah, I'd be adding extra water, non-salty seasonings, and perhaps extra pasta, etc. I think they're far too salty to consume daily. If the zombies didn't get you, the high blood pressure would!

Thanks for the prompts, guys! I updated the thread title. And yes, @45Doll, I use the digital coupons through their app - not sure if there's another way to access, but their app is nice & easy to use. I rarely go into the brick & mortar store anymore - I order online, maximize on any sales/digital coupons & do curbside pick-up. Life is good.

Adding this post "Gun Crime Down" by @1LtCAP from General Discussion to here (hope you don't mind the housekeeping, OP! It fits better in here).... it shows an increase in concealed carry permits did NOT increase crime, in fact, it did the opposite. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ yep. they admitted it. i found this article by accident today. not this one in particular, but a different site. <<Researchers analyzed data spanning from June 2021 to June 2023 – a year before and a year after the law took effect – focusing on crimes involving firearms, verified gunshot-detection alerts and the number of officers struck by gunfire. Center for Justice Research Director Melissa Burek, who has a doctorate in criminal justice, led the research. The study showed significant decreases in the number of crimes involving firearms in Akron, Columbus and Toledo, and across all eight cities combined. The rate of gun crime in Parma fell the most – by 22% – followed by Akron and Toledo, each with decreases of 18%. Rates for Dayton and Cincinnati increased by 6% and 5%, respectively.>> https://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/Media/News-Releases/January-2024/Change-in-Concealed-Carry-Law-Did-Not-Drive-Violen

I was at Short Hills Mall the following Christmas season, so I guess that would have been 2014... ? The mall was closing for the evening and when my friend and I walked back into the parking garage, it was nearly deserted and there was NO security ANYWHERE to be seen. I mean ZIP. So, they had already "forgotten" about poor Dustin Friedland and his young widow merely one year after his death. So, yeah, that mall going "gun-free" a decade later doesn't surprise me at all. Still shameful though... not to mention incredibly stupid with their close proximity to Newark. All of those nice, upscale towns within 30 minutes of Newark (Short Hills, Montclair, Glen Ridge, etc.) are rich targets for gangbangers, and they all get more than their share of random, terrible violence that crops up on occasion.

Actually, let's leave it here - you're fine! That other section is not for law-related issues - it's more about gear (holsters, clothing, etc.).

Hmmm... if you were thinking of buying ammo, powder, primers, etc., you might want to stock up this month! An anticipated global gunpowder shortage will be impacting pricing come January 1st according to Vista Outdoor: "Companies that will increase their prices include Remington, Alliant Powder, CCI, Federal, SEVI-Shot and Speer. The following increases include: Shotshell: 1-7 percent Rifle: 1-7 percent Handgun: 1-5 percent 22LR/Shorts: 1-5 percent WMR/HMR: 1-7 percent Primers: 5 percent Alliant Powder: 10 percent (limited availability)." Article >>> Ammo Prices Set to Rise 'Substantially' (msn.com)

This is why you're one of my favorites, 10X - it's the shameless flattery you throw around!

This is the kind of person I want nearby when an emergency occurs. He's the very definition of cool under pressure. Color me impressed!

I always find each new sniper record to be just... well... amazeballs! I mean, can you imagine hitting a target at 2.36 miles?? And not in a competition, mind you, but in BATTLE... when other people are also trying to shoot YOU? Holy kamoley! That's really an incredible feat IMO... both of engineering design and shooting skill. I seem to recall the Canadians have been pretty dominant holding these long-distance sniper shot records... but the World Record has now moved to a Ukranian. Anyway, here's the article describing the shot and the new rifle & ammo that was used. Look at the size of this rifle, too... the barrel alone is 41+ inches! Holy crap. (I'll never again whine about not being able to fit my mid-range rifle in my car trunk, lol.) Ukrainian sniper sets new World Record (msn.com)

Hey... my mom was a career psych nurse, too! Takes a special kind of person to work with that population.... There were indeed some terrible abuses in the old state psych hospitals. But they should have fixed the abuses, rather than decimating the system without proper replacement. There were other factors, too... such as advancements in psych drugs that experts (wrongly as it turned out) believed would reduce the need for hospitalizations more than they actually did... and the rise of the powerful patient rights movement that, well-intended as it was, has had terrible unintended consequences. Basically, in the effort to fix earlier problems, mental health activists were able to swing the pendulum so far that if went too far in the opposition direction IMO. Now we have a woefully inadequate # of psych beds, and too many seriously mentally ill people bouncing between our jails/prisons, emergency rooms, and homeless encampments. It's hard to argue that what we have today is a more humane or civilized solution, because it's actually not.

Don't really disagree with any of that. But I think the problem is even bigger in that we need to completely re-build the mental health infrastructure! Most of the old psych hospitals at the state level across the country have been torn down in recent decades... but were never adequately replaced as they were supposed to be with community-based centers. As a result, we have fewer dedicated psych beds today than we did in the 1950's, despite having a much larger population. This causes very practical problems - like doctors will often hesitate to recommend commitment because they know all the beds in their local area are filled. There's also pressure on the institutions that do have psych beds to discharge people as quickly as possible, because there's a line waiting to get in. It also means that jails and prisons have become the new de facto psych hospitals, even though they are wholly unequipped to deal with that population. The dismantling of psych hospitals has also contributed to the flourishing of homeless populations in our cities (many of those folks suffer from chronic serious mental illness). So, the lack of psych beds has many tentacles... each of which is a problem in its own right. Really addressing the mental illness problem would require a major investment in infrastructure... staffing... etc. No one seems willing to even broach it, much less execute on those kinds of expensive plans. Though my argument would be that the cost would be well worth it - we would save both lives and dollars in the long-run.

It definitely sounds concerning! As a general rule, I don't like any kind of monopoly. So, let's hope like hell that this young industry titan shares the sentiment of many of his countrymen when it comes to gun rights. The Czech Republic, having been Nazi-occupied and then Soviet-occupied for far too many years, has turned out to be a real defiant "outlier" in Europe when it comes to gun rights. They even added individual gun rights into their constitution a couple of years back (and that was largely influenced by their study and appreciation of our own 2nd Amendment - as I've read in other articles, and not the one cited here). Czech Lawmakers Vote to add 2nd Amendment to Constitution :: Guns.com Ooops - father-of-three was quicker on the draw!! LOL.

That's a range finder. That's a gadget I think I wouldn't need unless I was actually shooting long distance at unknown distances, correct? That said, I'll jot this model in my notebook for future notice! Thx!

Well... you are a Navy man!

Once again... you're on the wrong side of history... wrong on so many counts. It's almost disheartening. It must be iced, sweetened, and served up with ample creamer.

And that's because the right beverage to enjoy with one's Taylor Ham, Egg & Cheese (oh, and that's on a sesame seed bagel, natch) is: iced coffee. I have nothing against orange juice, mind you. It's a fine and tasty beverage. Though I'm not sure the video accompaniment you so thoughtfully provided is actually leaning me more towards or away from OJ now... That is one odd video. God bless the Internet.

Thanks! That's good to know. I'll look up the others and see if they also do that. Hornaday is at least a big, known brand. I would think their app would be decent! Yeah, I've been surprised to find out (from the handful I've spoken to anyway) that people shooting F-Class don't seem to keep DOPE books...? I'm thinking that's maybe because they're shooting at only a few known, consistent distances AND you get a bunch of sighting shots as well. Soooo... perhaps people just memorize the basic # of clicks they need to adjust the scope for those few distances, and then they just use the sighters to adapt to that day's conditions...? Still not sure... but that's what I'm sensing anyway. Personally? I bought a simple notebook... and I'm starting to keep all kinds of notes, just to enhance my own learning curve. So, I'll probably end up building a DOPE chart anyway. Besides, we ALL know how this works... you find something you LIKE, and you're immediately thinking, "Hmmm... yes, this is FUN, but if and when I get good at this, what will I want to buy/do NEXT?" Soooo, I guess my thinking is... I'm already eyeballing long-range (as opposed to just mid-range), so the more I learn now, the less I'll have to learn later. Besides, anytime a person is learning... it's a good thing. Keeps those neurotransmitters in your noggin firing away efficiently, lol. So, I probably want to dive in a little deeper than I'll actually need to for the current pursuit.

SOME REALLY IGNORANT QUESTIONS COMIN' RIGHT UP, FOLKS!! I need to start learning about ballistics calculations. I literally have had no time to study up (and I've been shooting at the same distance and just zero'd my scope at that distance, so it really didn't matter). I see there's a math formula for each caliber based on distance. I think I might actually use that initially. That might sound strange... but I'm thinking it will give me a better appreciation for how it all works - and if I ever lost battery power on my phone, I wouldn't be in a panic because a phone app was unreachable. That said, I'll also be looking to download a ballistics calculator phone app as well, so I can start playing around with that, too. (I mean, it's a modern convenience - doing all that math in the background for me - so, why wouldn't I, right?) Here are my questions regarding the phone apps: Should I just be selecting something from the Google Play store (for my android phone)? Or rather, should I be going to the website of the company that makes the brass, for instance, that I'm using, and see if they have their own app? In other words, does any of this need to be dialed in to the "product" I'm using - whether it be the brass, the powder, the scope? In fact, is there much variation at all between these ballistic calc apps? If you're inputting all the same factors, are they all spitting out pretty much the same recommendations/results? Also, do most (or all) ballistics calculator apps only calculate bullet drop? OR, do they also allow you to input estimated wind speed and direction (or is there another type of app you need to use to calculate "windage"?) (As you can probably tell by now, I've never used - or even seen - ANY of these apps before, so please forgive the rudimentary questions. I'll be starting my "deep dive" tonight on YouTube - but figured I'd throw the questions out here at the same time - do a little "crowd-sourcing" of info as it were). The ballistics calculators I'm seeing in the Google Play store (in ranked order) are: Ballistics Calculator 2023 - 4.5 stars (of 2000 reviews) - downloaded 50K+ times. Hornaday - 4.3 stars (of 3000 reviews) - downloaded 100K+ times GeoBallistics - 4.0 stars (of 277 reviews) - downloaded 50K+ times. Do any of you use/recommend any of those 3 products? Thank you!!

This is SUCH a good YouTube video! I really like this guy's videos (Tom Grieve) in general, but this one really jumped out at me. In this particular video, he makes the argument for potential victims to fight back with a firearm vs. acting compliantly. And he backs it up by an abundance of interesting statistical data from credible sources (that he links to) as well as anecdotal stories from his own considerable experience as a prior prosecutor and now defense attorney. Now obviously, need I even say?... I would think that every case is different and people need to use their instinct/judgement in the moment... nonetheless, I think he makes some very compelling arguments here... certainly. one worth considering. Now, I do realize I'm "preaching to the choir" for most of this crowd. The only reason I keep posting to this resource compendium section is because I think we all have people in our lives who are either anti-gun or on the fence. Videos like this one - presented in a calm and collected manner, chock full of solid data, etc. - are useful to share with folks like that. Happy viewing! TRUTH Carry a gun and FIGHT BACK! Statistics on resisting attackers with violence vs compliance - YouTube

Not at all...I say let the thread wander! And that's a great suggestion for 10X.

It's a bolt-action rifle (single shot/no magazine) built on a Remington 700 action with a 31" Bartlein bull barrel and set into an Elisio chassis system... it's chambered in 6.5 Creedmore... and it's got a Jewell trigger that's set to a few ounces of pull. That's what it came with, and I added a Vortex Golden Eagle scope to it. (Forgive me if I worded anything incorrectly... I'm still learnin' some of this this new-to-me rifle lingo. ). But basically, it's a gun designed very specifically for F-Open and/or benchrest shooting, because after careful study and trying out others' rifles, I figured that those are the 2 rifle sports I want to pursue. Oh, and it's for mid-range distances (so, roughly 300 to 600 yrds, though this gun is very accurate out to 1000 and probably beyond. I think if you want to go really long distance though, to be competitive you are more likely shooting 7mm caliber? Others can correct me if I'm wrong.) F-Open and benchrest are both very gear-intensive sports - yes, the gun is big and heavy, but it's designed for a big heavy rifle rest, and a big heavy rear sandbag - so all of that weight is supported. Because of the greater ease of shooting, the targets are appropriately shrunken down from other precision rifle sports at similar distances. You have to be shooting well under 1 MOA to do well. The upside (for me personally) is that this type of shooting seems to mitigate my weaknesses: my lack of upper body strength is not an issue, because the gun's weight is supported... and I've found my cross-dominance which has sometimes vexed me is suddenly not a problem either, because the scope is aligned with my right eye, and I'm right-handed. Also, I don't have the fastest or most graceful gross motor coordination in the world, lol (which is why, I think, I struggle with shotguns). In 10-plus years of (admittedly casual shooting) and trying out different things... so far, F-Open (laying on a mat, being very still, and taking careful precisely aimed shots) is BY A LANDSLIDE the most "natural feeling" shooting I've ever done. The few times I shot it from a bench was even easier. And I'm a SMITTEN KITTEN as a result. Obsessed! Money has flown out of my savings account at a speed I can barely comprehend. And I'm not even fully set up with reloading gear yet. That's the next financial hurdle to cross. Precision shooting is VERY expensive! (And I'm not even at the highest end of gear. I'm seeing people with $10,000+ custom rifles... $6,000+ scopes... all kinds of fancy electronic gadgetry. Yikes! I'm not close to that). Other than the big dent in my savings, the downside (again, just for me personally) is that not only is the gun itself is heavy and cumbersome (it's 4 ft long and weighs about 20 lbs), but there's a lot of ancillary gear, and all of that is heavy & cumbersome, too. I have a fancy rest with a joystick called a Seb Neo... it's like maneuvering a small engine block, lol. "Getting ready to go shooting" when I'm heading to my indoor range with a pistol is as simple as checking to make sure I have ammo and then throwing the range bag over my shoulder... done! But with this gear?... oh, Lord... it's like I'm preparing to invade a 3rd world nation. (Or, if you 've ever seen people with a newborn baby pack for a weekend trip... yeah, pretty much the same thing). There's just a TON of stuff to pack into the car - some of it (because I'm a weakling), I need to roll out on a small dolly, all bungeed up, etc. It takes me at least 10-15 minutes just to assemble the gear, load it on the dolly, bungee it up, navigate the porch steps, lift it into the trunk, repeat the next load, etc. But it's sooo worth it... because once I'm shooting, the ENTIRE process focuses on things I am pretty good at (trigger coordination, remaining VERY still, etc.) The only thing that remains to be seen is how I'll do with windage (haven't really shot at long enough distances or windy enough weather yet to know that). But I figure anything can be learned. And after the money I've spent, there's NO WAY I'm not going to learn to do that well! I'm very happy though. Grinning from ear to ear actually. After all this time, I feel like I've finally found my niche in shooting... and I'm having a total BLAST! I already have NEXT YEAR's calendar filled with match dates. Like I said... obsessed! The lesson for me (and perhaps for others still exploring?)... is that there are a LOT of shooting sports, and you should really explore as many as you can. There's 1 or 2 that will undoubtedly fit you better than others. I'm just sorry it took me a whole decade to figure out mine. (Sorry for the long-winded tangent...)

Hmmm... I'll reach out to the range as a couple of you have suggested. None of the ranges I've ever belonged to had that kind of service... I didn't know it was even an option in some places. Can't hurt to ask. To answer your question, HE, the current gun case is 52 inches long - the gun barely fits in. So, I'm guessing about 4 feet total length. Kind of hard to "hide"... of course, though I was hoping to make it look like I bought a mirror at an antique shop on the way up, and want to store it in the room so it's not bouncing around in the car all weekend. I'll figure it out... lots of good ideas here, as always (even if they are not all in agreement with each other, lol).

Even if I take the back section of the chassis off... it's still a pretty long item. The barrel itself is 31 inches. It's not like I'm going to get it into a small package per se. It's interesting though...there are as many different ideas here as there are posts! Obviously, I'm just going to have to figure out what feels best for the situation. Right now... I'm thinking that's wrapping the rifle case in a blanket with twine, stashing it on my luggage carrier, with my weekend bag bungeed in front of it, and maybe something else - like a laptop bag - bungeed on top of that... roll the whole shebang in the front door of the B&B with a big, disarming smile on my face. Who the heck will know what any of it is? Who will really care? And then I'll look for some way to securely store it in the room with a cable and let them know that I don't need room service for the 2 nights I'm there. I'm not going to overthink this more than I need to... totally destroys the "zen" of a weekend away! Edit: the garment bag idea is interesting... I have an older garment bag in the house somewhere. I'll have to see how that looks. Otherwise, like I said... wrapped in a blankie. None the wiser.