Spike 7.62

This rifle really got around; Western Military District and Queensland which is in the north east of the country. I'll have to research the Batteries in that command to see of one is designated 2/18. If not then the stock shows use in 3 separate Australian military organizations.

I am on the quest for a well-rounded WWII collection. I want the primary and secondary small and side arm of each major warring nation and all the relevant militaria I can afford. I never thought about Australia until this rifle became available to me. You may have seen it on Armslist recently. I had put it up for sale to see what I could net but ultimately decided to keep it. It was arsenal refurbed in Dec 1946 so there is a mix of parts. The stock is 1915 the matching bolt and action 1918 so this could be a WWI collection addition as well. At some point she belonged to the 5th Military District Western Australia which was a militia organization. CMF was the Australian version of our National Guard, which initially was supposed to stay domestic but did fight in the SW Pacific. At some other point the rifle belonged to a unit designated 2/18 issued to soldier number 7121. There was no 2/18 anything in the 5th military district so it belonged to the regular army at some point. The HV cartouche denotes the later, high velocity .303 cartridge. D/|\D (tried to make the DarrowD mark) is the Australian military property mark; Dept of Defense.

Except that your full name, entire address and phone number is going to be on HIS permit, that he keeps, forever. And half the time someone sells me their pistol they want to give me their old permit too. If you're going to deal with strangers you need to stop being such a scardy-cat. Anyone who cares enough to actually join a gun forum or browse Armslist, have a FID and draw a permit is someone who is looking for a legal transaction. I invite people to my apartment and I dont carry a gun when I meet them. I've met at public parking lots and gone into other peoples homes. It isn't a big deal. Don't be the guy who is X'ing out the last digits of your guns serial number for "security". Gun ownership is a hobby, if you relax a little bit you will enjoy it more. And as far as using a shop.. If someone came into my store wanting to use it for their private transaction I'd ask them to either pitch in for my rent or to kindly buy a box of ammo. That should do the trick.

If you buy a new gun you lose money when you buy not when you sell. I guess it depends on what you paid for the Stag and S&W and what the value of the Beretta is to you. Now your mags and ammo are cross-compatible, is there a dollar value on utility? By buying 9mm in lieu of .223/5.56 you are saving money. Will you now be enjoying it more?

I have a super clean 19-5 (4" blued) in my store right now for $500. A snub barrel or stainless would be worth more.

Sorry but you're dead wrong. Gun accessories and other "consumables" (targets, cleaning gear...) don't sell for squat. The money comes from guns and ammo, mostly guns.

Is that a joke? Try to move more volume? Nothing that the store can do will change the customer market. Nothing that the store can do will create a need for you to fill with another gun. You can only buy a MAX of 12 pistols per year, and no one actually does that. You can't hunt with a center fire rifle (excluding brand new regs on varmits) so I've got multiple large caliber bolt actions that never move. Recreational shooting is NOT popular in NJ; people don't have multiple rifles or plinkers like they do in other states. People aren't shooting enough to buy a lot of ammo. Many people are scared to even transport their guns out of their home to practice with it, they almost view their gun as a liability! So no, there is no price change that can create more gun buyers or more active shooters. Maybe I can shed some light on this. I work at a LGS and I do a lot of pricing. I shop around with about 12 distributors/wholesalers to fill the shelves. For example, a new Hi Point carbine from us is tagged at about $369-379. But I go to gun shows in PA and see them, new from dealers, for as low as $299. After overhead (transporting, taking a day out of the store) I am curious to know how much that dealer is getting them for because my store could never sell that low. We typically do not sell for exact MSRP unless it's a cheaper gun, for example a Marlin model 60 at $199. To be competitive and help out our customers we knock at least $10 off, a "little" more in some cases. As a long time customer of the NJ gun market I think our prices are very good. Consider this too; Sundays, a day when working people are off and possibly available for fun shopping, we can't even sell guns because of the State. All the money after our dealer cost is NOT profit. We pay rent for the building. Alarm systems, insurances, maintenance, repair, utilities. You think paying taxes once a year is bothersome? Businesses do it every month and we NEVER see a return. There are 3 employees that need to be paid and insured. That is 3 human lives that receive all of their money from the stores profit before the store gets to call it profit. All of their bills, gas, food and recreation. We buy inventory and tie up the money until a gun can be sold. we transport inventory when we buy ammo or go to shows to sell. We lose 3% on credit card transactions because we don't pass that hit onto the customer, even though we should. When I look at $2000 worth of CC transactions that day and I think of losing 3% overall it hurts. Add up all of those expenses and then take it away from the measly profit on a new gun. What's leftover is the actual profit. Honestly it's probably not worth it financially to stay open at a store, but we do it because we're gun people and we want to help the gun folks. If you don't like it, fine, keep not shopping at we small mom-and-pop shops, but then don't complain when we're gone. Then the market will be worse, not better.

I appreciate the encouragement. To save myself from buying tools that I'll never use again, could I pay you to do it for me? I'll PM you also.

Is this something I should do myself? I've got no gun smithing experience, I've only taken apart and cleaned guns before. I have no special tools, no vice and no special wrenches, just an auto kit. I have a small apartment so not even a garage or basement to do any work. Are there any gunsmiths who can barrel my receiver? I'm in Manahawkin, the closer the better but I will mail it out if I have to.

Absolutely correct. Consider this.. Our policy is to nuke into oblivion anyone who nukes us. Who is going to totally sacrifice themselves just to turn off half our electronics? Who would be SO mad at us that they launch nuclear ICBMs, BUT NOT be mad enough to target anything except your cell phone or car battery... That sounds pretty dumb, right? Our enemies have nuclear capability. If they deliver the weapon via missile they won't waste it on an EMP effect, they will actually physically destroy their target. Our less sophisticated enemies have no vehicle to deliver the weapon so it will be a ground-level detonation, again physically destroying the target. As pointed out, anything affected by EMPs by the actual use of a nuke will also be severely damaged and contaminated, if not entirely destroyed.

Reading Air Show in Reading PA every 1st weekend of June. Be there or be square.

Stop wasting your time worrying about an EMP. It will never, ever happen, period. Radiological fallout is more realistic, prep for that instead.

Yes sir me too!

"Spike - when you tested the IIIA vest - what rounds did you shoot it with and what fruit did you use? What damage did you observe?" I shot it with 9mm FMJ, .40s&w FMJ and HP, .45acp FMJ and HP and .44mag FMJ. I think I sacrificed a total of 3 vests. I shot one with at least 60 rounds of 9mm and 40, FMJ and HP trying to spread the hits around the vest and there were no punctures. Then I tried to hit the bullets that were already lodged into the vest to force a puncture. I think the fewest hits it took to force the nose of a bullet to make through the armor was 4, right on the back of each other, and that was 40s&w. I fired at ranges from 20 feet to literally "point blank". One vest I used 44 magnum on, and I fired 3 rounds at it, point blank range, one slug atop the last and they would deflect off to the side rather than penetrate into the armor. The penetration would only start after there was enough of a "ball" of rounds that the bullets were forcing it forward. Even then it was more of a "wearing down" than a poke-thru. I had tomatoes and squash and there would be big dents and lacerations of the vegetable with even the 9mm HP at 20 feet. The larger calibers and shorter ranges were destroying them. At the very end I used my SKS and blew the vests to bits. Surplus FMJ 7.62 was still cutting through both soft armor plates at 40 feet. In summation, use plates but if IIIA is the best you've got it's better than nothing. It WILL stop multiple .44mag at close range, but the energy will still transfer to your body.

Some fools shot a German flak vest (made 1994) WHILE wearing it with a Ruger 10/22. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=105_1394790662 Honestly I'm surprised it did not penetrate. The wearer still has a nasty wound. When I tested some PointBlank IIIA vests I had, I put fruits inside the vest to observe damage. For all the preppers.. soft armor has a place in your preps, but not for defense against direct fire.

Actually I just noticed the pinned topic about obtaining the license. That answers a lot of my questions. I use my phone to browse the forum and missed that thread. If anyone has any tips to stream line the process or any great gear/location recommendations (ha-ha, I know) then I'm all ears. Or, well, eyes.

For the first time since living in NJ I intend to hunt legally with all the required paperwork. But I don't know where to start, at all. I have my FID and I'm a current military member if there are any discounts out there. I want to do coyote, wild pig, deer, pheasant, duck and goose. I have a shotgun and black powder and would use a rifle when I could. If it extends my season I'll buy a crossbow, I've been wanting to anyway. Where do I start? Where do I have to go and what do I have to do and spend? I appreciate everyone who helps, I thought the process of acquiring and shooting firearms was complicated, hunting regs blow me away.

I had the extreme honor of meeting Wild Bill several times. First was at Camp Beuhring, Kuwait during a USO show in 2008 with other members of Easy Company, including the late Babe Heffron. These 80+ year old Joe's made the trek to the desert to lift our morale as we were headed north to Iraq. I got to sit at a picnic table with Wild Bill and he told me "When ya see the enemy, kill the bastard today so ya ain't gotta see 'em tomorrow." I saw him again 3 years consecutive at the Reading Air Show and he graced my Band of Brothers DVD box set with his autograph. RIP to a true warrior. I'll always remember you, and I'll teach my kids about what you did for the world.

I don't know but if you call Sandy at the number provided she will help you. I am not connected to this benefit in any way. The organizers came into my store and asked me to spread the word, I made them a gift card and am trying to advertise. I appreciate that you want to help, Sandy and the Wilson family will too.

Bob Wilson was climbing on his tree stand and fell, unfortunately breaking his neck and becoming paralyzed. He was the bread-winner for his family and there is a benefit for him at the Hedger House, 4265 Route 563 Chatsworth NJ, May 18th starting at 1pm. There will be auctions of great prizes for donations to his family. $25 per person at the door and there is a cash bar. The auction is at 5pm. 100% of proceeds go to Bob's family. Contact Sandy at 609-694-4390 for more information or to buy tickets in advance. Spread the word also, this is a member of our gun-owning family who suffered an accident and we should help him the best we can. My store donated a $50 gift card to the auction.

This is a good question; Would OUR police or military ever do this? I am a history major so I look back in time to find the answer. My assessment; Yes, there is precedence. Boston 1770, regular British soldiers fire live ammunition into a crowd of protestors (their own subjects) killing and wounding indiscriminately. The entire US Civil War. New York City 1863, regular US soldiers were deployed to suppress the draft riots, killing at least over 100 and wounding thousands. The many hundreds of times US soldiers pillaged, raped and murdered the American Indians during their genocide. During WWI certain German-Americans were imprisoned with no warrant or due process, simply because an order was issued. After Pearl Harbor the FBI and US Army imprisoned many thousands of Japanese/German/Italian-Americans and held them in camps with no warrant or due process. Their personal property was forfeited. Simply because an order was issued and people follow orders. The Kent State issue can be boiled down to US soldiers using lethal force against unarmed protestors. Look around the world. In Germany it wasn't "Nazi's killing Jews" it was Germans killing Germans, to simplify. They shared nationality, language, culture, history, even religion (there was a very loose definition of "Jewish"). But yet Heinz loaded Moisha into the train car, left him in there for days and led him to the concentration camp. If you're interested in the subject, read "Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101" it's one of the best holocaust books in my opinion. It is writtien from the perspective of perpetrators. These were average Joe's who were in a group mentality. An individual person is not so dangerous. They can be empathetic, convinced, negotiated with. But a group of people is extremely dangerous; Group thinking overcomes the individual, group achievement overcomes, group concerns overcome and group mentality overcomes and the group as a whole will do whatever IT is told. Ukrainian police were killing Ukrainian protestors because they were ordered to and everyone else was doing it. That's all it takes. They aren't any different at heart from anyone else, or us.

We talk a lot about "when SHTF" but think about what that means. Someone's S hit the fan yesterday. Somewhere, the S is hitting the fan for a lot of people. Tomorrow it will be someone else's turn. Whether a victim of robbery or a citizen surrounded by a chaotic outburst of violence, it is happening NOW. We need to "learn from a distance". Observe when SHTF to others so we can respond better ourselves. Feel free to post something; for example a CCTV clip of someone who was robbed at a gas station and fought back. We can observe and discuss tactics from the enemy and friendly players. Today I present this: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=729_1393335320 In Kiev, Ukraine S is hitting the fan for a lot of people. These protestors, mostly unarmed, tried storming the Parliment. They were met with live ammunition from automatic weapons and snipers. Even a man carrying a stretcher was not spared. When unarmed citizens are shot through the head by police, that government has lost its legitimacy and must be destroyed. Those people were being pushed. We are being pushed too. Don't think "it can't happen here". This video show case why I cling to my guns. When or if the SHTF like that to me, I wont be hugging the ground holding a baseball bat.

I joined the Army at 18 and that has put many different firearms in my hands, domestic and foreign. I work at an FFL now and every day I eat, breathe and think about guns from 9am to 6pm. I go with my boss to people's houses to buy. I get to give advice to new shooters. This job won't allow me to live my dream life, but it is good for now. I have applications in with law enforcement to do more work with tactical weapons. That is somewhat "in the industry". It depends on where you are in your life. I'm 24 so working at a retail store isn't terrible for me, plus I have the Army Reserve. If you want a CAREER, consider something in law enforcement, IMO. Or Cabela's, I hear they treat their people pretty well.

When was the last time you saw .22 mag on the shelf? P&K in manahawkin has hi and regular velocity at $24.99/box. Sure beats "out of stock"!