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Thanks for posting this...I was unaware of Lones' passing. I'm sad to hear the news. Lones was dominant in the shooting sports in a way that no one has been before or since. He was a machine. And a heck of a nice guy. I only met him once, when we both showed up at the Walsh Invitational at Xavier University in the late 70's, him late in his shooting career, me early in mine. Needless to say, I got thrashed...seeing him there was a little like showing up for a recreational basketball league game and spotting Kobe Bryant on the opposing team. The only thing that ever came close for sheer intimidation factor was at my first international match, when the guys in the matching red track suits with CCCP on the front walked onto the range. Some years later I was talking to the US Shooting Team manager, who remarked that competitive shooters are anonymous in the US...but when the team travelled to Europe, random people on the street would recognize Lones with some regularity. Somewhere I have a picture of Lones and I on the range at Xavier. He remains the only celebrity with whom I ever asked to have my photo taken.

What did he say that you found objectionable?

They’ll clean your barrel in a millisecond. And your barrel will look like that’s all the time you spent on it, too.

California has had those for almost 100 years; it’s not like they are some recent liberal plot. I can remember having apples confiscated 50 years ago, and California was pretty conservative then. But they were also willing to invest to protect what was then their largest industry. Remember the medfly?

Hadn't heard of them before. They'll obviously leave behind powder fouling from whatever is pushing the cleaning wads out the barrel. I share your skepticism.

Those outside keypads used to come with a sticker on the back showing the key code. Made it easy to unscrew the keypad from the wall to learn the combination. So check for a sticker before installation, and remove it and/or change the code.

quill pen

Good call on flying into Philly. That should go smoothly. I'm not aware of any limit on the number of guns, but there is a limit on ammo--not that you mentioned bringing in ammo. Different airlines have different limits; I believe the international limit is 5 kilos, but various domestic airlines seem to have their own rules, usually involving '5'. I've heard 5 lbs, 5 boxes, 500 rounds. in factory boxes or equivalent (like MTM plastic boxes, not loose bulk ammo)

Strong words from a senator who should have been/almost was thrown in prison for a long time.

Cartridge was announced on April 1... :-)

I've not tried it; I confess, I hadn't heard of it until your post. I checked the website, and they do compare it to 231 and TightGroup. I find that confusing, as those two powders have significantly different burn rates.

Does anyone in northern NJ sell electric fence supplies? Not the rabbit and woodchuck nuisance fencing that sometimes turns up at Home Depot or Lowes, I'm looking for electrified deer/bear fencing, which I've only found online. I went out today to wrap and/or fence the plantings I'm trying to get started as a privacy screen. But everything in the privacy screen had once again been girdled by the deer, all bark gone, all the way around, from about 12" above the ground up to maybe 30". Nothing is coming back from that. The problem I have is that I live in a semi-isolated neighborhood of 6 houses on maybe 15 acres, with a resident herd of 12 does. We're miles from the nearest place they can be hunted, far enough from the nearest real road that the cars aren't getting them, and there isn't nearly enough forage for them here, so they eat damn near everything. I've replaced a row of arborvitae a couple of times, a few small trees twice, and even the holly gets eaten down to a stump every year. This, despite everything being 'deer resistant', soaked in every manner of deer repellant, and fenced off or wrapped in burlap from fall through spring. The deer just push down the temporary fencing, or chew through the burlap. They genuinely seem to enjoy the taste of the deer repellants. So I need to up my game. You know the electric fence around the T-Rex paddock in Jurassic Park? I need something like that; not necessarily that tall, but with more voltage. Any suggestions?

For starters, maybe wait till next summer, when watermelons are once again available?

That's true, but we knew from the outset that pot would disqualify a person from having a CDL, pilot license, etc. I don't think many people saw the gun disqualification thing coming. I certainly didn't.

I noticed this year that B&H Photo started charging NJ tax on orders. That's new, not sure why, as I didn't think they had a presence in NJ.

We're still coming to grips with our paper currency no longer being backed by the gold standard. Not ready for something so completely intangible...

The name is vaguely familiar; I've probably met him at a shooter's seminar, though they haven't run one of those for years. I don't go down to the Vineland site anymore; got enough seniority to pick the show closest to my house, and I have a crew member who lives down south and has his CDL/Hazmat endorsement, so he picks up the truck and brings it to the show site. I do kinda miss the old days; Girone/Vineland would have a shooters party in the wee hours of July 5, when the crews would start returning trucks to the compound. Catered dinner, trash cans full of beer and soda on ice, lots of war stories from the shows just completed... Finally getting home at 4 am and having to go to my day job later that day I don't miss so much.

I shoot for Pyrotecnico (one of the big national concerns). It's as cool a one-day-a-year part-time job as one could hope to have. I started out with Fireworks by Girone, which became Vineland Fireworks, which sold to Pyrotecnico when the matriarch of the family decided she was too old to run the business. I'm a crew chief for them, or in the vernacular of the fire code, the 'operator'. Most of the permitting resides with the company; my crew and I only need to have BATFE explosive possessor's permits, and those aren't as useful as one might think; only good day of show, on the show grounds. NJ also has licensing requirements for electrically-fired shows, which I've never bothered to get. Hand fired shows are just more fun!

My yard. Unfortunately, it's just 50 short yards from the nearest 'no hunting in the township' sign.

Some good links for those interested in getting started: Smoking Meat Smoking Meat Forums Amazing Ribs Weber Bullet

I'm also a fan of the Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker. They have quite a fan base online. I've got the 18", which is their mid-sized version. Just big enough to smoke a turkey of up to 14=16 lbs. Using both racks, you could smoke 6 racks of ribs at a time, and it's fairly economical of charcoal/smoke wood. Plan to add a good remote reading thermometer, both for greater accuracy, and so that you can keep an eye on the smoker and the meat temps from wherever you happen to be.

Yeah, but she was no Maureen McCormick.

Yep. I've got Grandma's (or maybe Great-Grandma's) cast iron. Griswold skillets and a dutch oven. A good bit over 100 years old. Which means they're almost broken in.

Yes, but I noticed your use of the past tense...

From what I've read, grilled meats have higher carcinogen levels than smoked meats; the polyaromatic hydrocarbons form when fat drips directly onto hot coals or burner elements. Smokers don't generally use direct heat, and they operate at lower temperatures than grills. Smoked and grilled are both yummy, of course. Moderation in all things. Including moderation.