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IMHO, the guns to "buy once, cry once" are - Rifle: Uberti 1873 - Revolvers: Ruger Vaquero's or Bisley's - Shotgun: CZ Sharptail or a non-worn out SKB or Browning BSS. All with action work and modifications. 'Buy Once, Cry Once Equipment". Holsters: Mernickle HP1 Starter kit which includes everything you'll need. Cart: Rugged Gear - easy to push around. Or a quality wood cart. Reloading: Dillon Precision Press or Hornady Lock-N-Load Progressive Costume: Jeans, button up long sleeve shirt and SASS approved boots. You'll want a hat with a brim to keep the hot brass from the 1873 going down your shirt. Many here can testify to that. Build you costume after you spent a little time in the game and build your own persona. Minimal or maximum costuming is purely a personal choice. Hope this helps.

I would go to YouTube and watch the 17 videos produced by Jim Finch AKA Longhunter. They average about ten minutes each. Watch them and observe the gear he uses and suggests.

And some folks complain about pineapple on pizza.... LL

Looks more like a Haitian Voodoo pizza. Call it Walla Wall Bing Bang.

Cool website with lots of info about early firearms, Black powder manufacturing, and early smokeless powder manufacturing. Definitely a rabbit hole worth exploring. https://firearmshistory.blogspot.com/2010/04/welcome-to-firearms-history-technology.html

Just recently got one of his pistols.

Dillon 550 for cartridge reloading. Used is fine. Simple press that can be all you’ll ever need.

Long Hunter is a Overall World Champ...all around Cowboy Gun Guy. I knows his sh...stuff. Phantom

My recommendation...truly KNOW the person that you're getting info. from. I know that this is the SASS forum, but you'd be surprised at how much bad info. can be found here. Phantom

@Tennessee williams, I found your new pizza shop! Yes, chicken foot pizza. La Sombra

This was recently discover in the Santa Cruz Valley in Arizona. It is a bronze cannon left by Coronado while searching for the Seven Cities of Gold in the 1530s.

The one shot drill is used to work on transitions, moving from one gun to the next. You can set up a target sequence that uses all four guns, just like you’d encounter in a regular stage. You can add movement if you wish, or start out with just one position. If you’re short on space or can’t get to the range, this can be done without ammo in your living room to start with, but live fire is best. You load one round it the rifle, (this gets you used to re-staging the rifle open and empty) pistols loaded and holstered, (you can load five like normal and safely reholster because you’re holstering the gun with the hammer down on a discharged cartridge) and the shotgun staged open and empty. A timer is helpful here, but not required. Decide on a shot sequence, (rifle, pistol, shotgun, pistol for example) and then smoothly perform the sequence, firing each gun one time and moving to the next. I said smoothly because it is more important in the beginning to be smooth. The speed will come naturally as you get used to making the transitions. I run the same stage five times, (that lets me empty the pistols) and then evaluate my progress. Then I reload the pistols and try a different sequence if I was comfortable with my progress on the completed scenario. A timer can really aid in checking your progress and you can find numerous “shot timer” apps on your phone. If I’m practicing with a double barrel shotgun, I’ll load two and fire both because that’s what I’ll normally do in competition. Be sure to mix up the gun sequence so that you’re clearing the long guns properly between transitions. You can take notes and check split times between shots to find where you need improvement and what you’re doing that works best. This overlaps what Sedalia Dave posted above. I think if you combine what we both offered, you’ll see marked improvements quickly.

Oh Boy. Alpo is off his meds again.

Work on your transitions. And then work on them some more. You can easily shave seconds off your stage times by having flawless transitions. Second area that will shave multiple seconds off your stage times is don't miss. Every miss costs you 5 seconds. No matter how fast you can empty a gun you cannot outrun a miss. Third area to save seconds is with your shotgun. Every time you bobble loading it cost you seconds. Every miss cost you seconds. What all the above amounts to is PRACTICE and lots of it. Are you doing one shot drills? They are a excellent way to practice transitions without expending a lot of ammo.

A Marlin 94 needs little modifications to make it run well. Might be an option for you. Phantom

And another example of "damn, I'm old". I read the title of this as ALL-WHEEL DRIVE VERSUS FOUR-WHEEL DRIVE. They have apparently changed the abbreviations on me.

It wasn't my idea. Honest. Given my druthers -- well, never mind. Y'see, my father in law wished to spend Thanksgiving with family in Mooresville, NC, he's on in his years and my wife said we'd take him down and we'd all spend Thanksgiving there. We did. Much good food, much good talk, my niece is getting married next October and she instructed us most straitly indeed that we ARE to attend. My father in law allowed as he wanted to head back for home Sunday morning, and so we did. Sunday. Of a holiday weekend. Got as far as Mt Airy and traffic on I-77 came to a slow, then a crawl, and finally it was a parking lot. My wife and I took turns driving, on our way down, driving through rain and mist and spume thrown up by tires small and large; I drove back on Sunday, straight through, in snow that followed us from Flat Top WV at mountains' height, into fog in the valleys, with spume thrown up by tires small and large. The only decent driving, frankly, was the dry pavement and clear visibility inside the Virginia tunnels. We made it home, the father in law was absolutely delighted that he got to see family, that he didn't have to drive, that we thought enough of him to do this for him. We're home now, I unloaded the car and then went back out for milk and bread and a sack of tater chips for the next door neighbor, and I remembered how my sister in law and her family were complaining most bitterly about the cold, so I sent her the cheerful observation that her temperature, and the temp taken on the soggy south shore of Lake Erie, differed by six degrees. If she hadn't been at work when she got my text, she'd have reached through the phone and backhanded me a good one. (Actually she wouldn't, she's too much the Lady for that, but she would have given me a Vivian Leigh glare!) I keep thinking about that long and miserable drive. My wife threatened to have a custom T-shirt made for me, so I can be reminded of that terrible drive, again and again and again!

My Sweetheart has an AWD Outback. My Mini Countryman is also AWD. Both are intelligent AWD systems. Only engaging the "other" wheels when things get "slippy." Lived a lot of years in Colorado and Pennsylvania. Can't believe the number of people who believe those TV commercials for 4x4 and AWD. Sooooo many SUVs upside down in the ditches and medians.

Never had an AWD vehicle. I’ve only ever had two FWD vehicles and the Enclave I drive now is one of the two. There have been a couple of 4X4 trucks over the years, but I never used the feature in snow or ice. When I was a kid we used a 4X4 to plow snow. I have driven thousands of miles in snow and ice as well as flood conditions and using my head and my training and experience have kept me out of ditches and accidents so far. I worked for a Jeep dealership a couple of decades ago in an area where big hills and small mountains were prevalent. The folks that bought the Limiteds, Wagoneers, and CJs because they lived at those higher elevations were the worst at staying up on the roads in bad weather. Most of them couldn’t be convinced that just because their Jeep would GO better in the snow, it didn’t mean that it would STOP or steer any better! I made a lot of extra money pulling them out of ditches and repairing collision damage.

First and only time I tried skying, got off the lift onto ice.. the snow had melted and frozen solid. Told my friend we’d meet in the bar. I proceeded to sit on my a** and carefully slide my way down the mountain.

Stretch works really hard at looking cute. Being a Co-pilot is hard work. Texas Bluebonnets. Northern Lights as seen from Sedalia Mo.

They can be a little rough on the hemorrhoids if they don't digest fully. And according to TW, the more flavorable kind are those that still have a little 'jam' between the toes. This type pizza is TW's 2nd favorite. His favorite is the Mtn Oyster / Cow Tongue combo. ..........Widder

Yup, called the King Trio. Comes with a .38 Super, 9x19 and .357 cylinder. Stamped so they can sell it in countries where military cartridges are banned.

The trick to eating those the right way is sucking the meat off'n the toes. Best way to do that is run yer tongue between them a couple times. It works better of you have someone close that you can maintain eye contact with while you do it. They'll get mad and smack the taste out of yer mouth so's you don't taste them going down.

Morocco, Western Sahara, and Guinea.

There is a difference in All Wheel Drive and Four Wheel Drive (AWD & FWD) I was going to explain it but decided to use someone else. In a nut shell - from Car Max: All-wheel drive (AWD) automatically distributes power to all four wheels for better traction on various surfaces, making it ideal for everyday driving and light off-roading. In contrast, four-wheel drive (4WD) is designed for more rugged conditions, providing power to all wheels simultaneously and is typically found in trucks and larger SUVs for off-road use. In my experience front wheel drive is much better in snow than rear wheel drive in a two wheel drive vehicle for people that aren’t used to actually driving in snow. Also, many people I have encountered all over the U.S. think having All or 4 wheel drive means they can drive like they’re in ideal conditions.

B-25J Mitchell "Devil Dog" taken a couple of years back at Grimes Field in Urbana, Ohio. I changed the photo to black and white for a Facebook thing, and really like the result.

Bit of Trivia. All species of rodents are banned from flying on US aircraft. FAA is worried that one will get loose and start gnawing on the aircraft's wiring.

The Baikal listed below will serve you well in this game and is being offered at a great price.

Australia, New Zealand...close enough

Probably one of the best examples of just how talented Mel Blanc was. Whoever wrote the square dance lyrics was a genius. https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3uq817 Added a link. No idea why the video doesn't show.

Shotgun: I started with Stoeger coach guns and still keep them as backups. Many are shot at major matches. Hats: everything from inexpensive straw hats to pricey all-beaver felt hats work. I now own as many hats as long guns. Boots: You will spend much time on your feet. Buy comfortable boots. I wear boots with laces so there is room for my arch supports. Carts: score a loaner cart from your home club. As shooters leave the sport they often donate their cart. We had four loaner carts at our state match this year and gave away two. When you buy or build your cart go lightweight. If it takes two men or a forklift to put it in your vehicle you will soon replace it. Get large wheels and tires that cannot go flat. Lots of places to hang things is useful as is a seat, Reloading: Essential to control ammo costs. Skip reloading shotgun shells at first but acquire equipment to reload metallic cartridges soon. Progressive presses are useful for the number of rounds we shoot. However, a used single stage press from a gun show or an estate sale can get you started reloading and be handy for odd jobs in the future. A local mentor can help you select equipment and reloading supplies. I recommend smokeless powder as you start. BTW, I reload my low recoil shotgun shells. That is worthwhile after you get setup for metallic cartridges reloading.

"Empty chamber" means NOTHING in the chamber (including "snap caps"). FIREARM CONVENTIONS Safety & Handling Conventions – Revolvers - Six-shot revolvers may be loaded at the loading table with a maximum of five rounds and the hammer lowered and resting on the empty chamber. SHB p.13 Loading Table Officer – is responsible for visually checking to ensure all firearms are loaded with only the correct number of rounds, verify no round is ever under the firing pin of any firearm, and all loaded firearms’ hammers are fully down on an empty chamber. SHB p.21 "Failure to adhere to loading and unloading procedures" SHB p.22 - STAGE DISQUALIFICATION PENALTY (SDQ) "Any competitor’s failure to adhere to loading and unloading procedures will result in a penalty of a Stage Disqualification." SHB p.28 - Loading and Unloading Area Conventions

Topsail Island. Morning and evening.

At the Sitka Raptor Center* This rescued bird had an injury that prevented it from being released.