Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619

We have had all-mail ballots in Washington for several years now. That is, they mail the ballot to you; you can return it by mail or by secure drop boxes located several places in the county. It's counted if postmarked the day of the election. I wish we still went to the polls, but at the same time, this is very convenient. It's worked smoothly enough, but unlike many states, our procedures are well-established. I don't trust to the mail; we always put our ballots in the drop box by the auditor's office; i.e. where the counting actually happens. So, we voted today. We've had the ballots for 10 days or so, but we always wait til a few days before in case of last-minute developments in local offices.

Uberti 1973 rifle in .45 Colt. Marlin 1894 in .44 mag. Mossberg 464 in .30-30

My kids and I have had a running joke for decades over this cliche'. "He died doing what he loved-- falling down a cliff in terror." "He died doing what he loved-- trapped in an avalanche, considering his folly and regret as he suffocates." And so on. We always say: "He died just a few minutes after doing what he loved." Dark humor, to be sure. But as Stalin said, "Dark humor is like food. Some get it and some don't."

The enormous size of this country is such that even a modest increase over usual demand has a big impact. Just like toilet paper and hand sanitizer-- we were amazed by the empty shelves, now the shelves are full. Bicycles, tents, camp stoves, kayaks; outdoor supplies of all kinds disappeared from the shelves as 'lockdown' folks flocked to the outdoors. Clorox wipes vanished and Clorox is still far behind the demand. Used cars are increasing in price and flying off the lots as folks stay away from public transport. There are innumerable examples. Increase firearms and ammo demand by even a few percent, like everything else, it's the same picture. In the case of guns and ammo, the Covid effect is greatly increased by civil unrest and election issues. So it's doubtful that "something more than hoarding is amiss".

This parallels my own experience, as I set out in my original post. Stacks of .44 spl when everything else is gone....yet the .44 spl is not a 'specialized' or oddball caliber at all. .44 mag owners, of whom there are many (.44 mag is nowhere to be found) could shoot it all the day long. I find it most interesting!

I like it and watched in the theater and since on the tube. I think it definitely superior to the 1976 version. That one must have been one of the last "all star cast" war movies of the era. A whole gang of stars takes away from the story. The "scenes of personal activities" were short and to the point. Contrasted with the subplot in the old movie about the Japanese girlfriend, which was distracting and, I think, pointless to the Battle of Midway. The CGI was somewhat overdone, but good. If you don't do CGI, all you are ever going to be able to do in such a movie is show archival footage, which isn't actually the movie, and is the same thing over and over.

I recollect when you dropped back in not so long ago. When they redid the Saloon format a few years back the individual post counts dropped way down; I don't think there ever was an explanation. I lost about 2,500 as I remember. The curious thing was that they weren't all gone, which might have figured with a new system, but they just dropped about 50% or so, some more, some less.

So was the one the guy driving the camera car was holding. Half-second later-- Jeep and boulders would have done him...

Yes.

A long life and 45 years of the practice of law, mostly in trial practice, led me to formulate the following-- Red Gauntlet's Ineluctable Maxims: 1. All indignation is false indignation; 2. All outrage is mock outrage; 3. All offense is feigned; 4. All threats are empty. (These apply as fully to oneself, as to others.) If you recognise these precepts you never get angry any more, and you can turn all arguments on their heads. Dissension vanishes, novel facts emerge, digestion flows like a wide river...

Interesting replies. I too really like the round. I'm not suprised that a lot of CAS shooters like the .44 special; in fact, the piles of boxes of the caliber that I saw in two stores yesterday were Cowboy loads. I can understand the issue with reloaders with .44 mags just downloading those cases. The smaller of the two stores I go to had non-cowboy Magtech .44 spls for a long time after the panic buying started; I bought lots of them (two at a time, which is how I like to do it). Those were finally gone a couple of weeks ago. But even those took a long time to sell. And that was at his old standard retail price in the store of $31.95. At the same time, he is selling Magtech .38 spl for $59 per box! What strikes me is that the shelves have been swept clean of most everything but those piles of .44 spl boxes were still there. Just sort of surprised that .44 mag shooters wouldn't grab them; there are a lot of those guys out there. Got me thinking about the cartridge.

And also interesting is that, while there are countless models of .38 spl-only revolvers in current production, as they have been forever, as far as I know (without checking lately), the Bulldog has been the only one in .44 spl-only for a long time. As for buying the ammo these days, I've got quite a bit, a couple boxes at a time. Enough even under current circumstances I'm pretty content with the inventory.

Whoa. Even before the Jeep came down, I was gritting my teeth: better not make any error on that road! Lucky timing for the car with the camera...

I now and then ponder the .44 Special. I have a Charter Arms Bulldog in the caliber, a .44 mag Marlin 1894 among my cowboy guns, and a .44 mag Redhawk. .44 spl seems to be sort of an orphan caliber. It's not 'rare', of course; and it's not 'hard to find' compared to some calibers, but at the same time it is often not found on the shelves of many stores, or only in small quantities. In ordinary times, you may have to go to a few stores to get it. And yet, everybody carries .44 magnum. Cowboy Action shooters like us'n seem to use it a fair amount, because quite often the only .44 spl on the shelves are cowboy loads. What makes me most curious is why .44 spl has never played the role with .44 mag owners that .38 spl does with .357 mag shooters. Innumerable .357 users shoot .38 spl all the day long, and .357 mag on 'special occasions' (so to speak). What got me thinking again about it is that over last few months and weeks I've been able to buy .44 spl at ordinary retail prices three different places. Today I went to Sportco, a regional 'big box'. The shelves continue virtually bare like most everywhere. Yet there was a 25-box stack of .44 special. I went to another, much smaller store, where I've been buying .44 spl all along. He still has lots of boxes at ordinary retail, whereas he's selling other standard calibers (of which he has a lot) at very high, even exorbitant, prices. I shoot .44 spl all the time in the Marlin and the Redhawk, and, of course, in the Bulldog. Why don't .44 mag owners, of which there are a lot, buy up .44 special? It puts holes in paper at the range as well as anything else!

My Grandad was in the Royal Air Force in the First World War, flying as an artillery spotter. He once lost engine power at 4,000 ft and glided to a landing; he said those biplanes glided well! I was a grown man of 29 with a family when he died; in fact I was trying a jury case when I was told of his death. I knew several WWI vets. Then a day came not too many years ago when it was established that there wasn't a single Great War vet of any nationality still alive in the whole world. Many of us grew up surrounded by people who were born in the 19th Century; grandparents, neighbors, folks at church.....Then, just a few short years ago, it was announced that there was not a single person left in the whole world who was born in the 19th Century. We are now not so far off when that will be true of all WWII veterans. Even a kid who lied about his age and joined the Navy at 17 in the last months of the war would be 92 now if alive-- the very youngest. RIP "Cal" Calderone.

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Oh, sure, Bette had a certain charm. But I was an Irish McCalla fan; Sheena, Queen of the Jungle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_McCalla#/media/File:IrishMcCalla2.jpg

How 'bout seconds? Stude McCourt

Never tire of them myself!

Mercury Hope.

LBGT-- Luckystrike Be Good Tobacco.

I really like broccoli, though I didn't as a kid. Key #1 is to not overcook it; should stay bright green. Put on a little olive oil. Good for you, as ma would say....

Looks great. I really like bok choy, though not chopped quite so much. A healthy and delicious dinner- especially if seconds are possible!

Yellowjackets are wasps. I don't believe that anybody has yet suggested a wasp sanctuary.

Not so odd....like babies, all old men start to look alike!