Ramblin Gambler

Is academy still Anti-gun? I stopped using them a while back when the owner (grandson of the founder) became rabidly anti-gun. I heard he finally sold the store, but the jury was still out on whether the new owners were any better.

I want a job like that! What was the job title? That's a pretty good idea for a starting position. I don't think we have a jailhouse stage, but we do have a gallows.

You've seen me shoot? Thanks, I'm going to have to watch more closely in the future to make sure they're giving me the faster time.

I think what you wanna look for in a shootgun is one that points naturally for you. That's going to have a lot to do with how the gun is balanced, and coincidentally, the gun's balance is going to be affected by it's barrel length. So, while one model might feel best with a 20" barrel, another one might need 24". Don't ask me how you figure out 'balance', because I'm not nearly good enough with shootguns to know. Alls I know is, I do some shooting with the gun, and if I find it impossible to miss, I hold on to it. I realize that can be sort of an expensive way to go about things, but fortunately for us, cowboy shooters seem to like letting folks borrow their guns. For some shooters, recoil might also be an issue, and generally, the heavier the gun, the less the felt recoil. I can't say for sure if an extra 2" or 4" of barrel actually makes a difference with recoil though, because I'm a lunk and even if I did feel recoil, I wouldn't admit it. The only reason I use those featherlights is because my wife needs them and it's easier for us both to use the same ammo. That's my story, and I'm stickin to it.

I think that was parks and rec. Sooo, anyone know the indiana hunting laws? I think what farmer tom said is what those writers had in mind.

Don't know what's wrong with you palewolf, the short time I've been here, you've always seemed so helpful. So I guess I'll take this to mean there's no desire to help a new shooter understand the rule and I should just do whatever I think John Wayne woulda done. I see you have "SASS RO Committee" under your name. If I remember my acronyms correctly, that would be the group responsible for enforcing the rules, right? Or do you guys write them? Is it the position of the entire committee that they don't care what kinda shotgun belt I wear or how I wear it, or is that just you? And don't act like it's a simple issue. In that thread linked from 6 months ago, you told a shooter there was no navel requirement in the rulebook. Well, there sure seems to be one. Maybe it's a new requirement and wasn't there in 2013? I doubt that because I found a handbook from 2009 and it was in that one. So unless the rule took a hiatus for a coupla years, it must not be all that simple. I don't think my questions are clearly answered in the SHB, so I will ask again. #1, what's meant by "at or below the belly button"? Someone in that other thread said it meant any part of the shell at or below the belly button, but I can see where that could be interpreted as the entire shell having to be below the belly button. No one responded to that poster, so I'd like confirmation. #2, Is a curved belt illegal? I don't know enough about leather or belts to know if this curvature causes the shells to kick out away from my body. As I said before, they do kick out a little, but I was told it's because of my well developed and hard earned table muscle. It seems to me like it's more for comfort because I have belts that made the same sort of curves on their own after years of wearing them. I don't know how to go about checking to see if particular product is SASS approved. I don't even know if what I have is uncommon. As far as I know, no one was trying to 'build a better mousetrap' with it. It was just a case of being a new shooter, needing shell holder, and winning one in a raffle. Here's an example of what I'm talking about. The curve on this one looks a little more pronounced than on mine. I just want to know if that curve is commonly accepted, or is it 'pushing the rules'.

So then, there IS a rule now about where you can wear the belt? I understand that it is difficult to enforce, but I don't care about that. I'm not looking for clarification so I can call out someone else, I want clarification on the intent so I can police myself. You may not know where my belly button is, but I do. That being said, what's the intent of the rule? Basically, some part of the belt should cover or touch the belly button, and the shells sticking out are OK as long as it's not because some padding was inserted to make it do that?

I wonder where the ranch will be. Maybe we can get him to join or start an SASS club.

Wait, aren't we just practicing here in case we get sent back in time to the old west?

Next time, give the shooter a blowup doll to put their arm around.

Yup Don't know if wyatt earp really said this, but I like the saying anyway. Fast is fine, but accuracy is everything.

After reading that thread, I'm still pretty dadburned confused. Now I'm not sure if my shotgun belt is 'sass legal' or not. The shells definitely stick out away from my body a little, but I was told that's because of my gut. Now, the belt does have a little curve in it. Not sure how much of a curve, it didn't seem excessive to me, but it was enough that I noticed it the first time I took it off and put it away. I don't know if that's really what's pushing them out, or if that's just making it more comfortable (which is what I thought the purpose was). Then there's the issue of where to wear the belt. I think I wear them right above my belly button because my stomach flattens out there and it's comfortable. No one has ever told me to pull it down. If I did pull it down, the shells would be canted out even more. I know in that thread a year ago pale wolf said the manual made no mention of how high you could wear the shotgun belt, but that just makes me wonder why people (apparently) got so animated about it. It also makes me wonder if people were animated enough about it to get a rule change done this year.

Mine are still dirty from 2 weekends ago and I feel like a bad gun owner.

Does this apply to any 20" '73 regardless of caliber?

I feel like I should start a thread asking for cleaning tips, but then, we purt near have that already with this one. Can someone explain what the air compressor is for? I have one of those and I don't use it nearly enough. What percentage of you guys don't clean the guns after every match? I'm kinda surprised you can get away with that for very long. And one more question for willy. What do you mean by 'end of the season'? We have seasons for cowboy action shooting?

I agree with you mostly birdgun, except that I don't care much for engraving either. However, my wife does like how the black guns look, so I've got a selection of both. I remember buying a gun one time thinking it was butt ugly and that she'd probably love it. And she did. There aint nothing wrong with a stainless steel barrel and wood stock. The only gun that I actually want to be stainless and polymer stocked is a marine shotgun. But I don't have a boat yet, so I've held off on buying that one.

Reminds me of one I heard. Fella calls his wife and tells her to pack her bags because he just won the lottery. She gets excited and asks where they're going because she needs to know what to pack. He tells her to pack whatever she wants, just be gone by the time he gets home.

Where do they film? I look more like a viking than I do a cowboy.

I just finished a class in Diesel mechanics, and that's not what we were taught. If you let a diesel run with gasoline, you will be needing a new engine, that is if you don't mind the smoky smell the rest of the vehicle will acquire. Basically, once the gas gets to the engine, it's going to start igniting early ... things will go places they're not supposed to be ... forces will be exerted that aint supposed to be exerted, and it'll go runaway. At that point, you gotta hope it locks itself up before it catches fire. Maybe you were thinking of putting diesel fuel into a gasoline engine. I did that when i was about 8, and what I recall is that it just stopped running and my dad had to siphon the tank, fill it back up, and squirt some starter fluid in the carburetor, kinda like what you said. I have heard that small amounts of gasoline in a diesel engine will cause no harm, but I have no idea what ratios are supposed to be safe. Supposedly truck drivers used to put a little gas in their tanks in cold weather, but there are additives they use now instead. Some people say if you accidentally get some gas in there, just top it off with diesel, drive it a little and pay close attention to whether it starts running funny, and keep topping it off every chance you get to dilute that gas as much as possible. But all in all, it seems safer to me to get it out before running it at all.

Glad you guys admitted how long it takes you to clean the guns. I thought there was something wrong with me. I'm starting to hate cleaning revolvers. I just can't find a good way to get those cylinders cleaned. They're a little too big for my .45 brushes to work right, and they all have a lip on them that sprays me with cleaning fluid.

One aint too bad. We're allowed to be wrong 3 times in a lifetime. I thought I was wrong once. Lasted about an hour, it was the worst feeling of my life. But after a little more studying it turned out i was mistaken about being wrong.

In my opinion, the only guns big enough for 'really big bears' need to be towed into position.

Can't disagree. I guess that means Manziel's career is looking even more promising than it did on wednesday.

Not being a military man, I don't understand the 'at ease' stories. But it sounds like you're only supposed to stand at attention for a new person entering the area if that person will be the highest ranking one? Not even the privates? Do I have that right?

I'm just having trouble seeing how a $1200 shotgun can really be 4X better than a $300 shotgun. With the Rifles and pistols, I spent that much because I had to. There were no usable $300 guns to be had. Well, OK, I guess a rossi '92 is in that price range, and I bought a $1200 '73 because it looked so purty. But that's beside the point. I have both now and honestly, I don't see the '73 being twice as good as the '92. All that to say this. Convince me. I've seen arguments in this thread to make me consider spending a grand on a shotgun, but I haven't seen much in the way of why. What is so much better? Do they pattern better? Do the empties fall out easier? Is there a price I can give for a shotgun that will ensure it never breaks? Actually, if that last thing is true, that's all the convincing I'll need. Maybe I just got lucky with my $250 granny gun and I've never actually shot a bad SxS.