I do like that restoration. If it was mine and not from grandpa, I may have stained the wood darker. But, I'm a hack that way. Great decision on the lever and stainless. I've been looking for a single in 12G.
FireboltWillie is right. The lever is the barrel release. I don't much care for it. It's awkward and excessive for its purpose. But I didn't purchase the gun, just inherited it, which is cool.
Patrick:
Not magnetic, and I've just learned from the glorious internet that it isn't stainless steel, but rather a fancy zinc die-casting alloy known as Zamak. Not sure which version. I only assumed it was stainless steel due to the obviously heavier than aluminum density.
A lot of guys dismiss the cheap single shot guns, but they are often serious tools to feed families and many folks are introduced to firearms with one. Very often a First gun for beginners.
Any inherited items are precious out of proportion to commonly perceived value. I've got Dad's old Stevens .22 pump. Cracked stock, no finish, needs TLC, but still works. The excellent local restoration shop will cheerfully charge more than any rational person would pay, but they understand sentiment. They are up front that it's not worth the cost, but if I win the Lotto... Until then, it's in the safe, and I have no intention to get rid of it.
Heck, it might be the last one left with current trends here in the Empire.
Well, I might be ridding myself a few hand guns...the ones I don't love. May buy a 5.56 suppressor...though I'm still waiting on a tax stamp for a 9mm.
I'm taking the light off the H&K and seeing how I mind carrying it around. It's my easiest 9mm to shoot well. Makes it kinda boring. It's also pretty bulky for what it is.
He missed the "Brings the 88 Magnum to the indoor range" guy. It's either a Desert Eagle, a S&W X frame, or my favorite, the Mosin 1944 carbine.
I often show up with a buddy as the "2 old guys with a flintlock" and I pretend to use the timer when he shoots... But it's an hourglass. ( outdoor range only.. )
Working at a range I spend much of my time showing new shooters how to hold their semiautomatic pistols so that they'll work and clearing stuck actions then properly lubing new AR-15's so that they'll work. You should know something about your gun...how to properly hold, clean, shoot, and maintain before you hit the range...one would think.
There's these people called instructors, friends, and family. Preferably in that order. There's also endless publications available and information online.
Going to the range on a busy weekend and expecting to get walked through everything isn't fair to everyone else just wanting to shoot or buy something.
Also, when people look at you like you're crazy for pointing out something obvious gets really old...like how to hold a gun or their lack of proper maintenance/lubrication. Everyone wants to blame the equipment. About 95% of the time it's user error.
Yes; going to a place where people are knowledgeable about guns and asking for advice is silly, isn't it? They should ask uncle Fred, who doesn't own a gun, or maybe Alphonse (who loves to expound on issues he knows nothing about)in the lunch room at work about how to clean and lube a Motherf***in' AK-47.
Just like having some yahoo who never rode a motorcycle give you advice on how to wheelie, or having a friend drill through your ECM so that you can mount your license plate under the fender.
You don't go to a motorcycle shop and spend all day asking CUSTOMERS how to work on, repair, handle, clean, detail, and upgrade your motorcycle, do you?
You ask the STAFF (if you want the correct answer, instead of "my buddy Bubba always does it this way...").
If you go to the range to learn about your new firearm...ASK THE STAFF TO HELP. That's what they're there for. Sure, they may say "hey man, we're buried right now and I have a ton of customers, lets schedule a time for you to come in for some instruction"...but what busy business wouldn't?
Gun owners are a pathologically-helpful bunch...but going to a range and expecting people to put down THEIR guns, and interrupt THEIR practice time (sometimes very hard to come by, and these days very hard to finance with the exorbitant price of ammo), in order to instruct you...is not the way to do it.
Ask. The. Staff.
Schedule. An. Appointment.
Use. Common. Sense.
There are also many "support groups" to draw from - like-minded, or similiar-situation people (housewives/female shooters, for instance), who have "range nights". 9 times out of 10, the staff (there's that group of people again....) will know what those groups' schedules are, and can guide you to either their organizer, or their meeting times, so you can join up and join in.
Yes, Joe; that makes sense. But that's not what he said he said:
quote:
Working at a range I spend much of my time showing new shooters how to hold their semiautomatic pistols so that they'll work and clearing stuck actions then properly lubing new AR-15's so that they'll work. You should know something about your gun...how to properly hold, clean, shoot, and maintain before you hit the range...one would think.
Then he went on to say:
quote:
There's these people called instructors, friends, and family. Preferably in that order. There's also endless publications available and information online.
No. There's legions of new shooters that love to assume that it's someone else's responsibility that they know what they're doing. It isn't.
Many of those shooters also love to blame their equipment for their own personal failings. You have to literally prove to them what they're doing wrong. That's an annoyance.
Lastly, you shouldn't come to a public range for free instruction. You can get free advice all day. They aren't the same.
It's an individual responsibility to unscrew oneself.
I'm the same way...until a) you act like I owe you the answers, b) you argue with me when I answer your questions, or c) you ask me the same damned thing over and over again.
I'm almost always willing to help with sighting in, re-assembly, even shooting skills, and I rate myself as mediocre.
Most ranges I go to, there's no staff. Just club members. I do strongly urge taking instruction from a pro, but not everyone is really into learning skills and the technology.
I understand Rick's lament. He likes to help, and does, but by Odin's beard some folk are clueless! And being taken for granted isn't wonderful.
When I bought my first semi auto handgun, I kept getting failure to eject. I was like, WTF. Turns out I was a limp wristing newbie. I agree that people new to firearms should get some good training.
Mainly, I'm annoyed at what lengths people go to NOT learn the right way. It's aggravating to see day to day. Bad habits are damn near impossible to unlearn for some folks.
Posted on Wednesday, February 24, 2021 - 12:50 am:
It's easier in manual martial arts. SOP is to first interview student to try and guess special needs, but the first physical interaction is to "beat" them fast, overwhelmingly, to establish the respect required to learn. The Teacher must be unbeatable and obviously on a different level.
Oh, later, I may/will let them get in a blow as part of the process, and if I do everything right over time they get better than me. But the first time they must get the ego recalibrated to the right mindset.
Punching holes in paper better doesn't do that, unfortunately.