Mega Rad Gun Thread

[DocAwe]

I found an M1 like that for $500.

 

[WelperHelper99]

My friend let me shoot his SKS and it is really fun but unless you somehow get one for cheap I wouldn't recommend it just get an AK at that point. If you are dead set on an SKS you might have some luck if you can find an older woman whose husband died and try buying his guns if he had any. I have a friend who finds estate sales or yard sales where people who don't know shit about guns are trying to dump someone's collection or something and he has had some amazing finds from it and gets them super cheap.

I got my chink SKS at sportsmans at a black friday sale for 399. Not what it used to be yeah. But apparently they had come into a stockpile. This was two years ago I think. It needed the bolt piston extension replaced, but other than that, once it was fixed, it runs superbly. I will say cheap Russian 7.62x39 is basically gone. But a lot of companies have tooled up and are now supporting it, so you can get ammo still.

 

[hog cranking frog]

Got news my local FFL is shutting down in a couple months. Any kiwis have experience running a kitchen table FFL? Pretty sure Im fine with zoning, would be fairly small time, beer money at most, not looking to start a gun store.

 

[Club Sandwich]

Any kiwis have experience running a kitchen table FFL?

i started out that way pretty much. for running an FFL business out of your home you'll want to have a set area as the office and include secure storage there (knaack secure tool storage worked for me with abloy locks and hardened shackles). this separate area also had an independent security system just for it. you'll also need some space on the wall wherever your customer is doing paperwork various regulatory notices from the feds and your state, your seller's permit, any prices should be spelled out clearly and legibly from at least 10ft distance with average eyesight, have decent lighting and a method to secure pets or random foot traffic from wandering around, et c. buy a lot of rubber bands and keep a copy of relevant paperwork with the gun it's supposed to go with. do not have guns with missing paperwork.

also you will want to either be real on top of using dedicated FFL software (FastBound for example), or will want to be meticulous with paperwork. bear in mind that FFL inspections do happen. not super often and not without notice, but they happen - be clean, professional, and don't have stuff out you don't want the feds to see on their way to your home office. a lot of people turn their kitchen/dining area into this for the reason so their bathroom/hall/bedrooms dont' need to be inspected or seen. be prepared to have good paperwork for feds and state enforcement, have references for various civil and criminal codes you need to be a reporter for or be compliant with, et c. have some way to accept freight deliveries, get a dolly et c. you'll need to sign up for distributors as well (RSR, Cope's, Lipsey's, et c) as manufacturers.

good practice from experience is getting a cheap shit chromebook or netbook terminal that a customer can fill out forms on, a durable and cheap laser printer for documents with scanner (and preferably it's networked so you can send scans from it to a shared folder for emailing or storing as PDF or something). you'll want to lock down the chromebook and keep privacy as a concern so paying for that sort of service from an IT guy is very handy - and have table space for documents and space to store hand-outs like safety notices or whatever. i also store recall notices that i can hand out too as a safety thing. depending on if you're dealing with some older tech for transfers you might need a PIAB or analog POTS fax line. have a dedicated email address set up and preferably a domain and little microwebsite. you'll want to have posted hours and clear instructions and at least one parking space and appointment book. be prepared in the customer area to inspect any guns that are being privately transferred or going through your hands for safety or regulatory compliance - don't be a liability to yourself of family or to the business, know your customer reasonably enough to know when to refuse to do business. have a cheat sheet with phone numbers for regulatory agencies, local police or whatever, federal agencies, et c and keep your book in order for easy tie back to a given serial number or person. again, do not be a fall guy for someone else.

businesses normally operate under the owner's name which can be confusing or a bad idea so i recommend paying for a DBA (doing business as) which gives some separate between you and the business as legal entities and keeping the business as a separate entity that you pay yourself with from payroll via escrow or something. the business' money is not your money, you just happen to be the only employee and have final say on everything. do not co-mingle business and personal guns/ammo/property/money/paperwork. it will create a mess you don't to be a part of. be prepared and familiar with local laws regarding markings and signage.

there's probably a lot more, i did kitchen table FFL work for like 5-6 years before opening an actual storefront and there's a lot of other advice out there too. kitchen table ffl kits are a thing and not really worth it imho unless you need extreme hand holding. consider buying the business from the FFL that's shutting down. sure you'll inherit his problems, but you might be able to purchase any assets and the familiar name and so forth. it's a thought vs starting fresh.

there isn't a distinction for big or small gun dealers whether they carry inventory or not. all have to play by the same rules pretty much. some stuff you can skip if you don't carry inventory (or it's highly transient inventory like just a smaller secure storage if you're holding a gun for pick up for someone and you're not needing entire lockers of secure storage).

 

[hog cranking frog]

there's probably a lot more, i did kitchen table FFL work for like 5-6 years before opening an actual storefront and there's a lot of other advice out there too. kitchen table ffl kits are a thing and not really worth it imho unless you need extreme hand holding. consider buying the business from the FFL that's shutting down. sure you'll inherit his problems, but you might be able to purchase any assets and the familiar name and so forth. it's a thought vs starting fresh.

Thanks a ton, great heap of info here. Without getting into too many details, current owners are simply letting their FFL lapse and continuing on as an outdoors outfitter.

Lots to consider in your post, pretty sure it's within my capabilities, not sure how profitable it would be for the time and hassle. That said when this FFL shutters I'll have to drive an hour to the next nearest one. Could be enough cash in the hassle for a side business.

 

[Club Sandwich]

Thanks a ton, great heap of info here. Without getting into too many details, current owners are simply letting their FFL lapse and continuing on as an outdoors outfitter.

Lots to consider in your post, pretty sure it's within my capabilities, not sure how profitable it would be for the time and hassle. That said when this FFL shutters I'll have to drive an hour to the next nearest one. Could be enough cash in the hassle for a side business.

good luck. like any other small business, under-capitalization, poor planning, and poorer work ethic (doing paperwork, getting customers, keeping customers, and being diligent about things) is what'll make it a headache or a liability or a jail sentence waiting. you will need to pay a couple thousand each year just to maintain the business license, there's various fixed costs, it eats into your free time, and margins on guns aren't particular good to begin with depending on your area. and it should be for business, not personal, use. the feds do come down on people that are not in the business of dealing guns and are using their FFL for personal transfers - that's fraud. if you want to do that get an 03 FFL.

during my time doing transfers out of my home i made about $20-$30 per gun on average, which just about broke even if i had people every day, which when it's your home is really annoying.

Spoiler: small rant kinda

if you charge much more, you piss off people that want the cheapest price from what they saw online which isn't really possible for you without dipping into used guns and distributor pricing gives you very little negotiation power unless you're getting quantity. as an example, i can buy new production gen 5 Glock 19's in the retail package for $375-400, this being a typical stocking dealer price. the customer expects you to be at or under $500 because bud's guns has it for $540 online and they think your transfer fee is bullshit so the out the door price should match the online price.

these people are assholes. at $400 per gun and a sale of $540, you make $140. you then pay out sales tax or regulatory fees, your fixed costs assessed for the business (like a portion of "rent" for the business space, anything like maintaining internet or phone for the business, business insurance, liability insurance, FFL license alone is like $250/mo by itself, et c). at the end of the day you might pocket around $20 of that. if you want beer money, sure that works when customers are steady, but for a livelihood that's not going to cut it.

 

[quaawaa]

NBC did a puff piece about one of the American Olympic pistol shooters.
She's a soy creature from Massachusetts with a nose ring and lip piercing:

Spoiler: Archive

Since I've started I've only had one gun

I first started shooting, it was a little bit awkward for me to say because there is sort of like a stigma around it. So it's kind of difficult for me to say a lot of the time. But then I kind of have to preface this like it's a small gun, we're really safe, there's a bunch of rules about it.

It's a big responsibility to obviously be holding a gun of any size and especially as a young girl.

Also, her dad is a Russian and Israeli veteran:

Her parents are Yakov Korkhin, who is Israeli and formerly a member of the Russian and Israeli armies, and May Han.

She scored 32nd in the qualifiers for Women's 25m Pistol:

The other American (from Georgia), who looks normal, got 8th in the finals:

---

The Olympics used to have live pigeon shooting and dueling, and they used to use rifle calibers for target shooting events. It's sad what passes for shooting there nowadays.

 

[Club Sandwich]

It's sad what passes for shooting there nowadays.

at least people have some interest in the sport at all even if it's being attacked by popular media and society.

 

[Troon_Patrol]

you might have some luck if you can find an older woman whose husband died and try buying his guns if he had any

Whenever I get called out to crack open Grandad's gunsafe who just recently passed. I usually throw about $1,500 cash in my truck in case there is something in there they want to get rid of. People tend to want to grab everything in there and inspect it as soon as I get the door open. I always insist I chamber check everything and remove all loaded ammo for them if they are unfamiliar with firearms.

Few stories come to mind. My old boss does some work for a guy who lost car keys, boss comes out there to make replacement keys emergency roadside service. This is way back before anyone had mobile credit card readers and such. IDK how much he charged him maybe $50? This was years ago like 1990 I think, when cars were very simple to work on and $50 went a lot further. The guy says "Hey, um here's the thing I don't have the money. I have this M1 Carbine I can let you hold on to till I pay you, are we good?" The guy never calls my boss back to exchange the M1 for the $50, even the shitty US issued M1 carbines are worth what? $900 today? Boss totally scored an M1 Carbine practically for free.

Another guy I worked for cracks open a safe and finds some genuine antiques, possibly cap and ball revolvers, might even have been flintlocks, I forget. The woman contracting him immediately says "OMG I must have these destroyed, I hate guns". My boss tries to explain these deserve to be a museum and nobody is going to rob a liquor store with them any time soon. She insists these inanimate objects are evil and must be destroyed. SMH. I'd have just lied to her and pretended to take them to the "state firearms disposal unit" free of charge or some nonsense.

 

[Dean Pentel]

abloy locks and hardened shackles).

I second using those locks. Worth every penny. I use them for securing my shed/reloading area and my gun cases when I travel. Nobody has ever tried to get into stuff but I know it wouldn't be easy or quiet if they did.

Anyone here got a custom 1911 from any of the big names (Ned Christiansen, Chuck Rogers, Jason Burton, etc.)? My name is up for a Christiansen but I've never had one of that level. I basically want to see if they're worth the money because even the basic stuff from them is damn expensive.

 

[Club Sandwich]

custom 1911 from any of the big names

they're all masters and you pay them for the expertise and time. I have a Novak, SVI, and an Olympic Arms Westerner back when Bob Rogers was there, alongside the more production oriented (but still very custom built) pistols like KC Crawford, Jim Garthwaite, John Harrison, Jim Hoag, Wilson Combat, Nighthawk, or STI. KC Crawford is still doing bullseye guns and he's quite good at the combat 1911's too (USMC armorer for many years). i have a preference for Wilson, Dan Wesson, or Ed Brown for semi-custom or production high end 1911's, with Colt's custom shop as the base model for my own few custom builds i've done for people. hard to go wrong. but be very very aware you are paying for the name, expertise, shop time, and service/support. out of all of them the semi-custom will likely work best for the "over the counter" high end buyer because they will have a larger team for aftersales support. for true one-offs you will need to be pretty knowledgeable on your own or have big money set aside for any further adjustments (few as they might be) because the master pistolsmiths will have a full schedule.

i can also recommend Marianne Carniak out of Troy, Michigan for excellent work on semi-custom guns to make whatever changes you like, and she's real good on custom built-to-order stuff too and if your'e keen something modern, then i really like the work i see out of STI or S&W's performance center, although you might not get all the options you want directly from them.

 

[Preacher ✝]

a custom 1911 from any of the big names

I have a Dan Wesson Valor V-Bob. It cost just under 2k when I bought it. I know there are 1911s out there that are double that price and beyond but I doubt they are twice the gun. Its a fantastic pistol, the smoothest slide and a trigger that gives my Python's single action a run for its money. As far as I'm concerned Dan Wesson has found a sweet spot in the price to quality ratio and if you want to invest in a quality 1911 you should check one out before considering anything more expensive.

Mine's a two tone like this one.

 

[Dean Pentel]

All kinda words

Bro, you have some excellent pieces. I'd have killed not long ago to have something done up by either of the Rogers brothers or Garthwaite. I use Harrison Custom parts on all the 1911s I have currently. I bet his guns are fantastic. I'm pretty sure I've already told the forums about the SVI I have, too.

I'm with you and @Preacher ✝ on the level of customization I'm willing to pay for. I did strongly consider declining but I've been on this man's waitlist for 15 years and it's not a huge financial stretch for me.

He's not building me something from the frame up; he's essentially sweetening an existing 1911 with some touches one can only get from him. Even though it's not a full custom job I'm under no illusions about how damn expensive that level of craftsmanship is. You know I'm going to post about it once I get it back.

 

[EggImpregnator]

GUYS THE WORLD IS ENDING! WHAT GUN DO I BUY? I've never owned or even shot a gun before, but things are getting so crazy i think I might need one! What gun should I buy as a first time gun owner? My budget is 250$.

 

[Preacher ✝]

GUYS THE WORLD IS ENDING! WHAT GUN DO I BUY? I've never owned or even shot a gun before, but things are getting so crazy i think I might need one! What gun should I buy as a first time gun owner? My budget is 250$.

Semi Auto or Revolver?

The answer is a Bersa Thunder or a Taurus M56 respectively.

 

[SHIGGSHOGG]

GUYS THE WORLD IS ENDING! WHAT GUN DO I BUY? I've never owned or even shot a gun before, but things are getting so crazy i think I might need one! What gun should I buy as a first time gun owner? My budget is 250$.

HK 416 and an Elysian, and don't forget to use steelcase FMJs or you might not get enough "stoppin powah"
Alternatively, Bear Creek side charger on a Plum Crazy or old cast lower should be nice and broken in after a case of full power M855 or A1. Also consider putting 1K hunting slugs or turkey shells through your roachcraft shotty to make sure it's ready for WROL situations.

Or, go to your lgs or pawn shop and request to rent their cheapest shotgun and ask if they'll split a box of shells 25 ways

 

[Akran]

Anyone have experience with Telaammo? Im considering buying 7.62x39, .45c a round seems great but "produced in Azerbaijan" has me skeptical. I saw some people complain they are actually corrosive but I usually bathe my AKs anyways.

 

[DocAwe]

GUYS THE WORLD IS ENDING! WHAT GUN DO I BUY? I've never owned or even shot a gun before, but things are getting so crazy i think I might need one! What gun should I buy as a first time gun owner? My budget is 250$.

$250?
Just buy some rope and get it over with.
Spending anything less than $5000 on the supreme Uber AR that they only make 3½ of a year will result in nothing but your funeral.

 

[Troon_Patrol]

GUYS THE WORLD IS ENDING! WHAT GUN DO I BUY? I've never owned or even shot a gun before, but things are getting so crazy i think I might need one! What gun should I buy as a first time gun owner? My budget is 250$.

Police trade in. Preferably Glock model 22 gen 2 or higher.

 

[S.C.U.D.]

Anyone have experience with Telaammo? Im considering buying 7.62x39, .45c a round seems great but "produced in Azerbaijan" has me skeptical. I saw some people complain they are actually corrosive but I usually bathe my AKs anyways.

I've seen them around and my unfounded theory is that they moved a Russian factory to Azerbaijan to beat sanctions. "Tela" even looks like "Tula," I'm convinced it's not a coincidence.

On the topic of ammo, whatever happened to Igman from Bosnia? They used to import tons of stuff and now it's just gone. Did the factory close down? It's not like we ever sanctioned them I don't think. We still get Prvi Partisan from Serbia just fine.