TacticalGearReview

Buckshot’s Place Part 2

Back at it, hopefully moving a little faster this time.

I mentioned reloading in Part 1. My real start in reloading was the M1911 Swiss and those 10 rounds of reloadable 7.5 X 55. There was no other 7.5 X 55 available then from Interarms, they were between batches. You could order cases or loaded ammo from Norma. Cases were not nearly as expensive then as now, but loaded ammo was nearly as bad then (adjusted between dollars then and now) as current Norma ammo is.

Lee had the Lee Loader kit available in 7.5 X 55 then. A little crude, but it worked, as long as you only had ONE rifle in that caliber, or you kept your cases segregated for each rifle. Built good shooting ammo and was CHEAP. But driving those primers in with a punch and a plastic faced mallet is a little crude! Wish them made them now in half the calibers they had them for then.

Went from there to the more normal reloading setup. Herters 6 station turret press, Herters dies, Herters scale and Herters powder measure. Some of the best and cheapest (relatively) loading gear we ever bought. GCA ’68 killed their mail order guns and they went belly up before 1980. They are back around now, but only a poor imitation of their former existance.

Work experience and training:

Gas Station attendant and Airport Line Boy (fueler) during high school.
1 year driving a taxi cab (Checker) as soon as I could get into town and get a license
after the Blizzard of 1978.
Took Modern Gun Repair School, correspondence gunsmithing course. Not great,
but not bad either.
6 years as a gunsmith in our family shop before we closed down. People would
charge us $15.00 per hour but would not pay us that for gun work.
Three years as a Psychiatric Attendant at the State’s only Hospital for the
Criminally Insane. Funky and depressing job, working for three masters,
The State, an Independent Oversight Committee and a Federal District
Court. That can get confusing, annoying and drive you to drink quickly.
We worked with NO metal cuffs, mace or pepper spray or night sticks. Just
5 of us per shift dealing with 18 patients on the “strong” ward and acting as a
crash crew for the rest of the wards during our shift.
Two and a half years for a Associate of Applied Science Degree in Electronics
Engineering Technology. Great training with a 20 year Navy Chief running
the program, but the last employer in the area using this skill closed about
the same time I graduated.
Classified Documents Courier, college work study job. Drove documents between
the branch campus I attended and the main campus three days a week for some money for books and gasoline.
Spent a summer as a gas station attendant at a station on I-75 on weekend nights.
No one wanted that job due it being in a prime robbery time and location so it
paid well for only 16 hours a week. Quit the first day there was ice on the
ground to deal with, I HATE ICE!
Used all transferable credits from my last Degree and signed up for an Associate of
Applied Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering, Flexible Manufacturing
Option. Got that in one year, but the one company that was using that skill
changed their setup and the others that were going to locate here never did!
Spent that same whole year working 12 hours each Saturday and Sunday as
Campus Security on a work study job. 24 hours a week, didn’t pay too badly,
but I was at school 7 days a week for a year.
Spent a year as a CWEP Records Clerk at the local PD. Did that to get medical as I
had been diagnosed as a Type 2 diabetic and had NO insurance after I
graduated the second time. A better diet and a little money as well as the
medical coverage helped a lot.
Got hired as a contractor at the local telephone company. Answering repair calls for
broken and out of service phones.
Got hired from the contractor to the phone company. This was great, it let me use
my electronic training. Thought I had it made. My Dad had retired at 42
years of service from that company. Thought I had a job for life”. Got laid off
after 7 ½ years there, they consolidated all of the regional phone companies
and moved my one of my jobs to Fayetteville/Ft. Bragg, NC. Bumped back to
repair answer, got a hip fixed and after I returned to work I got laid off for
good July 30, 1999. That job went to Kileen, TX near Ft. Hood, if I have the
town right.
Been working temporary jobs, part time jobs, under the table jobs or whatever I can
find for the last 10 years, making it (barely) but that’s about all. Been
working part time (10 – 12 classes a year) with a CCW and firearms training
team for about the last 5 years. Helps a little more, a little more dependable
and meet a nicer grade of people.

I hold an 03 (C&R or Curio and Relic) FFL to facilitate my collecting of Infantry Rifles. Not so much an more, as not much is showing up, not much is left out there to import any longer, most of the stuff after WW II is full auto and the BATFE says “once a machine gun, always a machine gun” so they have to destroy the receiver and build a new gun using the good parts on a semi-auto receiver, such as they do with the Aks. This means they will NEVER be C&R as they are not in original condition, and ALL military firearms must be in original issue condition to be C&R.

That’s enough about me, I will keep writing at regular intervals and HOPEFULLY some of you will give me some input to get discussions going about.

End Intro.

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