[Tim1]

So, I was in the process of trying to buy a house and the deal fell through. Bad news in one respect because I put a lot of sweat equity and a fair amount of cash into the attempt -- but good news in that I now have a pile of money sitting around that's just begging to be spent on firearms Not sure yet exactly how much I want to spend but it will probably be in the $1,000 - $2,000 range.

Trying to decide what I would like to do. I've had the M1 Garand itch for a long time and could pick up a service grade one from the CMP for around $600. Add a few hundred bucks to refurb it and a few more for a mountain of ammo and I'd have a really nice shooter. I've watched the highpower league at my range and it looks like a lot of fun.

On the other hand I could talk to the folks at Allstar and get myself an evil black rifle. I would love to have an AR of some sort though I don't really have an image in my mind of what features I would want on "my" AR. I'm open to suggestions on this front.

I'm also in the market for a shotgun. Looking for something for bird hunting and skeet shooting. Home defense really isn't a consideration -- that's what the .45 and (if I get one) EBR are for. I think I'd like to get an O/U so I can use different chokes though I'm open to other ideas.

 

[Les]

Here's some old guy advice. Put your money in the bank and save it for when a house you like comes available. I know, the urge to buy a new toy can be pretty overwhelming, but down the road a house will be in your future and the more you can put down, the lower those awful monthly payments will be. Just my 2 cents.

 

[5round]

I just started shooting cmp matches myself. Its a lot of fun. So my vote would be for the Garand or an AR (something like this one Rock River Arms: NM A2 / A4)

 

[5round]

Here's some old guy advice. Put your money in the bank and save it for when a house you like comes available. I know, the urge to buy a new toy can be pretty overwhelming, but down the road a house will be in your future and the more you can put down, the lower those awful monthly payments will be. Just my 2 cents.

This is better advice than mine

 

[Tim1]

Grey, you are no fun

Roaming off the topic of my own thread, but the whole home buying process left me very jaded. The bank told me to go pound sand because the property was "legal non-conforming", i.e: currently zoned commercial but with a two-family residential structure on it. Their excuse was that I couldn't rebuild it if it burned down. This was BS -- the zoning law says I would have 12 months to rebuild it as it was before losing the grandfathered status -- but even if it was true I don't really see why they would care. They'd get their money from insurance regardless of whether or not it was rebuilt.

To top that off I had been planning on using some money from my Roth for closing costs. You can withdraw money from a Roth penalty free for a first time home purchase. I had wanted to make this withdrawal just before closing but the bastards made it do it sooner and provide them with proof of the withdrawal. A week after I did this they rejected the loan. So now I'm going to be stuck paying a 10% penalty to Uncle Sam on that withdrawal. It seems to me that they had no right to ask me to do that if they intended to reject the loan but there you go.

My real estate agent and mortgage broker both say that banks just aren't lending these days unless everything is perfect. They will look for whatever excuse they can to get out of a deal. I have a 770 FICO score and have worked at the same place for 5 years, but I wasn't a good enough risk apparently. I also lost out on the $8,000 tax credit unless it's renewed, not very happy about that either.

Don't worry too much, I'm not blowing all my money. Much too worried about the economy to do that. I can add one new toy to my collection and put 80-85% of it back into savings somewhere. Actually, I'm waiting for the next economic meltdown to start buying stocks again -- I made about 80% on my stock picks from last year that I bought when prices were extremely low.

 

[Tim1]

I just started shooting cmp matches myself. Its a lot of fun. So my vote would be for the Garand or an AR (something like this one Rock River Arms: NM A2 / A4)

What do you shoot them with?

 

[Phlyan Pan]

Lately I've gotten the custom 1911 itch, but that's just me.

With 2 g's, you could probably buy a caspian frame and outfit it quite nicely. If you take your time and learn what you're doing along the way you could probably have a gun worth more than what you paid for it by the time you're done (not including your time building it of course).

That is, of course, if learning to pistolsmith on a 1911 is something that interests you.

 

[Twogunwilly]

must be some tax sales in your area. Buy a defunct farm, build your own range and get a bunch of guns from what you''ll save.

 

[Tim1]

No, I've already got my handgun itch satisfied. About the only thing I might be interested in is a deep concealment gun but I've opted to follow Dave's advice and carry a full sized gun and dress around it.

If I'm going to build something I would probably do an AR. I wish I had a better work space though -- another reason I'm bummed the house deal didn't go through is that I was intending to build a work shop, reloading bench, etc.

I can really only afford to do one (AR or M1) but I want to do both. The M1 I want sooner rather than later because I'm afraid that they'll either run out of them or the libtards in Washington will shutter the CMP. The AR I want sooner rather than later in case the libtards in Albany pass a more restrictive AWB.

 

[defilade]

What you need is some 7.62!! get a M1a Socom 16.. I love mine!!

http://www.myhostedpics.com/images/Mannlicher/10_2.jpg

 

[5round]

What do you shoot them with?

I shoot my AR but it not legal for competition. Its also not set up very well for it either. I bought the cheapest iron sights I could while building it thinking to myself "I'll never use these"

The majority of the guns I've seen there have been Garands, followed by ARs. The match at the gcl is nice because they will let you shoot any military rifle you like. They also have m1 Garands and m1 carbines that you can shoot (just have to pay for ammo).

You might want to check with your local club, they might have a similar set up.

 

[Phlyan Pan]

You don't need much space or special tools to build an AR. And for 2Gs you could probably build 2 of them.

 

[Tim1]

Maybe I'll go with the Garand approach then. I've always wanted one anyway. Hopefully I can find the funds for an EBR at a later date before the champs in Albany decide that I shouldn't be allowed to have one.

 

[JStarX7]

Maybe I'll go with the Garand approach then. I've always wanted one anyway. Hopefully I can find the funds for an EBR at a later date before the champs in Albany decide that I shouldn't be allowed to have one.

If you do ever decide to build an AR, let me know. I have a bunch of tools for it, so you won't have to spend money on them.

 

[Tim1]

I appreciate that JStar. I still haven't really decided. I want both but can't afford to do both. The Garand I'll shoot more. The AR is mostly so I can have one before the law changes, though I imagine that I'd wind up shooting it almost as much.

Decisions decisions.