Not the greatest photo quality in the world, but it will have to suffice. I decided to rearrange my safe and took a quick photo.



From left to right:

1. Savage stainless ML-10 II muzzleloader. This one will shoot smokeless powder.

2. Savage 93FV .17 HMR rifle with matte heavy barrel. Scope is a BSA Sweet 17 calibrated just for the .17 HMR. Turn knob on top to adjust for distances between 100 and 300 yards, in 5-yard increments. If you know yardage to target, adjust, aim dead-on, and fire.

3. Remington 11-87 Super Magnum 3 1/2" turkey gun with Tru-Glo rifle sights and Mossy Oak Break-Up camo.

4. Remington 870 "Super Slug" with fully-rifled barrel and Nikon Monarch UCC 4X40 scope.

5. Pre-ban Franchi SPAS-12 shotgun with push-button safety, 9-shot capacity, folding stock with hook, and forward front sight.

6. Benelli M1014 (Limited Edition M4 Super 90) shotgun.

7. Heckler & Koch USP .45 Tactical handgun.

8. Remington 700P in .308WIN. Springfield Armory Second Generation 4-14X56 rangefinding scope sitting in Badger Ordnance base and rings. Harris model LM pivoting bipod.

9. ArmaLite AR-10A4 in .308WIN. with green furniture. Custom Leupold Vari-X III 6.5-20X44 with mil-dot reticle and target turrets sitting in an ArmaLite one-piece base.

10. Pre-ban Colt/Bushmaster M4A3. Lower is Colt Sporter Target model with Colt 4-position telestock. Upper is Bushmaster 14.5" M4A3 with Colt M4 handguards and permanently-attached Phantom flash suppressor. Aimpoint ML2 held in place by Aimpoint railgrabber and backed up by ARMS #40.

11. Preban Norinco underfolder AK-47 (56S-1) in 7.62X39 with Bulgarian black polymer furniture and bayonet, and 100-round Chinese drum. Entire rifle was refinished by Solstice Arms.

12. Bulgarian AK-74 (5.45X39) built by In Range with Red Star Arms adjustable trigger. Russian PO 3.5 X 21 rangefinding scope sitting atop a Russian optic rail.

Not Pictured is a Russian AK-103 (7.62X39) still at Solstice Arms (I hope).

You can tell a lot about a man by looking at his guns.  You don't have any kids do ya?  Otherwise there would be at least one gun in 22lr in there.  So while I like your tactical collection, you lack in the plinking department.

Nice Family, hardware !

...you lack in the plinking department.

I'm working on it, Zoub...

If the AW ban sunsets and isn't replaced I'd like to put together a "killer" .22LR. I'll probably pick up a cheap .22 in the meantime. I guess for now the .17 HMR rimfire will have to hold me over, although at a higher ammo cost. You hit the nail on the head about having no children. My wife had a hysterectomy, so that is out of the question. If we had children, I doubt I would have 1/4 of what I have. Kids can be pretty expensive. I don't have a lot of firearms, but I do try for quality over quantity. Counting the custom AK-103 that isn't in my possession at the moment, I'm sitting on about $15K in firearms and the optics mounted on them. And that isn't counting the near-100 high cap mags and around 10K rounds for the various weapons.

You can borrow my kid, she has her own fishing gear, rifle and ammo.  Having kids does not stop you from buying guns.  It just makes you broke and cuts your life expectancy short.

Last night my brother and I were discussing the exact Savage 17hmr set up you bought.  Good choice, please keep us posted on it.

I started out at the other end of the spectrum.  Hunting and target.  Then I turned tactical after that.  Handguns and more 870's.  Then I made the jump in 2000 and picked up my first AR.  I was affraid Gore would win.  Now all I talk about is carbines, subguns and the AWB.

Ruger 10/22's are "born cheap".  Get one.  Then when the ban expires you can toss a folder on it, thread the barrel, and add a can.  I am thinking about getting my first suppressor this year, a Gemtech Outback to put on a Walther P22.  I may buy the P22 tomorrow.  Give it to my wife in August for our 15th anniversary.  You should see some of the cool stuff my wife owns.  Ha!  I know she hates me but she won't throw me out.


You could also get a 22 upper for your AR.....

OR you could by your wife a P22 for training purposes.  When is your wedding anniversary?  Nothing says I love you like a new gun.

Last night my brother and I were discussing the exact Savage 17hmr set up you bought. Good choice, please keep us posted on it.

A friend of mine bought the exact same one a couple of weeks ago. I helped him sight it in and was impressed with it. A few days later I was reading a back issue of the "American Rifleman" and saw the Sweet 17 scope. I scoured the internet until I found one company (MidwayUSA) who had it in stock. It's funny, but I owned the scope before the rifle. I'm a fan of black polymer furniture (as if you couldn't tell), so that narrowed my .17 HMR choices down to two - the Savage bolt-action and the H&R single-shot. The Savage looks like a mini-tactical sniper rifle, so the squirrels had better be wearing body armor come August. I picked up a cleaning kit for it today, but my ammo search was in vain. I found two stores out of the many we drove to in three counties that had .17 HMR in stock, but only CCI brand. I've always preferred CCI for rimfires, but want to try out the Hornady ballistic-tipped ammo.

I started out at the other end of the spectrum. Hunting and target. Then I turned tactical after that.

In the late '80s I started buying "assault weapons". Then in the early '90s (before the ban) I got into fast cars and sold all my firearms to finance and hop-up a car. Then in 1995 I moved to the country and took up hunting. I bought all kinds of shotguns, pistols, high-powered bolt-action rifles, and rimfires. Then in early 2001 I decided to replace some of the pre-ban military-style firearms that I'd previously owned, although at a higher price. I sold or traded most of my hunting and plinking firearms, only keeping a deer shotgun, turkey shotgun, and muzzleloader. I'm a bigtime deer hunter, usually hunting from the opening day of archery season on October 1 until the end of the year unless I score big early. In that case, I don't break out the muzzleloader.

Ruger 10/22's are "born cheap".

Yeah, I've had a couple of them over the years along with a couple of Mini-14's. One stainless, one blued in each model.

I am thinking about getting my first suppressor this year.

I need to. I went with the HK USP 45 Tactical just for the purpose of attaching a suppressor at a later date.

You could by your wife a P22 for training purposes.

She just picked up her first pistol recently. It is a stainless Taurus Model 85 .38 Special. She's shot a box of shells through it and seems to enjoy it. Especially more than her first firearm, which was a youth model Remington 870 20-gauge with fully-rifled barrel, Tru-Glo sights, and camo stockset. I bought it for her so that she could gun hunt for deer. A few shots out of it, and it was sold to one of my coworkers. She is a good archer, so she bowhunts only. As for our wedding anniversary, we were married the opening day of muzzleloader season on December 9, 1995.

I am sitting her smiling.  I did notice the only wood in your photo was the wall, because  I am sure the ram rod on your muzzle loader is fiberglass?  


Sounds like you are organized and know what your next 3 gun buys are going to be.  Or as I call it, the "short list".

I may have seen the Hornady loads for the 17 at Galyans, but I can't swear to it.  I am fuzzy on that now.

Wait a minute, I had to come back and look at that photo again.......Yup, I don't see any surefire's on any of those guns.

Yeah, I don't know where I picked up my aversion to wood furniture, but it goes deep enough that if I ever bought a M1A rifle it would be the Springfield Scout Squad Rifle just to get the polymer stock.

When I took the photo I placed a spare sheet of plywood against the sunny side of the house, hence the bad shadowing. And, yes, the ramrod is fiberglass. It seems terribly flimsy, so I may need to find an aluminum replacement somewhere. I haven't gotten around to firing it yet. I bought it right after the 2001 muzzleloader season and didn't muzzleloader hunt last season, as I figured 4 deer (1 buck, 3 does) was enough. I used to hunt with the Remington 700 muzzleloader, but got tired of cleaning up the Pyrodex mess. I'm not a big fan of Savage, but when they introduced a muzzleloader designed to shoot smokeless powder you can bet that I was right there flopping down the cash.

No, no Surefires yet. I'd love to get an ARMS #45M and a Surefire M900A for my M4A3, but just haven't gotten around to it yet. I'd also like to pick up a UTL for the HK handgun, and a Mepro 21 for the M1014 shotgun. I've got some remodelling to do to the house as well as juggling some of my wife's doctor and prescription bills. She had breast cancer two years ago, so doctor bills keep me on my feet. My insurance pays a great portion of it, with me paying the rest. She has to take a certain pill everyday for the next 5 years. Before my insurance, each pill is $10. Luckily, they only cost me $1.33 each. I'll keep trudging along, splitting my spare money between doctors, pharmacists, and firearms.

I admit I really don't look at too many new guns with wood either.  I prefer functionality and toughness to beauty.

Sorry to hear about your wife, but you know it sounds like you guys are beating it and that is good.  My wife was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia two years ago.  At times we have really struggled with it and I wonder if the drugs are not worse than the illness.  There is no real cure for it.  One thing I had to change were my expectaions.  So I am selling my boat, going back to a smaller one, she can't water ski any more.  She does not shoot due to pain.  Camping is out of the question and long road trips mess her up.  I also tend to plan very few things since you never know what things will be like 7 days from now.  It has also caused me to spend more time with my daughter, so that is good.  And some times I just sit back and feel sorry for myself and realize that gets me no where so I buy gun stuff!!

I am amzed at the cost of some of these drugs and tests.  I have also really come to hate certain pharmacists and their crappy service.  As far my family is concerned we have never really had to deal with long term illness.  Just usually sudden or violent deaths.  I really had to adjust my way of thinking about my wifes condition, and it is not a life threatening illness.

Zoub, I am vaguely familiar with Fibromyalgia, as my wife's uncle suffers from it as well. I pray that your wife finds relief from it. My wife's cancer was contained to a lump in her breast, so she just had a lumpectomy. She had to undergo chemotherapy and radiation, but now has her hair back and leads a normal life. The medication she was prescribed can cause cervical cancer, so she underwent a hysterectomy just to be safe. She cannot take hormones due to the cancer, so that makes her life (and mine ) somewhat miserable at times.

You both hang in there and maybe we'll meet at a Hoosier get-together sometime.