steve1

I don't think I'd ever backpack in Denali Park without packing a large caliber pistol. There's just too many Grizzlies. I don't want to end up as bear food, and I don't trust bear spray. I'd rather have a shotgun with slugs, but there would be no way to hide that. I know a guy who markets Bear Spray. He credits the stuff for saving his life, but not until a Sow Grizzly chewed both he and his friend up good. He actually had his head in the bears mouth more than once. Whenever the bear clamped down he'd pass out. Maybe a six shooter wouldn't have helped much in that scenario, but I'll bet it would work better than his bear spray....Steve1

Hey, you two O L D * G U Y S ! Just so I know when it's coming, a what point in time does doin' the "fun bag face slap with a bevy of gutter sluts" fall so far behind sitting in a freaking CANOE....... that it doesn't even make the list?! That's one of the fun things that I forgot to put on our list. When you get to be about 95 I imagine you might lose interest in that sort of thing.....Steve1

I skydive, hike & camp, canoe and shoot guns. You mean everyone doesn't do that? reply] Hell, that sounds really normal to me. Life wouldn't be any fun at all if you couldn't do things like that....Steve1

A lot of older men have erectile dysfunction problems. (Did I spell that right?) But the real source of the problem may be that older women are just damn ugly....

I have an old High Standard 22 auto that I've had since I was a kid. It has a fairly long barrel on it. I think it may be six inch. I'm too lazy to go dig it out and measure the barrel), but it is an amazingly good shooter. The trigger is light and crisp. I've even shot the heads off grouse with it. Shot a duck out of the air with it once. It does tend to jam lately (if it isn't kept clean, or in cold weather). I may have to have a gun smith take a look at it. I've got a lot of miles on it.....Steve1

Guess you haven't seen any members of sponsored teams lately; they've got more patches than NASCAR drivers. HW I don't get out much. My wife keeps me locked up in the basement most of the time. But I have noticed this going on with Rodeo cowboys. Back in the old days they all just wore a western shirt. Now the best cowboys look more like walking billboards. As far as hippies wearing patches...That's exactly how I remember it. The good news is that most all of us are clean cut "Old Farts" today....I'd let my hair grow, but most of it has already fallen out. I've got a few old pictures and a story coming out (hopefully in next month's Parachutist) which shows a bunch of hippies with patches. I'm the only clean cut one of the bunch, The only patch I had way back then, said skydiver on it, so I guess that sums up my experience level at the time....Steve1

Maybe I spent too many years in the Boy Scouts, but I kind of miss the old days when you could pick out a really salty skydiver by the number and kind of patchs he had on his jump suit. Back in the early 70's an experienced jumper usually had an SCR, an SCS, and maybe a night SCR, if you were really good. It seemed like most everyone was a relative worker back then. (At least in our club). About the mid 70's I started seeing an occaisional 16-way patch. About the only patch you see now days is one that says 300 way, or World Team. I guess wearing an SCR or SCS patch now days would tell everyone, that you really are a green horn, aren't you. I quit jumping in about 75, and came back in about 2000. So when did wearing patches go out of style?....Steve1

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Oh heck, that was the fun part! I never did jump from 800 feet though. All our jumps were at least 1,200 feet AGL. Maybe things have changed, from back in the 70's. I've heard of people jumping from 500 ft. in combat, but noone I knew, back in the olden days, jumped below 1,200 ft. in training....Steve1

I'd never try to tell someone with a million more jumps than I that my packing method is better than theirs. But, I love the psycho pack. I've got a 170 canopy that I'm putting into a 150 bag. When that canopy was new I had a nightmare of a time trying to get it to fit. It was a hard opening canopy to start with, and after messing things up trying to cram it into that little bag, it was slamming the hell out of me on most openings. I still have neck problems, and other aches and pains from those days. So, I learned how to psycho pack and it just fit in there so easily that I've never gone back to the standard pro pack. My openings are nice and soft now also (with that same canopy), because everything stays in place when I cram it in that little bag. I have two rigs. One has a bridle extension (that I sewed up), and the other has none. They both pack up fine, so maybe you won't need an extension...Steve1

Where I live it's just like the North Pole. I don't need more of that. Some place really warm would suit me fine....Steve1

I'm considering going some where in the U.S. over Christmas to jump. My wife's going to visit her sick Mother in rainy Oregon, and that doesn't sound like any fun at all. It would probably be around Dec. 24th thru the 30th. I'd like to find a place with a load organizer (for belly flyers) and a big aircraft. I'll probably need my reserve repacked when I get there. (And I may need a good line to tell my wife, why I really need to do this.) Any recommendations? Thanks....Steve1

I learned pro-packing by watching the video, "Pack Like a Pro". I later learned to Psycho Pack (off the internet) and that's how I pack everything today....Steve1

It's been a while since I've thrown a grenade, but I doubt if you have five seconds to respond to a grenade in your midst. If I remember right there is about five seconds (on American Grenades) for the powder train to burn down before the main explosive goes off, (after the handle is released). I don't really know how long a foreign grenade has before it will go off. Probably around the same number of seconds. If one is experienced with throwing grenades, it might be smart to wait a second or two before throwing it. That way there would be less chance of it being thrown back at you. Also less chance that the enemy will run away before it goes off. It might also to be smart to try throwing it back. But maybe there isn't time for that. There may not be time to get everyone out of your foxhole or tank or whatever. Maybe the grenade has already rolled around for a couple seconds while everyone is scrambling to get out, and you know it's going to go off in the next second. I think it would take real balls to jump on a grenade to save your pals, in a situation like that. Many soldiers have died jumping on grenades to save their friends...several during the Vietnam War. I don't know if they all got Medals of Honor, but I think they should have. To say that jumping on a grenade is always wrong or stupid, is really a discredit to those who have given up their lives doing just that. By all means train people to throw them back or jump to one side and lay prone. But if you are caught in a situation where there isn't time for that, what are you going to do? I doubt if I'd ever have balls enough to jump on a live grenade, but I look up to those who had courage enough to do such a thing. And I think Amazon is right when it comes time to hand out medals. Officers seem to have gotten more than their share. It was often the bravery of NCO's or enlisted men who got the job done, while an officer took credit....Steve1

The photo (and others) are availabile from my ego stroking, self-serving, skydiving history page I put together one day when I decided to look through all of my log books. There's nothing wrong with a little ego stroking. I figure that, how in the hell will anyone find out how famous I really am, unless I tell them... Thanks for the photos....They bring back a ton of memories. I need to get to know Pete Hill better. I heard that he can tell the best Wally Benton stories....Steve1

QuoteHey, that's me! It was 1973, in Star, Idaho. reply] Yep, that looks like the place. I dug out some of my old photos, from back in 1973, and they match up perfectly. Houses are all over many of those same hills today. We played pass the pumpkin lately (over the prairies of North Dakota), and ended up chasin a couple. We never came close to keeping up with them....Steve1

Tri-motors flew smoke-jumpers and cargo in our part of the country, back in about 1945. There used to be several owned by Johnson's Flying Service in Western Montana and Idaho, during that time period. I remember seeing them parked near the Missoula Airport when I was a kid....My Dad flew co-pilot in them when he was a teen-ager...Steve1

But then again, on this topic of shorter barrels....I think there is a pistol made to shoot a 308 round (come to think of it). Maybe with some creative hand-loading this could be done. It seems that with a cartridge that burns less powder, it is possible to cut the barrel down in length with a less dramatic affect on bullet speed. So possibly even a 223 could be shot out of a much shorter barrel too. It certainly has less powder behind it than a magnum caliber does. Magnums are very fussy in terms of velocity when shortening the barrel. I'm no expert on this. I'd like to learn more on this subject myself. One rifle cartridge that works very well in a pistol barrel is a 22 L.R....Steve1

That is a good point. A different load can make a cartridge more efficient, but the velocity of that bullet is still (in most cases) going to be a lot slower (depending on the cartridge). For example in a 300 Winchester there is no way you can get the higher velocity of a 26 inch barrel if you cut the barrel down much. (Despite which powder you use.) That is if you compare a hotter load to a hotter load in each barrel....Steve1

It would be interesting to shoot one through a chronograph to see what kind of velocity you got with that short of a barrel. It would probably convince you to go with a longer barrel. I have a 26 inch barrel on my 300 Winchester. I could have bought the same gun with a 24 inch barrel, but it will shoot flatter and hit harder with that extra two inches. This isn't true with all calibers though. Some cartridges can develop maximum velocities with a shorter barrel. My wifes 243 for example has a twenty inch barrel on it. A twenty two inch barrel might be a little better, velocity wise, but not all that much. Any longer barrel in that caliber wouldn't help much at all. A shorter rifle fits her better, so we bought it in a 20 inch barrel. A 300 Winchester in a twenty inch barrel would be a piece of junk in my opinion. You'd lose way too much in velocity. I'm pretty narrow minded when it comes to an ideal rifle, and I'm sure there are others on here who know more than I on this subject. I'd like to hear your opinions. Where's John at today?....Steve1

I think both would be good. A twenty guage might be a little light though. At close enough range it would probably put a perp. down. I read a study once, that said that bad guys hit with a shotgun often get back up and return fire. Maybe it is because they were hit at longer ranges and only part of the shot pattern hit them. I think most police and military use a 12 guage....Steve1

Quote Short barrels will effect accuracy yes, but the idea is increased penetration to defeat body armor vs. the traditional 9mm cartridge. Hell I have a .308 caliber weapon with a 8in barrel. It is a flame thrower! reply] Short barrels also reduce the speed that a bullet travels in a very negative way. So, I wonder if you really are getting increased penetration. A 308 has great penetration in a 22 inch barrel but I doubt if it's very effective or efficient in an eight inch barrel. The reason it looks like a flame thrower is because much of the powder has not had a chance to burn inside the barrel. The bullet has already left the barrel while the powder is burning outside the barrel. I'd bet there would be a lot of unburned powder being thrown out as well. Go out and shoot it in the snow. I'd bet there would be unburned powder everywhere. It doesn't make sense to me to use a rifle cartridge with a pistol barrel. And I really doubt if you are getting increased penetration.....Steve1

I've never seen a 223 barrel that short. It looks to be less than a foot long. It seems that another cartridge would be much better suited for a barrel that short.....Steve1

The HK Gewehr 36C is a weapon I'm not familiar with, but the picture has me wondering. It shows a fairly long magazine, so I would imagine the case, for that cartridge, is fairly long also. I'm just wondering if that short of a barrel would result in a lot of unburned powder. I would expect to see a much longer barrel on a weapon with a magazine like that....Steve1