9.15.2006

I'm Giving Her All She's Got, Captain!!!

She can't take much more of this!

Currently, I have five guns in the arsenal. Two dedicated to hunting. One is a hunter/home defense. The two pistols are home defense/carry pieces. I have spouted off about the myriad guns I wish to purchase in the near future. I so very much plan on breaking the bank before the Dhimmicraps get back in the White House. I have even modified my collecting habits once that gets into high gear.

SNIPER RIFLES:

A Dragunov is high on my list. That would be a nice project to play with. Clean it up and put a new barrel in there. Maybe recaliber to .308 and work up a bunch of handloads. That would be a nice long range coyote gun to shoot. Saw a project in a Shotgun News awhile back and saved the references at the end.

M14 - Cannot decide if I want to do a sniper platform a'la USMC standards or not. It has been used with great success in the sandbox and elsewhere. Put some Leupold or Carl Zeiss glass on top and a Harris bipod on the end and get to work. Barring that, I would at least like to put a rail on top for some kind of optics and switch out as my fancy strikes.

Rem. 700/M40 sniper platform - I always wanted to see what I could do as far as building a bolt action tack driver. I really don't know much about the M40 sniper rifle, but know that the 700 platform is a good place to start. Caliber will probably be .300 WinMag. Haven't shot it much, and will be shooting it more this year for deer season. If I like how it shoots, I may work up some loads.

MBR's (Main Battle Rifles) - I really like the M14 and the M1A1. Cannot beat a .308 for all around hard core fun. It shoots well and has the distance for a .30 cal. round.

I have shot the FN-FAL and like it, but don't know much about it to make an informed decision. I also like the HK-G3 variants. I heard somewhere that an American company is building their own customizable clones off the original blueprints and machinery. I think what keeps me from these particular rifles are the cost and the high parts count. For something to be extremely reliable in the field, I believe the fewer moving parts, the better.

Tactical Carbines - These have to be the AR and AK rifles. Lighter rounds and not so much umphf to them. These guns almost feel like toys when shooting.

The AR series (M4geries) are light and small enough to clear corners and work in tight spaces. There are a plethora of options out there for these rifles. Lights, rails, sights and optics...oh my! Like I stated in a previous post, some months ago, I compare the AR-15 to a Jeep CJ truck. Do what you want and put your own touches on it. They are also like a good set of golf clubs. One lower can be swapped with different uppers. Want do do some long range shooting? Add a longer barrel. Don't like the .223? Go to a 6.8 SPC round, instead.

The AK's are more field expedient guns to have. I would have to say that is the first gun I'd grab going out the door in a G.O.O.D situation. Mikhail Kalishnikov designed that gun to be abused. You can throw lead downrange with fair accuracy and not concern yourself with how clean the weapon is. Ammo is cheap, and the AK eats up steel case like a Texan eats his chili. Not a lot you can do to update it. Maybe some plastic furniture with a couple of rails for optics, but that is about it.

Shotties and Pistolas - Well, there hasn't been enough said about these. I'm like a woman in a shoe store when it comes to handguns, I wanna see every pair!

*****

I rehash all my gun wish list to get to the main point of this post.

I was going over my finances and realized I am a normal American. I have about $10,000.00 in personal debt. That doesn't include my mortgage (which I haven't gotten, yet) and a car note (paid off over five years ago). This is from personal loans through my 401(k) and a line of credit with the bank. I also have a small credit card bill I am working off.

I went and did the Dave Ramsey method of debt consolidation. I have to say that worked really well. I did it about eight months ago and paid off about $5,000.00 in personal debt. Took about three months to pay it all off, too. I was really excited when that final online payment was made. It took about all of three weeks to rack that debt up again. I fell into debt again on car repairs, a trip to Europe (brother in law's wedding), and wardrobe. I also had problems with overdrafts and NSF's in my account. Nothing really bad for overdrawing my account, but when it rains, it pours. I also did something smart...I took some money out of my line of credit and opened a CD. Then I borrowed against the CD. I put the cash back into a savings account as an emergency fund and blew through it.

I figure the time is now to get my spending back under control. I spent the better part of this morning working on a debt snowball and budget. I have the snowball under control. By making payments of $350 every two weeks, $700 a month, I can knock down my debt inside of a year. This shouldn't break my back, or stretch me too thin, either. If I figured my average pay right, I make enough money a month to be able to save $600 more.

As long as I keep the pursestrings TIGHT! I should be able to save more money and put it towards my emergency fund, gun fund, and house fund equally. That shouldn't be hard for any red-blooded American to do. We spend most of our time finding ways to spend money and keep up with the Joneses that we forget to save any for a rainy day. We are a nation of crickets with very few ants to follow their example.

I am all for immediate gratification. Heck, I get that bonus check every quarter and immediately find ways to spend that money. My last bonus lasted all of 3 hours. Not a single penny was spent paying down my debt. In fact, if I'd paid that debt down, I would be under the $8,000.00 mark when it came to my final debt balance. I am ashamed to be an American at this point. I spend more money on food and chockies that on my own well being. If I were anything like Swede, we'd have a bigger nest egg and be looking at better houses now. Instead, I am scrambling to deposit my $1,000 for our down payment. We have more than enough for an 80/20 loan and down payment, we just refuse to stop putting money in that fund.

I remember trying to live by my high school motto those many years ago, "Teach me Goodness, Discipline, and Knowledge." Two out of three ain't bad, but I'd like to have discipline as one of those two. I still smoke, eat out every day of the week, don't exercise, and spend money like a man pouring out a glass of water. I have been talking a big game about getting back into shape and not spending my money. Now is the time to do just that.

By this time next week, I should have a YMCA membership. I will be back on the bike while the weather is cooling off. Thirty to sixty miles is my goal each weekend. I will be buying more groceries and less take out and junk food. I have to break my wife of the ice cream habit, too. Smoking will be the bitch-kitty. I have three left in my truck right now. I plan on not smoking this entire weekend. As long as I don't buy a pack (saving $4.00 each pack) I will not feel inclined to smoke. This should help arrest my blossoming belt line. I will update my miles log and weight log on the sidebar this weekend and keep a running tally of miles travelled and weight lost. I will also post a "laps swam" side bar, too. I encourage everyone else out here to do the same. Let's start a collective blog weight loss, money saving, life-enhancing challenge. Who's with me?

Let's get it done folks! I will lead the way. Just give me some positive vibes and I will show you results.

Shooter out!

4 comments:

AlanDP said...

Also don't forget C&R guns. You can get some good stuff for not much money if you go that route.

DEBTective said...

I'm proud of you for paying off as much as you did, bub. Just remember, if you deep-sixed the debt once, you can do it again. www.debtective.com

shooter said...

Hey, Debtective, weren't you mentioned on the Dave Ramsey show this afternoon? That name sounds really familiar.

DEBTective said...

That I was, jack. Dave makes a lot of sense, don't he? Keep goin' and good luck, baby. www.debtective.com