Greetings from Sacramento!
Hello,
I'm stirnerstuff, originally from Washington State, now living in northern California. I had never touched a rifle prior to enlisting in the US Army at 18. I had shot a few handguns with my sister who works in law enforcement, but that was the extent of my firearms experience. My father was an old socialist and atheist, a relic of the 60s university campus culture of radical leftism and LSD. Needless to say, this played a certain role in my choice to enlist. It was quite a culture shock, learning to be a soldier after 18 years of learning nothing but pacifism and nonviolence from my parents and teachers. I quickly learned the discipline and skills necessary for accurately firing my M16A2 rifle, and as one of my drill sergeants remarked, "It looks like you finally found somethin' you almost ****in' good at!" I qualified just one hit shy of Expert after several attempts to get that coveted 36 out of 40.
I ended up being stationed all around the US south and eventually back in my home state of Washington. After I got out, I moved to California to be with my partner, and got a job managing rental properties owned by her father and grandmother. This job gives me a good chunk of disposable income to invest in my favorite hobby (shooting!), and so I started building a little collection for myself. My first purchase was a Saiga rifle chambered in 7.62x39. I bought a picatinny rail attachment for it that attaches to the optics mount on the left side of the receiver, and put a Bushnell 1x28 red dot riflescope and a laser pointer on it. The red dot is zeroed in at 100 yards, and the laser is aligned with the line of bore at 25 feet for close quarters engagements.
My next purchase was a Mosin Nagant M91/30, which I now regret. The recoil is too much to shoot comfortably for more than 30 rounds, even with a rubber buttplate. Being a left-handed shooter, working the bolt is inconvenient at best. I'm thinking of selling it now. After that, I purchased a polish P-64 pistol chambered in 9x18 Makarov. I've put several hundred rounds through it and never had a single malfunction, it's more accurate than many concealed-carry-sized handguns I've fired, and it's perfect to wear around my office inside-waistband. I bought a spare magazine for it which feeds just as perfectly as the magazine it came with when purchased, and I carry the spare mag with me as well.
I then purchased a Henry H001, which is a lever-action rifle chambered in .22lr. I kept hearing from everyone that every shooter should own at least one weapon chambered in .22lr, and I had always wanted a lever-action rifle, so the H001 was a perfect choice. The receiver has an integral dovetail mount which I attached a cheap Barska 4x scope to. It performs reasonably well at 100 yards, putting rounds in about a 6" group with CCI mini-mags. Finally, my latest firearms purchase is a Savage Axis (left handed bolt!) chambered in .243 Winchester. I've picked out a scope for it and intend to mount a bipod on it as well. The scope I'm looking at right now is the Bushnell Banner 4-12x40mm, which sells for about $98 at my local gun store, just under the $99 it's available for on amazon.com.
My last three firearms purchases were all bought through my favorite local gun store, Survival Instinct Guns. The folks who work there are all very helpful, knowledgeable, and friendly. They're all former enlisted, like me, so it's a comfortable environment. The employees there also perform gunsmithing services at reasonable prices and perform all of their own CA compliance work. They at first said they could get me the Axis for $350, but after I showed them a listing online for $295, they matched the price and told me not to worry about shipping costs, just the background check fee. Great guys, very professional.
Anyway, that's my collection so far, and a bit about myself. It's good to be here in this community.
-stirnerstuff
