I am 64 years old, a retired information technology professional well-educated in the physical sciences and mathematics. With .22 rifles and 12-ga. shotguns, I started hunting birds, snakes, and snapping turtles, squirrels, coons, et al, before I was 10 at my home farm in South Arkansas. At 11, I killed my first white-tail deer with my new Remington Model 740 .30-06, a gift from my father. I still have the rifle, though refreshed now several times and it still looks and shoots like new. Now retired as a gentleman farmer in western Arkansas (Ouachita Mountains near Hot Springs), I have returned to motorcycle riding -- a Suzuki V-Strom 1000 -- as well as maintenance of my property and tree farm. I provide primary care for my mother (93) and my alcoholic son (45). In the past year, several incidents while riding and adventuring alone led me to seek my first Concealed Carry Permit and to buy my first personal defense weapon -- a low-cost, but feels-good Bersa Firestorm .45 ACP Semi-auto which I now carry most of the time. I also have a Taurus .38 Special with a six-inch barrel -- which I call my "snake gun" when I carry it on my Kubota tractor while working in my fields. Other guns include a Saiga .410 semi-auto shotgun and a caliber-matching new Taurus "The Judge" .410 3" Magnum (and .45 Long Colt, which I don't plan to exercise), a Ruger .44 Remington Magnum lever-action carbine, three shotguns in .12-ga. field grade, and five .22 semi-automatic rifles accumulated over the years. Today I used the T/C Classic 22 to dispatch a cottonmouth "moccasin", about 3.5 feet long, at a distance of 30 yards as it was swimming up my creek.
I don't shoot a great deal for sport, as I have developed hearing losses dating as far back as my military service in the U.S. Navy in both enlisted and officer roles. However, I practice enough with my weapons to maintain a responsible control of them in the situations where I would expect them to be used. However, I wouldn't mind having a varmint rifle -- perhaps something in .17 caliber or Ruger .204 with a great scope, maybe Leupold. A large-caliber revolver, like a Ruger Red Hawk Alaskan in .44 Mag to match my carbine would be a nice balance. In summary, I have no "exotic" weapons and no desire for any -- especially those of a strictly militarized form or derivation -- but have developed a real lust for a Dan Wesson (CZ) Commander Classic Bobtail (aka CBOB) in .45 Auto and I believe I will find one of those fairly soon. It might be my last gun acquisition. In principle, while I like the ballistics capabilities of rimmed revolver cartridges like .357/38, .41 Mag/Special, .44 Mag/Special, and .454 Casull/.45 LC, the inefficiency of the revolver as a delivery method has made me decide on a single pistol cartridge -- .45 ACP -- as my 'reach out and touch' choice.
I am not a one-trick pony. I also belong to a few motorcyclist forums, a agriculture/utility tractor forum, and actually write articles on computers and on paper! As a youth, I was a cowboy - literally -- with rodeo competition. Later, I raced off-road motorcycles in amateur competition. I've traveled all of the states and a good fraction of the world -- mostly at the expense of my employers, often government agencies.
Forums exist for intelligent conversation, where I'm concerned. I hope you'll consider me as a useful member of this one.
