Winter Camping trip with some snow-assisted shelter stuff.

[DavidZ]

Looks like a good time. Thanks for sharing. I really like the little wood stove. I will have to check out that thread.

 

[misanthropist]

:barf::barf:

Somehow I feel lied to about Canada and gun ownership....

Yeah, that is pretty common!

We buy these guns for $399 new and then tweak them. It's a very big thing up here.

Of course the only reason we get them so cheap is that thousands of receivers were built with the intention of selling them as assembled guns in the US, then your laws changed to prohibit entry of these.

So a company up here went and found them all, built them into rifles, and sold them for $399 Canadian. They are Norincos, but not the same ones that were allowed into the US, some of which were labelled Norinco and others Polytech. These are a little uglier but vastly better in construction - really nice forged receivers, bolts and one-piece forged op rods, for instance. The only parts that are no good are the stocks - some are really soft - and the rear sights, some of which are soft metal and others of which are fine, but I just replace them all with Beretta sights anyway.

One really cool result of all these cheap guns was that since we got all these super cheap M14s, people here don't hesitate to do the work on them themselves.

So whereas in the US, people understandably don't want to monkey with a $1500 rifle, here, who cares? They're CHEAP!!!

So I have ripped apart literally dozens of these things at clinics held in guys' living rooms, as everyone learns how to strip them, lube them, maintain them, and modify them. At the last clinic a guy who was an expert TIG welder showed up and unified gas systems on about twenty guns, for free! I have staked op rod guides and shimmed gas systems for a dozen guys just so they'd know how to do it.

I like guns and I like shooting for sure but the coolest aspect by far is just all these regular guys who become their own gunsmiths.





Anyway I could chew anybody's ear off for hours if I were to really get started on M14 pattern rifles. But I love them. They are like a perfect midpoint for me between a hunting rifle and a modern assault rifle - it's like the ultimate survival machine.

Man I wish I could get myself interested in food the way I am interested in guns and gear...I know I spend a lot more time eating than I do shooting so it would make a lot more sense! But I have to admit if I could take in 100% of my calories in pill or milkshake form that's probably what I would do.

I really respect you guys who can do the food thing. I just can't wrap my head around it!

 

[mapper66]

That is very cool, it would be nice to have a source of cheap parts to learn on. I paid more for my receiver than you paid for the whole rifle!

 

[DOC-CANADA]

But I have to admit if I could take in 100% of my calories in pill or milkshake form that's probably what I would do.

100% :thumbup:, especially outdoors. I used to do the whole cooking bit - no more!

I'd rather be paddling, hiking, making things, or drinking, - anything but cooking and cleaning dishes.

Doc