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Hi, All - as the title says, the purpose of this thread is to try to get through the New Member tasks. So I thought I'd just tell a bit about myself. I was born and raised in the areas around Los Angeles. When I was 25, moved to Washington. Been here for nearly 50 years now. My reason for getting on this forum (last night) is that I'm trying to find an old neighbor of mine, Doug Arnold (there's a whole separate thread on that).
I'm not what I'd call a "gun person", although I own a Winchester 94 (which was kind of by accident - see the Doug Arnold thread for more about that) and a really cool working replica of a Royal Navy Sea Service Pistol a flintlock. I got that because I've always wanted to be a pirate ever since my dad first read "Treasure Island" to me.
However, I may be a "closet" gun person, because when I first entered Jr. High School, where they taught "Metal Shop" (back then, but not any more), I sought out the metal shop teacher. I finally found him one day walking down one of the pathways at the school, and I told him I was really looking forward to being in his class, because I wanted to build a machine gun. He didn't react much, as I recall.
My dad taught me how to make gunpowder around the age of 9, although he never included the finer points needed to make it an actual explosive (e.g., ball milling, etc.)
I also had a Hubley toy flintlock (cap) pistol. When it broke, I turned it into a working cap-fired muzzle loader. Remember those rolls of caps, especially the ones with the huge charges (from Asia, I think)? I used to use the powder from 50 to 200 of those caps for a single shot. I am lucky to be alive, especially after my grandfather suggested I use wadding on top of the charge, and given that the Hubley toy pistol barrel was not exactly made of high-grade gun steel
I'm not what I'd call a "gun person", although I own a Winchester 94 (which was kind of by accident - see the Doug Arnold thread for more about that) and a really cool working replica of a Royal Navy Sea Service Pistol a flintlock. I got that because I've always wanted to be a pirate ever since my dad first read "Treasure Island" to me.
However, I may be a "closet" gun person, because when I first entered Jr. High School, where they taught "Metal Shop" (back then, but not any more), I sought out the metal shop teacher. I finally found him one day walking down one of the pathways at the school, and I told him I was really looking forward to being in his class, because I wanted to build a machine gun. He didn't react much, as I recall.
My dad taught me how to make gunpowder around the age of 9, although he never included the finer points needed to make it an actual explosive (e.g., ball milling, etc.)
I also had a Hubley toy flintlock (cap) pistol. When it broke, I turned it into a working cap-fired muzzle loader. Remember those rolls of caps, especially the ones with the huge charges (from Asia, I think)? I used to use the powder from 50 to 200 of those caps for a single shot. I am lucky to be alive, especially after my grandfather suggested I use wadding on top of the charge, and given that the Hubley toy pistol barrel was not exactly made of high-grade gun steel
