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 Grey Templar wrote:
Hogs are always in season. Most states don’t have limits and some don’t even require a hunting liscence.

I live in a rather weird part of the world. While we technically have feral pigs once in a while, but they are very uncommon. Actual boar are mythological creatures here. It's definitely on my "to do" list at some point though. As a side note we also have almost no dangerous predators (Coyotes are the exception, along with the odd mountain lion spotting every couple years), and almost no poisonous snakes (extremely rare timber rattler). Outdoors is basically bubble wrapped for kids.



Also, when it comes to hunting I only ever kill for eating or for pest control. If I ever go on "American Safari" I'd like to focus on eradicating invasive species. I'd love to hunt a python in the Everglades, giant 30-pound Ugandan Pack rats in the Florida Keys, Giant lizards (once again Florida), and trap shooting Asian Carp.

Hogs are definitely in the Pest Control category. The damn things are a freaking menace. Millions of $ in damages each year. Frankly, every state should be like Texas when it comes to hogs. No license required and no limits on means or method of harvest.

That is the case in Iowa as well - there are no tags or limits for feral hogs, and hunters of any kind, regardless of what they are after, are urged to kill feral hogs on sight by the Iowa DNR.

As Cuda said, they are pretty rare here in reality. I personally would be pretty hesitant to eat wild boar here, I would worry about disease.

Yeah, hogs are nuisance animals in most states where they're present.

I had a run in with a pack of javelinas (smaller, feral style hogs) in an abandoned building once in the desert. Luckily they just grunted and I didn't get charged.

My brother in Oklahoma has a friend that inherited some old "family property" out in the sticks. From what my brother told me it used to be a homestead, but no one has lived on it since the 1960's and it has long since overgrown.


His friend keep inviting him out to hunt both feral hogs and feral dogs, both of which are apparently pretty aggressive and numerous. I don't know if that sounds fun or terrifying.

I had a professor once who dealt with a lot of hog related trauma (or mroe likely, feral pigs in the paupau new guinea style) and his comment was (and he was the surgeon for the tribals who hunted pigs with spears, back in the day) "boy, hogs sure know exactly where to gore a man, maybe cause their tusks and your genitals are on the same level, I mean, it was awful."
He also did a lot of emergency medical care for tribal women who at that point in history still often cooked over open fires while wearing skirts made of dried, woven grass. So there were some nasty genital burns there, which apparently rivaled the damage the little porkers did to their mates.
I am not making this up. Your friends should have a healthy respect for hogs and wild pigs.

I think that if I were to ever actually hunt hogs I'd either opt for a tree stand or shooting them from 150 yards away with a well scoped rifle. Using a shotgun in heavy brush (what my brother's friend likes to do) sounds like a death wish, especial since the nearest hospital would be a long way off.

 cuda1179 wrote:
My brother in Oklahoma has a friend that inherited some old "family property" out in the sticks. From what my brother told me it used to be a homestead, but no one has lived on it since the 1960's and it has long since overgrown.


His friend keep inviting him out to hunt both feral hogs and feral dogs, both of which are apparently pretty aggressive and numerous. I don't know if that sounds fun or terrifying.

A bit of both. The only kind of hunting you'd want to do with an actual semi-auto carbine in place of a simple hunting gun. A magazine fed carbine would definitely be the way to go. Hogs can often shrug off a number of shots, particularly from the front.

Or...hire a rhino.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boar_spear

Indeed- apparently they are mad enough that after being stabbed with a spear, can impale themselves up a 6-8 foot spearshaft and still have enough energy to gore the hunter.

Not even nuclear waste can slow them down.

https://qz.com/929452/radioactive-wild-boars-have-taken-over-towns-near-japans-fukushima-daiichi-nuclear-power-plant/

Funnily enough. The only weapons which are explicitly banned for hunting in CA are spears and knives. I mean, yeah, that is super dangerous. But IMO if you got the testicular fortitude to go after something with a spear or knife I'm not gonna stop you.

Don't mess around with wild hogs/boars. There's a bit more truth to the '30-50 feral hogs' meme than people think; they rarely kill people but they can cause some nasty injuries to hunters.

I mean... fair's fair when you're trying to kill them, but I'd suggest an intermediate-caliber semi-auto at the very minimum. And more practically, you would have to pay me a lot of money to risk eating one (they are parasite magnets), and considering I spent a couple of years living off East African game, that's saying something. Hunt them because they're invasive pests as needed, but I wouldn't count on getting a meal out of it unless you're really feeling adventurous.

 Grey Templar wrote:
Funnily enough. The only weapons which are explicitly banned for hunting in CA are spears and knives. I mean, yeah, that is super dangerous. But IMO if you got the testicular fortitude to go after something with a spear or knife I'm not gonna stop you.

Not a fan of trophy hunting, personally, but I know a guy who does bear hunting with dogs and a knife. Apparently it's reasonably popular here in Virginia.

 cuda1179 wrote:
For those of you that have done it (United States) how much of a pain in the butt was it to make a short-barreled rifle?

As previously stated I want to get a Stribog, but if I get it, I may as well get it EXACTLY in the configuration I want, which includes a collapsible stock and vertical foregrip.

How long did it take? How much Federal Anal Probing took place? Was the time, effort, and money worth it in your opinion?

I have Stamped SBRs, but I build most everything as a pistol from the ground up these days. Mostly on account of not needing a permission slip when traveling with it. Not going to lie, SBR stribog looks fun. Don't forget about angled foregrips which are kosher on a pistol whereas verticals are not.
Here's a pistol version someone did:

That's pretty nice. I like the Stribog, but I'm waiting for the supposedly roller-delayed A3 coming out this summer.

I SBR'd my Uzi- it wasn't too much of a hassle, and I hear the wait has dropped a lot since I did it (took almost a full year), but the engraving requirements and general process are still a pain so I am totally onboard with pistol braces instead and would highly recommend it for anyone who isn't dead-set on a particular look.

It really is all the extra rigamarole with engraving, paper work, letters, etc. I keep thinking about converting a Scorpion with binary trigger to an SBR, but I just get lazy about it. Eventually I'll get around to getting an Octane 9k suppressor on it... but I've got another 100 guardsmen to buy and paint this year, so there's that.

Yeah, saw a video on those Stribogs and they look nice and solid. Not flashy, but they look like they have quality that will last.

It’s another Electric NooBaloo question! Yay!

Pistols. When it comes to Revolvers and Magazine fed (semi-auto? No, don’t laugh. I really am this clueless), what are the pros and cons?

I ask because I mostly come across guns via TV and Films, which typically have no basis in reality.

Are they much of a muchness when compared across different measures (accuracy, rate of fire, ease of reload, reliability, ease of maintenance etc), or is just personal preference?

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
It’s another Electric NooBaloo question! Yay!

Pistols. When it comes to Revolvers and Magazine fed (semi-auto? No, don’t laugh. I really am this clueless), what are the pros and cons?

I ask because I mostly come across guns via TV and Films, which typically have no basis in reality.

Are they much of a muchness when compared across different measures (accuracy, rate of fire, ease of reload, reliability, ease of maintenance etc), or is just personal preference?

A revolver is a much simpler device, it will be less likely to have mechanical problems, it's almost impossible to get a jam, and they can be relatively easily scaled up to truly insanely huge cartridges. However, you can damage the crane (if it has one, most any modern one will, but many *really* old ones may not) by flipping the cylinder in or out as is often seen in movies, and timing (how the cylinder cycles and aligns to the bore) can be lost over time due to excessive wear or due to damage. Revolvers also typically have a lower capacity, usually 5/6/7 rounds, and take more time to load/reload.

A typical semiauto will usually (unless it's a small compact model or something ancient like a .45 1911) have a larger magazine capacity, most any duty sized weapon will typically have 15-20 rounds and some can have humongous magazines of 30+ rounds or even drums (though that's a wee bit silly on a handgun), and be much faster to reload. Semiautos can also usually be fired faster by most people as you're not fighting a double action pull every time (resetting the hammer) or trying to cock a hammer manually for each shot, though there are people who can get stupid fast with certain revolvers. In general, at least in my experience, semiautos are also a bit easier to keep on target for followup shots and rapid fire, as the bore axis is typically lower leading to less muzzle flip. However, semiautos will encounter mechanical difficulty more easily, can be pickier on ammo, jam more, and can't be made in stupid huge cartridges because accommodating recoil will quickly turn them into rifles.

EDIT: most of the above is broadly generalized, exceptions apply.

Magazine fed handguns tend to have more ready ammo (my Glock 26 for concealed carry has 10 round magazines, similarly sized revolvers tend to be 5 shot). They also tend to reload faster (even if you have speed loaders for the revolver).

Reliability I would say is more based on model and user maintenance, and ammo choice. Some revolvers are not as reliable as some automatics, and vice versa. Most modern handguns are pretty reliable if you use the recommended ammo and maintenance routines.

Handgun accuracy has many factors. Trigger pull, distance between rear and front sight post (longer better) and training. Some models of handgun are known to be more accurate than others, often due to smoothness of trigger pull coupled with tight manufacturing tolerances. My opinion is training with your particular handgun is the biggest factor at the distances most folks are going to need it.

Just my take.

Fair, and thank you for your answers.

In terms of cleaning and maintenance, what’s your take on it?

I’m aware that guns need cleaning to stay in tip-top condition, as does pretty much anything we use (I give my PS4 a vacuum now and again to keep the vents clear), but is it something you must do after a day on the range, or simply reccomended?

Eh, most modern design firearms don't actually need as much cleaning as many think they do if you're using modern ammunition. Black powder and anything using corrosive primers needs to be cleaned quickly and thoroughly (even if it's just with water in the case of corrosive primers), but I know people who have literally never cleaned their Glock or AR or AK and put many thousands of rounds through them without issue. That said, I would still advocate routine cleaning, but too much cleaning can also cause excessive wear in and of itself. Mostly it's going to depend on the type of firearm and what you're putting through it and using it for and what type of finish the gun has and the environment you live in (e.g. if you live in an oceanfront apartment you'll want to clean and oil everything pretty routinely, but if you live in a dry arid desert you probably don't need to care as much). I'll usually clean my carry revolver relatively frequently every couple months and after any range trip, if for no other reason than it's exposed to a lot of body sweat, lint, etc, and I clean my PX4 semiauto handgun after every range trip, while some other guns I honestly have a hard time remembering the last time I cleaned them.

My typical go-to is cleaning kit G96 CLP, a boresnake, a toothbrush, and if necessary a chamber brush.

Gun cleaning can be its own rabbit hole and everyone will have their own opinion, rituals, and requirements.

I always clean after going to the range. Strictly speaking, properly made firearms that aren't using corrosive ammunition don't NEED to be cleaned every time they are fired. You can get away with many hundreds or even thousands of rounds before you'd have mechanical failure due to it needing to be cleaned. The main reason you want to clean them every time they are used is to prevent rust. You take the gun out, they probably got some sweat or other moisture on them, which can lead to rust that over even a short time can eat into the metal. By not cleaning your gun you are rolling the dice on how much moisture exposure the firearm received. If you clean it you know you've gotten rid of any potential issue.

If you are using corrosive ammo(usually very very old surplus ammunition) it leaves behind nasty salts which attract moisture and accelerate rusting. If you use any of that you absolutely should clean every time. It wouldn't kill the firearm immediately, but it could lead to long term damage.

Really its just a protection of your investment to clean the firearm each time. I also just check my guns once a month even if I haven't done anything with them.

Each time I go hunting I also clean the weapon I took. That is a necessity because you'll definitely get sweat on it, and that stuff will have rust starting to form up even by the end of the day. Seriously, salt+water = instant rust.

As Vakthi says. Most modern firearms don't really NEED cleaning. Its just a good idea. Its the difference between a firearm that will stay functional for a hundred years or one that will last till the metaphorical end of time.

So......what’s corrosive ammo?

To labour the point, I know nowt about real world guns, so my brain is thinking Hellfire shells!

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
So......what’s corrosive ammo?

To labour the point, I know nowt about real world guns, so my brain is thinking Hellfire shells!

Old primers (the part of the cartridge that the firing pin hits to cause sparks and initiates the powder conflagration inside the cartridge) often contained mineral salts that would do nasty stuff to metal if given time, pretty much just like salt water will for exactly the same reasons. Today you really only have to worry about this with decades old military surplus ammo.

Ahhh! Pitting and that? Nasties in the blowback which can corrode the paint job, exposing the steel underneath?

If I’m right, just goes to show I’m quick on the uptake

And seriously, thank you to everyone who has entertained my enthusiastic NooB questions. One day I’ll visit a US state that allows visitors to shoot a gun, and I’ll dedicate a round to each of you! In a good way.

Yes. Certain primers basically leave behind potassium chloride or sodium cholride (table salt) and that leads to rust etc.

There's two major primer types, berdan, and boxer. Boxer is pretty much all non-corosive. Berdan could be either depending on vintage/manufacture. When shopping for surplus ammo, which is where you'll run into corrosive primers most, check carefully, and when firing berdan primed ammunition, it's good to do a few swipes with a cleaning cloth through the bore after

Yup, if you don't clean 'em, the corrosive primers will cause rust, pitting, etc within the chamber and barrel, eroding accuracy and in extreme cases weakening the metal enough to potentially make them unsafe to fire, though you have to be really trying to get them to that point

Cool

Next question? What does concealed carry being legal mean, compared to being illegal?

Again this is Idiot Media Filter in play.

I get what concealed carry means. Or at least I think I do. You can carry a gun in a body holster, or for the risky, shoved down your Y-Fronts. In essence, it’s legal to carry a gun without someone knowing your packing heat.

But in States where it’s illegal? Does that mean you cannot carry a gun at all, or just that it has to visibly carried or holstered? Or does it it depend?

I hope it’s ‘it depends’. Because that’s my favourite answer, every time!

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Cool

Next question? What does concealed carry being legal mean, compared to being illegal?

Again this is Idiot Media Filter in play.

I get what concealed carry means. Or at least I think I do. You can carry a gun in a body holster, or for the risky, shoved down your Y-Fronts. In essence, it’s legal to carry a gun without someone knowing your packing heat.

But in States where it’s illegal? Does that mean you cannot carry a gun at all, or just that it has to visibly carried or holstered? Or does it it depend?

I hope it’s ‘it depends’. Because that’s my favourite answer, every time!

It depends a lot based on state specific laws. In some places like Arizona, there is no regulation of conceal carry for non-prohibited possessors, except some areas where the weapon can not be carried without a permit. Other states it's completely forbidden. Some places have different descriptions of what concealed means, either completely unobservable, or maybe just covered a bit. It can be quite capricious really.

In Alabama, you have a "right to keep and bear arms", but that is left to open carry, and concealed carry requires a permit. Despite this for quite a while law enforcement was getting on people because a law said OC was ok but not on property you don't control. Attorney general said "You can't make both open and concealed carry illegal", and thankfully the legislature clarified. Mind you you still can't have a pistol in a vehicle even if it's displayed openly without a permit, even though this also flies in the face of "you can't ban both open and concealed". It can be a nightmare comparing state to state.

Frankly I think the Arizona model is best, with non-prohibited possessors being able to conceal carry without a permit. Bad guys are going to carry no matter what the law says, and carrying concealed makes it less likely someone is going to be targeted by a bad guy who see's their gun, and it's just more polite to have it stashed rather than hanging out.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Cool

Next question? What does concealed carry being legal mean, compared to being illegal?

Again this is Idiot Media Filter in play.

I get what concealed carry means. Or at least I think I do. You can carry a gun in a body holster, or for the risky, shoved down your Y-Fronts. In essence, it’s legal to carry a gun without someone knowing your packing heat.

Correct.

But in States where it’s illegal? Does that mean you cannot carry a gun at all, or just that it has to visibly carried or holstered? Or does it it depend?

I hope it’s ‘it depends’. Because that’s my favourite answer, every time!

Yup, as RegularGuy noted, it varies quite a bit by state. In some states you can carry anything anywhere open or concealed without any sort of paperwork or license, in others you can only carry concealed and only with a permit that's issued on a "may issue" basis that's entirely up to the discretion/whim of the issuing authority (usually local sheriffs office) and may be functionally impossible to get, don't expect to get a CHL in Los Angeles for example. Where I live, essentially you can open carry anywhere, but need a license to carry concealed, and local city governments can (and usually do) restrict open carry but a state issued CHL overrides it and they are issued as long as you aren't legally prohibited from owning a firearm. Some states have varying levels of reciprocity with other states permits and licenses and/or may issue to residents from other states, and training requirements vary wildly as well.

Yeah. It basically depends on where you are. There are pending court cases which will likely make it to the supreme court, and most likely(hopefully) make Open Carry legal in the entire country with no permit. Though we are probably 5ish years away on Young vs Hawaii getting to the Supreme court.