Hello All

[xl_target]

Oleg Volk recommended that I check out these forums. I did grow up in India but I was ignorant of the state that firearms ownership has come to over there. I have been browsing these forums and found a lot to interest me. I have always had a keen interest in firearms, ever since I was a little kid. I had an uncle in Coorg who first taught me to hunt and as he had a room full of guns, I never thought much about the lack of access that I encountered elsewhere. I was also in the NCC for a while and we did get to drill with Smellys and shoot the training rifles. Being a service brat, I have lived all over India as well as a few other places. I am, however, still an Indian citizen but resident here in the US. Having lived in a few of India's biggest cities, I now much prefer the solitude and low population density of rural and small town America, especially for the oppurtunities that they offer for hunting and shooting. I have been here for about 28 years and the Queen's English has been hammered out of me so I hope I don't offend anyone with my Americanized spelling and grammar.

I own a few handguns and rifles and have a "Permit to Carry a Pistol". This state doesn't distinguish between revolvers or semi-autos, they are all classified as pistols. Over here, for all practical purposes, the word "pistol" is interchangeable with "handgun".

Below, I have posted a couple of photo's of my carry guns:

[cottage cheese]

Hi xl-target,

Thanks for the beautiful prose in your intro. Here's wishing you a warm welcome to IFG. Please convey our thanks to Oleg Volk for the recommendation. Most of us are lurkers at his site

You do have a lovely pair of pistols... I;m more than envious!

regards,
cc

[kanwar76]

Nice Droooooooool material.

Welcome Xl-target,
Have a good time here. Which state are you based in US? We have good numbers of IFG members in US who use to meet for hunting and shooting but now looks like resession got to them also

Have fun here

-Inder

[sudesh]

Hello xl_target ,

Welcome to IFG

Enjoy ur stay here!
And thanks for sharing the pic of ur handguns. Do post some more photographs of your collection.



S...........

[xl_target]

Thanks, cottage cheese and others for the warm welcome.

Which state are you based in US? We have good numbers of IFG members in US who use to meet for hunting and shooting but now looks like resession got to them also

kanwar76, I am in Minnesota; the land of 10,000 lakes. Our state bird is the Mosquito, they grow large enough here to carry away your first born . I must say that lately we haven't had very many of them.
It's not just the recession, ever since the election, ammo has been in real short supply. Even .22 ammo has been hard to come by. The ammo shortage seems to be easing a little now. Here's hoping we can build our stocks back up now.

And thanks for sharing the pic of ur handguns. Do post some more photographs of your collection.

For Sudesh: I also have this Beretta in .22. I will post some of my other firearms when I get some better photos.

[m24]

Welcome aboard, and nice collection.

[Yaj]

Welcome to IFG! Thanks for sharing the pics.
Regards,
Yaj.

[kanwar76]

Nice guns XL,

Thanks for posting the pics.

[herb]

Nice guns. Welcome to the forum.

Herb

[sudesh]

Hey buddy Wonderful collection !!!!!!!!
Thanks for sharung, Waiting for more!!




S..........

[xl_target]

Sudesh,

This is my Ruger M77 in .280 Remington. It was one of the first rifles that I ever bought and is still my favorite. It would regularly clover leaf at 100 yds with handloaded ammo. The area that I'm in now doesn't allow rifles during deer season so I haven't done any serious range work with it for a while (or reloaded for it lately). I was in college when I bought it and all I could afford then was a 3 X 9 Bushnell scope. However, the scope has worked out well enough that I never changed it. It is one of the older Rugers with a tang safety and fully adjustable trigger (crisp!). A Ruger at that time could be kind of hit or miss but I got lucky with this one. They used to buy their barrels from many different sources and consequently one could get a sweet shooter or something that performed abysmally. Ruger now makes their own barrels and quality is more consistent from what I hear.



.280 Remington, which was also called 7mm Express at one time, is nothing more than a 7mm bullet in a .30-06 casing. It does have its shoulder moved up so it will not chamber in a 30-06. When Remington introduced the.280, it loaded the cartridges down a little, so they would not pose a hazard when fired in the model 742 autoloaders out there. In a good bolt gun, the .280 can be loaded to perform significantly better. Even my milder handloads (using 139 grain Hornady BTSP) used to give me about 3000+ fps. The advantage of the .280 over the .270 is the wider range of bullets that can be used (from 110 gr. to 175 gr.). So your loads can be tailored for a wide variety of game. However, you will get a lot of arguments about that .

As you can see it has a heavy barrel, which helps in the accuracy department. The overall weight of the gun and barrel is relatively high for a hunting rifle but that really tames the recoil. My daughter who is about 5ft 2in has fired it without any problems. There is pressure applied to the barrel at the fore-end so I don't use the sling for shooting. The sling is just used for carrying so I never bothered with anything but a cheap one.

The cartridge shown is a 140 grain Federal Fusion.
Muzzle velocity is 2990 fps. 2750@100 yds. 2520@200yds. 2300@300 yds. 2090@400yds
Muzzle energy is 2780 ft-lbs. 2345@100 yds. 1970@200yds. 1645@300 yds. 1360@400 yds.

[sudesh]

Hi !
Thanks for sparing your time for posting such beautiful guns.
Now am getting a bit greedy Is this all or you have some more beauties ?

Regards,
Sudesh...........

[xl_target]

Sudesh,

One last one for now till I get my camera back.
This is the very common Ruger 10/22. Ruger has sold millions of them and they are still available even thought they have been cheapened them a little. Newer 10/22's have plastic trigger guards and plastic barrel bands. The receiver finish on the newer ones is some kind of crinkle-finish paint that doesn't look good to me and the wood stocks are very plain. They are available in many different finish and stock configurations. I much prefer the warmth of real wood to plastic or other synthetics so I left it as is. Besides that, it is a rather nice piece of wood. They went from Walnut to Birch stocks some time in the mid eighties. 10/22's are very popular because there are so many accessories available for them. They are also sweet shooting guns and this one is no exception. She is absolutely stock except for the sling swivel studs. I have fired thousands of rounds through this particular example and had very few issues. The compact size handles really well in the woods. I enjoy squirrel hunting and this gun has taken many, many of them.



This was a 1984 Christmas gift from a girlfriend (MSRP in 1984 was $99). The girl is long gone but I still have the gun and the memories to cherish. It used to sport an old Weaver 4 X scope but as my eyesight is not what it used to be, I had a hard time with its very limited eye relief. This newer scope has an illuminated mil-dot reticle and is so much easier to use in low light conditions. Ruger's 10 round rotary magazine is a great piece of engineering. I've never had to take it apart to clean it even after all these years, yet it still functions flawlessly. I like the fact that it doesn't protrude from the stock. I also have several 25 round banana magazines for it. There is nothing special about a 10/22 but I would never part with this one as it has been a faithful companion for almost twenty five years.

[Sakobav]

xlarge

Welcome aboard and do post often especially pictures of your collection. Thats a great state , I lived in Minneapolis for quite a few years miss Cabela's a lot. Second that state Bird quote.

Cheers

[xl_target]

ngrewal,
I agree, Minnesota is a fine place to live. The people here are genuinely friendly and open. I also enjoy visiting Cabelas. Given the chance, I could spend all day in there. They also have a reasonably sane permit to carry system.

After trying several commercial holsters unsatisfactorily, I decided to try a custom holster. There is a guy in Minneapolis that does great work. His prices are reasonable and his lead times are low. He will also work with you to customize the fit. Some custom holster makers have lead times as high as 18 months and prices that are up there too. I carry all the time and the holster has to hold the gun securely (but still draw easily), be comfortable and unobtrusive. His holsters have met and exceeded my expectations. Most of the time I forget that I'm wearing one.

Below are the holsters for my Tanfoglio and for my SIG: