Greetings from Forest Lake area

[wildfan1]

Hey all,

Glad to have found this place. My name's Matt, and I live up in the Lakes area on highway 8 northeast of Forest Lake. Been into guns my whole life. Unfortunately when I was younger I went through a lot of guns. Would buy when I had money, shoot a while, then sell when money got tight. Had some great guns I wish I still had: Sig .40, Ruger P89, Remington .300 Ultra Mag, Winchester 94 from early 1950's, Remington .223 WSSM (what a fun gun to shoot), Browning Lightning Sporting Clays O/U, the list goes on and on. Anyway, finally in a financial position to build my collection and keep them finally. LOL. I currently only have a Benelli Nova (best shotgun I have ever owned, I wouldn't sell it for $1,000), an old .22 (first gun my dad gave me), and a few family guns that belonged to my grandpa or great grandpa. They are in storage at my dads, and will come to me after I get a larger safe. He has an old .308 Norma Mag that is beautiful, a Remington .300 Savage that was my grandpas, a couple old Winchester Model 12s, and a few others.

Some personal info: almost 40 yo, married, two kids, work full time, a city council member, and a full time student. I graduate in 13 days with my Bachelors in Finance with a 4.0 GPA (quite proud of that accomplishment). Then I begin studies on April 9 for a double-major MBA: Finance, and Global Operations and Supply Chain Management. So yes, I keep rather busy.

I've shot trap competitively for about 18 years. Won top gun at our club three times for best overall average between handicap league and yardage league. "Retired" from that about two years ago simply because I didn't have enough time.

I now enjoy hunting when time allows (goose, duck, pheasant, grouse), and love target shooting. Also enjoy reloading, but haven't done it for a couple years since I sold my .223 WSSM. Want to get back into it though. Had it down to where I could regularly shoot under 1" patterns at 150-200 yards with my own reloads, but only 2"+ patterns with factory loads. So I see a definite benefit to loading your own for target shooting. Factory are plenty good for big game, but for varmints or targets, home loads are the best IMHO.

I go to the conceal and carry class next Saturday, and even talked my wife into taking the class with me. She very likely will not get her carry permit, but it will be nice to have her at least learn a basic understanding of handguns, as there will be one in our house, and I travel occasionally for work. It would be nice to know she can protect herself and the kids if need be. And we have been to the range before, and she shoots very well for an extreme novice.

Also recently applied for my FFL, and waiting for the process to run its course. Planning a small home-based startup, hopefully eventually evolving into a store with inventory, supplies, and gunsmith services.

Anyway, enough of my rambling. Looking forward to getting to know more of you, and learning from you all.

Matt

[Comet]

Hey Matt,

Welcome to MGT...

As long your wife is taking the class, I would like to encourage her to go all the way and get her permit.

The Powder Room is always looking for more women who CCW...

[wildfan1]

Hey Comet,

Thanks for the welcome. I will certainly encourage her to get one. I'd even get her a gun to carry in her car/purse, and buy her permit. But I think she will refuse to carry. she just wants to know the basics so if someone breaks in when I'm gone, she can mow 'em down. LOL. We had a guy one night pounding on our garage door. I don't know what he was trying to do because there is no walk-thru door, just the overhead doors operated by openers. Maybe he was drunk, becuase he was just pounding the crap out of our garage door. But once I grabbed my shotgun and hit the garage door opener, he paused wide-eyed until the door opened all the way. Once he got a look at the Benelli, he made a hasty retreat. LOL

[Comet]

Well, I'm 59 and widowed and damn glad I have mine. Even if she doesn't carry at least she has the permit if she changes her mind. I like my Kahr PM.45 on the night stand and my Kahr PM9 in my pocket, not purse in case someone grabs it, they'll have my gun too. Just saying'.... Have a good time at class and the range.

[MNBlackjack]

Welcome to the forum Matt! Looks like I have some competition.

[wildfan1]

Hey MNBlackjack, are you the FFL listed in LIndstrom? HAHA, you won't get much competition from me. Just home sales to friends at first. Who knows what will happen down the road. I got it because my dad had an FFL for 20 years, and he wigged when they tripled the rates from $30/3 years to $90/3 years. He made that up in 2-3 sales, and was selling 50-70 guns a year, but he's an old schooler and said "I'm not paying triple price, that's crazy!" LOL. I always enjoyed helping him, so I decided to get an FFL and pick up where he left off.

Thanks for the welcome!

[Thunderjohn]

Welcome from Savage.