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February 4, 2009
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Hello guys! Glad to see the usual crew keeping the DWF knowledge base alive and healthy.
Jody, the website looks great and congrats to the new Admin and RO's.
OK, before I go any further, and this will be long winded, today is the 1 year anniversary of the wife and I quitting cigarettes after a smoking career that stretched over 30 years each. Why am I telling you guys this and why would you care? The answer is the savings accumulated for the last year as a non smoker and the benefits of said savings.
So... my wife, my mother, and myself took a day trip out into the Texas Hill Country to escape the grind of everyday life in the city. Had a great time and saw some pretty neat things. I pointed out and made a mental note of every gun shop I saw along the way. I am not looking to purchase any more firearms but thought the info may come in handy another day. The trip was nice but we got delayed heading back towards the house and once hitting the county line (farthest from home) we started to experience traffic issues almost immediately. I asked everyone if they would mind making a stop to let traffic dissipate so we wouldn't be spending the next 1.5 hours in traffic. They were OK with it but my wife needs someplace special so she doesn't get bored and my mom doesn't really care where we go. There is a cool gun store that is right at the county line and due to the distance away from the house, I have only been there once. I knew the wife would be OK with this stop since she can appreciate the cool stuff and this store happens to have tons of cool stuff. After wandering around the shop looking at 50bmg's, 338 Lapua sniper rifles, beltfeds and full autos, I caught a flash in the peripheral vision. In all honesty, I wasn't looking to make a purchase and because I haven't been to this place in years, I had no idea what they might stock.
Anywho, back to my peripheral vision. There are only 3 handguns that could attract my attention these days.
1) 7445- I miss mine and had to give it up years ago. Never see those for sale locally and decided to give my dies and brass away last year to a DWF member since I probably won't buy another.
2) Automag III- unreliable and way overpriced now. A friend purchased on in the 80's for less than $300 new. Fun gun but not worth the money to me.
3) So what firearm attracted my attention? There it was, in all of it's hard chromed goodness- an LAR Grizzly Mark 1. I had to ask to handle it since I haven't ever actually seen one in person. Or maybe back in the 80's, I simply didn't care. Beautiful gun, great trigger, and it was obviously a safe queen since the 2nd magazine has never seen a mag well. There isn't even marks on the feed ramp.
After toying around with it for about 15 minutes, the gent behind the counter asked if I was ready to purchase it. I handed it back to him and said that I wasn't really prepared to spend that kind of money right now, even though it was priced reasonably and I have always wanted one. He asked if I might be interested if they could work on the price a little- curiosity got the best of me and I told him to see what they could do but I still wasn't looking to buy.
After the guy walked away, the wife tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I thought the gun was worth the asking price. I responded that it was definitely worth the asking price, considering the condition. She then asked if I wanted it, to which I replied, "I am uncomfortable with spending the money right now". At this point she called me a liar. I asked why she called me a liar and she said that I couldn't hide the ear to ear grin on my face and could tell I wanted it.
Fast forward. The guy comes back and says if I wanted it that they would discount it 20%. The wife whispers in my ear... why would they knock 20% off immediately? Do you think there is a problem with it? I told her there was an easy explanation to that and then asked the man behind the counter if they had any WinMag ammo, to which he naturally responded "NO". She says, oh that's one of those things you can't by ammo for, sorta like that thing in the safe (357SM).
At this point, I turned around to actually look at my wife as she was puling the debit card from her purse. I told her that I was uncomfortable spending the money, at which point she reminded me that we saved $3K in the past year from not smoking. You don't have to tell me twice- SOLD!!!
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Dans Club
February 28, 2009
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Congrats! I've always wanted one of those and that one certainly is beautiful.
Guess I've got to start looking again.
-Mike
Dans Club
December 5, 2008
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Congratulations! Awesome looking pistol even though I have no idea what it is.
I quit smoking in 1983 and I think it was one of the best things I have ever done. Stick with it. You won't ever regret it.
Guess I'll have to research the Win Mag now. Learn something new every day!
February 20, 2008
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"today is the 1 year anniversary of the wife and I quitting cigarettes after a smoking"
BRAVO on all levels!!!
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If you're going to drink, don't drive. Don't even putt.
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July 2, 2011
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Congrats on the no smoking. I know that was one of the hardest things I ever did. That thing is sweet!! I'm just kind of curious..... can you give me the addresses of those gun shops? I feel the need for a road trip!
To the paranoid people who check behind shower curtains for murderers:
if you find one...what's your plan?
February 4, 2009
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Thanks guys.
I smoked so long that I forgot what it was like to smell fresh air, taste my meals, and of course, be able to breathe. The house doesn't stink anymore and we can now take vacations annually or purchase those special firearms with the money we no longer spend on cigarettes. I have no intentions of smoking again even though there are days that I struggle. I still have 3 cigars in a humidor that I purchased while we were in Puerto Rico. I figure if I must smoke, a pull or 2 off of those will likely make me sick enough to not do it again. My mom was kind enough to let me know that the urges will probably come and go for the rest of my life. Even she still has urges even though she hasn't smoked in over 20 years. Thanks mom.
brucertx- I don't do addresses but have an uncanny knack for remembering locations. Should you ever find yourself in the Austin area, we could easily spend a day or 2 checking out shops.
As for the Grizzly, I am patiently awaiting the 1st trip to the range. I have bullets, powder, primers, and dies. The entire first evening was spent scouring the internet looking for reasonably priced brass- yeah right. After telling myself I wasn't going to pay for overpriced 45 Win Mag brass on GB, I remembered a source where I found brass for the 357 and 445 SM when nobody else had any. Gave them a call and have 500 pieces on the way for a paltry $140 shipped. Of course it can't get here quick enough now. Oh well. I waited this long to find a Grizzly, what's another week?
Oh, in case anyone is looking for obscure or impossible to find brass, I have had excellent luck with Christensen Reloading in Sandy, Utah. Please keep that under your hats guys- I would still like to have a source for brass when every other retailer or manufacturer has run out.
July 3, 2014
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Congratulations on the beautiful gun, quitting smoking and the fantastic partner. I had a S&W revolver altered by Brad Starr an exceptional gunsmith into 45 WinMag, Shot a six pointer with it at about 75 feet, he collapsed where he stood, the offside shoulder was completely destroyed. Way too powerful for small deer sized game, so I got a shoulder holster for it and carried it at the office. Again a great gun, enjoy.
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Dans Club
March 25, 2013
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Snake-eye, the Lars Grizzly is like a 1911 supermag, a1911 on steroids, somthing Charles Bronson would use. I too recently quit smoking after 38 years of two plus packs a day. Wifey caught the flu and after a week in bed told me she was quiting. Three days later I cold turkeyed. Did once before for a year, then I had a puff and smoked for 15 more years. You know what they call people that smoke occasional cigars. SMOKERS. Throw them away. I got interested in firearms then too ( 1 yr. and 7mths.) 33 guns and13 dans mostly paid for by givig up cigs. The collecting guns started when BHO got reelected and started talking about outlawing firearms. Then I saw a pistol pack in a gun shop.
February 4, 2009
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Ole Dog said
Did once before for a year, then I had a puff and smoked for 15 more years. You know what they call people that smoke occasional cigars. SMOKERS. Throw them away.
Ole Dog- Thank you for the solid advice.
After I read your response, it got me thinking.... I too quit cigarettes once before for a year and a half, back when I was 19. Until reading your post, this had totally escaped my memory. I grew up in a house full of smokers so I started smoking pretty early. The folks voiced their displeasure about me picking them up but admitted that they weren't surprised since they set the example all those years. I am going to toss those cigars out since I am committed to not smoking anymore. I feel better, breathe better, and now realize how crappy they made me feel.
They're outta here.
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July 2, 2011
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cdf294 said
Thanks guys.brucertx- I don't do addresses but have an uncanny knack for remembering locations.
That's a frightening concept for Central TX (and my bank account). A couple of Danmaniacs on the loose! 
Hmm...I bet I could tempt Ron over from LA for a Dan hunt!
BTW, I'd love to see a range report for that LAR Grizzly complete with 
To the paranoid people who check behind shower curtains for murderers:
if you find one...what's your plan?
February 4, 2009
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Indeed. The more the merrier.
While I won't say that Central Texas is drowning in Dans, I will say that they certainly aren't extinct around here.
I will definitely file a range report once I have something to shoot through it. I can assure you that I won't waste much time getting to the range once the brass shows up.
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Dans Club
February 22, 2009
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Did someone say a day or TWO??? I'm in, let's go- Austin is about 6 hours. There are about four gun shops around here but you can also buy used vacuum cleaners, electronics, and jewelry in the same place... One fella did open a legit gun store rather than pawn shop- his prices are a bit steep right now. No Dans anywhere to be found- of course I only need a few more and they are tough to come by.
Technically, the glass is always full; half liquid, half air....
February 4, 2009
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rwsem said
Did someone say a day or TWO??? I'm in, let's go- Austin is about 6 hours.
C'mon down.
I figure a solid day in Travis and Williamson Counties alone. Then you add Bell, Bexar, Blanco, and Hays Counties- yeah, definitely a couple days worth within an hour/hour and a half. If you throw pawn shops into the mix, you would probably need a week.
I try to head to Killeen from time to time to check out the pawn shops. Since Ft. Hood is in Killeen, you never know what you might run into on that trip.
Dans Club
April 18, 2014
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She is a beauty. And another reason for me to push to quit.
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"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
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February 4, 2009
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ese927 said
She is a beauty. And another reason for me to push to quit.
Thank you sir.
You be sure and let me know when you are ready to take a shot at quitting. I used a vaporizer to aid in stopping. I tried all the other stuff- gum, patches, prescriptions from the doctor, and nothing worked for more than a week. Thirty years of hand/mouth interaction was far more difficult to overcome than the actual nicotine. I would be more than happy to send it your way, gratis, if you think it might help you kick the habit.
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July 2, 2011
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When I quit it was not the result of a plan. I was on deadline for a project and worked 36 straight hours to complete it. Ran out of smokes about half way through but continued to completion. Took it to the airport PO for next day delivery (that deadline thing). Went home and crashed. Then just took it one day at a time. I think by not making a big plan and production of it and not heaping pressure on myself, I gave myself the chance to succeed. Too many people beat themselves up when they try to quit.
I believe this thread is now officially hijacked!
To the paranoid people who check behind shower curtains for murderers:
if you find one...what's your plan?
February 4, 2009
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brucertx said
I believe this thread is now officially hijacked!
LOL- I don't see any hijack. This is still very much on topic since this particular thread wouldn't exist otherwise. I could still be spending sickly amounts of cash on smokes instead of the one reasonably obscure firearm that I have wanted for a very long time.
Congrats to you (and everyone else that no longer smokes) for kicking a habit that is very, very tough to walk away from.
I admit that making a plan and/or production out of quitting smoking is not the best option.... at least it wasn't for me. A friend loaned me a vaporizer, which at the time I wasn't even familiar with, and here I am, smoke free for a year.
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Dans Club
March 25, 2013
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cdf, that is the first time anyone has ever taken my advise. I am truly flattered. To anyone else who wants to quit smoking, The first three days are the hardest. You can't smoke when you are sleeping so try too stay unconcious for three days.
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