Who's still here??

[Dick Hosmer]

Was just browsing the list of founding members - some I know have passed to Valhalla or Fiddler's Green, like Bill Mook and Doug Rainbow, some, like Carl Weiss have just "moved on", others rarely post, and some I've NEVER encountered. Who wants to check in?

[Whig]

Seems like it was more exciting here when Joe Farmer would chime in with his unusual and sometimes brash but brilliant opinions. I still like going back and reading many of his posts. I came here late after many of the founders and real knowledgeable people left (present company excepted!).

Krags are just not real popular these days and not many people searching for Krag information to come here. GunBoards gets more Krag questions frequently than KCA does. Maybe we need a movie or series like Dead Men Walking or whatever (never seen it) that made the Python more famous and collectible or Dirty Harry with the S&W Model 29 .44 Magnum!

[butlersrangers]

Present!

(But, I'm not a Founder. I'm a 2009 novice and managed to 'Piss Off' Joe Farmer, at a time he was probably wanting a convenient scapegoat).

IMO - The Gun Boards, Milsurps, & Jouster2 Forums have some Krag coverage, but do not hold a candle to the KCA Forum.
I don't see them as engines of activity.

In fact, I find Gun Boards very disappointing.
It should have wonderful World coverage on the Krag, since it has a big Scandinavian focus, but actually, there is not that much firearm activity and content.

Some KCA threads and topics get a lot of visitors, but no comments or contributed content. Some new guys seem very interested and may become a real asset.

We are going through some trying times with changing interests and attitudes.

I think about dropping out of forum activity, but then something interesting comes up!

[kragluver2]

Not a founder of course, but I do check in nearly daily. Always enjoy the discussions.... I just rarely post.

[waterman]

Waterman here. I thought I answered this half a day ago, but my post disappeared. I'll have another go at it. I've been here since 2011. I apparently got here is the last days of 5 Mad Farmers. I bought Joe's book. Thought that for $40, he could have done a better job than just running the master through a copy machine. But I learned quite a lot, marvel at his research, and think I agree with his views of how Krags were put together. But I also must add that I missed the bus to Berlin and have not a clue as to what that was about.

I like Krags, bought my first one in a Chinese pawn shop on Queen Street in Honolulu, 1962. Turned out to be a Bannerman parts rifle, model 1896 action, with maybe a barrel from a machine gun. Over the years, I've probably fired 30 boxes of commercial Krag ammo in the thing but not many reloads. I used it for my "behind the truck seat" rifle for all the years I was an "out in the woods" forester. It's done in some 300 feral hogs. My other Krag is probably a Benicia-made NRA carbine, nice work but no documentation. As a working rifle, the Bannerman is better. I'm looking for a Model 1896 rifle, complete & in really good condition. I think that's where the design peaked. Not so sure the later versions were improvements.

I had a Krag Gallery Practice Rifle for a time. Shot it quite a lot, even one season in an outdoor smallbore prone league, shooting at 50 yards, 50 meters, and 100 yards. My opinion of the GPR is that it was a product of Army politics and the bad ideas of a couple of guys who were incapable of learning anything. I was glad to see it go. If you like Krags and want to shoot one in .22 rimfire, get one with a Stevens-Pope barrel.

I'm more of a single shot guy than anything else. Ballards in .22 LR, with fat barrels and light triggers are my weakness. After that, Winchesters. I like Winder Muskets. Great offhand rifles. I'm too lazy & recoil-sensitive to shoot black powder & heavy lead bullets. Mostly I'm a .22 rimfire paper puncher.

[Dick Hosmer]

Great to hear from everyone - and I hope it continues . . . .

But, it seems my point was missed - or perhaps they've ALL passed? I hope not.

[butlersrangers]

American Gun Collectors are an aging population.

Baby Boomers and Silent Generation men took to gun collecting like Ducks to Water.
Cinema and TV Cowboys and Cops were heroes. Grandparents and Greatest Generation Veterans and Hunters were admired.

Gun Collector Shows were respectable events, often held in the public-eye at colleges, libraries, and civic arenas.
Early collectors were historians, teachers, authors, and a great resource. They also displayed ethics.

Guns were a respectable and interesting tool, to be studied and displayed. Gun Safety was taught, even in Schools! Some schools had ranges and shooting programs!

I miss the classy guys that were very knowledgeable and helped me, when I was a teenager interested in guns.

There are still honorable and knowledgeable gun guys, digging up information, shooting, and experimenting.
They are students of the subject, find and learn details, make new 'discoveries', and also share.

Some hang around here!

[psteinmayer]

Well... I'm not a founder, but I've been here a while... and I ain't goin nowhere!

[Dick Hosmer]

Guns were a respectable and interesting tool, to be studied and displayed. Gun Safety was taught, even in Schools! Some schools had ranges and shooting programs!

I grew up and went to school in San Francisco, LONG before it turned into the warped, liberal cesspool it is today. Three years of ROTC (pvt to 1lt) - we had perhaps 200 cadets, each with their own assigned M1, or carbine for the student officers. Plus a dozen BARs, and a couple of .30 MGs. We also had a .22 range in the basement and an active rifle team. Nobody shot anyone, or even thought about it. How times have changed.

[Whig]

We had a .22 only pistol and rifle shooting range under the old gym at our small private college in Western Maryland. Mostly, ROTC shot there. My best friend and I got permission to use the range when it was open. I remember shooting my dad's Colt ACE pistol there frequently. The ROTC members would stare at us when we were shooting this pistol that was much louder than their rifles. They thought we were shooting a .45 ACP without permission but their commander knew otherwise. He shot it a few times too.

Neat memories. I wonder if that range is still there.

I still have that Colt ACE. It is a Model 1911 Colt frame with a Colt .22 ACP conversion unit slide. I have the receipt when my dad bought that pistol, his WWII service pistol, when he was discharged. $13.50. It is something like serial number 31XXX. Made in 1913. Listed on the receipt as unserviceable. I don't think I have the original slide for this pistol. This is certainly an early 1911 pistol. The frame is actually in pretty good condition. Wish I had the whole thing!