Intresting choises, not all common.
-Could you tell me how is the S&W 457 like?
It has a very awkward appearace in my opinion, and I'd imagine I could not get a decent handling with it.

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En uneksi. I do not dream.

Fennica, what are the gun laws like in Finland?

Ridiculous.
Owning a firearm is extremely difficult, and permits are hard to get.
-First you have to belong to a hunting club or a shooting range association.
-Then you have to pass hunting exams or be an active shooter.
-Have a recommendation from a senior hunter/target shooter.
-Buying a weapon requires even more bureaucracy, and how to keep your firearms is strictly dictated. Metal gun locker, with ammo and clips in a different location etc.

None of the above happen if a doctor or a police sees you unfit to own a weapon.
Finnish Defence forces does have a record of every person who have served, but apparently police does not have access to that database.
Doctors claim that they are unable to judge the applications and persons in a short interview.
-In short; it is a big steaming pile of ¤¤¤¤.

The school shooters were given their light .22 pistols way too easily, by the police.
Also, police failed to take the pistol from the last shooter, despite overwhelming evidence to prove that he was unfit to own a weapon.( police even had a video which showed the immature and prohibited gun handling)
The shooter was interviewd by a police bureau just before the shooting.

Now, idiotic panic-people call to ban all firearms, to lock all hunting weapons and target range weapons in safes located in police departments.
-Essentially deny usage of weapons by the very people who are careful in using them.

Right before the school shootings, I was in a market to buy a pistol as a sidearm. I am after all, a reservist recon scout.
And I know just what kind of a rifle the FDF would equip me with, so I'd need a secondary weapon.
Now, it is impossible to buy a pistol.

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En uneksi. I do not dream.

So did all the pistol owners in Finland have to turn them in after this last school shooting?

Was (or is) it possible to own larger caliber pistols than .22 in Finland?

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January the 20th 2009. The day I started to respect America!

Small .22 pistols were meant for small game trappers and target shooters, but now the hunters have already been denied the permits for .22 pistols.
Most hunters do have heavy rifles for moose and shotguns, but authorities seem to think that weak .22 poses a bigger threat...

-So, no trappers anymore.
Law states that on a snowmobile, no rifles of any caliber is allowed.
Pistol has been the killing tool, but no-one wants to use rifles in that task because of their weight, lenght and firepower, which in turn could ricoshe bullets to unwanted directions.
No killing tool, no means to travel tens of kilometers between traps, no hunting.

9mm round is already considered a military caliber, and rather rare in induvidual owners.
-No permits because there is no usage for it, apart from target practice.

Reservists could be imagined to have easier time to aquire weapon. No.
On the contray, I am duty-bound to kill when called to service but I am not allowed to own a weapon, nor am I allowed to keep my skills up.

Some fanatical mother-hens already call for complete weapons collection, but it hopefully will tumble on its own insanity. By what right would officials have to collect weapons, into which people have spent up to thousands of €.
Bureaucracy which involves firearm ownership is rather big.

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En uneksi. I do not dream.

You should move here. Of course, in four years time, Obama will be working hard on making the U.S. look more like your country...

After four years of Obama, we may be wanting to move to his country.

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“Nations have no permanent friends or allies, they only have permanent interests.” - Lord Palmerston

Personally, I love it. It is very compact and easy to carry. It is awkward looking, and without the magazine in, it feels a little... strange. But insert the mag and it magically fits and feels very natural. Very accurate up close, out to about 20 yards or so. I concealed carried it for years, and it was a great deterrent when a dude tried to carjack me in New Orleans on Canal Street. I didn't shoot because he had pulled a knife, and ran as soon as the gun came out.

We here do not have any right to carry a weapon. Only to the shooting range/hunting area and back.
In here, the mugger would have informed the police and you would have lost both the gun and the permit. Mugger would have walked.
Consealed weapons are knives.

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En uneksi. I do not dream.

That's just ironically funny!

Very simple, but it's been very reliable:

.270 Weatherby Vanguard

I feel like a sniper when I fire it.

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He who learns but does not think is lost! He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger. --Confucius

Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.
--African proverb

Science is a wonderful thing if one does not have to earn one's living at it.
--Albert Einstein

I think I'm just a sucker for the oldies, but I've always wanted to own a blued Smith and Wesson .38 Special Model 10. Alas, I have no money for more than a saturday-night special.

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"The most important single central fact about a free market is that no exchange takes place unless both parties benefit."
- Milton Friedman

"The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it."
- George Orwell

I found that the old M-60 MG was alright if you were warm and dry under your poncho LOL

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"I am no Martin Luther King or Ghandi motherfucker. I have no idea what those guys were talking about. You spit on my ass, I will knock you out. No motherfucking marching and singing in the street for me." - Jim Brown, NFL Hall-of-Famer and Cleveland Browns running back, 1957-1965

My stepdad carried an M60 in Vietnam. Said it was fucking heavy.

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Whan they come, Ah sall staun mah grun
Staun mah grun, an be na afraid.
Thochts ae hame tak awa mah fear
Sweat an bluid hide mah veil o tears.

It is heavy, 23 lb. as I recall, and no really comfortable way to carry it either. The ammo weighs a ton too. It has been replaced by the M-240B, which is actually even heavier at 27 lb. but the 240B has a much higher rate of fire and maximum effective range. It's really meant to be a crew-served weapon and too heavy for squad-level dismounted patrols, which is probably what your dad was doing. The army came up with the M249 SAW which is much lighter to fit that role.

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"I am no Martin Luther King or Ghandi motherfucker. I have no idea what those guys were talking about. You spit on my ass, I will knock you out. No motherfucking marching and singing in the street for me." - Jim Brown, NFL Hall-of-Famer and Cleveland Browns running back, 1957-1965