A couple people had expressed interest in this topic, and I have a bit of extra time for a couple days, so here goes:
Bona fides: I am a former infantry NCO and sniper, hunter, competitive shooter, reloader, hobby gunsmith, sometimes firearms trainer and currently work in a gun shop, mostly on the paperwork/compliance side. Back in the day, was a qualified expert with every standard small arm in the US inventory circa 2003 (M2, 4, 9, 16, 19, 249, 240B, 21, 24, 82 etc.), and today hang around the 75th percentile of USPSA classifications. I've shot Cap-and-Ball, Trap and Sporting Clays badly; Bullseye and PRS somewhat better and IDPA/USPSA/UML/Two-gun with some local success. Been active in the 2A community since the mid-90s, got my first instructor cert in high school, and have held a CPL for almost twenty years now.
I certainly don't claim to be an expert in every aspect of firearms, there's huge areas that escape my knowledge base, but if you've got questions I'll do my best to answer.
Technical questions
Gun control proposals for feasibility
Industry
Training
Wacky opinions
General geekery
Some competition links (not my own) just for the interested.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=U5IhsWamaLY&t=173
https://youtube.com/watch?v=93nEEINflXE
https://youtube.com/watch?v=utcky0zq10E
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Notes -
Any recommendations for a handgun training program or resources? Now that ammo prices are less insane, I'd like to more properly develop the skill.
On a related note, I've had employees at the range tell me I'm "good for a beginner, could be very good with practice". The cynic in me says this is a naked effort to get me to come spend more money, while the compliment-starved male in me wants to bask in the praise. How common is that sort of fluffing, do you think?
On a different note, I have ended up in possession of a neat inheritance of classic firearms, including some 19th century antiques. I'd like to get them cleaned up into display pieces, but formal ownership of the items is basically a gentlemen's agreement, and some of the other men in the family have expressed some vague concerns about getting ripped off or screwed over. Any suggestions for finding a reputable antique restoration gunsmith? I'd ask at the range, I feel like I'm on good terms with the owners... but they're all cops and a libertarian part of me flinches at rolling up and announcing I have a bunch of unlicensed guns of dubious legal provision in the trunk. Any insight on the legal side of that? If it matters, they belonged to my grandfather, who died unexpectedly young, so no will.
And on a geekier note, this is an Ares Predator from Shadowrun. If someone (me) wanted to have something customized to look like that, full form-over-function, what starting base would you recommend? Supposedly, the design was inspired by the gun from Robocop, which is a modified Beretta 92fs, but that's closer to what Shadowrun would consider a "light" pistol, as opposed to the Predator as the mechanical king of the heavies.
More personally, what do you use as your competition guns, and why did you pick them? Is that different from your EDC?
Not the OP, but as someone with a number of antiques, I wanted to chime in;
Managing antique guns is a very contentious topic among the gun community, and a few number of people claim that trying to 'restore' any antique will just ruin the value and/or historic provenance of the gun. If you've a number of older guns/rifles, you're probably looking to less 'restore' and more preserve and/or protect.
Thankfully, this is something you can likely do yourself! For wood, you can simply use raw linseed oil - this is period correct for many wooden rifle stocks, it's non-toxic(meaning you can apply this indoors with your hands if you so desire), and it's pretty much fool-proof in my experience.
Just make sure to use raw linseed oil. I'd suggest grabbing a bottle from Amazon, as it's cheaper than big-box stores and you're more likely to get what you want.
If you need to remove any rust-spots to keep the metal from corroding, buy a gallon of mineral oil and copper wool, and gently scrub the metal. Copper is soft, and will remove the active rust from metal before removing the present finish, and works surprisingly well. Don't use any power tools - hand power should be all you need.
If you want to move to the next step, you can use renaissance wax to protect both the metal and wood. I've not used it personally, but it's an option to consider.
As long as you're not trying to get said weapons back into fighting shape, getting them cleaned up and preserved isn't really that hard.
Oh, and for a Ares Predator, I'd honestly just use an H&K P30 with a compensator(the infamous 'Wick Stick', thanks to that movie) and call it a day. Trying to make an Auto 9 replica is admittedly a little complicated, from what I hear.
This is better advice than I'd have had, thanks for covering that bit of it!
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