Sunday Shoot a Round # 156

You're down in Tennessee, where freedom is alive. Shots ring from the rifle's gun. Yes, Hickok45, your internet shooting companion. Coming to you from Tennessee, the home of... Who? Maybe I shouldn't name anybody this month. This week. How about Jeff Quinn? Okay. Yeah. Yeah, how about that. So, a lot of people live here, and maybe we shouldn't award anybody with special recognition. Everybody is equal, right? Well, not really. Everybody is equal in opportunity, right, but not in outcome. Yeah. We all should have equal equality in terms of our opportunities to do whatever we want to do. Whatever our talents and our skills and our ambition, whichever way they lead us. Some people have all kinds of talent and ambition, and others don't. Just don't care. That's what's so ridiculous about equality of outcome. Obviously, people are not going to be equal in terms of what they produce. Duh. Everybody's different. Some people just don't care, whatever the reason is. Some people do. They work hard. Yeah. They're very creative, maybe. They have lots of talent. And some people are very creative with lots of talent, but they don't work very hard. And someone with less talent and creativity outshines them. Right? It happens all the time. People are pretty complex, if you haven't noticed. Yeah. So, a lot of it does come down to energy and effort and ambition. So, anyway, guess what? Today is Christmas, September, December the 25th. All right? And I found a day that's not too bad in terms of weather. We've been having some kind of rough weather lately. And you're waking up on Christmas morning right now. And what are you doing watching a stupid Hickok45 video? Yeah, I don't know about that. I don't know about you if you're watching this on Sunday morning. I may not speak well of you. But maybe you catch it at some point. Sunday night, Monday, the next Wednesday. Yeah. We leave these videos up. You can watch them anytime. Some people don't realize that. Right? Guess what I'm shooting? 45 Colt. I thought on Christmas Day celebration I'd get out something that I like a lot. Two things that I like a lot. As you well know, good old Smith & Wesson revolvers. Double action revolvers. Especially end frames. Big old end frame revolvers. Another thing I like a lot is the .45 Colt cartridge. And guess what? This Model 25 combines them. Yeah, so I get big old Smith & Wesson. Uh-oh, don't you blow down, target. Good thing I got a bullseye. And I get my favorite cartridge and my favorite firearm. And on Christmas, man, I'm just going to shoot whatever I like. I don't know about the most, but something I really, really enjoy. The other gun I brought out that I really enjoy, because it is, again, it's kind of the three-year anniversary. This is 156 Sunday shoot-arounds really in a row, isn't it? Have I not missed any? It's crazy. And if you remember this firearm, when I first started doing the Sunday shoot-arounds, I think it was in December, I guess, or January 1st. I don't know. But it was, I mean, I didn't pick, did I? Particularly like the first day of the year or anything, first Sunday of the year, did I? But I started doing it around this time three years ago. And then we went off to SHOT Show. And I guess that would have been the last SHOT Show, right? Yeah, that I went to. And so I think I was on the road for two different Sundays and had to do the Sunday shoot-around while I was on the road. Well, I don't know a lot of places where you can just kind of pull off the road and yak at you all and shoot bullets, real ones. And I bought this gun. I think I bought this in Tombstone. Yeah. And I'll have to go back and look at that video. And then I, this was my gun in a couple of videos. Yeah. And one was sitting out in kind of the desert, Arizona, on some rocks, I think. And then another one we did at, I remember, at Old Tucson, which is closed, and it was closed then too. I think it just closed up maybe. They're not open for business anymore, I believe. The Old Tucson where they made a lot of the movies. But we drove around, walked around out there outside in the desert. We found a place and I sat down and did the, I had the camera and did a Sunday shoot-around there while we were on the road. I remember that. And this was my gun. Yeah, this cap gun. Yeah, pretty cool, huh? Yeah, still have it. Yeah. So maybe I better hang on to this. I might need it. I'm on the road, do a Sunday shoot-around. Because I just don't feel right talking to you all without a firearm in my hand. It's not that you all are so dangerous I've got to be armed, but you never know just if I have a firearm. Okay, so that's that cap gun. And it's great to see you all. Glad to have you here on this auspicious occasion for many, many, many people. And, again, it's Christmas Day and it's also the 156th Sunday shoot-around, three times 52, Kentucky math, Tennessee math, makes 156 times. And here we are. Hope Santa came to see you this morning, maybe. Left you some bullets perhaps, right? Maybe some big old .45s. They can get expensive, can't they? Wow. A box of new ammo and, well, .44 Magnum or .45 Colt. Wow, it can be $60, $70, $80, $100. See that stuff? It's pretty high. But, so anyway, here we are. And I don't know if I have anything important to say. Yeah. New Year's resolution time. Have you made them? Oh, man. You know, every year the news media talks about that and it's always a big deal. What are you going to resolve for the new year? Have you made a new year? What did you break from last year and everything? I should have some advice on that, shouldn't I? I don't know. Some more lame advice. I think people, the reason they break them is they just make resolutions without thinking too much about it and they're not really dedicated to it. It's always easy to say, oh, I'm going to eat less or I'm going to do this or that or I'm going to exercise more. They don't give anything specific, you know, and that's a lot of it. And I think a real important point in all that is if you are going to change something, I think it's really good to know yourself and know whether it's something you want to start doing or you want to quit doing or you want to taper off something you're doing. Obviously, you want to maybe eat less, you want to smoke less or not smoke anymore, whatever the problem is, drink less, whatever it might be. So a habit you want to break, in other words, or a habit you want to pick up. Some people are better at doing something cold turkey, right? You know what that means? That means you have to eat cold turkey with whatever you're doing now. It means just doing it. Like if you're going to give up smoking, you don't taper off, you just quit totally, never smoke again. Okay, that's what cold turkey means for some of you young people who may not know that. So it helps to know yourself. Is that how you are most successful at accomplishing tasks like that? Just don't do it anymore. Maybe you're going to give up junk food, whatever it is. Historically, with you, or have you been more successful in just quitting totally on one day? You pick a day, and from then on, you don't do it again. Well, maybe you're not successful, or else you wouldn't be still here in 2023 with that same old resolution, hoping you can do it. I don't know. So knowing yourself, I think, is good in that regard. And you can play with it, can't you? You can try both ways and everything. For me, some things, cold turkey works best. I've had success with that. But I also have had better success, I think, at a gradual reduction of things. Things to help, I think. That's one of, what's his name, Jordan Peterson. He wrote the book, 12 Rules to Live By, or 12 Rules of Life, or something, a bestseller. One of his tenets is that bite off goals or objectives that you know you can meet, that you would and will do. You will do it. And that's something that, before I ever read his book, that's something that I had found success with. Just little things. Just get at it. Get started in a minor way. Whatever it is. We always, all of us probably have a task that we're putting off. It's clean out the garage or office or whatever it is. And we just seem, we're paralyzed because it's such a big task. And I have found that if, and I discovered this years ago, not that I always do it, but if I just, okay, I'm just going to, in this garage, I'm just going to, every time I go into this garage, I'm going to straighten up one thing or pick up a couple of things. That's all. That's all I'm going to do. Or anything that's actual trash that should be thrown away, I'm just going to pick up a couple of things that go in the trash can that don't even need to be organized. Or something like that that would take 30 seconds. And that's all I'm going to do. But I'm going to do it every time I come in here. Something like that. Really minor. And that has worked pretty well for me. And then I've also discovered once I get into that, I end up working more than 30 seconds. It gets you started. But then again, you've got that license not to make an all-day project out of it. Because you've already got a deal with yourself. You're just going to pick up a couple of things. And that's helped me. Now, the thing that I've not been able to do is quit shooting. I have a hard time breaking that habit. I've tried over the years by doing it gradually. And cold turkey, guess what? Nothing works. Merry Christmas to myself. 45 slugs. Coming out the barrel. I'm going to shoot the SDI badge. 45 cold. There's a 2-liter right there that needs to be blasted. Oh, man. See if I can weave a bullet between those bowling pins that hit the cowboy. All right. Now I'm going to knock the bowling pins out of the way. Yeah, that's sweet. Yep, Merry Christmas to me. I'm shooting my .45 Colt caliber in-frame Smith & Wesson Model 25. Just nice. This one was made in 1980. And it's really sweet. I like it. It's neat being able to fire a .45 Colt in that thing. I love .44 Mag and essentially the same gun. When I was shooting the shots there, whether it's the factory ammo or my hand loads, I was surprised a little bit and reminded, this is more comfortable to shoot than my .44 Magnum for sure. And that's something you want to do. You want to enjoy shooting. I said for years, and when I had a gun club where I taught for years with youngsters, middle school age mostly, I started out by drilling into their head. There's nothing macho about firearms. Get that out of your head, for one thing. And then we'd go from there with the history and gun safety and everything. But really, it's fun. You'll run into people. And then we all go through that where, oh, we've got to have the most powerful ammunition for this gun. And you just got to shoot something that's going to blow down the barn occasionally, right? We all do that. And I enjoy doing that in full auto and different things at times. But not if it hurts. I don't know. I never did enjoy it if it hurts. When I was 20 years old or 50, it's not fun. It might take a few shots. You see what it's like to shoot something really, really powerful. But it doesn't have to hurt, generally speaking. You can find firearms that are heavy enough. You know, like the X-Frame Smith and Wessons. Those things kick a lot. But, you know, they're heavy. They're big. And, you know, with reasonable ammo, they're not going to break your wrist. So it's the same with a rifle or a shotgun. If it's got a little weight to it, you can shoot a 3-inch Magnum. But, you know, it's going to kick. But it's going to get in your head. You've got to, you know, shoot some atomic ammo all the time. They'll turn you against shooting. That's no fun. What are you doing? Why do that? We didn't even have Magnum rounds until, what, 1935 or something when the .357 Magnum came about. Then all of a sudden everybody wanted a Magnum. Nobody was complaining that much about the velocity of even a .44-40 or a .45 Colt or any of those rounds, standard rounds. Name any round you want, rifle or handgun. There's always been some big rounds. But generally it was big bullets and big cartridges, you know, black powder, of course. Everything doesn't have to be Magnum. It's not a proof of manhood, womanhood or anything. It's an accuracy issue of anything. If you want to shoot something and be proud of something, then the skill you have attained through shooting, that's something you can show off with or be proud of it if you want to. But don't be proud of, I can shoot this gigantic bullet that most people can't. I can stand it. I just broke three fingers is all. Most people would break their whole hand. There's no thrill in that. So mainly shoot for the fun of it. Don't even get caught up in the accuracy issue, like I was saying, just because you've gotten good or whatever. Just enjoy it. It's like going out to shoot some basketball. Isn't it fun? I mean think about that. That's a good analogy, really. Many of you have done that, going out on a Saturday or going to the gym or intramurals or when you're in college or high school. Even if you never played on a team in basketball, some of you, I guarantee you, you've enjoyed just going to the gym, shooting some basketball. And there are probably people in there that shoot way better than you and way worse, but it's fun doing it, right? It's just fun because you're seeing yourself improve a little bit and you hit the basket just often enough to keep it interesting. Like ping pong or something, you get a little bit better at it and you win just enough to keep it interesting or you hit the basket often enough and then more often. You're seeing the progress. So anyway, just enjoy it for what it is. But anyway, back to resolutions. I think it helps to know what your nature is and what would work best for you. But there's just so many different things that probably all of us could improve in, and one of them is the clutter. So many of us suffer from clutter-itis, I guess, in the garage or office or anywhere, and that's something that I work on all the time. I think diet is another. Most of us can improve in that regard. I've improved a lot lately, and I still struggle with some of my sweet tooth or different things that are hard to give up. Some of those goals, like just biting off little chunks, like Peterson talks about, are, I think, really a good approach, generally speaking. I remember him talking in a lecture about people. He was a clinical psychologist in addition to being this incredible intellectual that working with people and setting those little goals, people with severe depression. You can imagine being a psychologist. You run into people you're trying to help that are paralyzed with depression and all kinds of things. He talked about in his book or in a lecture about people being so depressed they can't even get out of bed, can't even sit up hardly. And then starting with them with just minor little goals like, well, can you sit up at least? You can't get out of bed. Can you at least sit up for a little bit? Can't do that. Can you get up on your elbows? Just whatever you could accomplish today and then do that. And then maybe tomorrow you do it again. Maybe for a week that's all you do. And then next week you get up and sit on the bed. Maybe you don't get out. It's a pretty interesting strategy that would probably help a lot of us because I think a lot of us, we have this mindset, okay, I've got to either get that garage cleaned out totally today or not. So I'm just going to go and touch it until I get some time. And, of course, I never get the time or get around to it with everything. Yeah, I need to change my diet. I need to quit eating this or I need to start eating better. Well, maybe the better approach would be for a resolution. We're still talking about resolutions. Okay, maybe I'm drinking too much coffee or something or whatever it is. Maybe I just drink one cup less or half a cup less or something. Or if I'm putting a bunch of sugar in my coffee, I reduce that by, I don't know, 10% this month. Next month I reduce it by 20%. Gradually, some little steps that make a difference before you know it. So maybe that's where we make our mistakes. Everybody talks about how New Year's resolutions are just made to be broken. Maybe it's because they're too big. Just a thought. Meanwhile, I'll work on my addiction of shooting. How's that? That one got off too quick. All right, how about a buffalo? Got him. How about a red plate? Nice gun. I think I'll keep it. Notice my red plate's still hanging there. I fixed it a little better, didn't I? How about you, pig? Called him a pig, but I was out of ammo. I shouldn't insult him when I'm empty. So anyway, resolutions, smoking, whatever it is you've got going that you're trying to quit doing. I think getting started is the hard part. And since that is the hardest part, maybe a smaller objective is the answer. Speaking of that, oh man, I'm showing very little battery power. If I lose you all of a sudden, I'll run and get a battery and finish up. So if I just disappear, I'm sorry, that's what it is. I knew I was getting low, but I didn't think I was that low. Do I have any advice for young people? Well, I don't know, do I? Well, you know, that's advice for young people, I think, too. How to get started doing something or break a habit. Maybe just a little bitty piece of it at a time, like a trail of crumbs. Maybe it'll lead you to actually doing something more significant in terms of quitting doing something that's unhealthy or starting to do something that's healthy, that kind of thing. And not dwelling on the past, just looking into the future and what can you do to make yourself better. We all think too much and dwell too much on the past, don't we? That's good advice, there you go. When we're thinking about our past and how terrible we were or whatever it is, maybe, or how bad it was, I don't know, or even how good it was, something in the past, we may not be the best judge. We're not too objective since it's about ourself and our own experience. Maybe we're not really looking, we're not that self-aware. We might be too hard on ourselves. Maybe it wasn't that bad, maybe we weren't that bad. Or maybe if we think we're really good at something, we weren't even that good. Who are we to judge? We can't be objective about ourselves, right? So, I don't know, it may not make that much sense to beat ourselves up over the past. It may not make sense to reward ourselves over something we did in the past. Maybe we don't even really have a clear picture of how bad we were or how good we were. Maybe we just need to focus on the future, put some thought into it, how's that? I was just kidding, I am not trying to break my habit of shooting. I have no intention of breaking that habit, right cowboy? Oh, Mr. Pig, I didn't shoot you yet. I don't want to neglect him. Why would I want to break the habit, really? Why would I want to do that? Oh man, I tell you, speaking of Christmas, it's really like Christmas morning when you have a firearm that you really enjoy and you can go shoot it, isn't it? It really is. Don't need another one, of course that will probably happen, right? Always does with me, probably will with you too. But boy, just pulling out something you really enjoy. I've been shooting these old pin barrel Smith & Wesson end frames since the early 70s. And they're just sweet, they really are. And big bore, I've always liked big bore cartridges. Again, not because of the power I want to blow down a barn. Because you don't see me shooting the 500 Smith & Wesson that much, the 460, those kinds of things very much out of a handgun. They're interesting to play with. But I just enjoy the moderate stuff. .44 Magnum, who would have thought that would be moderate, right? And .44 Special, .357, .38, 9mm, all the usual things. But .40 Smith & Wesson, 10mm. I don't need something that is going to break my wrist. Not that it is, but it could. Some people actually break their wrist with a .500 Magnum, that kind of thing. So you can do damage with that stuff. But if you need to prove what a man you are, have at it. I don't know if I had anything else. Oh, I know, I got a rant. I always like to have a rant. That's not really a rant, and I don't want to run out of battery, but that's okay. You know, I know I'm an old guy and everything, and it's a totally different generation. But I'm still perplexed with people that just are not... It's one reason, and I try not to pick on Millennials as a group, or young people as a group. You know, you hear people all the time say, well, Millennials can't talk to you, they just text each other, and all that kind of thing. And you probably know there's some truth to that. Your friends, if you are a Millennial, you probably know some people like that. But I try not to stereotype pigeonhole people and gripe about them all the time. I don't understand some folks. I'm kind of a friendly type. Life is short. If I'm at the grocery, I'll speak to the clerks. How you doing? Or just talk to them a little bit, maybe. Or not, just depends. I don't want to come off as a creepy old man or anything, or a creepy guy. You always worry about that. But life is short. How you doing? But it's just interesting. I was at a bed, bath, and beyonds with my wife recently, very recently. I was at a mall. We don't go to malls much, but I was in there with her. It was one of those, they didn't have a lot of stuff. The bed, bath, and beyond, they have sometimes some interesting stuff I like to look at. This one was just, mainly it was all, I don't know, shampoo, bathroom stuff. It was just, you know, cologne or whatever. That's all it was in the mall. But I was in with her, looking around. There was nothing I was interested in at all. But I was just in there for a little bit, and she bought some stuff. And I was up at the counter with her, and the gal was checking her out. I don't know how old she was, 25, 30, I don't know. Can't tell with people. And, of course, I'm a big old ugly guy there with her, and my wife was buying stuff. And I just said at one point, I said, because you could smell it. It was like being in a candle shop, everything in there was something smelly. I said, ma'am, do you have anything that would make me smell better? Just kidding, you know. And, I mean, she looked at me and didn't realize I was just joking around and just looked kind of perplexed. There's some cologne over there, you know, and stuff. She wasn't very friendly to begin with, but she said, there's some cologne over there. I don't know what she's doing. It wasn't like she understood that I was kidding and didn't think it was funny and was just ignoring my lame attempt at a joke or anything like that. She legitimately just thought I was serious. That kind of thing happens every now and then. You just say, okay, it was a joke. My wife, he was just kidding. But, you know, no smile, nothing. It's just weird. A lot of people have difficulty engaging at all, even for a brief moment, being human. It's weird. I've had that happen, and I'm not bugging people and always making lame jokes. It's just some people can't even have a short, informal exchange at all. I mean, it's just weird. It's just weird. It is a generational thing, kind of. I think that, tell me if I'm wrong, but I think most people under 30, maybe under 40, you know, they go about their business and they get their card out and pay for their stuff, and they're not going to even make a joke. They're not even going to have a conversation with the clerk, necessarily, unless it's something serious, maybe. A lot of people are just a little uptight. That's my impression. It really is. It's kind of funny. I've just said hi to people before. At a Walmart one time not long ago, a lady was up on a ladder, and she was stocking stuff in an awkward position. It was early in the morning, and she got a tough job, and as I walked by there, I said, you know, don't you fall off that ladder. Just being nice to her. Didn't say a word. Like, oh, I wouldn't do that. It's just weird when people have no reaction, nothing to say, like, leave me alone. I understand it if you come off as creepy or something. Yeah, that's it. I go out of my way to never come off like that. But anyway, I don't know. It's just odd. If you're a young person, maybe that's some advice for young people. And old people. There's a lot of crotchety old people. But lighten up a little bit. I mean, lighten up. Life is short, and you're going to realize that. There's enough people on the planet who, they're antisocial. They're never going to be nice to you, and they're going to give you a hard time. So if someone comes into your store or your place of business, whatever it is, and they're halfway civilized, I mean, be thankful. Be thankful. So anyway, a lot of advice. None of it good. Can I shoot six more times before I let you go and get back to your Christmas treat? Okay. Yeah, man. Well, we've about made it through another year. And look to see you in 2023. Yeah, I really do. It's hard to believe. And I remember back in whatever, the 80s or 90s, we were talking about the year 2000. It seemed so far away. It really did. Pretty good shooter. Yeah. I like that. Yeah, man. So I probably yacked enough. I don't know if there's anything else you were dying to know about. Probably not. So anyway, again, I don't know why I forget to do the disclaimer at the beginning of these every week. But if you're new, this is a Sunday video. And I hope you're catching the other videos during the week, like maybe three of them, two or three every week. In addition to the Sunday videos, we have 2,500 videos, I guess, up and I get a constant barrage of questions. Do you have anything on this? Do you have a video on that? And usually it's yes. Now I don't go look up the link. You all know how to search a channel. And we've got videos on there, all kinds of guns. So if you're new, you might find something you like, even if it's 10 years old, 15, well, 14 years old. I think it's coming up on 15 years. Yeah. So if I get cut off, I'll see you next week. But I know we're right at the edge here. Yeah. Just a little time left and I'll be more careful next week and check my battery more carefully before I come over here into the woods. But actually I'll bring a spare battery. How's that? So anyway, we're into the winter and going to be some cold days out here. Not too bad today, but it's, it's going to be cold. And like I say, I will probably be out here, but I might be in the barn and I might do a little traveling and I might, who knows, I might be in the desert. Yeah. Talking to you with no gunfire. Maybe I'll patch in some gunfire. Okay. But that's another option I could do if I'm traveling or if it's too cold, I could just say hi and here's a video you haven't seen or something like that. But I appreciate y'all coming out on Sundays and especially on Christmas morning, you've got all those presents to open. And here you are on your computer or phone, you know, watching me shoot. That's pretty lame. So it's actually probably not Christmas morning for you. You're probably later in the day or the next day or who knows when, but I do post it at least 5 a.m. My time. And so, yeah, maybe so. You never know before Santa got to your house, you might be watching this. So anyway, if you have kids, I hope they all had a big morning and enjoy the day and you enjoy the day. You get to spend it with some family and that your family's not too obnoxious. And of course everybody's got that uncle or that brother-in-law, right? But, uh, that's the way it goes. So, uh, Merry Christmas to those of you who, uh, who celebrate Christmas and, uh, it's a great time of year. And I guess I'll see you in, yeah, 2023 if my math is correct. Yeah. I don't want to talk to y'all until next year. Yeah, that's right. So appreciate your support. Talk to you later. Life is good.