One more new guy that's old

[hueyjazz]

I guess I did a breech of etiquette by not coming here first.  I've done a few postings and have greatly enjoyed the content of this website.  It appears to be well managed and free of trolls and has people with sincere and common interests.  I'm here to learn and share ideas.  I know a little about a few things, a lot about far fewer things and there just so much more I don't know anything about.  As a rabid baby boomer I grew up in an interesting age and I'm grateful to see the advances in my lifetime.  Man on Moon, Electronic age and modern medicine

I greatly enjoyed being a Boy Scout but fell short of being Eagle when I discovered girls.  The woods has always been my church.    My dad helped with this but was never a hunter.  He grew up during the depression and my gramps was a hunter.  To make ends meet they ate a lot of rabbit and squirrel.  Plus, he was a WWII vet.  Battle of the Bulge and the whole bit.  Dad never talked about the war until the later days of his life.  When he did it made sense why he didn't want to talk about it.  He saw awful things and cheated death a few times.  He wanted nothing more to do with guns so my involvement with hunting and firearms started in college from experienced friends.  I've always been a student of WWII.

As a younger man I backpacked, camped, winter camped, climbed, ice climbed, downhill skied and X country skied.  Some of these I can still pull off but to a lesser degree.  My mortality is catching  up with me.   I do well in Nordic environments but abhor heat and humidity so you won't be finding me in Florida in the summer.     Married one and only wife and she's an old fart too.  We are the polar opposites that work.  She breaks stuff and I fix stuff.  Two adult children.  One gone and one that may never leave but there's always hope.

I have an advanced formal education but that certainly doesn't mean I'm smarter or dumber than any of you.  Dad never tolerated any of is five boys being average but the fact of the matter was, I was average so I had to work twice as hard in my studies.  He only wanted the best for me.  I've never stopped learning and still attend classes at times.   

Professionally I'm a senior facilities manager of a couple industrial complexes for a major corporation.  I've been responsible for building and maintaining buildings, equipment and processes.  I also get to do environment, health and safety which actual plays well for me.  I care about people and the environment.  I do nothing to harm either as a core belief no matter the cost.  I'm an expert at precision temperature control.  I've built environments that control to thousands of a degree.  I'm proud of all of this.

My major hobby is collecting and restoring firearms from WWII European theater but I also appreciate other firearms.  I don't own anything that I don't shoot, can't take apart and then put back together again.  Obviously I hunt and I hunt alone by choice.  Hunting for me isn't predicated on getting a deer.  Fact of the matter is I let most of them walk.  Being alone in the woods with my thoughts and being entertained by sightings of fox, turkey, grouse, fischer cats and a variety of other wildlife can make my day as much as getting a deer.  I own 30 acres on a mountain top near Swain and we have since purchased our retirement log home there as both my wife and I love our piece of heaven.  I've lived 56 years of my life in Rochester, NY and have a house by the U of R where the wife works.  I have a passion for wine and enjoy cooking when I have the time.  Oh the smell when I make bread.  I'm a certified trainer in first-aid, AED and CPR.  Mom was a surgical nurse.  We got stitched and shots at home and got training by her.  I keep a EMT bag and AED at my property as closest medical care is 40 minutes away. 

I have plenty of faults.  Ask my wife

So, this is me  No more No less

 

[suburbanfarmer]

Welcome. I would love to hear more about your experiences and learn from you.

[Pygmy]

Welcome aboard  !!...

[Rattler]

Welcome sonny!  You're 56 and you call yourself old?  Age is just a number.  I was in fourth grade when you were born and I don't feel old.

God does not subtract from your allotted hours, those spent afield hunting and fishing.  I guess that's why I still feel like I'm only 40.    (Living the last 30 years without acquiring a 2nd wife probably helps too.) 

[Dr Juice]

Welcome to the addiction!

[Robhuntandfish]

Welcome in!

[Steuben Jerry]

Welcome aboard Huey!

[rob-c]

Now that’s a  resume for a hunting forum. Welcome aboard , and I would love to see some photos of those guns you have collected . 

Edited January 6, 2020 by rob-c

[NFA-ADK]

Welcome aboard, great to have you! 

[Nytracker]

Welcome aboard . 

[mowin]

Welcome to the zoo.  

[turkeyfeathers]

Welcome aboard!

[greg54]

Welcome!

[moog5050]

Welcome from a fellow rochesterian.   

[hueyjazz]

Rattler,

I'm 61 but with a bad back earned from a lifetime of doing dumb things.  I've always loved thing old and my collections reflect that.  Maybe chronologically I'm not that old but these days I sure feel it. 

I plan to retire in 14 months and move to my land permanent.  Wife will work a few more years mainly to provide us health insurance.  My decreased brother work seven day a week and accumulated a lot of wealth.  However, when he finally did retire and bought his slice of heaven he didn't last long before the cancer got him. 

I wish not to do a repeat as I was doing the same path and I always felt he got screwed.  Soon after my best friend died from a very minor operation where they did an out patient thing to cut off a growth.  Dead three days later due to a blood clot to brain.

These events drove me to work toward what I dream of.  A cabin on a mountain.  NY is a tough State to retire in but I truly do         LOVE NY.  Well, maybe not the governor

Attached is my pond in front of cabin.  I've been stocking my ponds with fish.  It's kind of like a mega aquarium. 

 

[goosifer]

Welcome, HJ. The board is fortunate to have someone of your eloquence and experiences.

[Rattler]

You made the right decision Huey.  Get rid of the stress and relax.  Hunt and fish more.  It will make you feel young.  

Someone once told me, "You're only as young as the woman you feel."  Maybe that's why I still feel like I'm only 40.

[grampy]

Welcome!! Real nice to have you with us!!

[ApexerER]

Welcome, quite a resume.....I look forward to reading your contributions....

[Nomad]

Welcome ,neighbor ! 

Retired RFD here left at 58 not looking back ,one  daughter a RN at Strong,   Dad was sent home from WW II when his two young uncles and brother were KIA in the same week , hunted the same farm in 8H for idk 32 years ?

Edited January 6, 2020 by Nomad

[Pygmy]

I share your interest in WWII history and WWII small arms....I have a very modest collection of WWII battle rifles...At one point it was my intention to collect the primary battle rifles of all of the major antagonists, but that fizzled....Several of my rifles are on display at local American Legion posts, but I keep my Garand at home because I  carry it deer hunting a few days each season..

My Dad was a WWII veteran also, on a destroyer in the Pacific and saw a lot of action, much as a gun captain on a twin 40 MM Bofors gun during  air  attacks and supporting shore invasions..

[Marion]

That was an excellent introduction! Welcome to an amazing forum with even more amazing people!

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

[Deleted Account]

Welcome! Great introduction, I feel like I know you now

[hueyjazz]

Pygmy

I only own one Japanese firearm from WWII it seems a decent weapon but ammo is hard to come by and it isn't my concentrations.

I only own one Italian WWII firearm.  In fact it's the same one that Lee Harvey Oswald was supposedly use on JFK.  What a piece of junk.  This is the only firearm I've never shot.  I think it has an equal chance of going off forward as in does backwards.  By design I don't think it's safe.  The ammo is equally questionable.  They look like pop bottles.  Why a country that has made some of the finest firearms in the world choose to outfit their army with these pieces of crap is beyond me.  Maybe they didn't want to win.  I do think Lee Harvey was a patsy.  He was a trained marine sniper.  He had easy access to a Springfield 1903.  Why a Carcano???  What a total turd

Only one Garand?  Get two, then they have babies and babies.  That's the story I told my wife and I'm sticking to it.  You also convinced me on our other post to hunt with my Swiss K31.  I broke out my log of hand loads the other night to see what recipe I had previously devised with hunting bullets that worked well.  I got all winter to make rounds but to be honest I only need a couple.  I'm not a wall of lead kind of guy.  The most I've ever shot at a deer is twice.  K31 are a carbine and not to hard to handle in woods.  You're carrying a Garand in the woods, you brute, heavy.  My first look at K31 and I thought it to be butt ugly.  Then I shot one.  My Swiss Misses are beautiful and that straight pull bolt is quite rapid fire if you need it to be.

I can talk for hours on Russian, US, German, Swiss and Finish firearms of WWII.  Why Finn.  Check out the Winter War.  You can't do WWII without that consideration.  The Finns taught the Russian how to snipe by using Russians for target practice.

The Springfield is largely a copy of the Mauser.  But the Garand outclassed the K98.  Still the K98 is a fine firearm

[Pygmy]

6 hours ago, hueyjazz said:

Pygmy

I only own one Japanese firearm from WWII it seems a decent weapon but ammo is hard to come by and it isn't my concentrations.

I only own one Italian WWII firearm.  In fact it's the same one that Lee Harvey Oswald was supposedly use on JFK.  What a piece of junk.  This is the only firearm I've never shot.  I think it has an equal chance of going off forward as in does backwards.  By design I don't think it's safe.  The ammo is equally questionable.  They look like pop bottles.  Why a country that has made some of the finest firearms in the world choose to outfit their army with these pieces of crap is beyond me.  Maybe they didn't want to win.  I do think Lee Harvey was a patsy.  He was a trained marine sniper.  He had easy access to a Springfield 1903.  Why a Carcano???  What a total turd

Only one Garand?  Get two, then they have babies and babies.  That's the story I told my wife and I'm sticking to it.  You also convinced me on our other post to hunt with my Swiss K31.  I broke out my log of hand loads the other night to see what recipe I had previously devised with hunting bullets that worked well.  I got all winter to make rounds but to be honest I only need a couple.  I'm not a wall of lead kind of guy.  The most I've ever shot at a deer is twice.  K31 are a carbine and not to hard to handle in woods.  You're carrying a Garand in the woods, you brute, heavy.  My first look at K31 and I thought it to be butt ugly.  Then I shot one.  My Swiss Misses are beautiful and that straight pull bolt is quite rapid fire if you need it to be.

I can talk for hours on Russian, US, German, Swiss and Finish firearms of WWII.  Why Finn.  Check out the Winter War.  You can't do WWII without that consideration.  The Finns taught the Russian how to snipe by using Russians for target practice.

The Springfield is largely a copy of the Mauser.  But the Garand outclassed the K98.  Still the K98 is a fine firearm

The Swiss never fought, although they would have done well if they did, ...The Finns did great in the Winter War, often with arms and ammo they captured from the Russians, whom they slaughtered by the tens of thousands..... I do not have any specific Finn rifles, but I do have a nice 1917 MN that I believe was captured and  rearsenaled by the Finns...Very good condition and very accurate...

I never could get too excited about the  Italian or French Arms, although many were in very good shape...Never fired, only dropped once...