Hey Keith, Mr. Lowndes (just ran across the name in a book on the origin of geological mapping in England in the early 19th Century), let me clarify who Im a fan of on this board.
First, Ive spent a lifetime abroad trying to figure out who is in front of me, whether they are who they claim to be, and whether theyre telling the truth about what they claim to know. And Ive dealt with a lot of carpet merchants (I collected carpets in central Asia), used car salesmen, information peddlers, dilettantes and mad-men so Im not so easily fooled. Most of us by our 70s dont need to be protected by the strumfhurer comrade red-agitprop information police.
So here is my assessment of the types posting on this fantastic board that I was lucky enough to discover almost two years ago:
the engineers - they know chamber pressures, metallurgy,
the collectors - they know values, models, quirks, dents, condition
the niche-ers - they are the true experts on a corner of intellectualism.
the shooters - they know loads, patterns, balance, swing
the dilettantes - they know engravings, names, fashions, phrases, mustaches
the dealers - they will be of two types, the sharpsters and the honest.
the salesmen - ah, but look at this case color
the fraudsters - but since nobody is actually selling anything on this particular board, hard to quantify.
the BS artists - let me tell you about
the egoists - well, I just bought another $$$$
the craftsmen - I just tried fitting barrels to a..and it worked after 40 hrs of labor
-- the observers - by the millions?
-- the inquirers - is my rusted studebaker...
-- the students - me
Each has a lot to add to this board. The ones you pay attention to are the ones with expertise.
Then there are the ranters and insulters - They are the drunks in the bar who have an opinion about everything or nothing.
As for Ed, my assessment: well, he is a salesman. He sold me a gun and I didnt know it was him when I first contacted him about it The gun was as advertisedbetter evenand Ed is intelligent, probably sitting in a NH village and needing some intellectual company. He could sell the Brooklyn Bridge to the right guy or try to, and hed be a good dinner companion. I think he knows guns as a dealerhe doesnt know gunsmithing, engineering or craftsmanship and thus his opinions are just that, opinions. As for his politics, he trolls and the stuff he trolls is as stupid as trolls are but apparently satisfies a need of some sort for some reason. Nuff said. If Ed trolls politicsgive him Hell as Truman said. If he flogs a local gun hes been asked to front for and is sketchyhold him accountable. Zingers are enjoyable and there are egos here easily bruised. But dull repetitive ranting is a regressive intellectual killer and not even fun.
And by the way, in case you didn't notice...... there are a couple of amazing posts above from some "craftsmen" who have actually fitted orphan barrels. God I'd love to have been a fly on the wall.
Gene H. Williams...RT Delaware.
Last edited by Argo44; 12/01/17 10:12 PM.
