Posts Made By: Michael Sandy

Wait a minute - that sale price comes with free shipping - that's $59 shipped. An even better deal -

There are many long and heated threads covering this topic on numerous forums. These are both outstanding and yet very different mounts. As with many folks, I've owned and used both. The AP1200 is a great transportable and high capacity mount. If you are going to set-up and take down, or ever use your mount in the field - buy an AP, it is clearly the best IMHO. It is a 12V system, is easy to polar align, very well made and accurate, and it can even operate independant of a computer.

If you are going to set up permanently, and even think about operating remotely (even if that is only only in the backyard) I'd invest in the Paramount. It has the software suite and control system that really works well remotely. Two of the important features of the ME is the homing capability, and the stops. I realize that imaging past the meridian can be nice at times, but being able to establish positively where the mount is and knowing that you can't slew under the mount is much more important - at least to me.

I know there are people the use the AP remotely (I ran mine robotically as well), and there are people that take the ME into the field - but that is not where they run the best. If you have any doubt, ask someone that made the switch from an AP to a Paramount in a permanent set-up. I've known many other folks that had the same thought that I had - "why did I wait so long"?

Since you mentioned it, I think we have come pretty close to eliminating several of our "Human Rights"....I have a feeling that trend will continue as well.

I replaced the stock TeleVue Pinion on my TV-102 with the TVRFB unit from Feathertouch a while back, and I couldn't be happier! The quality of the FT unit is excellent, the feel of the focuser during high speed movements is very smooth, and the fine adjustments when you are looking for that perfect focus at high mags is unbelievable. I've used mine with a diagonal and eyepiece......and with a five eyepiece TEC turret (loaded) and the added weight didn't seem to phase it. I'll tell you about use with a Bino set in a few weeks.

These are great - high recommended!

I'm going to have to pull out my spotting scope to remember the details - but I have a variable power scope that Orion made a few years back. Not fine optics - but able to spot holes in the paper (even .30 at 100 yards). It has been a long time since I've sat at a bench (our local range closed down for a long time for upgrades after a round seemed to have found it's way into the neighbor's yards over the hill). I don't remember seeing much Black Powder where I'm used to shooting. Not sure it is as popular in the People's Republic of California as it is in other parts of the country.

It is so much easier to spot a "good shot" when the target disappears into a cloud of dust.....you gotta love Sporting Clays (although it is difficult to score well with a .22)

These are my fragments of the Sikhote-Alin Meteorite that was an observed fall on February 12, 1947 in Russia, about 270 miles northeast of Vladivostok. Latitude 46 degrees 9.6 minutes North, Longitude 134 degrees 39.2 minutes East. The fragments shown are 200 and 250 gr

The Sikhote-Alin meteorite fell during daylight at 10:38 a.m. local time. Witnesses reported a fireball that was brighter than the sun. It came from out of the north -- about 15 degrees east of north and descended at an angle of 41 degrees. It left a trail of smoke and dust that was 20 miles long and lingered for several hours. Light and sound of the fall were observed for two hundred miles around the point of impact.

The speed of entry was estimated to be 14.5 kilometers per second. This is about 8.7 miles per second or 31,000 miles per hour. As the meteorite entered the atmosphere some of it began to break apart. The group of fragments fell together. When the descending group of meteorites reached an altitude of about 3.5 miles, the largest mass apparently broke up in a violent explosion. The fragments scattered over an elliptical area of about a half a square mile. The largest fragments made small craters and pits. One of these measured 85 feet across and 20 feet deep. The larger craters are located at the far end of the strewn field.

In my opinion, pistols are not very sensitive to eye dominance. Shotguns and archery.....now there are some big problems there, but I don't think rifles are that much of a deal, and pistols you can move slightly to align with either eye. It seems to me that you'd want to handle the pistol in your dominant hand, and I believe it will naturally be positioned in front of the dominant eye. Anyone have any experience with this subject (I'll ask my son when he gets home as he is right hand and left eye dominant).

Fun to shoot???? I'm not sure that any of these are something I would class as "fun". The sight radius (if you can call them sights) is short, they are really light weight (recoil exaggerated), and they don't fit my hand.....I don't like to shoot them any more than needed to be confortable with them.

I really only own one of this class - an older AMT "Backup" in .380. If you are going to carry - these are comfortable to have on you. I just don't think the caliber or pistol is suitable for more than a backup weapon - or something you might carry in very low risk situations. In my opinion, they are better than nothing, as the sight and sound would likely do what is needed and end the threat of a noncommitted attacker - but if you really needed it I think it would let you down.

Thanks for that one Lee, but to be honest......I'm not really sure how to respond to it, but can't stop from doing so. I never make jokes about firearm safety, so humor is out of the question (although the whole write-up thing begs for a humorous remark). While even one injury is a tragedy, the concern for such a rare event makes me wonder if there is another motive to the article - given that large segments of our society care so little for the well being of our young ones.

So I've come to this: What a great example of why proper eye protection is so important when you go shooting. Along that line, I've got to say that the best Shooting Glasses I've ever used are made by Decot. Check these babies out - http://www.sportglasses.com/

Not a chance of that - in fact they would likely cancel you if they knew you had a weapon in the house. 8O

I'm alway surprised how relaxing shooting is - I need to do it more myself.