Welcome to the page!

Welcome to the AlphaSierraOscar1 blog page!

My name is Anthony, and I’d like to tell you just a little bit about myself, and where I’d like to see this venture go. This blog is mainly for my own benefit, to record my thoughts and keep a record of what I’ve been doing and what I hope to do with my main hobby.

I was in the Marines from 2010-2016, mainly in the Reserves. I was a 3521 Motor Transport mechanic, and I worked on a wide variety of vehicles but mainly specialized in the fuel tractor-trailer pairs. I was mobilized in 2011 and deployed to Afghanistan in 2012, doing convoy security and QRF, and working specifically as the radio operator and assistant machine gunner for my truck team. I had the pleasure of working mainly with the M2HB .50 BMG machine gun, but I handled the M240B machine guns frequently as well. I was issued an M4 carbine when I arrived at the reserve unit, and I carried this rifle nearly everywhere with me during my time on deployment. I was re-issued an M16A4 rifle a couple years after the deployment, due to unit inspections and the need for the unit to square things away properly. I’ll admit I’d much rather have kept the M4, and I did attempt to plead my case, to no avail.

I first got into firearms after returning from Afghanistan. At the time, I was waiting to get back into school but had to wait until the spring semester of 2013, so for a few months I did not have much to do. Combine a lot of idle time with a lot of deployment money, and you can kind of see where things are going. I honestly did not have any real concept of personal firearms ownership at that point, despite having extensive experience with firearms. I recognized what the 2nd Amendment was, and I certainly knew that people owned firearms, but I never saw myself as a gun owner.

My hobby took off when my gym partner best friend on the deployment, Ted, asked if I was free one evening and if I wanted to go to the gun range with him and a group, and I accepted the invitation. He also let me know that surplus firearms could be had very inexpensively, and so not long after that trip to the range, I bought my first firearm, a Russian Mosin-Nagant M91/30 bolt-action rifle. That rifle was probably better than I give it credit for, but I was not prepared for the work that needed to be done to bring it up to full function. I ran into the sticky-bolt issue, and not really knowing how to correct the issue or having the tools to do the work, I set it aside and eventually sold it.

Since then I’ve owned a wide array of firearms. I love rimfire guns, and one of my first rifles was a Ruger 10/22, influenced in my purchase mainly by Iraqveteran8888’s love affair with the 10/22. Rimfire guns will be the subject of more than a few posts, as I do shoot these guns quite a bit. I also have owned and built several AR-15 rifles, and I’ve got a lot of ideas running through my brain that I’d love to do there. I do own several pistols, and have owned quite a few, including single-actions, double-actions, and striker-fired pistols. One of these days I’ll get into lever-action rifles and revolvers.

I now work full-time at a gun store (Type 01/Class 3 SOT) in Minnesota in the Twin Cities metro area. I work in counter sales as well as phone and online sales. I also assist with processing NFA paperwork, doing fingerprints, photographs, and occasionally filling out the paperwork itself.

I also am an NRA Certified Pistol Instructor, though I haven’t taught any courses, due to the time, costs, and effort required for properly setting up the business of instructing and getting it off the ground. However it has come in handy with regards to my interactions with customers, as well as with others outside of the workplace. Perhaps one of these days I’ll get around to teaching others formally.

I hope you’re still with me! If so, please continue to check back for more posts. I’m not quite sure at this point with what regularity I will be posting, but I would like to write at least one post a week. These posts may be about a specific firearm, a recent trip to the range, work, work I’m doing on a firearm, the gun culture and the gun community, how American culture relates to or has related to firearms, or some combination. I also hope to include lots of good photos of what I’ve been up to!