Process Essay

Yeah, yeah, yeah, the gas and heating oil prices are falling back again. Don’t tell me I wasted money on a pellet stove though, as soon as OPEC cuts production prices will jump right back up again. Besides, I get a nice, warm, glowing fire lighting up my newly remodeled living room. This makes a perfect place for the wife and I to relax on the weekends once the kids are in bed. But man, that glass is developing a brown film on it already, I just cleaned the thing two days ago and it looks like I’ll be doing it again tomorrow. A quick clean doesn’t get too involved but I haven’t done that for nearly a week and a half so in the morning I’ll get down and dirty and give the stove a good clean. It is best to do this in a few stages starting with the burn pot (where the fire is), then getting all the ash off the heat exchangers, and finally cleaning around the combustion fan and the ash pan.

Stage one of the big clean starts inside the stoves burn pot. This is where the fire actually burns and heats up the heat exchangers overhead. My particular stove is a Harman and works differently than most other manufacturer’s models. My pellets feed in from the bottom and as they burn the ash gets pushed up a ramp in the burn pot until it finally falls off the edge and into a large ash pan bellow. Harman’s are the only company that uses this system because of a little thing called a Patent. They are much cleaner and more efficient than the competitors design but still require routine cleaning. I start off buy scraping all the ash up and out and exposing the carbon or ‘mineral’ build up that collects on the walls and floor of the burn pot. That build up has to go because it can interfere with the feeding and eventually cause the flame to smother itself out. For this removal process I use an old flat blade screw driver and scrape the whole thing down loosening all the solid chunks and then knocking them down in the ash pan. This stage is essential because carbon build up will also prevent the stove from igniting itself if it is all blocked up. The burn pot is the main area of focus because if it is dirty, the stove will not run.

So with the burn pot clean I can now move onto the second stage, cleaning the heat exchangers. As the fire burn it throws a lot of fly ash around which collects on the heat exchangers on the top of the fire box and behind the fire wall. This is when I haul out grandma’s old vacuum cleaner to catch all the fine ash particles that come floating down from above. You’ll want to use a vacuum that uses bags for this, if you use a shop vac., the filter will be constantly plugged by the fine ash. The tool that works the best for this stage is an old paint brush along with the vacuum. While holding the tip of the vacuum nozzle inside the stove use the old brush to sweep the fine ash that clings to the surface away. The ash will slowly drift downward and with the vacuum there it can’t get out into the room. Once the top is clean the back guards need to be removed to clean behind them also. My stove has a cast iron panel with a brick pattern that needs to come out. Behind that are four sheet metal plates that all need to be removed to access the rear heat exchangers. They are easy to take out and now the rear exchangers are in full view. Use the trusty old paint brush and vacuum to clean them the same way as the top exchangers. Once they are clean the sheet metal plates can go back in along with the brick panel and that’s it for cleaning the fire box area.

Now the top part of the stove is complete, the fire will burn well and there is no ash to block the smoke and fumes exit. Stage three is when thing get a little dirty, rooting around in the ash pan and whatever lurks behind it. I open the side doors on the stove to get at the ash pan locks, there is an air tight seal between the ash pan and the combustion motor so the locks tend to be a little rugged to unlatch. Once it’s unlocked the pan needs to come out. Keep the vacuum handy because the ash pan will drag all kinds of ash out with it once it is removed. Clean the back side of the pan off before you go anywhere with it or else there will be ashes everywhere. Sometimes there is almost an inch of ash built up back there, and that all has to go. With the pan off I can now access the combustion motor fan, which also likes to collect ash on it. To get at the fan a small guard has to be removed, just slide the guard lock up, pull the guard to the left and out it comes. Take the old paint brush to the fan and then suck up anything that comes out of it. After that is clean put the fan guard back in and presto! All done with the stove clean up.

That’s it, plain and simple plus not all that time consuming. With this regular maintenance the stove should function flawlessly all winter long. The wife and I can sit comfortably by the fire on those cold winter nights and in the back of my mind I’ll know I’m saving some cash no matter what those OPEC folks do. And by the way, that brown film on the glass comes right off with a little Windex and some elbow grease.

Annotated Source List

"How to finish a Basement." Basements101.com. 16 Oct. 2008 .

This site has much to offer, it has a wide range of information from start to finish including diagrams, tips & tricks and advice from the pros. An excellent source of information for the do-it-yourselfer. Nearly step by step instructions to walk you through the whole process. Very helpful. A+

Carter, Tim. "Basement & Unfinished Space-Finishing/Construction Tips." Ask the Builder.com. 16 Oct. 2008 .

Ask the Builder shares some valuable info from an insider’s perspective right from the start. You need to do some digging to get the most out of it but that only shows how much info is available on this site. A site search not powered by google would be helpful. A-.

"Finished Basement Ideas." FINISHEDBASEMENTIDEAS. 18 Oct. 2008 .

This site offers nearly thirty different categories to chose from, all with a quick article on the topic selected. One of the greatest things about it is they factor price into the equation with a link to a calculator right there on the site. I’m a big fan of that because low cost and good looks will be my ultimate goal. B.

Graf#10

When I was in school I did plenty of research for different home work assignments. Most, if not all the research came from the old, ratty stack of Encyclopedias on a shelf in the school library. The internet was in its infancy and only available on three computers for a school of over four-hundred students…and I didn’t get much time with it back then. My first real deal with internet research came only about a year and a half ago when my wife had a routine test done during her pregnancy. This was the test for down syndrome, a simple blood drawing. They also check for several other defects, mostly chromosome related. Our test results were every expecting parent’s worst nightmare. The baby tested positive for something called trisomy 18, a chromosome defect. This trisomy 18 didn’t sound good at all coming from the doctor but most of it was all greek to us, so I decided to do some digging of my own on this unfamiliar topic. What I found terrified me, horrible birth defects if the baby even survived the pregnancy. In most cases the fetus doesn’t make it full term but in the rare occurrence that it does it will have little chance, if any of surviving outside the womb. The oldest living person with this defect only lived to age four. Then I started looking at the testing methods and results but things just didn’t add up, the numbers didn’t go together at all. These are the actual figures I found. 1 out of 24 pregnancies tests positive for trisomy 18 but only 1 out of 10,000 babies born actually has it. Take into the account all the ones that don’t make it and still, nothing adds up. We took our chances and said to hell with the doctors and all the bogus tests. Today we have a beautiful, healthy and happy, ten month old boy.

Contrast Essay with some tweeking

I have worked in a high volume machine shop for over five years. In my line of work I encounter all kinds of people. I am the trainer, the one who teaches how it’s done and I have perfected this black art, at least in my own arena. The text book from which I teach is nonexistent. My course is all in my mind somewhere and catered to the individual student. I have been the voice of guidance, and judgment for all that have been set before me, pass or fail. I won’t lie, more have failed to live up to my high expectations than those who have succeeded. But the handful of people who have passed are more than capable to take over for me when the torch is passed. As for the failures, I’m often the last person they work with within my companies walls. The few failures that eek past me end up in some monotonous job doing the same thing day in and day out. The one thing that keeps them there is that they show up almost every day. The few that can do my job are the hard workers. The ones who can’t compare are the lazy.

Hard workers are my kind of people, they know what it takes to earn money, not just make it. I can relate to them because hard work was pressed into me by my parents as a child and taking the easy way out was unheard of. In the summer it gets hot at work. 95 degrees and 95 percent humidity are normal conditions from late June through the end of August. The sweat beads off you standing still and your clothing clings to your body. The hard workers press on through it with little complaining, if any. The most they will say is “pretty frigin’ warm in here today” as they continue on their walk around the line. Un-like them the lazy man makes money by showing up for work and making it until the end of the day, not “earning” a dime of their pay checks. Looking busy when the boss man comes around is the only thing they have perfected. They look for any available excuse to walk off line, especially on those hotter than hell days. The company stocks the freezer full of popsicles in the summer which is a nice gesture but if one of my lazy guys is MIA, I know I’ll find him goin’ to town on a creamsicle sitting down in the break room. Then I have to be an asshole and tell him to get back to work because in the end, I’m responsible for the production numbers, and the parts don’t make themselves.

A prime example of one vs. the other can be seen in attendance alone. In my opinion the hardest worker there has been with the company for twelve years, let’s call him ‘Mr. B’. In the last ten he has had perfect attendance, I mean perfect, no lateness or leaving early not even a miss punch. At the other end of the spectrum is ‘Mr. K’. Mr. K has been with the company a little over a year and has missed fourteen days! How can he still be employed here? The company only allows nine absences a year, after that you’re gone. Mr. K is a person who puts more effort in getting out of work than actually working. He has found loop holes in the company hand/rule book and has pushed them to the limit. If he misses one more day, is late or leaves early, or simply forgets to punch in or out he is done. Why would you put yourself in that position? But Mr. B doesn’t even take his two paid personal days that he has earned for his years of service. Instead the company pays him for the two days at the end of the year because our personal days do not roll over to the next year.

Aside from training people I also am responsible for production requirements for my designated area. This means that if a piece of equipment breaks down or has a malfunction of some kind I fix it. I depend on the operator to tell me when a problem has occurred. The hard worker notifies me immediately when a problem arises. While I fix the machine they find ways to keep busy. Double checking the quality of the product or grabbing a broom and dust pan, anything to contribute to the job. A hard worker will return from break early just to get a jump start on the last half of the shift. On the other hand Mr. K or anyone of his followers will deliberately waste time trying to fix something they know they can’t. When they finally decide to call for help and I arrive they say something like “I’m gonna go use the bathroom” or “I’ll be right back”. Fifteen minutes later they show up with cheeto residue on their face saying “Is it fixed yet?” Most of the time it’s a quick fix that takes five minutes and I’ve been doing their job for ten minutes waiting them to return. They also are the first people to go to lunch and the last ones to return.

In the end I’ve learned that it is no use complaining to the higher up big wigs. Sometimes they turn things around and make sound like I’m not doing my job. I’m letting them ‘get away with it’ but yet I have no authoritative power. I’ve come to the conclusion that most of the bosses are just as lazy as Mr. K and they stick together like a lazy mans workers union. Instead of taking responsibility and whipping them into shape or firing them, the extra work load is simply piled onto the next guy who’s trying to earn his pay.

Contrast Essay

I have worked in a high volume machine shop for over five years. In my line of work I encounter all kinds of people. I am the trainer, the one who teaches how it’s done and I have perfected this black art, at least in my own arena. The text book from which I teach is nonexistent. My course is all in my mind somewhere and catered to the individual student. I have been the voice of guidance, and judgment for all that have been set before me, pass or fail. I won’t lie, more have failed to live up to my high expectations than those who have succeeded. But the handful of people who have passed are more than capable to take over for me when the torch is passed. As for the failures, I’m often the last person they work with within my companies walls. The few failures that eek past me end up in some monotonous job doing the same thing day in and day out. The one thing that keeps them there is that they show up almost every day. The few that can do my job are the hard workers. The ones who can’t compare are the lazy.

Hard workers are my kind of people, they know what it takes to earn money, not just make it. Hard work was pressed into me by my parents as a child and taking the easy way out was unheard of. A lazy man makes money by showing up for work and making it until the end of the day, not “earning” a dime of their pay check. Looking busy when the boss man comes around is the only thing they have perfected. The sad part is that some lazy ones put more effort into getting out of working than if they had just done their job. Not the case with a hard worker, they will give all day in and day out never uttering a complaint. People who work hard take pride in their job, a far cry from just showing up every day.

A prime example of one vs. the other can be seen in attendance alone. In my opinion the hardest worker there has been with the company for twelve years, let’s call him ‘Mr. B’. In the last ten he has had perfect attendance, I mean perfect, no lateness or leaving early not even a miss punch. At the other end of the spectrum is ‘Mr. K’. Mr. K has been with the company a little over a year and has missed fourteen days! How can he still be employed here? The company only allows nine absences a year, after that you’re gone. Mr. K is a person who puts more effort in getting out of work than actually working. He has found loop holes in the company hand/rule book and has pushed them to the limit. If he misses one more day, is late or leaves early, or simply forgets to punch in or out he is done. Why would you put yourself in that position? But Mr. B doesn’t even take his two paid personal days that he has earned for his years of service. Instead the company pays him for the two days at the end of the year because our personal days do not roll over to the next year.

Aside from training people I also am responsible for production requirements for my designated area. This means that if a piece of equipment breaks down or has a malfunction of some kind I fix it. I depend on the operator to tell me when a problem has occurred. The hard worker notifies me immediately when a problem arises. While I fix the machine they find ways to keep busy. Double checking the quality of the product or grabbing a broom and dust pan, anything to contribute to the job. Mr. K or anyone of his followers will deliberately waste time trying to fix something they know they can’t. When they finally decide to call for help and I arrive they say something like “I’m gonna go use the bathroom” or “I’ll be right back”. Fifteen minutes later they show up with cheeto residue on their face saying “Is it fixed yet?” Most of the time it’s a quick fix that takes five minutes and I’ve been doing their job for ten minutes waiting them to return. They also are the first people to go to lunch and the last ones to return. But a hard worker will return from break early just to get a jump start on the last half of the shift.

In the end I’ve learned that it is no use complaining to the higher up big wigs. Sometimes they turn things around and make sound like I’m not doing my job. I’m letting them ‘get away with it’ but yet I have no authoritative power. I’ve come to the conclusion that most of the bosses are just as lazy as Mr. K and they stick together like a lazy mans workers union. Instead of taking responsibility and whipping them into shape or firing them, the extra work load is simply piled onto the next guy who’s trying to earn his pay.

Isearch Why

I chose to search for information on a basement remodel because it is something I plan to do in the future and I need more information before I start diving in. As my family grows larger the free space in the house grows smaller and smaller, I decided something has to change. My wife and I had talked about putting on an addition or even a second story but, once I got to pricing things out I realized just how deeply in debt I would be when the dust had cleared. The idea of a second floor was thrown out first because we would lose some of our already cramped space while it was in process. I would also need to hire a contractor. The addition idea is still being kicked around but at this point financially, it just isn’t practical. Then came the basement idea, cheaper, simpler, and I think I can do it on my own but…
• Roughly, how much will it cost me?
• What do I need to do to the basement before I begin?
• The floor is not perfectly level, how do I fix it and with what?
• Do I need to seal off between the cement and the wood?
• Will I have to buy a special tool to nail into cement?
• How do I lay out a floor plan to accommodate my needs?
 Day time lighting, access to drain clean outs, water softener, oil tank, furnace, washer and dryer, etc.
• How will I heat these rooms in the winter?
 Can I draw air down into the basement on one end and push it back up on the other?
 Will I have to use an electric monitor heater? How much will that cost to run?
• What about wall vents to keep the air moving and not “stagnant” and trapped down there?
• My oldest boy wants his room downstairs, how can his input affect the final results?

Isearch What

The first real question that surrounds this project is price. In the end, what will it cost? I know prices vary from lumber yards to the big box stores and that small, local yards often deliver for free. I’m far enough away to know it’s not worth the trouble to ask a big retailer to deliver for free. I know sheet rock and 2x4’s all average around the same price range. If I figure in the gas price to go get cheaper stuff further away I may not be saving any money or time. There is a ton of junk in my way that needs to be moved before I can even start any prep work. I assume that the walls and floor will need to be cleaned before any kind of floor or wall framing can begin. I know my basement floor is not perfectly level and will require some kind of Leveling Compound, although I don’t really know what that is or how to use it. I have heard of using some sort of poly film and pine strapping to seal off between the cement and the soon to be finished rooms. There is also something called mastic. I think mastic is a kind of water barrier that is spread over the exiling cement. I know of some kind of tool made to drive nails into concrete using a blank .22 round but, I don’t have one. How much will one cost?

An exact and final floor layout will be necessary before I even get started. I know there will need to be a utility hallway to access my large chest freezer and water softener. This will also need to have storage space for the bags of water salts. The kitchen sink drain cleanout is over the water softener and I will want to reach it easily if needed. I’m trying to figure out how to accommodate the only window in that area into the main bedroom. It would be good to have a natural day time light source and will also provide ventilation. Another hall will be needed to access the laundry room, storage room, and my workshop area which also contains my oil furnace and oil tank. In the winter, heating the rooms to a comfortable temperature may be a challenge. I have been thinking about floor vents with duct fans to pull air down stairs, at least for the bedroom. Although I question whether or not my new pellet stove can heat the added space without robbing heat from the upstairs. Last spring I purchased a one room, water filled radiator heater on clearance at Wal-Mart. It claims to heat a whole room with no exposed element and at a low energy cost. This will be my first approach but it is still in the box nine months after being bought. I should also install some small wall vents to allow some air movement but the floor plan will decide their location.

The bedroom will be for my oldest son, he is six years old. He is excited about having a new bedroom and wants to add his opinion in the final finish work. He and I were in our local building supply store and he spotted drop ceiling tiles with race cars on them. These are going to a must for his new room. He also wants to pick his own floor but can’t decide between a rug or black and white tiles laid out like a big checker board. Whatever his choices are they are permanent because once it’s done, I’m finished with it.

Contrast Essay Intro #2

I work with two different kinds of people. Hard workers are the ones I prefer, and then there are the “eekers” or the lazy ones. Most of the hard workers are from this area and they know what hard work is. They also truly understand the value of a dollar and what it takes to make a few. The lazy ones just do enough to get by, like showing up for work or looking busy when the boss is around. They are defended by lazy bosses in positions of power, sticking together like a lazy man’s workers union. Either way, I’m the person who trains them and it only takes a matter of minutes to label their work ethic.

Contrst Essay Intro #1

In my line of work I encounter all kinds of people. I am the trainer, the one who teaches how it’s done and I have perfected this black art, at least in my own arena. The text book from which I teach is nonexistent. My course is all in my mind somewhere and catered to the individual student. I have been the voice of guidance, and judgment for all that have been set before me, pass or fail. I won’t lie, more have failed to live up to my high expectations than those who have succeeded. But the hand full of people who have passed are more than capable to take over for me when the torch is passed. As for the failures, I’m often the last person they work with within my companies walls. The few failures that eek past me end up in some monotonous job doing the same thing day in and day out. The one thing that keeps them there is that they show up almost every day. The few that can do my job are the hard workers and the ones who can’t compare are the lazy.

New and Improved Isearch Background

As a child, I remember my great aunt and uncle’s house being built. They were from Rhode Island and had moved up here to enjoy retirement and to be closer to family. The basement was left unfinished with nothing more than a wood boiler and a work bench for my uncles tinkering. As the years came and went, unfortunately so did my great aunt and uncle. The house was then given to her granddaughter and here small family who quickly took up residence. By the way, this house was not a large one. Sure it had a spacious living room and kitchen but the bed rooms were tiny, like how do you fit a bed and a dresser in there tiny. They quickly got to rearranging things by making the two small bedrooms into one larger one, great for mom and dad but, what about their daughter? She made out best of all with a full, finished apartment in the basement, a teenagers dream come true. Sure, she still lived with her folks but barely. Her own living room, bathroom, and master bed room. There was no kitchen but she didn’t need it anyway, all she had to do was go up stairs and see what mom and dad were eating. The same thing with laundry, go use their washer, and so on.

Recapping on these events now, years later I’ve realized that my current lack of space problem could easily be solved by going down instead of up or sideways like I had original thought. An addition would provide some of the space I need but would also be much more expensive. The price of digging a hole and putting in a frost wall alone would be about the same cost as a basement remodel. By staying in the basement I can increase the floor space of the house by nearly 2/3 at a fraction of the cost. So far it looks like I can build three rooms. One will be a larger bedroom for my oldest son, he is excited about having a bedroom down stairs and wants to take part in designing it. Another room will be a utility room for laundry and our old reliable desktop computer. The final room will be for storage, we have so much junk that we don’t need yet can’t seem to part with. Now I’ll have a place to put it all. Putting rooms in a basement would be a lot less expensive than an addition and with my experience in carpentry could be done by myself. I can also set the pace according to my schedule.

Back in high school I took part in a building construction program offered by the local tech. school. Our teacher was a lifelong carpenter and he knew every last trick in the book. In the class we worked on several different projects including building an addition to a house from the ground up. The knowledge I gained from this particular project will be the most helpful in the basement project because it covers about 90% of the things I’ll need to do. My cousin and I built a camp on the coast a few years back and that was a good refresher of my carpentry skills that I haven’t used since high school. I’ve also done a lot of remodeling in the upstairs portion of the house slowly over the last few years that have involved finish carpentry work and attention to detail. I have all the skill sets I’ll need to do most of the framing and finish work but, still have a lot of unanswered questions.

Isearch Background

As a child, I remember my great aunt and uncle’s house being built. They were from Rhode Island and had moved up here to enjoy retirement and to be closer to family. The basement was left unfinished with nothing more than a wood boiler and a work bench for my uncles tinkering. As the years came and went, unfortunately so did my great aunt and uncle. The house was then given to her granddaughter and here small family who quickly took up residence. By the way, this house was not a large one. Sure it had a spacious living room and kitchen but the bed rooms were tiny, like how do you fit a bed and a dresser in there tiny. They quickly got to rearranging things by making the two small bedrooms into one larger one, great for mom and dad but, what about their daughter? She made out best of all with a full, finished apartment in the basement, a teenagers dream come true. Sure, she still lived with her folks but barely. Her own living room, bathroom, and master bed room. There was no kitchen but she didn’t need it anyway, all she had to do was go up stairs and see what mom and dad were eating. The same thing with laundry, go use their washer, and so on.

Recapping on these events now, years later I’ve realized that my current lack of space problem could easily be solved by going down instead of up or sideways like I had original thought. Putting rooms in a basement would be a lot less expensive than an addition and with my experience in carpentry could be done by myself. I can also set the pace according to my schedule. Back in high school I took part in a building construction program offered by the local tech. school. Our teacher was a lifelong carpenter and he knew every last trick in the book. In the class we worked on several different projects including building an addition to a house from the ground up. The knowledge I gained from this particular project will be the most helpful in the basement project because it covers about 90% of the things I’ll need to do. I have all the skill sets I’ll need to do most of the framing and finish work but, still have a lot of unanswered questions.

Essay # 2 Classification

About a year or so after I started working second shift, I became interested in getting a concealed firearms permit. In that first year I was nearly killed by a drunk driver on the way home. This guy was all over the road as I approached him, back and forth from shoulder to shoulder. I slowed down as I came closer and his truck started veering into my lane, he was headed right for me. The only way I avoided him was cutting into a long parking lot that ran parallel to the road. He also came into that same empty lot but kept rolling and drove his truck into the ditch behind me. I wasn’t sticking around to watch him fall out of the truck or get angry at his truck for driving into the ditch, instead I left in a hurry. As I continued driving home I got thinking about what if he had hit me? What if he thought it was my fault? What if he had a gun and wanted to shoot me for ‘Running him off the road’? And what about all the other nuts out here on the road at 1 A.M.? I decided then that I didn’t want to be a victim out here. I started looking into getting a concealed carry permit, and found it wasn’t that hard, or expensive to do if you had a clean record. Even if I got the permit though, I didn’t have a gun that could be easily hidden, especially on my 5’10” 145 pound body. My full size 45 ACP 1911 left quite a bulge wherever it was and the idea is to “conceal” it. I started shopping around for a small yet reliable carry sidearm and was rather overwhelmed at the choices out there. I was able to narrow it down into a few categories. The first are small “snub-nosed” revolvers, compact and rugged, and available in a wide range of calibers. Second are the small, all steel semi autos. Heavy but equally as rugged as some of the small framed revolvers out there, however only a small range of calibers to chose from. The third and final practical choice was a small, polymer framed semi auto. They prove to be the most popular among CC permit holders, offering light weight, a wide range of calibers, and potentially lifesaving options such as light rails or even built in laser sights if you’re willing to pay the price.
“Mister Saturday night special”, is what Lynyrd Sknyrd calls it, a small compact revolver commonly chambered in .38 “special”. Truth be told, there are a lot more revolvers out there ideal for concealed carry than you might think. This category statistically proves that most female CC permit holders carry a revolver. They are easy to use, easy to conceal, and one of the most common guns found in your local gun shop. Double action models offer the most versatility with the ability to cock the hammer and aim for better accuracy, or just pull the trigger repeatedly to get a few rounds off. Hammerless models are available and for the most part are snag free but can only be shot double action. Unless you’re a target shooting pro this will throw your accuracy all over the place, in a close range self defense situation though, who cares about accuracy. You just want to hit the guy trying to kill you. If you’re a John Wayne or Clint Eastwood type you could tote around an old Colt Single Action Army, but I’m no cowboy so that’s just not practical to me. I have only heard one complaint about revolvers for concealed carry. If you’re pushed to the ground and have to fire back at an upward angle, the shells can slip backwards out of the chamber and prevent the cylinder from rotating to the next unfired round. That is a rare occurrence but it can happen. If I where to buy a revolver, I would get it in .357 Magnum, mostly because you can shoot .38 specials through it which is much more controllable and it’s a little less intimidating for the shooter.
Next up are the small, all metal semi autos, tried and true, capable of rapid fire and quick reloading. Strong enough so if it were to get stepped on by some big ugly biker guy, it would most likely still work fine. Denting or bending hardened steel in rather tough, after all, a framing hammer isn’t made of polymer. The best examples of a time proven semi auto hand guns are the old .25 & .32 caliber Colt model 1903’s. These firearms average to be one hundred years in age but, with proper maintenance still function beautifully today. I’m not saying the average Glock won’t do this in a hundred years, but they just haven’t been around long enough to know. In 1911, a miracle of sorts happened with John Browning’s famous design which he sold to Colt. A design that would become a staple in American society, the Colt 1911. It had served our troops as a standard issue sidearm in WWII and all other confrontations until its replacement in the early 90’s. It has been the most copied firearm in history, with hundreds of different manufacturers and variations to its original design. One of the newest versions is a compact .45 with a three inch barrel, this gun has been totally redesigned on the inside and is constructed with as fewest moving parts as possible. It is called the Springfield EMP. This one was a key player in my selection process, but the price kept me away.
And last but, certainly not least, are the polymer framed “Tactical” Handguns. These haven’t been around long enough to be truly compared to either of the two listed above. However, they are low priced, and commonly found in most gun shops. They are available with all kinds of goodies like laser sights, high capacity magazines, and tactical rails for flashlights. Not to mention nifty package deals with extra mags and speed loaders, plus a free double clip holster. Goodies and package deals aside, all I see in a nut shell is a bent up piece of sheet metal wrapped in plastic with an old design actually sending the bullet down the barrel. Sure a laser sight would be helpful if you’re dangerous with a firearm and have trouble hitting the target… fire away. A flash light on my handgun? No thanks, I’d rather wave a flag if I wanted to give my position away that easy. Although, I must confess, I did like a nice little Taurus PT145 pro millennium, it was small but it had substantial firepower. It also had simple and easy disassembly for cleaning and was easy to conceal. If I were going to go with a polymer framed gun, this Taurus would have been it.
So what did I go with? After reviewing all the information and hassling some gun dealers to death I picked a nice, nearly new, stainless steel SIG P232. I found it in a small local gun shop for the unbelievably low price of $439 dollars, this firearm new is listed at $840. It had barely ever been fired and had no signs of abuse. It is chambered in380. ACP, which is a fairly cheap and readily available cartridge, it is also available in +P rounds which give it the same ballistics of a nine millimeter Lugar. Being stainless steel it requires minimal cleaning unless it’s fired and even then it doesn’t get that dirty. I can carry it in a leather, high ride holster virtually undetected under a sweatshirt but I still have easy access to it if I need it. And best of all its light, weighing in at just under two pounds with a loaded clip. Now I just hope I never get in a situation where I have to use it, I’d rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it.

Classification Outro

So what did I go with? After reviewing all the information and hassling some gun dealers to death I picked a nice, nearly new, stainless steel SIG P232. I found it in a small local gun shop for the unbelievably low price of $439 dollars, this firearm new is listed at $840. It had barely ever been fired and had no signs of abuse. It is chambered in380. ACP, which is a fairly cheap and readily available cartridge, it is also available in +P rounds which give it the same ballistics of a nine millimeter Lugar. Being stainless steel it requires minimal cleaning unless it’s fired and even then it doesn’t get that dirty. I can carry it in a leather, high ride holster virtually undetected under a sweatshirt but I still have easy access to it if I need it. And best of all its light, weighing in at just under two pounds with a loaded clip. Now I just hope I never get in a situation where I have to use it, I’d rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it.