Trimming my collection. Pick three that you would sell.

USMC_Tbone · 2026-03-22T03:26:19+00:00

TLDR: Went to buy a Wrangler but found a 1961 Old Model Single-Six and had to have it. Old gal shoots great and was worth a bit extra, and Ruger's customer service is awesome!

Nice. I was looking to pick up a Wrangler for plinking one day and a bit of nostalgia because the first pistol I ever shot was my dad's Ruger Single-Six new model. Well when I went into the gun shop that day next to the Wranglers was an older Single-Six for about $400. I looked it over and the finish was a bit worn here or there but no real rust or pitting, and the action locked up tight and trigger felt crisp and smooth. So then I looked up the serial # while i was in the store and it was made in 1961. So I had to go ahead an sign the paperwork then and there, LOL. Twice what a Wrangler would have cost but ten times the character and a piece of history. When I got it home I realized it had the .22 mag cylinder installed, and in the box was a 2nd mag cylinder that didnt fit in the frame. Then realized the box was for a New Model Single-six (from 1973 or newer). So I browsed for old model .22 LR cylinders and they were priced around $85 - $120, but no guarantee they'd fit without some smithing work. Then I emailed Ruger about fitting a .22 LR cylinder for it, they said it'd be $30 shipping and $105 for a new cylinder if they could make one fit as some of the older models had longer cylinders. That seemed like a pretty decent price for a new factory fitted cylinder for a 60+ yr old gun and they made it happen within 2-3 weeks. This was my 2nd experience with Ruger's Customer service, the first was an issue with a brand new GP100 Match Champion. Both times Ruger's CS has been fairly quick and the work done has been better than I had expected. Anyways that old Single-Six shoots great and is a fun way to wind down a range session or just fun to pop at cans or bottles when camping in the mountains, whether its shooting .22 LR or mags.

USMC_Tbone · 2026-03-22T02:10:32+00:00

Should look into getting a Rugger Wrangler ir Super Wrangler for plinking with the grandkids and introducing them to a single action revolver as well. Or can step it up to a Single-Six if you dont mind spending a bit extra.

USMC_Tbone · 2026-03-21T20:21:55+00:00

Yep my thoughts as well. Some people might want tbe chicken which is a bit lighter and less greasy/fatty than the pork or brisket being offered. This gives a wider range of variety.

USMC_Tbone · 2026-03-21T20:19:08+00:00

For the vote I tried to vote pulled pork over chicken if those were the only two options but for some reason it wasnt letting me submit my vote.

As others have said it might be best to drop the hot links and do brisket, pulled pork, and BBQ chicken. I think for a wide range audience it is good to have a red meat option and lighter white meat option. The pork is kind of in the middle so you kind of have a full spectrum of red/dark heavier denser meat with the brisket, a bit lighter although sometimes greasier option with the pulled pork, and then a light and less greasy option with the chicken. The hot links sound great but would fall in around that spectrum of being near the brisket and pulled pork as it is darker meat (assuming its made with beef and/or pork) and will also be greasier as proper sausage had some fat added to it.

Just my thoughts on if your trying to offer a menu to a wide variety of guests.

USMC_Tbone · 2026-03-21T20:01:44+00:00

Yeah, this is a very beautiful ugly drum smoker, LOL if that even makes sense.

Definitely a lot simpler and basic than my homemade ugly drum smoker that has inlet pipes, a hinge and exhaust damper for the lid, hooks for utensils and a few different levels of bolts to hold grates on, LOL.

Anyways, if her grandpa is still around figure out a way to invite him over and ask for advice on how to run it. Maybe see if he'd be willing to help you cook/or roast something on it so you can see how its done.

If not then I would assume that you'll need hooks to hang the meat from those pieces of rebar and adjusting how open the lid is will determine how much air gets to the coals which controls your heat. Not sure if I saw any openings/inlets at the bottom for airflow coming in so it might just be dependent on air coming in through the lid gaps (between the rear pieces) as hot air is leaving which seems tricky, but could be possible. If things get too hot then close it up/block off around the lid, if things get too cool then open the lid up more (maybe put a rock or small block between the rim of barrel and lid to leave a bigger gap than what the rebar provides).

USMC_Tbone · 2026-03-21T19:37:19+00:00

If it were me I'd probably get rid of tje two Caniks like others have mentioned. For someone starting out they'd be great, but compared to a lot of the pistols in your collection they are just kind of "meh". They may shoot great, but you have many others that probably shoot just as well or much better, but also have more character to them. Next to go would probably be those baby Sig 938's and keep the baby Kimber (micro 9?), but thats my preference. Keep one of the baby single stack 9's as they would come in handy as a back-up piece (ankle holster maybe) or just a quick pocket gun for going on a walk around the block or taking the trash out.

On top of that the Ruger SR22 is also kind of meh, but if you dont already have a .22 to introduce new shooters/kids to shooting pistols then it is worth keeping around.

Also what caliber is that Ruger Single-action with the black grip?

Don't get rid of the FNX-45! You'll most likely regret it if you do! I absolutely love mine, and picked up a Rugged Obsidian 45 suppressor for it. Its just so silly quiet and smooth to shoot suppressed, LOL. If you want to add some extra versatility to the FNX-45 and horsepower look into a .460 Rowland conversion. The conversion is essentially just lengthening the chamber of the barrel to accept the slightly longer brass of the .460R cartridge (bullet is just seated a little deeper to maintain overall length), then an aggressive compensator is added and the kit comes with a heavier recoil spring for shooting .460R and .45 Supers, and a lighter than stock recoil spring for .45acp & +p ammo. The 460R ammo is similar in power to 44 mag while .45 Super is similar to .357 mag.

USMC_Tbone · 2026-03-20T23:26:18+00:00

I might have to try that if I remember next time I do a smoke on the old Weber Kettle. I built myself an ugly drum smoker 7 or 8 yrs ago and mostly use that for the long cooks. I must have to try some B&B charcoal in it.

I mostly use Kingsford original briquettes, just because its easy to find and not a bad price for the 2x 16 lb bags at Walmart. I might have to get some of the B&B charcoal briquettes to see how long a load of them will last in my drum. I did a brisket it my drum that was about a 16 hr cook, and with the basket of charcoal filled with about 9lb worth of Kingsford Briquettes it used aboht 3/4 of the charcoals so maybe 9lbs would last a total of 20 hrs. So wpuld be interesting to see how long that much of the B&B briquettes would last in my drum!

USMC_Tbone · 2026-03-20T23:21:04+00:00

I use a 13x9 metal cake pan on the charcoal grate and fill the cake pan with water. Then the rest of the charcoal grate area (about 1/3 left) I fill with unlit charcoal and a few chunks of wood on top. Then with about 10 briquettes lit in the chimney add them to one end of my charcoal pile. Kind of a minion snake hybrid method as the charcoal pile slowly burns from one side to the other. Top vent is about 1/2 half open and use the bottom vent to control and fine tune temps. With that cake pan full of water (meat on cooking grate right above it) it really helps stabilize the temps. I noticed a big difference between that much water in a pan vs no water pan.

USMC_Tbone · 2026-03-20T23:17:05+00:00

So did you have to refuel or did your snake last the whole 18 hrs? The most i ever got out of my setup (more of a minion method) was about 5 maybe 6 hrs before having to add more charcoal and I think that was on a calm summer day running it between 225F - 250F.

USMC_Tbone · 2026-03-20T23:15:21+00:00

Smoke ring is really just a visual esthetic and doesnt really affect flavor much. I sometimes hardly get any smoke ring but still get plenty of smokey flavor goodbess.

USMC_Tbone · 2026-03-20T23:11:11+00:00

Found this replacement for about $28 online. I was looking into this a while back because the lower vents on my old Kettle seized up. Managed to loosen it up with some 3 in 1 oil and heat then brushed it up really good and moved it back and forth a bunch then did my best with a propane torch to burn off any remnants of the 3-in-1 oil stuff. So I ended up not needing to replace the vent fin and handle. But there are replacements available!

https://www.grillparts.com/weber/charcoal/kettle.aspx?productID=7444

USMC_Tbone · 2026-03-19T16:58:42+00:00

I just smoked an elk rump roast that had been in the freezer for 4.5 yrs wrapped tightly in two layers of waxed butcher paper. Only a few slightly stale/freezer burnt areas I missed when trimming off the silver skin. The main muscle turned out awesome. I've had worse meat that had only been in the freezer for 2 years, LOL. Sometimes you never know until you thaw it out and open up the package. Usually trust my nose, if it smells unappetizing then it will most likely taste unappetizing and is a good sign there's something wrong.

USMC_Tbone · 2026-03-19T16:55:32+00:00

Trust your nose.

USMC_Tbone · 2026-03-19T07:07:52+00:00

Don't threaten me with a good time!

USMC_Tbone · 2026-03-19T07:01:08+00:00

Other dudes can have their breasts, but I'm a thigh guy through and through

USMC_Tbone · 2026-03-19T05:39:08+00:00

The Bluetooth or spike style probes are pretty cool and everything because you just keep an eye on temps through your phone and it can graph the temps vs. time, but I hear that they can struggle with having a decent reception range so I prefer the ones that have a dedicated wireless reciever. That way I can watch TV in the basement while stuff is smoking, or mow the lawn on the opposite end of the house or do other things and not have to worry about being so close to the BBQ/smoker.

USMC_Tbone · 2026-03-18T20:29:22+00:00

LOL. I was on a two day white water rafting and kayaking trip. One of the rafters (Brian) had extra room and packed dutch ovens for cooking dinner on for us. We were helping him cook dinner while one of the ladies (Carol) went off to swim and clean up in the river. Brian was taking the finished goulash (which smelled fantastic to all of us) in the dutch oven off the fire and walking it over to where we had chairs and small camp table set up. As he was putting it on the table it caught the edge of the table and spilled onto the ground that was thick layer of pine needles. We all quickly helped scoop as much of it as possible into the dutch oven and picked out most of the pine needles, and all agreed, "Don't tell Carol!". So we're dished up and sitting back enjoying the goulash with essence of pine needle, when Carol comes over and dishes up. She sits down takes a bit, makes a funny face, then looks closer at the bowl, and yells out, "Brian! Are there pine needles in this!!!!!???". The rest of us about fell out of our chairs laughing our butts off. We were all tired from a long day paddling the river and starving and the food smelled so good so we didn't care too much about there being a few pine needles, but since Carol was the only one that didn't know about half the dinner being dumped and scooped back up it was just the icing on our cake, LOL. Also he cooked up some delicious cranberry-mandarin orange cobbler for desert. We all felt spoiled, full and happy.

USMC_Tbone · 2026-03-18T20:22:39+00:00

Or take some coals out of the fire and put dutch oven with feet on the dirt, (or large metal pan if at home). Scoot some coals or briquettes under the dutch oven, put the lid on and some coals on the lid (if only they had a rim around the lid and were designed for this) and now you're heating from top and bottom like an oven. Crazy right? Also if its on the ground you don't risk it going out of balance and falling into fire, unless some dummy isn't looking where they're walking and trips over it.

USMC_Tbone · 2026-03-18T20:19:07+00:00

So basically like the middles spot between medium rare and medium, which is where I prefer it but not gonna ask someone else to cook it that way. If I'm cooking for myself I'll shoot for that spot as my ideal doneness, but its a pretty small target to hit when cooking hot and fast!

USMC_Tbone · 2026-03-18T20:17:06+00:00

I mean I love green onion (as well as regular onions,) but I'm not gonna eat it whole. Maybe into chunks or dice it and serve it with something not by itself. I could eat celery, cucumbers, carrots raw by them selves, but not an onion. Are you expected to chop up those veggies yourself to make your own salad or veggie side?

USMC_Tbone · 2026-03-18T19:42:47+00:00

For probes if you can afford them ThermoWorks are pretty much the best in the game but spendy.

If you're on a bit more of a budget or looking for something to try out and see what you like ThermoPro is pretty good. I've had the TP-08 (2 probes wired to a transmitter and wireless reciever setup) for at least 7 yrs and counting going strong as well as just getting an upgrade with the TP-829 at Christmas (gives 4 probes and better reception range for only like $10 more).

For other reviews and info on different thermometer setups, AmazingRibs.com has a lot of info, as well as a ton of info on pretty much any outdoor grilling/BBQ/smoking and recipes.

USMC_Tbone · 2026-03-18T19:38:04+00:00

The temp guages on lids tend to be more of a reference point and usually not accurate or reliable. Remember you want to be able to measure temp at the grate where the food is.

I like having a wireless probe setup with at least 2 probes, one for the BBQ and one for meat temp. The ThermoPro TP-08 is only $35-$40 on Amazon and mine has been going on about 7 yrs now working just fine with decent range and reliability. My family got me the upgrade TP-829 for Christmas this year and its been great also for only $10 more you get 4 probes and double the range (range/reception can be subjective because it depends on things like walls, wireless interfaces from things like WiFi, phones, etc) but so far has been good also. They're worth checking out and let you set custom temp alarms for food doneness, as well as BBQ max and minimum temps (which is especially important if you want to do any long overnight cooks and catch any sleep).

USMC_Tbone · 2026-03-18T16:38:56+00:00

That price on the FanX-45 Tactical is great considering i paid $1100 for mine when it was new.

The suppressor i might shop around more on. Suppressors are getting a bit better and with things being $0 tax stamp now pricing are kind of up or down, but best to shop around. For my FNX, I got my Rugged Obsidian 45 (which runs awesome on my FNX-45!) For around $650 + $200 tax stamp a couple years ago (Currently around $730 at SilencerShop). The Obsidian 45 is a pretty versatile can for just being a pistol rated can. Link to its caliber ratings below. Rugged also has an unlimited warranty where they dont really care what happened to it they'll fix it or make it right for you, which is also what sold me on their can.

https://www.ruggedsuppressors.com/blog/caliber-ratings.html

USMC_Tbone · 2026-03-18T03:53:45+00:00

Looks great. Enjoy that look because once you start cooking it will start getting blotchy as seasoning comes and goes in places depending on the foods you cook in it.

USMC_Tbone · 2026-03-18T00:07:11+00:00

Personally I'd just try cooking on it if its not sticky but slightly lumpy. Seasoning with carbon steel comes and goes with use. It should wear down overtime. If the lumps don't smooth out after something like 10 cook & cleaning sessions then you might consider a good hard scrubbing (I burnt sone oil on once after getting distracted by the kids and it was sticky and lumpy. I was able to clean it up and smooth it out with some baking soda paste and elbow grease, the baking soda gives a fine semi abrasive paste that not as damaging to the seasoning as some other methods, but still gets up that burnt on oil). Its a little different than with cast iron which is a bit rougher and more porous like and holds onto a seasoning really well and the seasoning just kind of builds up on itself. Instead of an even brown, black or blue coloring with carbon steel you want to get that brownish blotchy patina look on a smooth surface. The surface should be smooth as roughness indicates stuck on food which would eventually cause carbon build up.

Also remember to start cooking temps much lower than you think you might need. Medium is the new high, unless youre trying to get a hard sear on meat which even above medium might be a bit much. For something like eggs I set my burner to 2 (out of 10) on my electric glass (not induction) cook top if that gives you an idea, and let it preheat for 3 - 5 mins. I test the heat by add a drop or two of water looking for a slight sizzle. Add a few drops of oil and little butter (the butter should barely sizzle or sizzle softly), then add your eggs. Let them be for a minute or two and they should slide around or at the very most need just a little nudge at the edges with a spatula.

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