9/27    MOTD gun nuts:  Considering buying an M1 Garand.  What's better,
        30-06 or NATO 7.62?  I haven't used 30-06, but if there's no diff,
        that caliber costs about 3 times as much here.  -John
        \_ There is a difference, of course.  30-06 has longer effective
           range, 7.62 can be made a little more accurate, if you are into
           that sort of thing.  In practice, try shooting both, and use
           the largest calibre you can comfortably shoot.  30-06 will kick
           more.  On a slightly unrelated note, isn't an M1 Garand a
           _military_ rifle?  Tsk, tsk, there ought to be a law, deadly
           military-style weapons on our streets, etc. etc.  -- ilyas
           \_ "our" streets? DOesn't John live in Switzerland?
              \_ Amazing that their streets aren't flowing with the blood
                 of non-believers, no?  The M1 is legal in most of the US,
                 btw. -- ilyas
        \_ get a Remington 700 PSS
        \_ I used that in Medal of Honor, it's pretty lousy. I'd prefer
           M16 as it is more accurate and less recoil.
           \_ banned in California
        \_ Hey gun nuts, do your activities damage your hearing?
           \_ muffled ear protection
              \_ Well, I've seen a lot of videos and things where people aren't
                 wearing any ear protection. And somehow I doubt hunters wear
                 any. And I never heard of infantry having ear protection on
                 duty. Too bad silencers are illegal.
                 \_ Don't silencers mess up accuracy? -!gun nut
                    \_ most do.  but they don't have to.  Surefire (makers
                       of high performance flashlights and laser sighting
                       products) now makes a very well designed sound
                       suppressor for the M4 carbine (5.56/.223) which
                       has good acoustic performance, slight improvement
                       on muzzle velocity, and minimal (less than 1 minute
                       of angle) impact on accuracy.  http://www.surefire.com
                       \_ I'm reading their marketing articles and they claim
                          that accuracy is improved (tighter groups). The l.t.
                          1 minute of angle referred to point of impact shift.
                          \_ the surefire sound suppressor does both.  --Jon
                          \_ pedantic sidenote: accuracy is the proper term
                             for 1MOA impact on point of aim.  precision would
                             be the proper term for the fact that the shots
                             all end up in a tighter group. --Jon
                       \_ They also describe cases of police officers getting
                          damaged hearing so I guess the answer to my original
                          question was "yes".
                 \_ they may be wearing ear plugs.  also, outdoors shooting
                    is easier on the ears than indoors.