Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

"Laverne & Shirley". "One Day At A Time". Pretty much the whole gimmick of "Three's Company". And, of course, "The Odd Couple".

I suppose Archie Bunker might have been Status 0 rather than -1, but perhaps not. The Evans family in "Good Times" certainly wasn't status 0. "Sanford and Son". "Alice". "What's Happening".

Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

If not L.L. Bean then work clothes will likely be Carhart.

Jordache jeans for the fashion-conscious spoiled rich kids.

High-end electronics is a CD player. The Sony Discman came out in 1984. I bought my first CD player (a boom box) in 1989 just after I joined the Army.

Agree- there really is no equivalent to a luxury SUV. Rich people drove Caddies or imports. Maybe a Lincoln. A full-sized pickup like an F-150 is the default offroad vehicle, and you have to get out and lock the hubs to switch to 4WD (if you have it at all). Or a Jeep Wrangler- they were damned popular as a "fun" offroad vehicle, and still are. Not very utilitarian, though. But they are always 4WD. In 1988 they were making the YJ- the abomination with the square headlights instead of the traditional round.

The US military was still wearing woodland-pattern BDUs.

I think you already got the story on gun ownership investigations, but to make it clear: Unless you're in a municipality that requires registration the process is convoluted. The police contact the manufacturer and ask them to whom they sold that gun with the serial number in question, which is almost always a dealer or gun shop. Then they ask that dealer who they sold the gun to (they are required to keep records, and to file the records somewhere if they go out of business, but this is definitely a weak link in the chain). And so on. Depending upon how long the ownership chain is it can take a while. And back in 1988 there were definite holes in the laws- like the "gun show loophole" that gets so much press. Sales between private individuals did NOT require record keeping. And still don't in most places, actually, which is an item of debate in modern American politics. So to get an untraceable gun, just buy it from some guy who was selling one and give him a false name. The trail then ends with him, though a diligent cop will of course show the seller your mugshot to see if he recognizes you (if you're a suspect).

This is all, ostensibly, to make it impossible for the cops to look up what guns an individual owns to confiscate them a la Nazis, Commies, or whatever your boogeyman of choice might be. Under the convoluted system you can look up who owns a gun that is identified as being used in a crime, but it's impossible to look up what guns an individual owns unless, as I mentioned, you're in a municipality that requires registration. And 1988 was before the recent SCOTUS decisions that weakened all of the anti-gun laws, so there were still a lot of places with registration or bans. Philadelphia HP, for instance, was notorious for stopping every pickup truck that passed through the city during hunting season to confiscate the hunting rifles that were merely passing through the city on the highways, and issuing fines of course. What a great income scheme for the city, eh?

Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

Random impressions are good gaming fare.

Allagash, St. Francis and Saint John Plantation are all too small for chain stores or fast food restaurants (all under 500 people), but Fort Kent (ca 4,000 people) probably features at least one above chain stores and maybe a McDonald's and Dunkin' Donuts.

Do you have any impressions of how big a town needed to be in the 80s to have more than one national chain store and/or more than one national chain fast food restaurant?

Lovely.

Now, if only I could find a site somewhere that tells me what a pack of cigarettes cost in Quebec or New Brunswick in the era.

Cool!

Would that have been Joe's Country Store?

Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

https://www.nsra-adnf.ca/cms/file/fi...onsumption.pdf

http://www.smoke-free.ca/pdf_1/submission.pdf (The title may say "1990s", but there's some data for several decades, border prices, export numbers...)

Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

That info was mostly in case your players traveled to "civilization". I'd be surprised if even Fort Kent had a chain department store. For reference, I lived in northern NH six years ago. The closest McDonalds was a 50 minute drive away and Walmart was about 2 hours even. I'd expect that part of Maine in the 1980s to be much worse.

Not off hand, I'd suspect a population of 10,000+, though.


Most likely. I didn't catch the name and it was over twenty years ago, but looking at Google maps it appears to be in the right spot.

Re: Background on SA Maria Lucia Estevez (FBI computer supergeek from privileged fami
 

I'm planning on it.
Just so. That's the kind of thing that I was hoping the character might be able to do. Using a computer to do statistical analysis of missing persons reports, plot them on a map, comparing to crime reports, etc.

Night scopes for predator hunting
 

Does anyone know of brands or specific models of good scopes for predator hunting at night commercially available in 1988?

In thick Maine woods, so shots are most often taken at ranges under 100 yards and shooting at 200+ yards is most likely out of the question, even in daylight. The intended use is for coyote, fox and bobcat, so some Acc bonus for magnification would be nice, but given the need for quick target acquisition and rapd follow-up shots, the scope either needs a fairly modest fixed magnification or variable scope that includes a low power setting.

I'm considering actual NV scopes as well as just high-quality magnifying scopes with illuminated reticules (removes up to -2 of darkness penalties). There are canonical examples in GURPS products of scopes of traditional design made before that get the -2 reduction in darkness penalties. Those have an illuminated reticule, but not a tritium one until the 1985.

The Trijicon Spectrum comes out in 1985. Presumably, it rates a -2 reduction in darkness penalties. I wonder if anything available by 1988 removes -3 of darkness penalties other than a collimating or a reflex sight. In GURPS Tactical Shooting, there are TL8 scopes that have magnification and reduce darkness penalties by -3, but I don't know what year the first of those appeared.

If the Trijicon ACOG 4x telescopic sight (Tactical Shooting p. 64) is commercially available by 1988 (the TA01 4x32 Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight (ACOG) was introduced in 1987, but I don't know if it was commercially available to civilians immediately), it would be fairly close to ideal for predator night hunting, at least for those who prefer not to use actual night vision optics.

Another thing, is there anything commercially available in 1988 that allows combining 2nd+ Gen NV with a scope of up to 4x (or a variable power granting between +0 to +2 or +1 to +3)?

According to High-Tech, Collimating and Reflex sights remove up to -3 of darkness penalties, as well. Game mechanically, therefore, those are awesome for close-range hunting with light sources at night, whether headlights, casters or weapon-mounted lights. What brands of collimating and reflex sights would have been available for hunting rifles in the 80s?

If you'd like the option of both collimating sights and a night vision scope, can you somehow mount both?

Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

Thanks - that's half of what I had promised to look up. (I still need to look at alcohol prices of the era.)

Re: Night scopes for predator hunting
 

Go into the woods at night with bright lights around here and you better hope not to run into a game warden. _Very_ illegal.

From memory, Night vision gear was a thing seen only on TV. Ordinary FBI might not have any never mind private hunters. I don't know any private hunters who use it now.

Cellphones and computers weren't the only electronic gadgets that were both rare and primitive in 88.

I'm also not certain if coyotes had made it to Maine by 88. They're everywhere now but it's a pretty recent phenomenon.

Re: Night scopes for predator hunting
 

In modern day Maine, there is a season during which night hunts of coyotes are legal. In the absence of better data, I (perhaps foolishly) assumed that this had been so a generation ago as well.

Edit: I can find magazine evidence that night hunting of coyotes was legal in Maine in the 90s, where it is neither portrayed as new legislation, nor a new practice. Postulating it as existing three years before the mention I could find seems very plausible. Artificial lights were (and are) legal for such night hunts in Maine, unlike many other states.

I have dropped hints in play that the rich and powerful men who annually go to an inaccessible cabin to hunt might not always obey all the hunting laws, but there has to be at least a veneer of legality surrounding the hunting party. They might stretch a point and shoot a fox or bobcat encountered after dark or maybe even take a buck a day or two after the season officially ends, but they are not poachers.

They wouldn't kill four Game Wardens three years ago to cover up the breaking of the odd hunting regulation. Those Game Wardens were nowhere near the cabin the annual predator hunt is held when they disappeared, anyway. They were up by Eagle Lake, hours away. And their car was found in Canada, which fits that theory that they were involved with Hells Angels smuggling drugs over the border and ran away before being arrested. They were seen with Robert 'Tiny' Richard, Treasurer of the Montréal chapter, the day before they told their superiors, friends and family they were going camping and then disappeared.

Good point. On the other hand, I've been able to find comments on NV gear enthusiast forums (yes, of course they exist) about 1st, 2nd and 3rd Gen NV scopes available in the 80s, before the flood of former Soviet hardware, at approximate prices of $500/$2500+/$5000+.

Note that the hunters in question are decidedly not ordinary. I was thinking that Clayborn and a few of his richer friends might have actual NV gear for their predator hunts. The rest of the night hunting party make do with either standard scopes with good light intensification, illuminated reticules in otherwise normal scopes or collimating/reflex sights (if those are not too expensive in the 80s). And/or use bright lights, if that's legal.

I'm not saying that anyone in the annual predator hunt is a card-carrying villain, concealing decades of serial-killery dark secrets, only to find the PCs stumbling on them while stuck in a small down during a blizzard. But I'd like the players to be aware of the possibility that as soon as the weather clears slightly, they might find themselves hunted through the dark, freezing woods, racing blndly away from a hunter killer who owns the night.

You know, like that cellar scene in Silence of the Lambs, but with more of a wild nature big bad wolf vibe and a side of the 'most dangerous game'. "Why, Mr. X, what a big and odd-looking scope you have on your fancy gun!" "Yes, my dear. The better to see you with in the cold, dark night, because you can run, but you can't hide."

The fact that any such sighted rifle might be in a caliber and loaded with ammunition designed to be easy on the fur of bobcats and foxes, so as not to spoil a trophy, would add an interesting element. Killing a PC with one shot from an invisible shooter is not nearly as much fun as wounding one, again and again.

Well, that is a concern. I didn't realise that they were recent arrivals, I just assumed it was due to my ignorance that I hadn't heard about Eastern coyotes before.

Edit: It's all good, they got there in the 1930s and were numerous already in the 60s and 70s.

Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

Some small towns would have a Sears Catalog Store, basically a small showroom for appliances and maybe a few items in stock, you'd have to order anything else from the catalog. They might have an appliance repairman too.

Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

It is my understanding that the general Tacticool phenomenon of heavily accessorized guns didn't start in earnest until the very late nineties or early 2000's. The military didn't start widely distributing optics until Iraq/Afghanistan. You can see an example from Hollywood in Black Hawk Down, where the Delta operators have red dots and flashlights, but the Rangers all just have iron sights.

The picatinny rail didn't start getting adopted until 1994. The Mk. 23 pistol had a proprietary rail system when it was adopted in 1991. Most weapons with an accessory had a mounting system specific to that weapon and accessory. Most hunters would probably just have a rifle with a scope.

Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

Good idea.

Thanks. I see 'Die Hard' is hot at the time of play. Agent Corelli might be willing to relax his policy of not liking anything new in light of his player's rabid 'Die Hard' fanboisism.

I'd seen the Year-End Hot 100 Singles and used them to make playlists for the adventure, but the second source is new to me. Thanks a lot, it looks useful. I'll certainly add songs from the soundtrack of 'Dirty Dancing' to Agent Estevez' Walkman.

Bill Cosby, check.

Night Optics in the 1980s
 

Does anyone know what real world brands or models exist in 1988 that represent, respectively:

a) The 5 lbs. 'Night Sight' (TL7) on p. HT156.

b) The 3.5 lbs. 'Improved Night Sight' (TL7) on p. HT156.

c) The 2 lbs. 'Improved Night Sight, Add-On' (TL7) on p. HT156.

d) The 5 lbs. 'Thermal-Imaging Sight' (TL8) on p. HT157 (this is the earliest sight mentioned in HT, where it is noted in the text that thermal-imaging sights have been available 'since the 1980s').

And does anyone know which of them, if any, were commercially available to civilians?

Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

To be sure. Various optics and mounts were theoretically available, but had not been adopted for official military issue and were extremely rare among civilian shooters. It would take a few more years for three gun and speed shooting competions to change that for well-equipped civilians, whereas military acquisition lagged years behind.

The firearms encountered by the PCs among local hunters will mostly be traditional wooden stock hunting rifles, some of them with a scope and others with iron sights, in lever- or bolt-action. Agent Frank Corelli (PC) personally hunts deer in Eastern woods with an iron-sighted Winchester 94 in .30-30 originally owned by his grandfather and has a Winchester Model 70 in .30-06 with a Weaver K4 scope for longer ranges or heavier prey.

Millionaire logging baron and real-estate developer Clayborn Allen (NPC) has a favourite deer rifle, a Weatherby Mark V in .270 Weatherby Magnum, with a high-quality variable 3x-9x scope (please suggest a brand and model name, ideally American-made and preferably made before 1983, so it can have been his favourite for a while). He also has a deluxe model traditional bolt-action predator gun in .22-250 (please suggest brand and model) which has a high-quality variable 3x-9x scope with an illuminated reticle, if such a thing can be bought before 1988, otherwise fixed-power 4x scope with an illuminated reticle (suggestions sought, US-made preferable, but not essential). I'm also considering a .17 Remington gun for him (suggestions for a luxurious rifle?), to take foxes and bobcats, as well as coyotes at close range, and it is that gun which might have an ultra-high-tech (for the time) night vision scope.

His long-time rival and frenemy, Phillip Willette (NPC), is less snobbish when it comes to guns. His predator gun is a Savage Model 24 combination gun in .22 Hornet/20-gauge, with a compact and robust 4x fixed-power scope (suggest type?). He also owns a ca late 50s vintage deer rifle in .30-06 (or some other popular 'Old School' caliber), which might be a Marlin 336, Savage Model 99 or maybe an early Savage Model 110, and an economical, but classic hunting shotgun bought used in 1950.

Allen's perennial hangers-on and yes-men, his lawyer Ricky Sommiers (NPC) and the local bank-manager, George Bolton (NPC), require fairly economical choices for predator guns. They'll be looking for something that combines in one gun/scope combination the ability to take foxes in the evening without damaging their fur and to take coyotes both at night and day (probably using light sources at night). Both might also own shotguns and deer rifles. Bolton will favour a traditional look for his guns, ideally something that looks classy without going over a middle-class budget, whereas Sommiers doesn't care about looks, only ease of use (he's a subpar hunter, but hates to lose).

It's primarily for other guests that I'm considering high-tech optics. Dr. Harvey Allen (NPC), Clayborn's brother, and his doctor friend have recently bought several imported military looking 'black rifles' in .223 Remington for predator hunting. And Amos Burrell (NPC), an old friend of Allen's from the South, owns a Colt AR-15 type rifle with a 16" barrel and is just the sort of person to want (and have) the cutting-edge in military-looking hardware for his toys.

Allen will also have several loaner guns for guests who don't have a predator gun for foxes, bobcats and coyotes. I'm looking for ideas on those as well, but suspect he might have available semi-automatics, bolt-action and lever-action guns. Some are specifically bought to suit the tastes of friends who don't travel with guns, others are meant to equip politicians or businessmen who might not be familiar with many types of firearms.

Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

From the 1975 Gun Gigest annual (pricing is in 1975 dollars and including only to compare the relative prices between scopes):

Browning Wide Angle 3-9 $104.95
Bushnell Scopechief IV 3-9 $110.50
Bushnell Scopechief V 3-9 $110.50 (Battery powered reticle)
Leupold Vari-X II 3-9 $112.50
Lyman All-American 3-9 $109.50
Nickel Supra Vari-Power 2.5-9 $250.00
Nickel Supra Vari-Power 3-10 $225.00
Leatherwood Bros. Auto/Range 3-9 $129.50
Redfield Traditional 3-9 $99.60
Redfield Widefield 3-9 $122.80
Tasco Omni-View 3-9 $139.95
Weatherby Premier Standard 3-9 $94.50
Weatherby Premier Wide Angle 3-9 $109.50
Williams Guide Line 3-9 $130.00

Re: Night Optics in the 1980s
 

4It's important to recognize that very few of these are in civilian hands in 1988.

The dual-tube AN/PVS-5 is the night vision goggle that I had in the US Army in 1989. The single-tube AN/PVS-7 was available since 1985 but wasn't common. My unit uses the AN/PVS-7 now.

The AN/PVS-4 was the standard "starlight scope" for mounting on weapons at the time. Wikipedia says it weighs 4 lbs, so I suspect it is the "improved night sight." The earlier, heavier one is probably the Vietnam-era AN/PVS-2, but the weight I find for it is more like 7 lbs. That might be with all accessories or something, though.

For the add-on sight I think of the AN/PVS-22, but that's post-1988 by a long shot. I'm not sure if there were such things in 1988. Maybe?

IIRC the TL7 thermal sights that date back to the 1980s were not really meant for mounting on personal weapons- they were huge, and meant for reconnaissance teams.

Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

One source of guns to consider would be the Civilian Marksmanship Program. This is a government program that sell older service weapons to civilians, WW I through WW II firearms are commonly what they sell. The M1917 Enfield, M1903/M1903A3, and the M1 Garand, all in .30-06, being the common weapons sold below cost. They were fairly common hunting weapons from the 1950's through the 1980's and are still often seen, I have M1903/M1903A3. Someone will have these, and they would make ideal loaner guns.

Re: Night Optics in the 1980s
 

That would make sense. When I first heard about thermal sights in the late 80s, they were large (18"x20"x10" box) tripod mounted things, requiring liquid nitrogen to work.

Re: Night Optics in the 1980s
 

Yes- as were the ones our surveillance teams had when I was in Germany in 1990.

PS- I have a CMP Garand, M1903a3, and M1 carbine. The carbine was my grandfather's. Price when he bought it from CMP= $17.50 plus $2.50 shipping and handling. If you want an "assault weapon" that is likely to be found in civilian hands the M1 carbine fits the bill, especially with a 30-round magazine. (I seem to recall that they were often seen on the hands of Bad Guys on the old SWAT TV show.) They are also notoriously easy to convert to full-auto by the simple expedient of filing the sear down a bit, and in fact will often turn full-auto spontaneously when the sear gets worn through normal use. In such a state they cannot fire in semi-auto. Conversely, great steps were taken to ensure that the many civilian AR15s could not be so easily converted- for instance Colt sold them with different pin positions and sizes so that only Colt civilian trigger groups could be installed.

There were also a lot of non-USGI M1 clones made by various companies (Auto-Ordnance is one) and a vigorous aftermarket in parts and accessories. The non-USGI magazines of that era kind of suck, by the way, and should get a malf penalty, especially the 30-round ones. They're notorious.

I think that I just might kill for a Rock-Ola M1 carbine. An IBM one would be a close second, with Saginaw Steering, National Postage Meter, or Underwood very distant thirds. (My grandfather's is a ten-a-penny Winchester.) A Bad Guy screaming "rock-n-roll!" because his M1 was made by the Rock-Ola Jukebox Corporation would be a nice touch...

Re: Night Optics in the 1980s
 

Oh, absolutely. I'm not looking for 'common' or 'mundane', here. Clayborn Allen also has a small helicopter. I'm just looking for something that could theoretically be purchased by very rich hunters with a night hunting hobby.

What I could find out is that the AN/PVS-5 (or an more-or-less equivalent) would be pretty fancy for special operations in the late 80s. It may be that top-of-the-line US-made commercial night vision optics may resemble it, as I've found one reference online that suggests it, but in the late 80s, there also exist superior models made by private companies that haven't yet made it through the military procurement pipelines.

Everything I can find suggests that optics with Gen 3 tubes existed for years before any military bought them. Whether the companies that designed them sold any of them commercially to hunters or hobbyists in these first years or were fully occupied showing them off to various militaries and law enforcement agencies in hopes of a contract, I do not know.

I've found commercial sights from many companies, including Phillips, Litton and Pilkington PE that more or less duplicate the TL7 'Improved Night Sight' or even the TL8 'Advanced Night Sight', made in the mid-to-late-80s. High-quality commercial models are often as light and compact as the TL8 'Advanced Night Sight', but save money by using Gen 2 tubes, which translates into Night Vision 5-6 instead of Night Vision 7.

The Optic-Electronic Corporation NVS-700 and the Varo Electron Devices Model 9866A pretty much are the AN/PVS-4 under a civilian designation (both companies made issue AN/PVS-4s as well).

In 1989, the Varo Aquila was introduced, which was tiny at 97 grams, even though it had a Gen 2 tube (and could use Gen 3) and 4x magnification. It won't be available commercially, but it's a good example of the state of the art in compact NV design at this time.

GURPS High-Tech says there is a TL7 model of a 2nd Gen night vision add-on sight and that book is generally very well researched. That must mean that in the 1970s, there existed such a sight. Research discovers that the Norwegian Simrad and the Swedish Bofors Aerotronics made a 1x add-on sight in the 80s, using a choice of Gen 2 or Gen 3 tube. Pilkington PE may also have made add-ons. Whether such sights were commercially available to civilians in the 1980s, however, I have no idea.

Further research led me to mostly the same conclusion, but there is a theoretical possibility.

The Magnavox Short-Range Thermal Sight (SRTS), which was designed for use on the M16 rifle and M203 grenade launcher, does exist at 1985+. Weighing 1.8 kg, it operates in the 3.7-5.0 micrometre bandwidth, and has a FOV of 6 [degrees] horizontal and 4 [degrees] vertical. A disposable lithium cell has an operating life of 10 hours. It may require an auxilitary container of liquid nitrogen carried around to be used, as well, but I'm not sure.

In any event, I don't know if it was available for commercial sale to civilians at the time. It may have been available by arrangement with Magnavox, but only for an astronomical price. Then again, it may have been classified military technology at the time.

There was another company (Raytheon) designing uncooled prototypes for the US military in competition with the Magnavox sight, which I think was the model that ended up adopted with the stats from High-Tech. That model was not available for commercial sale until 1995 at the earliest.

Re: Night Optics in the 1980s
 

And there we have a great predator hunting gun for Ricky Sommiers, Esq.!

He'd have bought his around 1975. Would not mind used, as long as it passes his [Armoury (Smallarms) skill 6-7] quick check for functionality. Sommiers is not going to file down the sear of his carbine himself, but he's certainly a candidate for owning a well-worn M1 carbine where the sear has started to fail from use. Not that Sommiers practises much apart from this annual hunt, but if he bought a heavily used gun, it might have been worn before he got it. A 30-rd magazine would not be frowned upon, as sometimes there is a chance at a group of coyotes at a time and it's not as if coyote fur is a nice trophy the way fox or bobcat fur is. Sommiers has little woodcraft and he's an average shot, but he might have a chance to bag more coyote than some of the other hunters if he's willing to fire rapidly, at the risk of wounding rather than killing some of them.

Would a Rock-Ola Jukebox Corporation M1 carbine in .30 Carbine be difficult to acquire or expensive at that time? If so, what other manufacturer would be most likely?

And what kind of scope would you put on that carbine? He buys his scope in 1979 and would accept a used one, as long as it fit his requirements, primarily that it be easier to get a decent sight picture in twilight or nighttime artificial light shooting situations than either iron sights or improved visibility sights. Assume that he bought the scope specifically for hunting fox or bobcat in the daytime/twilight or using artificial light to hunt coyote at night. We don't want to buy a cheap gun and an expensive scope, so let's keep the scope down to a reasonable economy model. We do need a reticle that's fairly easy to see under low-light conditions and decent light-gathering capability (GURPS terms, remove -1 of darkness penalty). To keep cost down, we'll go for a fixed-power scope with no more than 3x magnification.

Also, what would be some types of .30 Carbine ammunition you could buy for sporting purposes in the 80s? I'm primarily looking for something that won't blow foxes apart, but if there are no good sporting options for such small prey easily available, Sommiers will negliently buy whatever is easiest for him to get and blame bad luck when his trophy fur ends up with ugly exit holes.

Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

Most common are Inland and Winchester. Here's a link.

I'm not entirely certain when M1 carbines became collectors' items as opposed to "a cheap semi auto you can buy from the guvmint." Common versions run around $400-$500 nowadays, but Rock-Olas can be a couple of grand, if you can find one, which you can't.

I think that in the late-80s they were still just cheap semi-autos, though, so getting a Rock-Ola from the CMP would be a matter of luck back then.

Honestly, not many people mounted scopes on their M1 carbines. Not that it couldn't be done- you'd have to get the receiver tapped first, but that's pretty simple gunsmithing. But I haven't seen many.

If you want night vision, maybe he got his hands on an M3 carbine? I'm not sure if CMP ever sold them, though. Well, actually, no they never would have sold the M3 because it's fully auto, but some surplus dealer might have sold the scope and accessories, which would be easy to mount on an ordinary M1.

There were literally tons and tons of cheap surplus military ball ammo available in the 80s for both .30-06 and .30 carbine. You could buy it by the pallet. But, as you have mentioned, the stopping power of .30 carbine ball is limited. The Israelis load soft-points and swear by them.

A good varmint gun would be a Mini-14, and they're already tapped to mount a cheap Bushnell scope. That sounds more like this Sommier guy. Are there GURPS stats for it somewhere? Hell, if the A-Team used them they have to be awesome, right? :)

EDIT- Yeah, the Mini-14 is in High-Tech.

ANOTHER EDIT- Nowadays there are scope mounts for the M1 that just required you to remove the rear sight, but I don't know if something similar was available in the 80s.

YET ANOTHER EDIT- Ha! Yes! Weaver made drop-in scope mounts. You can see one in the pic of the commemorative model on that page.

EDIT AGAIN- Nope, I was wrong again. The Universal (aftermarket non-USGI) carbines came tapped for scope mounting, so that Weaver mount wan't drop-in. It still needed a tapped receiver. But, again, that's pretty routine gunsmithing. And would indeed look very hillbilly, which seems to fit your character concept.

Re: Night scopes for predator hunting
 

I've tried to be careful about not injecting Florida info into this thread even if it was about the same period. It was just that the lights thing is a big deal locally. go into the woods off-season with lights and a firearm and you'll hit civil forfeiture on all of those and quite possibly your vehicle too. It is poaching thing as you appear to grasp.

I've also been careful about 2016 info but I have sort of watched or at least been in the same room while it was on of a cable TV program called _North Woods Law_

http://www.animalplanet.com/tv-shows/north-woods-law/

....and in one episode the wardens investigated whether r not a woman had taken a shot at a coyote without license and on a Sunday. Both acts would have been illegal i.e. you need a license to hunt coyotes and you can't do it on Sunday at all. I was boggled at needing a license to shoot coyotes.

Moving on, my Father's deer gun was a .270. Apparently a Ruger semi-auto and I think the scope was a Leupold. This would be for the American Eastern White Tail which is small-ish but probably close enough to the Red Deer in Campaigns.

However, Maine definitely has moose and might still have brown bears only a little smaller than you seen in Alaska. The bear would have been rare and may have been gone by 88. What my Father took to Alaska on a hunting trip was a Remington 799 in what may have been .300 win mag (he's 79 nw and getting technical details out of him is worse than pulling teeth). Clayton almost certainly has some sort of moose gun.

What you seem to want to call a "predator gun" might be a "varmint rifle" to most American hunters. My Father used a .243 for that I think.

In 88 I think he was driving a Chevy Silverado (regular cab, long bed 350 V8) with 4WD but I don't believe you had to get out to shift into 4wd. He'd just been priced out of the Blazer market. He'd used to sleep in the back of the blazers on hunting trips but he was past that age-wise in 88.

Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

In 1975, then, Ricky Sommiers, Esq. accepted a Rock-Ola M1 carbine in lieu of payment for legal services from a WWII veteran client.

Well, twilight/night hunting of predators is a pretty niche sport, especially in the 80s.

A decent scope really helps with light gathering in twilight. Not to mention that for eyes in their 50s, those iron sights get harder to focus on every year.

My research suggests that the WWII 'Sniperscope/Snooperscope' would probably have been more expensive to buy in the 1980s than a more modern Gen 1 commercial night sight. As far as I understand, only a few dozen of the WWII-era weapons survived official destruction. Not to mention that having to source WWII military model lead-acid wet cell batteries that only last for a couple of hours would be a major pain.

The similar Korean War era 'Sniperscope' 20,000 volt Set No. 1 would be more promising. Those were converted to use commercial batteries and sold off as surplus in the late 60s. They are still a major pain to carry and use, weighing close to 30 lbs. with the battery pack.

The Vietnam-era passive Gen 1 starlight scopes are a much more useful technology. They are exemplified by the AN/PVS-2 STANO sight on p. 26 in GURPS SEALS in Vietnam. Unfortunately, I don't know if these (or commercial variants) were relatively affordable or easily available in the 1980s, by the time they had all been phased out of military service. Best guess, after considerable Googling, is that you could get some Gen 1 sights for around $500 in the late 80s. That converts to something like $750 GURPS.

I'm guessing that Ricky Sommiers will not have actual night vision sights. Clayborn Allen might have mounted some mid-range ones on Bushmaster First Generation .223 rifles he received as gifts from the factory in 1976 and 1980 (he was an investor after they ran into trouble in '76), once this annual hunting trip was moved after the deer season to accomodate his brother's schedule and they started to focus on night hunting.

I think that Sommiers will stick with surplus ball ammo, as he can't really be bothered to find anything else. Unless expanding hunting bullets in it would be easily commercially available.

Note, however, that for predator hunting, the idea is not to buy expanding ammo to get better terminal performance. The idea is to reduce the damage to the fur by preventing the bullet from yawing or tumbling inside the animal and then making a huge exit hole. The ideal expanding fur-friendly bullet will enter the prey, but not exit at all.

These will usually be light grain bullet JSP/JHP or other expanding type bullet and will have a lower Wounding Modifier than expanding anti-personnel or deer loads with higher grain bullets (though unless you are geek happy with fractional wounding modifiers, it won't matter in game terms). Significantly, such loads in .223 Remington are probably less impressive in terminal performance than standard military ball ammo at short ranges.

In GURPS terms, very light, very fast bullets with expanding properties might simply provide another method to justify pi for a .22 caliber round. Some of them might even have a Wound Channel Modifier of 0.7, which might be rounded to pi- or pi depending on GM's choice. Reducing Damage would not be unreasonable for a bullet of a lower grain than usual for the caliber.

The alternate method of fur friendly bullet selection is to choose something that will zip through a target of fox or bobcat size without any tumbling or yawing. At typical Western varmint ranges, both the .30 carbine and .223 Remington will do this, but in Eastern woods, at ranges that are often below 50 yards, I'm concerned that both will exhibit that fragmenting, tumbling joy de vivre that delights the CQB soldier, but ruins fur with a huge exit hole.

In GURPS terms, a fur-friendly round of the latter kind should be pi- at the range you are using it.

I have no idea what .22 WMR, .22 Hornet, .223 Remington, .30 Carbine or .243 Winchester loads were commercially available in the 1970s and 1980s. How easy was it to get loads with expanding bullets, preferably of light grain for the caliber? Were there any non-expanding loads with a stable target bullet that would be unlikely to yaw or tumble excessively?

What were some popular hunting loads in these calibers? What do you find in a small outdoors store? What about a well-stocked gun store?

The Ruger Mini-14 is actually a very fine choice for a novice shooter for the purpose. It also has a more traditional look than 'black rifles'. I'm considering having one of the hunters carry one. If George Bolton can't find a classy, but economical bolt-action rifle in .223 Remington or .22 Hornet, he might carry a Mini-14.

If a rifle is tapped to mount a cheap Bushnell scope, does that mean it will require expensive gunsmithing to mount a more expensive Bushnell scope on it, such as a Scopechief V?

I had picked the Tasco 2.75x40mm Turkey/Brush Gun scope (+1 Acc, -1 darkness penalty, $150, 0.7 lbs.) for Sommier's M1 carbine. Any pressing reason why this would be impractical or expensive to mount?

If so, I suppose he could go to a Weaver scope, assuming I can find a budget one with decent light gathering.*

*The Tasco is an economical scope which has a great reputation for clarity, brightness and robustness, at least if you got a 1970s Japanese-made one.

Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

Until the most recent set of restrictive anti-gun laws, and even nowadays in some regions, in most rural areas you could shoot at wild and stray animals on your property at any time, regardless of day of the week or license. Most of the time, it counts as "self-defense" or "defending the home".

Growing up in a rural area in Pennsy in the '70s and '80s, we didn't have to deal with coyotes that much, but feral dogs and even the occasional black bear digging through the garbage happened on a fairly regular basis.



The most common hunting round was a .308 Winchester or .30-08, meant for taking down deer and occasionally bear. I'm not sure about the availability of other rounds, but JHP and FMJ rounds were fairly common in the .308Win, .30-08, 5.56mmNATO, .44-40, .45 ACP, .40S&W, .38 Special, and .357 Magnum rounds. 12-gauge, 16-gauge, and 20-gauge 00-buckshot was also common, as we had a lot of shotgun hunters, prized because the shot would not travel over the borders into no-shoot zones. IME, the .22-sized rounds were, except for the 5.56mmNATO/.223 Armalite rounds, pretty much reserved for plinking at the range, not hunting.

Re: Night scopes for predator hunting
 

Yep. Even if the hunting party does not have much fear of Maine Game Wardens, the State Police or the Aroostook County Sheriff's Office, when they use artificial lights for coyotes, they take care to carry firearms that are clearly distinct from their usual deer rifles.

They also notify the local Game Wardens and the Sheriff about their hunting party every year and have had their equipment checked for legality before using it. Granted, the presence of perennial local power broker and veteran politician Speaker of the House John L. Martin, 'the Earl of Eagle Lake', the first two times they did this, in 1979-1980, probably didn't hurt their relations with the Maine Game Wardens.

As far as everyone knows, my hunters all have licences for anything they might like to hunt. Many of them are among the most active amateur hunters in Aroostook County, entering the elk lottery every year, buying as many licences for buck as possible, etc.

There might, however, be a less-prominent Canadian guest who cannot qualify for a gun licence back home and who has not applied for a hunting licence in Maine. Whether that guest actually hunts illegally with loaner guns or is there just for the camraderie and drinking, however, is anyone's guess. And the PCs have gathered rumours that the hunters might shoot after midnight on Saturday sometimes.

Even if true, it doesn't really make the local representative of the County Sheriff's Office corrupt, just because he hasn't busted several of the most important local men for these once-a-year possible violations. For one thing, the cabin is really hard to get to and there are no neighbours to bother in any way. For another, it's not as if they are poaching deer. At worst, they are shooting a pest at a wrong time.

And lastly, realistically, what kind of cop or game warden arrests several friends of the State Attorney General and the Speaker of the House in the State House of Representatives for such a minor thing? Especially as both these eminent men have been invited to Allen's hunting parties in the past.

Sounds good. One of Clayborn Allen's early favourite deer rifles was a Winchester Model 54 Sporter rifle in .270 Winchester that he very occasionally got to borrow from his father and inherited after him in 1962. No scope, though.

One of the rifles bought to loan to VIPs whom the Allens invite for hunting trips during deer season is a 1976-vintage Remington 700 BDL in .270 Winchester, however. I imagine it might have a Leupold Vari-X II 3x-9x40mm scope.

When my game is set, however, the deer season has ended and the annual December hunting party for close friends (or long-time associates, at least) is upon the Allens. They usually don't take any deer rifles to the cabin for that, apart from the ones owned by Dr. Harvey Allen that reside permanently in his vacation cabin. Those will be locked up during the hunting party, though.

Clayborn really likes the Weatherby Mark V rifle in .270 Weatherby Magnum (Fine (Reliable) and customised to be Fine (Accurate)); w/mounted Bushnell Scopechief IV 3x-9x38mm (w/Command Post) [+1 to +3 Acc, -1 darkness penalty, $750, 1.2 lbs.] he bought in 1968.

He does also have a 1973-vintage Weatherby Mark V rifle in .300 Weatherby Magnum, a more respectable caliber for moose and bear, but he prefers the lighter gun and generally keeps the .300 cal as a loaner for VIP guests. The heavier gun was ordered with a Weatherby Premier Wide Angle 3x-9x40mm scope[+1 to +3 Acc, -1 darkness penalty, $750, 1.5 lbs.] from the maker.

Again, though, these guns, nice as they are, will stay in Clayborn Allen's house when he goes to his brother's cabin for the predator hunting party. Unless, of course, he or another member of his party has some reason to want more serious firepower along...

Granted, many varmints are predators, but the stereotypical varmint gun in the US is meant for daylight use in the West, often with a bipod, and thus requires flat-shooting performance and accuracy out to very long range. And typically, varmint shooting is not done to harvest fur, so exploding the varmints is fine and often seen as good fun.

By 'predator gun', I mean a gun for foxes/bobcats and coyotes* that will not damage their fur too much. In Maine woods the shooting will also be at closer range than is typical out West and if night hunting, the range will rarely exceed 70 yards. This means that .223 Remington might be too much gun, let alone the higher powered varmint rounds popular nowadays.

It seems that the .17 Remington, .22 WMR and .22 Hornet were good rounds available in the 1980s for the kind of thing that I'm considering. The .22 LR is actually a decent round for it, though it suffers somewhat if it is meant to do double duty as a coyote gun and/or used for daylight shots at 70+ yards. The .223 Remington, .220 Swift, .22-250 and .243 Winchester might also do for the purpose, if there are reduced power, fur-friendly loads commercially available in the 1980s.

*For best fur-friendly results at the lower size range, use two different guns for these.

Cool, those are good suggestions.

Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

I suppose that might be a decent legal defence if they ever do get into trouble. Note, however, that Dr. Harvey Allen owns the 40 acres around his luxury cabin, but the few square miles of woods around it are not in his personal ownership, but owned by North Woods Logging Company.*

Defending the home might not fly in court if it happened on corporate-owned land a mile away from a vacation cabin...

Especially if it was a fox or bobcat, rather than a coyote. As a lawyer, I feel confident that the odds of anyone making legal trouble go up as the animals killed get cuter, more romantic and less perceived as over-running native populations.

*Which, however, is mostly owned by his brother, Clayborn Allen, with Dr. Allen and his sister, Rosemary Dupree, as minority shareholders.

Bears in Maine all hibernate in winter, right?

Range or plinking ammo might actually not be a bad idea for ad-hoc fur-friendly loads in ca .22 caliber. If there's any available that has a reputation for little tumbling or yawing in flesh, it should be fine.

Military FMJ 5.56x45mm M193 (55-grain bullets) is will often do a number on small animals at short ranges, though, with exit holes the size of fists. Would any of that target/plinking ammo have significantly worse terminal performance than Vietnam-era GI ball? If so, what brands?

Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

In GURPS $, which I reckon is around 2004 $ values, how cheap would these guns be?

When Clayborn Allen was 16-18, in 1953-1955, he had to save his wages from a part-time job at his father's sawmill to be able to afford a deer rifle. I had figured that he saved for a nice Winchester Model 70, but if he could have had a rifle with similar functionality at less than half price, I think he would have jumped at it.

Also, in the 1950s, could underage boys just buy a hunting rifle? That is, should Clayborn Allen's first deer rifle be bought at 18, when he became a voter, or can he have saved up and bought a rifle at sometime between 12-16?

I haven't found yet how the laws on hunting licences for juniors worked in Maine in the 1950s. I don't think that any laws would precisely forbid him from buying rifles in the 50s (yay, FREEDOM!) and, indeed, had imagined that he bought a .22 in that period, but a local proprietor of a general store might not be in favour of a boy buying a rifle obviously meant for hunting deer if it were against the law for him to go hunting.

Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

I couldn't tell you what the cost would be for CMP weapons, Dad bought the one I have now in the early 1960's before I was born. As to the age for being able to buy rifles, that would be under control of State laws. I don't know what Maine's would be, although I would be surprised at a twelve year old living in a rural area not being able to buy a single shot .22LR in the 1950's anywhere in the U.S.

In Missouri;
I was born the last year you did not need to take a Hunter's Safety Course to get a Hunting License (1966). I graduated High School in 1984, students who were over sixteen could get Driver's Licenses, during Deer and Turkey Seasons students would have rifles or shotguns in their cars where they had hunted before or after school (with the windows down and the cars unlocked). Until the Clinton era gun laws of the 1990's, I don't remember any significant difficulties for anyone old enough to drive being able to buy rifles, shotguns, or pistols. I bought .22LR at Wal-Mart when I was thirteen, but I did not try to buy firearms.

Re: Night scopes for predator hunting
 

Perhaps it's just a total lack of fur-hunting in Florida but when I was reading a lot of gun magazines in this period (no internet so I read hand-me-down copies of Guns&Ammo, Shooting Times and American Rifleman along many other miscellaneous things) I didn't read about fur-hunting there either.

The article I read about coyote-hunting out west had that being done for bounties/government payments and the fur was not harvested.

If you've got your Maine sources about fur-hunting that's fine and go right ahead but it seems terribly, terribly odd to me, especially in the context of blood-sport for the wealthy. I thought pelts were mostly gathered by trapping and it was an activity for pretty marginal back-woodsers.

Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

In Pennsylvania in the late-'70s/early-'80s, fifteen or sixteen was the age for buying longarms (rifles and shotguns) and ammunition in sporting goods stores. (Not sure about pistols, to be honest; we didn't have many folks carrying them.) Hunter Safety courses were held in the local volunteer fire departments annually, and both boys and girls entering their teens attended. In a lot of ways, the Hunter Safety course was a rite of passage. Only half of those who attended actually went on to hunt, though.

I would imagine rural Maine would be much the same.

First day of deer season one year, the school district decided to stay open (they'd traditionally had it closed that day for the past twenty-odd years; school district formed in '60 when the population of the four townships comprising it outgrew the single-building K-12 schools they'd each had). Half the students and half the teachers called in 'sick' because they were going to be out hunting. That was the first and last year we had school the first day of deer season. ;)

Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

I'm coming late to this conversation, but the year is actually at the beginning of my adult life so I have a decent memory of the era.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has an online inflation counter but as it happens cumulative inflation since 1988 is 100%. So when in doubt, take modern prices and halve them.

Politics was less polarized then - conservative Democrat and liberal Republican were not yet oxymorons. Admittedly, that was in part because the Republican party was still building itself up institutionally but party identity was a less reliable indicator of political views than it is now. In some ways things were reversed - the Republicans seemed to have a lock on the White House while the Democrats kept control of Congress. California was not yet a liberal state. The younger generation (Gen X) tended to be more conservative/Republican than the boomers. I would say on the whole the country was more conservative - the conventional assumption was that the Democrats needed a moderate white preferably Southern candidate (Gore or later Clinton) to win back the White House. If you're curious, the 1988 or 1990 Almanac of American Politics is very cheap and provides a useful political snapshot and perhaps more importantly capsule histories of each state and congressional district.

Anti-gay prejudice was much more common and acceptable then. Being gay was grounds for a dishonorable discharge from the military and "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was still five years away. If you need a secret to hide for a basically decent NPC, sexual identity is a good one. This is also in the middle of the AIDS epidemic.

There were significant cultural divides between young and middle aged that don't really exist today. The draft ended in 1973. So men over 40 would have served in the military or would have an explanation for not doing so - I remember most of my male public school teachers were veterans. Who did and didn't serve in Viet Nam was a major political question as Dan Quayle found to his sorrow. Korean War vets and even a few World War II vets were still in the work force and active in public life. There were other significant social changes in the 1970s. The sexual revolution went mainstream in the 1970s as did feminism. And the Civil Rights Act was a little over 20 years old in 1988. Thus, someone who was 50 came of age in an era when male military service was the norm, the Jim Crow system still existed, when women were blocked out of many professions and when rules for sexual behavior were very different from 1988. Someone who was 25 in 1988 grew up in a very different world culturally.

Elaborating on female characters - women were scarce in senior positions in public life. The law schools and medical schools had opened up in a big way less than twenty years before. Congress - both parties - was overwhelmingly male. I don't know if you want to get into that but it could be significant for a young female character. Incidentally, the Silence of the Lambs came out (book, not movie) in 1988 so that might be of interest for a popular view of the FBI at the time.

Regarding computers, my personal experience was that it was not purely a geek thing even in 1988. Most people didn't have or need email accounts but email accounts and internet chat boards were pretty common among college students and a number of professions and hobbyists. Wargames came out five years before so the idea of hacking was already in popular culture. The events of the Cuckoo's Egg weren't public as of 1988 but I think the FBI was already involved. The Morris worm has already been mentioned and would hit in November - might be a good way to confuse the characters if they don't know history.

This is my own impression but college students were more independent of their parents. College was cheaper in real dollars and it was easier to pay through work and scholarships. Helicopter parenting wasn't a thing - indeed there were sometimes complaints of too little supervision. Part of that was communication - calling long distance was costlier and texting didn't exist then.

I realize this is more roleplaying background than hard data but hopefully something here will be useful.

Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

Oh, I assumed the .22 LR was a boyhood companion for most of the NPCs in the adventure. Clayborn Allen got a single-shot Stevens passed down to him at age ten and bought his own bolt-action Winchester 52 .22 LR rifle at age 14. Law aside, everything I've read suggests that before 1968, you could buy .22s by mail order through ads in almost any magazine aimed at boys.

I was merely wondering at what age Clayborn got his own deer rifle. For his first hunting trip, he could have used a spare rifle owned by his father, but Clayborn and old Dick Allen were not warm and affectionate as father and son. As soon as possible, Clayborn would have liked to get a rifle of his own and gone hunting with his own circle of friends (some of whom were older than him by 2-3 years).

The Allens were the richest family in Allagash-Dickey in the 40s and early 50s, but at that time, it merely amounted to a middle-class standard of living in a very working class rural area, where actually starving was a real possibility for the potato farmers in bad years. They didn't begin to get 1-percenter rich until Clayborn took over his father's business in the 60s.

Edit: From the 1930s onward*, you could get a DCM/CMP version of the M1892/M1896/M1898 Krag in .30-40 Krag, modified for the NRA for sporting use (including a handy 25" barrel length), for GURPS $70 to $280, depending on exact model, year of sale and availability. Even in the 50s, I think that a Krag in fine condition could be gotten at those prices or maybe even lower.

The Enfield M1917 in .30-06 was available at GURPS $100+ from the 1920s. Before collectors started influencing the price, it seems that the Enfield was always slightly pricier than the Krags. I'm pretty sure that the price from the CDM/CMP didn't rise all that much, even after WWII, as the government never did manage to sell off all their stock. If anything, the Enfield should drop in price steadily after WWI.

The Springfield M1903 was always a lot more popular than the Enfield among American shooters and it wasn't retired from US service until after WWII, so while it was possible to luck into a surplus WWI model in the 1920s for GURPS $70+, a more realistic price would be higher, up to the ca $450 that a CMP Springfield cost back when you could still get it in the modern age.

For a game set in the 50s, I'd call the real GURPS price of a used Krag $70, an Enfield M1917 $100 and a Springfield M1903 $150. The M1 Carbine would be around $200, with a lot of fluctations in the price, with Malf. 14-16 examples often going very cheap. The M1 Garand wouldn't be available until 1959 and then only at full list price from High-Tech. The price went down quickly in the 1960s for the Garand, bringing it down to ca GURPS $280 to $300, which fits the rule for half-price for recent military surplus rule in GURPS High-Tech Pulp Guns 2.

For my game, set in the 1980s, the Krags are pretty scarce compared to the 50s, but if not mint condition and with matching parts, aren't worth all that much to collectors. Same for the Enfield M1917 and the Springfield M1903, really. I'd call the same prices for the older pieces fair, but note that this buys a lot more used guns now for the older service weapons, with a well-maintained piece going for $130 (Krag) / $160 (Enfield) / $240 (Springfield) / $320 (Garand).**

The M1 Carbine cost GURPS $600 new in the 80s from a commercial manufacturer, but a Malf. 16 weapon made out of WWII-era parts would still be available for under $200, with heavily used or badly made Malf. 14-15 weapons going for a song. I suppose that prices between those extremes might be fair for an M1 Carbine in good working order.

Mind you, prices below GURPS $300+ aren't buying as-new good-looking rifles many decades after those rifles were made surplus, they are buying functional used weapons from someone who took care to keep it working, but will probably have used 'incorrect' parts to replace damaged ones over the years, or at least damaged the weapon through hard use enough to make it cosmetically unappealing to collectors. If available 'new' from the CMP in the 80s, those Krags, Enfields and Springfields will probably be at 50% or so of their GURPS book value, i.e. $325/$400/$450 and the Garand will fetch the listed GURPS price of $510.

*Before that, the price was GURPS $30+ for an unmodified military Krag, especially if bought before WWI.
**Beginning in the mid-80s, lend-lease or military assistance weapons sent to allies in WWII and Korea to finally be re-imported to the US, which gave the CMP access to a lot of mint Springfields and Garands (the Brits didn't like them and seldom fired them).

Mandatory safety courses for hunters date back to 1976 in Maine.

Re: Night scopes for predator hunting
 

That sounds right. In 1930s to 1960s Maine, there was a bounty on bobcat and black bear. Coyotes were just getting common* there by the time social mores has changed enough for bounties to end. Of note in connection with that is the fact that protective measures, such as a limited season and even a licence to hunt, started applying to black bears the moment they stopped being a pest with a bounty on their heads. Quite a jump, eh?

More southerly counties in Maine seem to have retained a bounty on black bears into the 70s, though I think that the Sheriff or Chief of Police needed to approve someone to act as his agent to go after a black bear that had been causing trouble in a suburban area. Incidentally, Maine County Sheriffs in the 80s seem to have still retained a pretty free hand to deal with animals that weren't the subject of politically significant conservation efforts. For example, they can appoint people as coyote hunters for the county and allow them to use artificial lights for night hunts to that end.

Given the presence of one (out of three) County Commissioner in Aroostook County on the predator hunting party, not to mention that former guests include a State Senator, several State Representatives and the State Attorney General and an Associate Justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, I think that Clayborn Allen arranges for Sheriff Darrel Crandall and his replacement, Sheriff Edgar Wheeler, to appoint him and his guests as official county coyote control agents for the duration of the hunting party.

It's not corruption. It's a courtesy. And he does donate generously, not just to the campaign funds of courteous Sheriffs, but also to the Maine State Police, Game Wardens and the Aroostook County Sheriff's Office. Why, he's donated shipments of high-quality Smith & Wesson handcuffs and revolvers from the Houlton plant** to all of the above.

*As noted earlier, I discovered that they got there in the 1930s and were common by the 1960s.
**To which he is the landlord, through some land he owns there.

Fur-hunting is mostly done by trapping, but assuming local laws allow it, trappers have often added to their supply by shooting. Everyone in the rural areas of Aroostook County in which my adventure is set will know some family which supplemented their income through trapping and sale of fur, especially back in the Great Depression (and earlier).

Men like Clayborn Allen, his brother and his businessmen, politician, lawyer and banker friends, however, will not have any commercial need for the fur. However, that does not mean that they have no interest in it. Especially if they do not need to skin the animals themselves.

Clayborn has an uncle on his mother's side, Henri Sinclair, who was born rather simple-minded. There is nothing wrong with either his manual dexterity or his work ethic, however. Clayborn assisted him in getting a part-time job for the local school distrct and he often employs him for odd jobs besides. One of them is cleaning and skinning game for him and his friends, as well as curing and tanning pelts.

Finishing the pelts and making them into a nice pair of gloves, scarf, hat, lining or even a fur coat is done by an old widowed cousin*, Rachel (Jackson) Denis and her daughter-in-law, Sherilynn (Denis) Cyr, who lives up in Frenchville. Mrs. Denis is an artist with fur and her daughter-in-law is very good.

Even if a man might be able to afford shopping at exclusive furriers, many people will still be more impressed by a gift of a fox scarf or bobcat mittens when they shot the animal themselves. They don't even have to be strange blood-sporting rich men for it. I know I would far rather like to own a nice trophy made from the fur of an animal I shot than just a bought fox scarf.

The coyote fur is less desirable than either fox or bobcat, of course, but Sinclair usually tries to harvest it nevertheless if the animal was healthy. If the guest doesn't want something made out of it, the coyote** fur goes to decorate the cabin or is kept by Sinclair, who has a pretty nice collection of coyote fur wear by now.***

Edit: I know some people in Iceland who shoot foxes and while the .22 LR is overwhelmingly popular (it's not as if fox hunters here can expect to encounter anything heavier than 11 lbs. fox, with most animals well under that), there is a vibrant community of shooters who favour .22 WMR, .22 Hornet and the newer varmint calibers, for their flat trajectory out to any range where a human being can expect to spot a fox, and for their fur-friendly natures, which match the .22 LR with proper load and bullet selection.

Not all fox hunters here harvest the fur, but people who do it for sport are actually fairly likely to do so, especially if they fairly seldom have the opportunity to hunt anything other than birds. It's a really nice trophy that you can have made into a memento of your hunting trip. Even those shooters who do not harvest the fur are often careful to select a bullet and caliber that will not blow through the foxes with graphic terminal effects. It's a sportsmanship thing for many of them, I think, where humane killing is extended to mean not just with a minimal of pain for the animal, but also with a minimum of gruesome mess.

TL;DR: it's more elegant to hunt with a load suitable for the target, killing cleanly and without unnecessary splatter.

*Her grandmother and his were sisters.
**Maine coyotes have a lot of wolf in them, by some accounts 22% of their DNA comes from fairly recent wolf ancestors up in Canada. The winter pelt of a Maine coyote is actually far from ugly.
***The annual hunting party tradition among Allen's friends started in 1972, but has been at the end of December and focused on predator hunting only since 1979. That makes for eight previous occasions, with this hunting party being the ninth.

Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

I don't know about Maine, but my dad grew up in California in the 40's and 50's, and he bought his first shotgun at (if I recall his stories correctly) age 12. He grew up hunting deer and ducks and snow geese and jackrabbits - underage hunting is very much a thing here in the U.S.A where kids as young as 12 often get deer licenses and go hunt deer (usually with their folks). It is harder for kids to buy firearms now (read, illegal) than it was back in the 1950's, but youth hunting is still generally encouraged. I would guess that Maine wasn't much different.

Luke

Flashlights
 

Does anyone know what models and brands the TL7 tactical flashlights on p. HT52 represent?

The Kel-Lite First Generation SKL flashlight with 2 D-cell batteries is statted in GURPS Tactical Shooting p. 59 (in the write-up of the High Standard Model 10 shotgun, which could mount such a light). The stats are an exact match for High-Tech's TL7 'Small Tactical Light', except it has a 15-yard beam instead of a 25-yard beam. This is most likely because the flashlight was designed and made around 1970.

Presumably, the more powerful High-Tech 'Small Tactical Flashlight' represents improved Kel-Lite flashlights and/or models that came on the market in the late 70s from new manufacturers like Streamlight, Mag Instruments (Mag-Lite) and Laser Products Corporation (SureFire).

I'm having a hell of a time using Google to find the weight or performance of the original models of these manufacturers, given how many they advertise these days. And some of them even have the gall to name current models the same as their first offerings, with 'original' or 'classic' appended! But these might be (and usually are) a lot brighter, lighter and longer-lasting. It's like they are deliberately mocking me!

I found this list of late 70s/early 80s police flashlights, but for some of these, I don't even know which are brand or model names and which are manufacturers: Kel-Lite, Bianchi B-Lite, Stud-Lite, Greenwood Uniforms, Pro-Light, Code-4, Grendelite, Cold Steel Brute, Enforcer, Gemlite, Smoke-Cutter, Spec-Lite, Phaser-Lite, Mag Vari-Beam, LA Screw, GT Price, Brinkmann, Legend, Tru-Grit, Mag-Lite, Nordic, Streamlight, Camo-Lite, Bright Star and Ray-o-Vac Police.

I'm looking to pick a model and manufacturer that is close to the stats of the TL7 'Small Tactical Light' and 'Large Tactical Light', so the NPCs aren't carrying a nameless piece of equipment if some player wants to know about it.

It's okay if I have to note that it has a sligtly different weight, a marginally shorter or longer beam range or a different number of batteries (and thus more or less endurance), as long as whoever knows something about these brands can tell me what these differences are.

I can figure out that the new lights from SureFire, Streamlight and Mag-Lite, among others, that were regarded as top-of-the-line and revolutionary in 1982-1984, were probably the first TL8 tactical lights. For full nerd effect, one might represent some of these 80s lights with stats better than TL7 ones, but worse than current TL8 ones, say by allowing the lighter weights, but knocking a little time of the endurance or even not allowing the darkness penalty within the beam to get to -1 (instead of the TL7 standard -2) until the technology is more mature.

I can't find anything that might be the TL7 'Large Tactical Light'. Not saying that those didn't exist, but my Google-fu has been weak at discovering any models that would fit that were made before the big Mag-Lites that debuted in 1979. Maybe that's the TL7 'Large Tactical Light', a 4-cell D light from Mag-Lite or a similar manufacturer. I'm not sure how right that feels, however, given that large and robust flashlights were certainly made during TL7, even if they were much inferior to the 80s police lights.

I'd feel pretty comfortable with having the effects of modern high-lux, high-efficiency LED or otherwise improved tactical lights be at a relative +1 over the early police flashlights of the 80s. What candlepower/lumen/lux comparisons I can find, even if those numbers are often jiggered madly by marketers, indicate that there was an awesome difference in illumation power between an 80s vintage tactical light and a 2010s one.

Maybe a lot of economical and commonly used flashlights after WWII and until the late 70s still counted as TL6 beams for the purposes of the combat bonus on p. 19 of GURPS Tactical Shooting, simply with better battery life and some other features that still counted as a TL improvement. TL7 beams widely available in reasonably compact and affordable flashlights would then be the birth of the modern tactical flashlight and TL8 beams in those tiny little weapon-mounted lights is what we have in the last 15 years or so, with extremely efficient LED lights. This seems like a reasonable interpretation to me.

Edit: Man, setting a game in the 1980s really brings home how much technology in all kinds of different fields has marched on. I know it's difficult to draw a line and say: 'We are now at a new tech level' when you are living it, but we really have to consider if TL8 might not be ending / have ended. The changes to the world, as a typical GURPS character interacts with it through technology, are at least as great between 1980 to 2010 as they were between 1940-1980.

For all intents and purposes, movies, books and games set in the 80s are period pieces, just as much as WWII ones or a Victorian one. The world is different, the gear used to do a lot of common jobs is radically different, how adventurers go about adventuring is different, etc. The past is a different country and it's rarely as obvious as when one examines the world pre- connectivity revolution and post it.

Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

An original Kel-Light is 2# 4 3/8 ounces or 1032 grams, with spare bulb and two D-cells. I just weighed Dad's. Until LED bulbs became reliable, it was the best flash light I had used. In 1988 I had a three D-Cell Mag-Light, and Dad's Kel-Light was still better. It gives good light out to 20 yards.

Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

Would this be Kel-Lite First, Second or Third Generation? Large head KL model or small Head SKL model? Or maybe the medium head?

Or was it a police model, which would be the Baton Light? The weight suggests that it was a baton model. It might have been the trucker's model at that weight, as well, which I think was more-or-less identical to the police one, except for finish and marketing, and named, hilariously, Stud Light.

Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

It's one of these;

http://s1117.photobucket.com/user/fl...ite-2.jpg.html

Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

Ah, ok. Shorter than the Baton Lights, then. Either a very late manufacture of the 1st Generation or a 2nd Generation light, if I've understood their website for generational markings. In GURPS terms, many, if not most, Kel-Lite flashlights seem to be 'Small Tactical Lights' with extra heft, to be usable as batons. Of course, a large head, multi D-cell one might count as a 'Large Tactical Light'.

Thanks a bunch.

Now I just have to hope for an expert in larger lights of the 70s to turn up. What would give a 100-yard beam in GURPS terms in the 70s and early 80s?

Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

Dad was a fireman, he needed a reliable light much more than he needed a club. He bought it in 71 or 72.

Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

I got my first deer gun (a Remington 700 in .243) at age 12, approx 1983-1984. Of course my father bought it for me, though. Soft points were readily available.

The deer gun to be found in every pickup truck was a .30-30, though- a Winchester or a Marlin, usually. Ballistics are very roughly similar to 7.62x39mm.

I grew up walking around town with a .22 rifle. (In rural Pennsylvania.) We'd head off to the creek to shoot frogs, and to the dump to shoot rats. This was "good clean fun." My neighbors would hire me to shoot the groundhogs that were digging up their gardens. Armed children were status quo, I guess. In most places the kids were released in the morning and told to come home "when the streetlights come on." They were free-range kids- they'd show up at home when they got hungry (if they didn't eat at a friend's house).

And, yes, the first day of deer season was a de facto school holiday.

"Sporterized" Krags were getting rare in the 80s. The performance is lackluster, ammo was getting scare, and the rifles were old and worn. Enfield or Springfields would but much more like for bubba gunsmithing into an ugly hunting rifle. (And, if course, some custom shops made excellent hunting rifles out of them.) I wouldn't mind a nice Springfield sporter.

A surplus MX/991 flashlight might be common. Otherwise, when you say "tactical flashlight in the 80s" I think of MagLite.

Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

That was pretty awesome of your father.

Do you recall anything about the ammunition in the 80s, who made it and how it was marked? Were those Jacketed Soft Points? How heavy were the bullets?

One of the PCs already owns a Winchester Model 92 in .30-30 and one or more of the NPCs will own a Marlin 336 in the same.

You won't hear me claiming it is anything but good clean fun for children to shoot frogs and groundhogs. Now, arming bears, however...

Also, do you recall anything about the .22 LR ammunition you used in the 80s? What brands could you buy and what kind of bullets did those have? Was there anything soft or expanding? What about 'ball' ammo, under what name would it be sold in stores?

On the subject of school holidays, did you get a long Christmas break or just time off for the actual holidays themselves, i.e. Christmas Day and maybe the day before and after?

The PCs are in a tiny village on the 20th and 21st of December, 1988, and I'd like to know what the status on the local school is and where all the children will be during the day. Even if there is no teaching on those days, would there be some sort of day-care for younger kids still operating?

Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

It's normally a long break of c. 2 weeks. Public schools let out the last Friday before Christmas and don't pick up again until the first Monday after New Year's. If the actually holidays are being obnoxiously mi-week or inconvenient in some other fashion adjustments will be made but the circa 2 weeks will be met about as closely as possible.

Day care is unlikely in such a rural area. You have extended family or even stay-at-home moms. It's probably not a friendly area for lots of pink collar jobs.

Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

Jacketed soft points, yes, as were almost all US 'hunting loads' at the time. Remington. Not sure of the size, but I tended to favor light bullets at that age, for reduced recoil. Maybe 80 grains? (Don't quote me.)

12 was the legal age to hunt. And I've always been a bit of a shooting prodigy, of which my father was inordinately proud. But you know I think I mis-remembered: I used my uncle's .30-30 for my first deer season, so I got the .243 when I was 13. Then I got a scope when I was 14. And I still have that rifle. I haven't fired it in a decade, but I just can't sell the deer gun my dad bought for me...

I'm pretty sure these were usually Remington, too. You could buy bricks of 500 rounds. There were other bargain brands, though, for plinking. What was the brand? I'm blanking. And there was another common inexpensive brand that had gold-colored bullets. Grr- I can't remember. But, yes, hollow points were commonly available. High-quality Lapua target ammo was hard to get, but could be had if you wanted it badly enough. Usually your FLGS would have to order it for you. You bought it by the box of 25, though. That stuff was (and is) expensive.

We had a long Christmas break, usually through New Years Day. But that was Pennsylvania. And if you had already had a few snow days they would shorten it, or shorten spring break. School districts vary a lot in the US- there is no national curriculum.

Public day care?!? In the US in the 80s? Of course not! Thats why you have a mother, and preferably an extended family in the area. The kids will be out sledding or whatever is popular locally. "Free-range" kids, remember? :)

EDIT-- Aha! It was the Remington budget/inexpensive .22 ammo that had gold bullets! They still sell them in 36 or 40 grain.

Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

That's right fine. Suits the adventure perfectly.

Right.

Does it break the bounds of plausibility for a lonely, widowed middle-aged female teacher* to also offer day-care/remedial schooling/colouring lessons for the youngest children in the mornings over the Christmas break, at least on the weekdays of 20th-23rd and between Christmas and New Year's?

Even stay at home moms might like to be able to drive up to Fort Kent, Caribou or Presque Isle for Christmas shopping without having to drag their tribe of toddlers with them.

*It's established in the adventure that she was at the school on the 22nd for reasons having to do with children, but it doesn't have to be teaching as long as she was expecting a deposit of one or more delightful tykes.

Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

Wonderful. The exact loads my NPCs need are light JSP bullets for the caliber, meant to have reduced recoil.

For the more middle-class members of the hunting party, an important factor in weapon choice will be ammunition availability. Some of them will choose whichever of .22 LR, .22 WMR, .22 Hornet, .243 Winchester or .30 Carbine offers the best selection of available ammunition that will a) Be able to humanely kill a coyote at 100-200 yards when used by an average shooter and b) Won't blow up a fox at close range, but rather kill him dead with minimal damage to the fur.*

*These might have to be two different loadings, as long as they are both available for the same gun.

Good point.

The tiny town in the adventure is actually its own school district and so it doesn't break plausibility for me to have them run to a slightly different schedule, if, say, some of the schoolboard would like it.

Sure, sure.

Not public, then. I was wondering about a private day care, run by a widowed teacher, for some 5-10 children. For example, two particular children important to the backstory of the adventure, whose father was too drunk to watch them or earn much money, for that matter, and a mother who worked a lot of odd jobs to prepare for Christmas.

Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

Well, yeah, there's always some old lady around who runs an off-the-books daycare. Even today. Back in the 80s? I'd say that off-the-books daycares are more common than licensed daycares.

I could be a case of sampling bias, but in my hometown mom just stayed home, or worst-case an aunt or neighbor took charge of you. This was rural, though. I'm sure that cities were different.

Of course, my mom worked at the grocery on the other side of town (when she worked) so I could just free-range and swing by her place of work if there was a problem.

P.S.- a 200 yards shot on a fox with an M1 carbine would be a nice trick. Well, not terribly hard, but not really a reliable instant kill. .30 carbine drops pretty rapidly, so you'd really have to know your range.

Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

Some arrangement could be made and as acrosiome says care in private homes was the norm rather than licensed public day care.

If it doesn't break anything for you the lady could be watching he kids at some church-related facility. Churches were also active in this sort of thing.

Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

Oh, and Federal and Winchester were other common ammo brands.

Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

Splendid. And might BT (Boat-Tail) ammo be the sort that zips through foxes and bobcats making an exit hole little wider than the bore, when used in the .22 calibers, i.e. poor terminal performance on humans? Or would boat-tails tumble and yaw in the target at velocities over typical .22 LR?

Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

Completely unrelated to the current discussion on hunting, something caught my eye this morning that I think is valid.

A lot of the sparsely-populated rural areas, which I believe includes logger and potato farming areas of Maine, cable television wasn't always supported. Satellite television receivers, however, were "the big thing" around the late '80s/early '90s in such areas. What caught my eye was someone's leftover giant satellite dish in their back yard (they had the modern smaller dish inside it).

The satellite dishes were about 10 feet in diameter and mounted on a four to six inch diameter steel pipe. I'm uncertain as to the channels received, but I remember that local channels were not available via satellite.

Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

Well, this is about all sorts of technology and feel of 80s Maine, not just hunting.

I suppose the Allens have a satellite dish. What did 80s television show?

Courtney Allen, the 21-year-old son, would be a Miami Vice fan if they can get it on their sat dish. Of course, he had no trouble catching the last two seasons '86-87, while at school in Cambridge, MA. Courtney also likes 80s action movies (at this time just known as 'action movies'), including cheesy martial arts movies (which he doesn't consider cheesy). A new favourite might be Hong Kong director John Woo. Also a fan of anything with mammaries & posteriors.

Clayborn Allen might watch the news. In his mind, John Wayne and Humphrey Bogart were real red-blooded men in their movies, whereas anyone shouting HAI! and prancing around with chorus-girl kicks just looks ridiculous. Spaghetti Westerns were quality foreign movies, made in English with proper actors, and if you need high-octane action, Steve McQueen was a far better action hero than any of the ox-like current crop in Hollywood or any squinty Oriental.

Clayborn saw a lot of movies in drive-through when he was young. A favourite classic, shared with his wife, is Gone with the Wind, and he secretly does not mind at all when Mrs. Allen says he looks just like Clark Gable as Rhett Butler.

Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

The teacher is probably a Baptist and the kids are/were nominally Roman Catholic. Given that she's on the school board and likes to keep busy, though, I don't have a problem with calling what she was doing a voluntary extra credit assignment, i.e. her making papier-maché Christmas decorations with the few children whose parents needed to keep them somewhere during the morning.

Ironically, the testimony of the teacher in question was simply that the girls didn't show on that morning, but their father's truck drove past the school building early in the morning. The janitor/librarian/dogsbody who works part time at the school (and seems to spend a lot of time in the library, even when there is nothing to do there) recalls waving to Mrs. Greybear in the car and seeing the two girls in the backseat wave back. In the front seat was a Mr. Wahaki, friend to George Greybear and, evidently, better friend to Mary Tomah Greybear.

I think your experience was typical. As you say, cities may differ.*

The adventure is set in an extremely rural area, of course. Allagash has less than 500 people and Dickey, the unincorporated part of it, adds a couple of hundred. Two neighbouring 'towns' of St. Francis and Saint John Plantation (both within 10-20 miles) count around 700 people in total and there are maybe another two hundred people living within ten miles of the towns on farms, without being part of Allagash**, with those people mostly east of St. Francis and Saint John.

Less than five people per square mile, even if you only consider the part of the Valley that is actually inhabited. The population density of Allagash itself is less than three people per square mile at this time, for that matter.

*My New York City cousins always went day-care back in the 90s (and I think late 80s, for the eldest) but then, both their parents worked. Well, they both worked full time until my second cousin was born, at which point my uncle's wife spent less time in her office. Not none, though.
"]**Which administratively owns most of the wilderness around it, being the largest town in Maine by square mileage, at around 140 square miles.

Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

200 yards would be the maximum range I can see them being likely to have a shot at all, with 95% of shots being under 100 yards and ca 70% of total shots happening inside 50 yards.

That being said, Sommiers is a fair shot (skill 12), he simply lacks woodcraft (Survival (Woodland) -8) and doesn't have the best coordination (DX 9, Clumsy) or awareness (Per 9). Obviously, though, the .30 Carbine is not the optimal round for their hunting, but Sommiers is the most likely among the group to not care about the fur as a trophy or abstract notions of sporting clean kills. He cares about 'winning', or, at least, not feeling like he lost against the others at anything. On the other hand, it's not as if he has a driving passion for it, any more than he has a passion for anything in his life anymore, really. He doesn't like to lose, but he's grown fairly used to it.

Actually, most of the dozen or so men who go on this annual hunting trip are pretty decent hunters. The average experience of hunting among them is around 20 years or so and some of them are extremely keen amateurs who have few hobbies other than hunting.

The worst of them is County Commissioner Alexander Cadieu, who hadn't hunted in almost 20 years (and then only seldom and casually) when he first came with them four years ago. He's coming along just fine, though, with around skill 10 in both woodcraft and shooting.

Most of the rest have skill 12-13 in relevant skills, with Clayborn Allen and his old frenemy Phil Willette having expert level skills in stalking and shooting. The two of them were the best hunters of their generation even as boys, at least until young Abel Dufresne started growing up. But then, Dufresne became a Marine Scout-Sniper in Vietnam and won the Silver Star.

Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

Given how expensive and obvious the dishes were I think the networks didn't worry about encryption that much. The number of people that would watch them was small and couldn't watch any other way. Plus I think the sat feed had the national commercials already in it.

Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

Speaking of satellite TV, how has it changed since the 1980s vs the 2010s in that regard? What are the differences now in satellite TV now vs then?

Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

First, you can get local channels via satellite now; you couldn't back then. There were the three main networks - ABC, NBC, and CBS - broadcasting over satellite, but I forget what they had for the slots scheduled for local news. (I forget when Fox was confirmed as the fourth network.)

Also, the receiver is much smaller, such that you can have a satellite dish on the balcony of every apartment in a three story apartment complex. Back then, you wouldn't have had the room for a single one to service the entire complex.

The number of channels available was smaller as well; I want to say there were about 20 as opposed to today's ~200. HBO or Cinemax, no Starz or spin-off networks, MTV was still showing music videos (I don't think VH1 existed yet), and I'm pretty sure Turner was still expanding. I'm pretty sure "reality television" hadn't yet been invented - MTV's The Reel World, which started the whole thing, was still a few years off I believe.

Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

Depends on the satellite setup, the old large dishes were getting the raw network feeds. IF you had the right equipment, you could point it at any satellite, government satellites tended to be encrypted. I had a college professor in 1986 who liked fencing, he used his dish during the 84 Olympics to watch the German coverage, he also watched the British equestrian coverage.

Background on the Cold Night in Maine adventure
 

One of my players set up a Cold Night in Maine GoogleDrive folder, which can be viewed by anyone who has the link.

Mostly pictures of PCs, NPCs, locations, equipment and animals. There's a work-in-progress note file and a half-finished list of missing or unidentified people in Aroostook County (and parts of neighbouring counties) since 1975, the result of queries from the PCs and their fellow FBI agents to the State Police.

News! And a list of guests for the yearly Allen Predator Hunting Party
 

Well, I knew all that background on the hunting party wasn't wasted. Agent Frank Corelli has decided to get himself invited to it. Of course, no one was actually going to volunteer an invitation, because even if there was no one there who had anything to hide, a group of old friends will not necessarily welcome a snooping FBI agent when they go on their annual relaxing hunting trip.

But he has a plan. He has wormed the location of the Allen luxury hunting cabin out of Dr. Harvey Allen and casually mentioned a need for a quick trip out of Allagash before the anticipated snowstorm starts. Then it's just a matter of waiting for the storm to start and make sure that he reaches the isolated cabin just before it gets too bad to see. He'll claim he was returning from his errand, but the weather got too bad to reach town, let alone manage to return to Houlton. He was lucky to remember that the Allens had a cabin nearby. No one will turn him away if he arrives once the weather has gotten bad enough to be a hazard to anyone stupid enough to be caught outside.

It can't fail. Well, unless the Frank Corelli misjudges the rate the weather gets worse and/or does not manage to time his driving of an unfamiliar and confusing route precisely enough. Then, it can easily fail. And strand the PCs in a Ford F-150 truck in the middle of nowhere for the duration of a snowstorm that natives expect may last for more than a day. In freezing temperatures. Good times.

Yearly Allen Predator Hunting Party

Clayborn Allen has been hunting regularly since he was young. He goes on many hunting trips per year, most of them organised as a way to foster relationships with business partners and valuable contacts.

This hunting trip is of a more personal nature. Clayborn got visits from old school friends up to Maine several times in the 60s and they usually went hunting and fishing. Such visits happened at different times in the year. In addition, he will often invite business partners, investors and politicians on hunting, hiking or boating trips.

The yearly predator hunting trip began as a tradition in 1972. At first, it was not a predator hunt at all. For the first few years, it usually took place during deer season, in November, and it rotated between several cabins that the Allens had access to or rented. In 1979 was the first year in the new luxury cabin owned by Doctors Allen and Pinault. That was a long trip, from the last week of November until the 3rd of December. That year, they first got a licence for night hunting coyote, though the focus was mostly on deer until the season finished two days before they left.

From 1980, the date of the hunting trip changed to fit the schedule of the doctors, from deer season to the Christmas break. Usually starts around 19th-20th December, ends at 23rd December. At this time, it also changes from a deer hunting party to a predator hunt; coyotes, fox and bobcat. Main attraction is the night hunt, for coyote, but the most prestigious trophies are bobcat, as they are very hard to even find, let alone shoot.

Core Group:
Clayborn Allen (1972-)
Dr. Harvey Allen, Neurologist, Massachusetts General [b. Allagash; resides Boston, MA] (1972-)
Harold Martin, VP of Distribution, Imperial Tobacco Canada, Quebec-Division [Montréal] (1972, 1974-)
Brian Corcoran, businessman [Montréal] (1972-)
Amos Burrell, COO of B&H Freight Corporation [Baton Rouge, Louisiana] (1973-1974, 1976-1978, 1980-1983, 1985-)
Dr. William Pinault, Neurosurgeon, Johns Hopkins Hospital [b. Presque Isle; resides Baltimore, MD] (1974, 1976-1977, 1980-)
Phillip Willette, businessman, Selectman [Allagash] (1975-1978, 1981, 1984, 1986-)
Richard 'Ricky' Sommiers, Esq., Selectman [Allagash] (1975-)

More recent additions:
George Bolton, Bank Manager of St. Francis Community Credit Union, Selectman [St. Francis] (1977-1979, 1981-1982, 1987-)
Courtney Allen, son and heir of Clayborn Allen [b. Portland, ME (Allagash-Dickey); resides Boston, MA] (1983-)
County Commissioner Alexander Cadieu, politician and investor [St. Francis] (1984, 1986-)

Former or occasional guests:
First Selectman Edward Gardner, farmer [Allagash] (1972)
Jean-Jacques 'Jackie' Lafleur, businessman [Montréal] (1972, 1974, 1976]
Joshua Lawrence Goodwin, businessman [Presque Isle] (1972-1980)
First Selectman Clement Jalbert, businessman [St. Francis] (1973-1978)
Dave 'Davey' Hilton Sr., boxing manager [Rigaud, Quebec]. (1974)
Representative Michael E. Carpenter, former state legislator, now Maine Attorney General [Houlton; Democrat] (1976-1978)
Councilman John Valmont Pelletier, businessman [Fort Kent] (1977, 1979, 1982)
State Representative and Speaker of the House John L. Martin [Eagle Lake; Democrat] (1977-1980)
State Senator Donald F. Collins [Caribou; Republican] (1979-1980)
Victor Jude Dufresne, nephew of the Allens, suspected serial killer ([1981], 1982-1983)

About draftees and other military veterans
 

Very nice.

I'll come back to some questions about social mores, political views and, especially, views on same-sex relationships, later. I actually have a question that affects the background of a lot of the NPCs that the PCs are now interviewing and/or casually conversing with.

I know that the draft theoretically existed from 1940-1973 (an earlier version between 1917-1918). I know that there was nothing theoretical about the draft for Vietnam between 1964-1973. There was also one for WWII, very extensive. Seem to think it applied to Korea, as well, with a lot of the soldiers there being conscripts. I can fairly easily look up the dates, at any rate.

What I don´t really know is how aggressively these laws were enforced between WWII (and maybe Korea) and Vietnam. Would people born in 1937-1942, i.e. too late for WWII and Korea and fairly late for Vietnam, in that they were then already primary breadwinners for families, have been drafted in peacetime? Did they need a good excuse to avoid the draft?

How would the draft impact someone in their late 20s/early 30s, anyway? Theoretically, Selective Service applied to men up to 45 or even in their 60s, at some point, I think, but I suspect that conscripting these men was not the practice.

Another point, if someone was drafted, how long did he serve? For the duration of WWII, I know, but what about Korea or Vietnam? I seem to recall tours of duty in Vietnam being 6-12 months, depending on service and time period, but I don't know how long the total commitment to the military was. I don't think draftees had to serve more than one combat tour, but they might have had to do garrison duty in Germany, Okinawa or elsewhere, or do something else in uniform, before or after their Vietnam tour.

How did promotion for enlisted men work in Vietnam? Modern Time-In-Grade and Time-In-Service guidelines are probably not representative for the careers of conscripts in Vietnam, as the US military now is an all-volunteer force very different in nature. If someone served for the minimum time for draftees or perhaps an extra year or two, i.e. for maybe 2, 3 or 5 years in the military, what rank was he likely to leave the military with?

How long to reach Sergeant (E-5) in the US Army, for example? How long to reach Staff Sergeant (E-6)? Were other services similar in the time it took to become an E-5?

Re: About draftees and other military veterans
 

My maternal grandfather was drafted c.1944 when he was a 30 year old man with a wife and 2 kids. He saw enough combat in Germany to internalize some shrapnel as a memento and learn some occupation German. Home again sometime in 1946.

My paternal grandfather was older and missed the draft and the war. I don't know if it was chance or some aspect of policy. I don't think the older men went early in the war.

Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

There was at least some draft after WW II. Worked with a guy that spent the last part of WW II hiding in the basement to avoid the draft, in Germany. After the war the emigrated to the US and he was promptly drafted and sent to Germany as part of the occupation force.

Re: About draftees and other military veterans
 

Given the size of the US armed forces during WWII, it's easy to assume that anyone reasonably healthy not doing vital war work at home served in uniform.

Contrasted with the absolutely huge military commitment of WWII, I think 'only' about half a million men were deployed to Vietnam. Certainly, the US military simultaneously had to man worldwide bases for Cold War strategic reasons, but I still get the impression that the manpower requirements of the Vietnam era were far less than those of WWII. So if being 30+ and a head of household meant that you were only called up late in WWII, it seems plausible it would mean not being called up at all for Vietnam.

But I just don't know. If pressed, I'd research and use the Military Participation Percentage to determine how much of the healthy male population would be in uniform during each period, but that doesn't tell me whether a given NPC was drafted. I still don't have a feel for how that MPP was achieved; whether it was with a huge number of draftees, each serving only a year or two, or whether a significant fraction of it were longer serving volunteers, and/or draftees who extended their enlistment.

If pressed, I'd go with almost anyone serving during WWII, half of potential draftees serving in Korea and no more than a quarter of the potential in Vietnam. That leaves most age 30+ men who don't volunteer off the hook for Korea, most age 25+ not serving in Vietnam. But in the absence of better research (or hopefully, informative posts from older US forumites), I'm essentially guessing.

And I don't even have a basis for a WAG when it comes to the peacetime draft between 1953-1964. It seems, intuitively, that this would only have applied, in practice, to unmarried men reaching age 18-19 or so, and not in college. But, again, just randomly guessing.

And how about veterans? How likely was a 25-35 year old veteran of WWII to be called up for Korea?

Re: About draftees and other military veterans
 

The U.S. had ~12,000,000 people in uniform out of ~131,000,000, that's less than 10%. Germany had over 30%. This is one reason the Russians were so concerned about U.S. intentions post WW II, they were dangerously low on fit fighting age population, and the U.S. could probably field another 20,000,000 with modest effort, and still keep our manufacturing going at a rate that no one could then match.

Draft;
Military service has generally been performed by a rather small proportion of our population, with the exceptions of the U.S. Civil War, and WW II. During the Cold War draftees were used to man the Central European positions watching the Warsaw Pact troops watching back, plus Alaska, and Greenland. Most served for 2 years active service, and 5 years reserve service. As to how likely one was to serve, I don't know, this period was too recent to be covered much in school when I went, and my reading has been centered on ~1914 to ~1946. One thing to know is that the Draft Boards who sent the military draftees was a local group, who tended to send those young men who did not fit into the local community first, and others to fill out whatever quota they had. People of status generally made sure that their kids were in "safe" units that would only to be sent out for a "real" war, not Asian brush fire wars. Those families that had a history of military service would have their kids volunteer, often for combat commands.

Re: About draftees and other military veterans
 

The US deployment in Vietnam peaked at 536,100 in 1968. In 1960 there were 900 personnel there, and in 1972 there were 24,200 there.

Some Vietnam War statistics

Re: About draftees and other military veterans
 

Also, anyone attending college during the Vietnam War received a deferment. That meant that, while a greater percentage of Vietnam veterans had high school diplomas than those who served in WWII, recent college grads were under-represented.

Here's a nice write-up of some additional statistics:

http://www.vvof.org/factsvnv.htm

Here's a study of the impact of college draft deferments:

http://davidcard.berkeley.edu/papers...ar-college.pdf

Re: About draftees and other military veterans
 

Uh-huh. This question I can answer from my own life experience. The War ended before I had to register but that doesn't mean that draft avoidance wasn't a subject of intense interest from age 9-10 on.

There were a _lot_ of ways to avoid either the Draft or at least ground combat in Vietnam. I could go on for many paragraphs.

Anybody who wanted to avoid such like and had either connections or ingenuity or even just a study ethic and scholarship prospects may be assumed to have done so.

As a curiosity, after the Draft ended the whole Selective Service machinery was done away with until that idiot (Jimmy Carter) re-instated registration. He said we needed to maintain a database. Starting in January of 1978 males needed to register for the non-existent draft when they turned 18. I just missed that and never had to register under either the old or new systems.

So anyone 28 to 18 will have sent in a postcard with his address on his 18th birthday but probably nothing else. The database was not updated very well. Males turning 18 before 1974 or so will have had to not only register but had to report for a medical to determine his draft status. Mentally and physically healthy young men would probably have been rated A-1 and may or may not have been called up depending on necessity and lottery results and who knows what else..

Ones with physical problems such as my wretchedly bad eyesight would be rated 4-F and never been called up.

Re: About draftees and other military veterans
 

Elvis Presley was drafted in 1958.

Re: About draftees and other military veterans
 

A MPP of 10% is still massive. WWI France, WWI and WWII Germany or WWII Russia are all examples of countries where the stresses of total war essentially decimated a generation and civilian life was affected to the point that only tyranical measures sufficed to retain power.

Two years active, five years reserve. Thanks.

To take a random NPC as an example, he was born in 1918 and was drafted in 1943. He got home in 1946. In 1950, he was still unmarried, age 32, not working in any critical industry. Would he have been drafted again for Korea? Or technically, I guess, called up for service again, because of his reserve status?

His military record was unexceptional. If any attempts were made to measure his abstract reasoning facilities or generalised intelligence, he would have scored abysmally, but he was obedient, biddable and not lacking in basic mechanical aptitude. That is, he wasn't any kind of genius mechanic, but he could be taught to make hospital corners, operate a mop, salute, parade and clean his weapon as well as the next fellow. Better, in case of the mop, cleaning and hospital corners, as he didn't have much in the way of irrelevant thinking going to distract him from simple tasks.

I know it started out that way, but precisely because of the abuses you mention, this aspect was removed at some point. I don't know the date when it went to a (theoretically) randomised lottery system.

Oh, indeed.

The Dufresne family and Allen family are very different in that regard. Victor Jude Duresne's great-grandfather was a doughboy in WWI, his grandfather died on Guendecanal in 1942 and his father and two uncles all went to Vietnam, with one uncle falling at Khe San in 1968 and Abel Dufresne, his father, coming back with a Silver Star after his three tours in Vietnam.*

By contrast, it is a proud boast of the Allen family that no Allen has ever been chump enough to fight wars for the benefit of other people wearing the uniform of the United States. The first Allen in North America, Clayton 'Clay' Allen did serve as a scout for the United States Army in several Indian wars and the War of 1812, but as he seems to have spent most of his time selling contraband to Indians on both sides and running slaves up to the Canadian Maritime provinces, he can hardly rank as an honourable veteran of the US Army.

His son, the first US-born member of the clan, John Clayton Allen, fought with distinction in the Civil War, but unfortunately for Allen posterity, he did so as a Copperhead under Gen. Leadbetter. Sean Danville Allen was too old for WWI and while his oldest boy, Richard 'Dick' Allen, father of current patriarch Clayborn Allen, was at the right age then, a quiet word with a member of the Draft Board prevented any unpleasantness and allowed young Dick Allen to learn his trade at the sawmill and logging sites instead of wasting time in uniform.

Clayborn himself had a college deferment, more or less during 1955-1962. The first three years were just a technical college working for an associate degree, but he finally got into a real college (admittedly in Canada, but McGill is a very good school) in 1958. Spends 1958-1960 in Canada. Then in 1964, when the draft for Vietnam really got going, he would have been twenty-seven and married with a pregnant wife. I imagine his draft number was high enough so that the draft ended before he could be called up.

*Strangely, very little has been said about the third uncle, other than he lives in Thailand in 1988.

Re: About draftees and other military veterans
 

Ok, another random example.

An NPC born in 1945. Physically and mentally in average health. In 1988, he has a college degree (he's a CPA), but I've not established when that degree was earned. Assuming that he did not succeed in getting a deferment in the mid-60s, perhaps because he could not afford college immediately upon finishing high school, would he most likely have been drafted at age 18 or age 21? Some other age?

If he was drafted, he presumably stood a fairly high chance of getting a non-combat MOE, as he certainly did not seek out a front-line infantry position. What would be the most mundane and common thing to do in the military while Vietnam was going on?

Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

Ok, that would have been late 40s/early 50s.

What about someone who wanted to go to war when Korea started in 1950? For an NPC who was born in 1933, did he have any plausible way to join the military at age 17? Legally?

What about not-so-legally? Was the bureaucracy good enough by 1950 so that people couldn't lie about their age any more, like they did when joing up for WWII?

The NPC in question is 6'3" and 240 lbs. as a man in robust middle age, so I imagine he was a tall and broad-shouldered teenager. Could grow a mustache early and, at least in 1988, has a formiddably hairy chest, enough so that the PCs consider him* an outside possibility for the man/men that the suspect in custody refered to as 'Big Bad Wolf' and 'Hungry Wolf'.

*Along with Clayborn Allen, who perhaps best fits that role.

Rifle scopes
 

Thank you ever so much for this list. It was extremely useful to me.

Do you mind if I push my luck and check if you might be of even more use?

So far, I've equipped a lot of the rifles meant for shooting fox and bobcat in the twilight with the Bushnell Scopechief V, simply because I don't know about any other late 70s/early 80s variable power scopes with an illuminated reticle.

There was apparently also a Hensoldt fixed-power 4x scope with a battery illuminated reticle made in the 80s, which I know about because it is mentioned in GURPS Tactical Shooting. I think it was related to or perhaps even the same scope as what the West Germans were putting on military rifles in the late 70s.

Do you know if any other scope models came with battery-illuminated reticles in the period 1975-1985?*

For characterisation purposes, I would really like Dr. William Pinault to own a different model of scope than resides on the high-quality loaner rifles that the Allens keep for visiting VIPs.

The desired attributes are about the same; a variable power scope of 3-9x or thereabouts with good light-gathering capabilities and an illuminated reticle (or the equivalent). In game terms, it will be more or less the same thing (probably exactly the same), i.e. a +1 to +3 Acc scope that reduces darkness penalties by -2 and weighs from 0.7-1.5 lbs. But I'd like Dr. Pinault to own an imported European or Japanese scope**, not an American one with a commonplace (if good) reputation like the Bushnell.

On the above list, only the Nickel and Tasco are foreign and neither of them are really the kind of prestigious, pretentious maker names for which I'm looking.*** I'd like Hensoldt, Carl Zeiss, Schmidt und Bender, Kahles, Swarovski or the equivalent if European and something like Nikon if Japanese.

Does anyone know if these companies made any model of scope between 1975-1985 that had 3-9x magnification (or 2.75-8x, 3.5-10x or anything similar), 40mm or more objective lens and an illuminated reticle?

I suppose illuminated reticle is more important than variable power, if it is in 4x or 6x or so.

When were the Kahles Helia scopes marketed?

*In 1985, Trijicon starts marketing scopes with tritium illuminated reticles.
**Allowing him to wax ecstatic about the quality of engineering 'by these marvellous, organised peoples' in a quasi-racist manner.
***For all of that, 1970s Tasco scopes were reportedly excellent and Nickel has a very good reputation. But these are not pretentious, just very fine products.

Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

While you cannot be drafted at 17, you could (and still can) voluntarily enlist at that age as long as you have parental consent.

No. Lying about your age was still very much an option: At 14, Korean War Soldier Enlisted Before He Could Shave

Unfortunately I can't be much help on anything further regarding scopes. That info that I had came out the 1975 Gun Digest which I bought used a couple years ago as a reference for firearms in 1970s era games. The Scopechief V is the only scope mentioned as having a battery powered reticle.

The other brands you're curious about aren't mentioned at all, probably because nobody was importing them at the time. In fact, there is a quick reference in an article to the fact that Del-Sports, Inc was no longer importing Kahles because the prices had risen too high on them.

Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

Splendid, that allows two of my NPCs to have a connecition through shared history, even though they probably didn't meet until later.


I'm doing the best I can to research the history of battery powered reticles. I've got to be able to find out when Hensoldt or Kahles started offering them. Though I haven't found many sources, I'm starting to believe that maybe Zeiss and Swarovski didn't offer illuminated reticles until later, with tritium or other modern methods. Maybe battery illuminated reticles didn't suit their elegant designs and/or demand for accuracy at long ranges.

Were there any high-quality compact 2.5x or 3x fixed-power sight scopes mentioned in your magazine? I find that Googling period scopes is easier if I have a precise model name.

Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

I'm not sure what you mean by compact... if you mean like modern tactical scopes people stick on their AR-15s? Then no... there's nothing like that. However, there is the Nickel Supralyt 2.5x listed at retail price of $130, the Leupold M8 3x listed at $68.50, and likely some others. These would be fairly traditional hunting scopes, though.

Re: 1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae
 

By compact I mean significantly lighter and more handy than the bigger variable power scopes that go up to 9x magnification.

Basically, most well-designed scopes with low fixed magnification are probably meant to be compact and should be much less of an encumbrance on a 5-6 lbs. plinking rimfire or camp gun than a 3-9x40mm or even a 3-9x56mm scope. Obviously, such guns would be even handier without scopes, but many middle-aged men feel a low power scope is easier to use with less than perfect vision than iron sights, especially as the light gets dimmer when it nears twilight.

The Leupold M8 3x scope is actually a perfect example of a 1970s vintage 'compact' hunting scope. I've even equipped Phil Willette with one of those mounted on his Savage 24V Series D rifle/shotgun combination gun in .22 Hornet/20G. But for Dr. William Pinault, I'd really prefer a 'fancy' imported model, even if the stats are exactly the same.

Willette is pragmatic and indifferent to fashions. He doesn't pay for brand recognition or unnecesary bells and whistles. More than a decade ago, he got a nice deal on a used Savage 24 in the .22 Hornet chambering, which he found a useful pest control gun around his cabins, and he liked being able to reload his brass.

When he was invited on the coyote night hunts some years later, he didn't buy a fancy new 'yote rifle, he just stuck a scope on his old plinker. Not the most expensive scope, but a quality model that suited his purpose. He doesn't mind that he doesn't have the capability for quick follow-up shots, because he takes pride in not missing.

Dr. Pinault, however, isn't really an avid hunter or the sort of gun nut who owns multiple gun cabinets. On the other hand, he is very sensitive to clean, attractive lines, understated elegance and perfection of design. He doesn't so much pursue fashions as he seeks to project, or even, ideally, embody, good taste.

He will always try to acquire classics, whether they are currently antiques or he believes that they will become classics in the future. When he buys a firearm or a riflescope, he will approach the matter as if he were spending an equivalent amount on buying a tailored suit, Italian leather shoes or a crystal candelabra. He will do research and then he will look at samples for as long as it takes, seeking that elusive perfection.*

At a glance, Willette will not be willing to spend more than ca GURPS $1,000 on a scope/rifle combination for a hobby. Dr. Pinault will gladly spend GURPS $5,000+ on a classic gun and scope, but he unless what he acquires is clearly an immortal piece of art, he might not go over $10,000. He could, after all, be spending that money on wine, brandy, paintings or fine dining instead.

Of course, Dr. Pinault is left-handed and dislikes intensely shooting right-handed bolt-actions. He is also not fond of brass flying at his face. This somewhat limits his options. He has had success with firearms that eject the spent shell or brass downwards, instead of sideways, and often borrowed Allen's Ithaca 37 Featherlight pump shotgun and his Browning SA-22 semi-automatic rifle. The latter got so bad that Dr. Pinault finally bought his own Browning SA-22, a custom deluxe one in Grade VI, with the safety moved for left-handed use. It's for that gun that I require a compact scope with good light-gathering capability, as Dr. Pinault uses it a lot to plink at small animals and even sometimes shoots at coyote at short ranges, often in poor lighting.

*Perfection within his budget, of course. He is not a spendthrift, merely an aesthete. He will set a budget for each purchase that his purse can bear. That might be quite a generous budget, however, as he is a renowned neurosurgeon at Johns Hopkins with no family to help spend his disposable income.

Re: About draftees and other military veterans
 

I assume by counting the last enterprise as dishonorable you are saying he was a kidnapper not a rescuer?