btq96r

Got the parts kit in Tuesday. The PSA blemished (if there was a blemish, I couldn't see it) pictogram lower and my GSG-522 came in yesterday. Being up all night after I took a killer nap that started around supper time and lasted until the evening news eroded any self control, I assembled everything. It was actually my first lower build from parts and I was surprised how easy it was and that I didn't screw anything up that I could notice (knock on wood) or leave any marks. I took it slow, watching videos from Brownells and others as I did it. I also took a nice break midway through to find a detent pin that went airborne. I used some good enough tools from around the house to get it done and the only recommended tool's I had were a hammer and one of those mufti-purpose wrenches for AR's to tighten the castle nut- I substituted other things for the punches where needed. Here's the end result. Overall I'm very pleased with the results and hope to marry it to an upper and hit the range soon to make sure all is good. My finger is twitching over the buy button for this- at $350 it seems quite the deal.

I have a 25 MB internet package and they threw in a free year of HBO with it in addition to using their box to get the basic channels.  It comes out to $42.14 a month.  That's reasonable for me and I'm content with paying that.  Once that year long promo goes, I'll adjust accordingly.  Probably going to cut the whole TV side and us an OTA antenna and maybe drop my internet connection speed if the adjusted price for 25MB isn't within reason.   Streaming from Netflix and Amazon Prime come in just fine 99% of the time, with Netflix taking somewhat of a hit at peak use times during the night.  I'd attribute that to Netflix and not Comcast based on the time of day it happens. 

  They'll endorse Democrats if they have the right views on gun rights; especially if they're an incumbent with an A or A+ rating and a voting record to back it up.  Look at their Grades & Endorsements around August/September and you'll see some.   It's political genius by the NRA.  By making their seal of approval available to Democrats and Republicans alike, they stay out of partisan politics and get enough support from both sides to keep anti-gun legislation from coming up.  When President Obama was newly elected and Eric Holder raised the trial balloon of a new AWB, 65 Democrats signed onto a letter to AG Holder tell him they didn't support it.  Getting the members of a leaders own party to be the one to squash one of his proposals is when you know your lobbying efforts work.

  Just to be clear, if the NRA backs a Democrat under their incumbent-friendly policies, you advocate voting for a Democrat over a Republican?

The free market (or whatever we have left of it in America) will win out on this.  Guns are an amazing product and a steady profit generator.  Hell, the costs you save by not needing a dedicated advertising campaign like other products use are amazing in themselves.  I'd trust a return on investment from an established gun shop more than I would a savings bond from most countries in the Eurozone right now.

Is that the one you showed me? That sumbeach had some heft... :)

I guess PSA was monitoring this thread- my lower parts kit was updated to "shipping" today.  I even got an email with the UPS tracking info.   Now if they can get my stripped lower and GSG-522 en route, I'll be a happy boy.

  I ordered one of the PTAC kits last Saturday and it's still pending.  My credit card payment went through as expected, just haven't seen any movement on the order since it hit "processing", nor the stripped lower or GSG-522 I ordered separately the same day. 

Folks- I'm trying to find the threads about businesses that do firearms transfers.  I remember seeing a few but can't find them anymore.  Any links or even just telling me about anyone you know in Murfreesboro that has reasonable fees and good customer service would help since I want to stay local with it.   Thanks- btq   P.S.:  Maybe we could use a specific sub-forum for this kind of thing?

  USAA is my third car insurance company, and they are the lowest I've had.  I was very happy with Safeco's customer service during my one and only accident, but USAA beat their prices by enough to make me leave.  I wouldn't have unless I had the confidence that USAA wasn't going to be a step down in customer service.

  Thanks.  I updated my pronouns.

  What in Ms. Rodger's bio suggests she had any political campaign experience?  I didn't see anything of the sort.   Interpersonal and political skills?  She was a Lt. Col...she probably had to get over the shock of how slow and lazy people who didn't have to follow her direct orders under UCMJ could be in making things happen.  I'll bet she learned a lot about interpersonal and political skills in campaigning, but she wasn't equipped with them out of the gate.  All those Air Force schools you listed are only related to her time as an Air Force officer, unless someone want's to show me campaign politics being taught at command and staff college.    She was probably able to learn an adapt quicker than someone else might have been since that's a trait you learn fast in the military.  She won, which is good, but don't think that she came to the table with those skills.  Being a retired field grade officer (or any military experience) doesn't mean they are ready to campaign from day one.  She got an education along the way to being elected in it.

All those students with phones...he's lucky it was only still pictures and not a full video.  I'd wouldn't bet against seeing a video of this on YouTube or liveleak sometime.

  Windows 7 will last alongside Windows 8, I think.  Too many businesses aren't happy with Win8 for them to cut support to Win7 anytime soon.  Hell, look how long it took them to finally pull the plug on XP.    Specs are what you want it for.  You should be able to get by just fine with out of the box specs based on what you've described your usage needs.  For me, I need an all purpose computer that can handle a lot at once since I'm a slave to one for most of what I do.  I usually have a video, stream from Netflix or MLB.tv up as I'm working.   This is what I'm rolling with currently and I'm quite happy with how it's humming along: Lenovo Thinkpad Edge E531 (68852BU) Intel Core i5 3230M (2.60GHz) 16 GB Memory (I upgraded this from the factory installed 4GB Memory) 500GB HDD Intel HD Graphics 4000 Windows 7 Professional 64-Bit   As far as the "to Mac or not to Mac" question goes...that's an individual question you have to answer before possibly selling your soul to Apple. :D

My take on your issue... Why deal with Windows 8 when you can still find vendors who will sell laptops with Windows 7 as the installed OS?  I concur that touchscreens are a pain in the ass.    I'm also not a fan of dual laptop/tablet; for me, they're seperate items...one for work, one for play and all that. Not sure about a Mac Mini, but I've never seen Apple products play nice with other hardware, so you might still need an Apple monitor alongside it (at extra cost). I have a Lenovo Thinkpad (cost about $550) and a Nexus 7 tablet; all my computing needs are met.

  Rep. Van Huss better have some solid funding on his side.  A letter like that is sure to make the Tennessee Republican Party think twice about giving him any from their pool of money and may even lead to them supporting a challenger in 2016 if he gets re-elected this year and keeps pushing things in the next GA.

Some other reactions to Joffrey's death.   http://uproxx.com/tv/2014/04/game-of-thrones-purple-wedding-reaction-video/

I knew it was coming and I know who did it...because I've read the books :cool:

  The Republican trifecta is secure for a while, they know Tennessee isn't going Democratic for at least another few elections.  Pissing off voters isn't a concern because it's not like there is any serious Democratic opposition to capitalize on the letdown in Republican voter enthusiasm would bring. This is how legislation dies with a wink and a nod when one party has complete control.

  I used to go to Wal-Mart for most of my groceries, but stopped after reading this.  You can damn sure bet they are working behind the scenes to keep people dependent on food stamps since they openly admit their profits are tied to people using SNAP funds in their stores.  They won't have my business to help them with their aims.   Where I live, a Publix is almost as close and I'm a fan.  Way less people in the store, negligible difference in prices on most items and better deals on some.  I also seem get through the checkout line faster.  The one I shop at has a sign that they take Kroger coupons in addition to brand coupons and Publix coupons.   What was this thread about?  Oh, right, what's my average grocery bill.  Um, I'm a single guy...I don't bother tracking that.  I just buy enough food to cook and eat a few times a week.

  America isn't the kind of place where you repeal legislation that's on the books.  The NFA as a whole package can't get taken down in one felt swoop.  The only example of a repealing a bad idea that government had was prohibition.  That one is a category of it's own because it involved Constitutional amendments and quite possibly the stupidest and most unenforceable idea of all time.  Legislation that is brought in under the commerce or necessary and proper clauses tends to stick around in perpetuity.  The only group that seems to be the exception to the rule are the banks.    As for what's in the law now, you can only hope to tweak or mold it, not get rid of it completely.  I wish that all legislation had sunset provisions like the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban had a 10-year one.  That way it forces politicians to be directly accountable for laws and be on record as voting for or against it instead of just leaving them sit on the books and them telling us how they would vote if it ever came up when they know full well it won't..   Another thing to remember is that politicians- especially in Washington- are the same beast, with just minor differences.  Think about what was happening around the world back then.  The Soviet Union, Germany, Italy...all countries with a large population that were ravaged by economic disaster, leading them to fall into governance by socialist/fascist regimes.  America was dealing with similar social problems that could have resulted in a populist uprising just like those countries.  American politicians from both of the two big parties probably enacted the NFA to protect against an armed population wanting their ouster as much as the other reasons given (crime fighting, employ former prohibition enforcers).  I can very well believe the only people they wanted to see carrying a Tommy Gun were police officers and federal troops during those dangerous times.   I'm working on v1.3.  I settled on the new term Short-Length Rifle (SLR) to replace SBR since I hope to have the barrel length eliminated as a metric.  I also need to go through the U.S. Code to make sure I'm quoting correctly NFA or GCA text correctly.

  Glad the letter helped.  I have no issues with people using what I posted (I wouldn't put it in the open if I did), but I'm still not done tweaking it for my use.    I had a doh! moment in the gym earlier when I realized, if you eliminate the distinction of barrel length in the law, the designation short-barreled rifle will need to be replaced with something else.  It's hard to sneak something under the radar politically when you have to change a term, so I'll have to help think of something that would fit but still denote some measure of control for the .gov to control weapons less than 26" overall.

Okay...version 1.1 for review.  I deleted the non technical paragraphs and shuffled the wording of some of the others to make a more sequenced argument.      Dear                   My name is _________.  I reside in Murfreesboro, Tennessee and am writing to respectfully request that you consider submitting legislation amending the National Firearms Act to account for developments in firearms manufacture and use.  Specifically, I am seeking your support to re-define what a short-barreled rifle (SBR) is.                   The law, as it currently stands, defines an SBR, a Title II weapon under the National Firearms Act, as “any firearm with a buttstock and either a rifled barrel under 16" long or an overall length under 26". The overall length is measured with any folding or collapsing stocks in the extended position”.  These restrictions, developed when the law was passed in 1934, fail to account for modern firearms design and use.                    There are firearms of current design in use, classified as SBR’s, that while having a barrel under 16”, would meet the requirement of an overall length of 26”- even with a collapsible buttstock in the fully collapsed position.  These firearms have become popular with shooting enthusiasts and are recognized as an appropriate weapon for home defense.  As long the overall length of the weapon remains in excess of the established length of 26”- ensuring that the rifle is still of a significant enough size to prohibit easy concealment by those with criminal intent- why should the length of the barrel, which only directly impacts the ballistics of a round fired, matter in the determination of what comprises a Title II weapon?                   I therefore, humbly ask that you to consider introducing legislation to amend the National Firearms Act and change the definition of a Short Barreled Rifle, removing any weapon with an overall length of 26” or greater from being classified as a Title II weapon under the National Firearms Act.  Nothing in such a change would prohibit states who wish to enact or retain their own laws prohibiting firearms with barrels of less than 16” from doing so.  It would simply be an update to an 80 year old federal law to incorporate modern firearms design and use.                   I would welcome the opportunity to discuss this issue with your or any member of your staff and look forward to your response to my request.  Thank you for your time in considering my request and your service in the United States Congress.                                     Respectfully yours,                       ________________

  Worst case scenario- you don't like it, you put it up for sale on here before you shoot too many rounds through it and take a small hit out of pocket for selling it used. 

sigmtnman has the right of it on the visual aid concept, IMO.  I would rather show off an SBR with, say a 10.3" barrel, side by side with a rifle that has a 16" barrel, both with the buttstocks extended to show how small the difference is rather than use an AR pistol for the same purpose.    I'm also not unconvinced that the ATF won't realize what they did by ruling a shoulder brace on an AR pistol does not make it an SBR.  Rescinding a legal opinion is easy enough if the powers that be tell the legal department to make it happen.  Leaving that as a separate issue seems to be the proper play here.