2.ooohhh

Entry level ARs have become commodity items. Many manufactures make them to very similar specs and mechanically most are indistinguishable aside from a few logos and stampings. The more made the cheaper and cheaper "acceptable" basic AR parts will get. Now premium parts will still command market value be it due to improved function or consumer perceived improvement of function or looks. Magpul grips are a perfect example, while functionally they make little real effect on the rifle they have convinced the average consumers in mass that they will prefer one of them and that they are therefore worth "x". Marketing at it's finest. That said I also have them on most of my ARs. What I'm interested in is seeing where box stock BCGs, lowers, LPKs, and ammo end up. . .

I'm willing to bet they fall further than we've seen them in quite a while. If you look at the previous 10 years gun purchases have gone up and up(especially the last 8 years) due to expected regulation. With the new administration incoming in mere days most doubt there will be new firearm restrictions this cycle and some believe that there will soon be less.(I.E. the HPA passing to remove suppressors from the NFA registry) All of this has created an excess supply mirrored by a drop in demand.

I've seen as little as two weeks, and as long as 60-70 days. Totally depends on the person, the volume of permits in the system at the time of application, and the good old USPS.

I don't need more than 50mb down, it's really the upload that comes with fiber that I yearn for. I have the capability to stream a half dozen real time VERY high quality security camera feeds and several streams of HD video from my media server all at once that are all very currently DRASTICALLY restricted by upload speed.

If your Omni has the standardized RS232 interface the module below will integrate Z-wave control into your existing Omni controller. I used a similar one to integrate my ELK M1 into the x10 setup at my last house. It worked, and was reliable but was a bear to get set up. It would likely be less expensive and less time consuming to start with a standalone hub such as the smartthings and add zwave and zigbee devices to it yourself as you aquire them. http://www.homecontrols.com/Leviton-Vizia-RF-Serial-Interface-Module-LVVRC0P1LW Software such as smartrules on a cell phone or tablet really makes automation control simple enough that pretty much anyone can now do it if they are capable of understanding the if/then logic structures.

I've only had mine a month but it's the absolute closest thing I've driven to my modded '74 bronco(regretted selling it each day since) that I've ever found. Unless Ford really puts out a fantastic new bronco next year I'll likely have the FJ until it's keys are pried from my cold dead fingers.

Doesn't take a half inch of snow to weed out the worst of the drivers around here. 4x4? by Erik, on Flickr

Well that all comes down to how you set the automation and the underlying technology up. In my case(complete overkill) I'm running a enterprise grade firewall with cisco and ubiquiti managed switches, and managed ubiquiti APs. The internet is handled through a dual WAN router so it split multiple connections all on a battery backup. Should comcast go out, DSL will take over for the time being, should DSL go out the verizon AP is there, should the power flicker the battery backups keep my network all just humming along. All of these small details make the entire house and internet within it, which so much relies on, dramatically more reliable than the average home, which in turn makes the automation far more reliable. Only thing it's really susceptible to is a long term power outage, not that most of the automated lights and such would be any good without power anyway. Now if I hadn't gone to streaming TV, running my own home server, IP video surveillance, working from home frequently, and automating damn near everything then spending what I did on "the internet" would be a waste of time and money.

Just automating my HVAC and Pool pump dropped my electric bill in the summer by several hundred a month so it'll eventually pay itself off. I listed my last smart home as +$10k all turnkey handed to the new owner, or asking price if I removed the all the built in modules and left it dumb. The new owner chose to pay the extra $10k after seeing what it could do. I left him a thumb drive with manuals, receipts, documentation, and basic instructions for the whole getup, and walked away with a 10k budget to outfit the new house. No the old house was all insteon/10x and an ISY controller tied in with a control4 media center so it was outdated by modern standards but it allowed me to step from insteon to the more modern and agile z wave and zigbee protocols for a net $0 investment.

I don't use smart locks for exterior locks, EVER, but then I don't use locks from the local hardware store either. If concerned about security you need real locks. Other wise my home is smart as can be. My thermostats swing the temp from a standby to my preference when I'm about 10 min from the house. As I pull in the drive the exterior entry lights turn on and interior light begin to turn on in succession. The home audio plays my preferred station by time of day in the living room, kitchen, and the entryway.(typically the same podcast I've been listening to on the way home). The exterior landscape lights turn on daily from 15 min before sunset to 10:30pm. The home's core is on it's own security system that is isolated, but I've greatly extended it's range with outdoor smart sensors on the home automation as a first line of defense. The smart home monitors my shed, my screened porch, my driveway for vehicles, and my exterior garage area. Upon detecting motion if the wife and I are "away" it turns on lights in the effected area and shoots me a text message. If i'm home in "armed home" mode it ignores all the interior sensors but can flash my bedside light to indicate a car pulling in the drive or motion within 6 or so feet of my garage door. When the wife and I leave in the morning the vacuums run to clean the floor typically finishing about lunchtime. If I get home and head into the theater I can tell the echo in the theater to "turn on movie" and it dims the theater wall lights, turns off the ceiling lights, powers up the projector and changes the input on the processor to the apple TV. When I'm ready for bed I simply tell the echo in the bedroom "turn on goodnight" and it will turn off all the home's interior lights and set the security mode to "armed home". One that we have really loved is that if my wife is home in bed and I come home from the hospital late it will turn on my bedside light very dim, this both gives me light to get into bed but also lets her know that I'm the one making noise at the door, b/c if the system is armed and motion is sensed before disarm it flashes at 100% bright to wake us up. Not sure what phone OS your running but here are some of the apps/sites/hardware I've found useful. IFTTT, Skylark, Alexa, Smart Home, Smart Rules, SmartThings I have used and love all of these- Smartthings hub, been with it since I left wink, absolutely better with great API support-http://a.co/3iOIuRv In wall z wave dimmers great for theater lights if already wired-http://a.co/dCzTfPf Z wave micro dimmer, I often build these into antique lamps and ceiling fan lighting kits-http://a.co/7sFg7Nx Z wave micro smart switch, I often build these into fixtures such as ceiling fans for motor control- http://a.co/at5MFSD Z wave outdoor module(great for christmas lights)-http://a.co/1yfW25T Z wave door sensor-http://a.co/80RLnTX Multi Sensors Motion/temp/luminance for monitoring spaces-http://a.co/hAJkbi8 Smart Vac to keep the place tidy-http://a.co/ivm91AQ Echo dots for voice control/interaction-http://a.co/9qdLHgS Z wave Contactor Module for large loads(electric water heater, Pool pump ect)-http://a.co/hm5DLRa I want to try this- RGB strip light ballast with zigbee radio could be really cool in the theater but reports vary from finicky to near impossible to integrate, so I haven't devoted time to it yet- http://a.co/8hNhFUc These suck, I DO NOT recommend- GE link bulbs, were great out of the box but failure rate on the 10 or so I bought is above 50% inside 18 months!-http://a.co/iFUB62m Received this as a gift, worst HA product I've played with, is essentially a running joke in our household-http://a.co/afiA4Xn Wink Hub, I had a gen 1 it was completely bricked by a botched forced firmware update, kinda soured me from their hardware-http://a.co/aMBURoQ

did they remove the bandwith caps on residential accts? If not it just means I would hit the cap in 1/4 the time. :/

Beautiful sir! Hope to make it down there some day.

SS gift 2016 by Erik, on Flickr Mine came in today, really intrigued by the new knife, and the tekmat has found a cozy home on my reloading bench.

The only upside, if it can be considered that, to playing a stormtrooper for the kids at the hospital is the kids can't see when you tear up inside the helmet.

The problem is that these aren't high cap mags or even aftermarket high cap mags. 15 rounds is the factory mag spec for the late frame p229 9mm. At issue is Sig switching suppliers seemingly at random for OE mags between Mec-Gar and Checkmate. I have a half dozen Mec-Gar 15 round p229 mags for my m11A1 and all work flawlessly. I haven't experience the checkmate issues but I have been lucky and only have a single checkmate mag for my sigs.

He's been like that well before the youtube fame, he's been a BMW car nut long before the youtube fans found him.

Awesome! The whole time I was waiting for my ride I was watching them refill the tanks on the other BAe 146. The pilots were telling me that it carried 3000 gallons of fire retardant/water per run. All I know it that it takes a huge set a brass balls to fly a 100,000 pound jet at low altitudes to drop that payload on the hillsides. Just imagining trying to get sub 2000ft to the ground while suddenly dropping 1/4 the gross weight from the fuselage gives me chills, much less attempting to do it right on the edge of a raging forest fire.

There are still many advantages to trusts, just being able to list multiple responsible people who can use the NFA items within the trust is worth the cost alone in many cases.

I find it odd that non of the news coverage is mentioning the aircraft brought in to fight the blaze other than the helicopters. We parked between a pair of awesome looking tankers at the Tri-cities FBO on the first. The pilots indicated they were on contract with the Forest Service and had flown in from Montana. BAe 146 by Erik, on Flickr

My mother, and aunt had "Permits" if you want to call them that before TN formalized them. They were handwritten cards from my grandfather's department.(he was a TN sheriff at the time and former THP) I only saw my mother hand it to a local officer here once, but it was accepted by a Williamson County Sheriff's deputy. I do know my grandfather would not hassle locals for carrying if they were law abiding, but he issued both his daughters the "permits" when they both went to school in Knoxville and he gave them each a S&W airweight to take with them.

You won't find a better group of guys/gals to deal with than those on this site. I've met dozens of members and purchased multiple things and every single transaction has been stellar. I'm currently pondering a lifetime benefactor membership solely to support the site.

Done!

217lbs is not too much most of the cars I work on are nearly double that. Keep in mind that an internal combustion engine is designed to contain controlled explosions, and turn them into forward propulsion. On the compression stroke the valves are closed, ready to completely contain that explosion.

OK so grab 50' of 1/4" nylon braid rope, the cheap stuff from your local wal-mart or hardware store. I typically tie a knot in it at one end large enough that it won't fit through the spark plug hole and feed the long end into a cylinder. As the crank rotates into the compression stroke the valves will close and the rope will occupy the space normally occupied by the intake air, though it won't compress nearly as much. This will safely stop the crank from rotating while you torque on the pulley nut.

The Pin is factory specified by BMW/Mini, the rope trick was taught to me by an old Porsche tech but is make/model agnostic. Some models the factory specialized tools are so bloody expensive you just have to step back and ask if you really need them.