JS

Yeah, that's what I meant - when the FFL writes down the serial number in his log. Not really registering, but I assume this is why people want to make their own 80% untraceable AR?

Non gun related - saw Harbor Freight here and had to give them a huge shout-out for those not familiar. 1/2 or less the price for a comparable tool from the big box stores, and most of the time it is basically the same tool. Many hate on them for making "junk," but if you know what not to buy (e.g. certain electrical motor stuff) and keep your expectations very low, you should be pleasantly surprised by over 80% of the stuff you buy there. I recently branched out into more expensive stuff and have been thrilled by the value - 29 gal compressor, power saws, floor jack, Bauer drills, etc. Back to guns: With the 80% lower thing, is the main reason for doing this just so you don't have to register the serial number with the bureau of booze, cigarettes and guns? At a glance, a real lower receiver is $35-$40 bucks for an Anderson or PSA, both of which I have used and found to be excellent. The 80% ones seem to be significantly more, so it doesn't seem that saving money is a thing here.

I, too. am not doing shit as far as chasing extra dollars over the summer - I would rather have the time with the kids while they are out of school. But as far as QOL: I worked my first day of the month yesterday and work 8 days in a row (by design, around the 4th holiday), then vacation, then 2 days to wrap the month up. I have two 30+ layovers at home this week, so for that 8 day stretch, I am only in a hotel for two nights. By month's end, I will have "worked" 10 days for the man, to include 2 full days home while getting paid, and I will have spent a total of three nights in a hotel. I'm not one who tracks every hour of pay and every dollar (probably should), but this will be a normal/normal-high paycheck for me - so around $13-14K gross, which amounts to about $9K take-home pay after voluntary deductions, paying for the union, and paying for the 47-percenter's to leech off the working man.

Not sure about a pistol, but I just completed my first AR build with all PSA parts. I bought the $299 basic kit, along with a PSA lower for $40. The kit contained a completed upper, so all I have to do was put together all the springs for the lower/trigger, etc. Took me about 2 hours and I am very happy with my total $360 investment ($20 transfer fee) for a backup AR to leave at the hunting cabin. I put about 300 rounds through it without a single failure or issue of any sort. It's all basic, cheap mil-spec parts, but I was very impressed overall with the value of it. I did notice that one of the holes for the front takedown pin was a tad too narrow. It looked like there was a little bit of a burr left on the hole (a few other guys complained on PSAs website about the same thing), but I just scraped it off with a flat head screwdriver without scratching the rest of the receiver and the pin fit right in. That fix took me about 15-20 seconds. I went behind the hunting cabin to "zero" it in, but realized I forgot my damn front sight tool, along with anything to support the rifle on. So I would up laying prone on the ground, supporting it with only my sweaty elbows scratching on the gravel. I took 5 shots at each of these targets at 25 yards (I did remember my laser range finder) and was shocked by the groupings. Maybe it was luck, but on the target on the bottom I literally put 3 bullets through the same hole, and I don't consider myself a good marksman by any stretch. So overall I am a big fan of the quality and repeatability of PSA so far. I have also bought their ammo cans and their red-dot/PMAG combo a few times, which is a steal of a deal.

Haha. awesome. I too did not even want to click on the video because I thought it was just another idiot making an idiot of himself online. But that one was good. Full semi-automatic. lol!

I wouldn't say this is a "beginning" of the stupidity, as others liberal freak extremists have been known to advocate a complete repeal of the 2nd Amendment before this communist did. But I see your point in the fact that he is one of the highest former office holders to make such a boldly ludicrous statement. Also, does anyone else find it morally appalling that the message of these fact-denying liberal snowflakes is so weak that they have to manipulate children into carrying that message? The strange thing to me is that these babies are protesting to weaken or remove a right that they themselves most likely haven't exercised yet due to their age, or the fact that they have not yet had the responsibility of providing for the security of their own property or families since they are still under the teats of their parents. I can at least try to have an open mind when a 25-something, with a tad of life experience, makes his or her case for more/less gun control based on those life experiences. I especially like reading what doctors, teachers, former military, LEOs, etc have to say. But we are really going weaken or remove a Constitutional right because children, who are not old enough to own a weapon, are currently crying about it? Have we devolved as a society that much?

That's f-in awesome too. No military roots in my family, just poor European immigrant great-grandparents coming over on boats on both sides of the family. Aw man, I had a feeling someone would mention this gun, just when I had it narrowed down to like 2 guns. In all seriousness, I have had a Walther P99 for about 10 years and love it - it's currently the nightstand gun with a light/laser parked under the barrel on that rail that came with it. I actually just shot it yesterday after not having played with it for many months. So I will definitely add the PPS to my crosscheck. I just hadn't heard anything about it in single stack 9mm CCW circles and assumed it wasn't that good. But at a glance, it looks like there are multiple reviews and videos out there comparing it to the XD, Shield, and Glock43. I'll have to see if the range has one to rent in addition to renting the Shield 9mm. The prices seem very nice on the PPS - looks like Buds has a military/LEO deal on it for a little more than $300.

That's f-ing awesome. Didn't you also say you have your great-grandfather's original pilot license signed by Orville Wright?

I've had a Springfield 1911 for almost 10 years. I never considered carrying it. It's about twice the weight of some of these new polymer single stack 9s or 380s plus a lot more bulky. Although I do love shooting it, it's our living room home defense gun.

Well I picked up this new toy today, the M&P 15-22, for $335 + $35 local FFL fee (seem to remember it being $20 last time, but oh well). I haven't shot it yet, but it seems like it will be a blast to play with. My initial impressions are that it is very light, and feels very plasticy - almost like a toy - because, well it's made mostly of plastic/polymer. It feels about half as light as a real AR, and the magazine didn't slide out when I hit the release. The charging handle doesn't come out as far either, but I read about that and the polymer upper/lower thing so none of this was a surprise. The MBUS sights and stock are as expected - real. Also moving the safety felt kind of cheap (again due to the polymer) and you can see the model number is molded into the polymer as opposed to stamped like it would be with metal. But no big deal there either. Seems to break down similar to a regular AR as well. While at the local gun store, I handled the Shield as well as the Glock 43. I'm tall with XL hands (at least that's what size nitrile gloves and Home Depot work glove size I wear, LOL). The 43 didn't fit in my hand - I thought they sawed off the last inch of the grip. I asked the lady for the pinky extension thing and she said it was already on! The Shield was a very comfortable fit, and my pinky sat nicely on the extension of the +1 magazine that comes with it. From online reading only, i was all but sold on the Glock 43, but now I am totally sold on the M&P shield (maybe next month after the wife finds out about this last buy). There was something about the grip as well that just felt right. I didn't have time to shoot either of them (they have rentals there at the range). So I wanted the Shield with the thumb safety, but they only had the 9mm without for $430, which I thought was a tad high. She did have a .40 Shield, with safety and with Crimson Trace laser for $430 also. That seemed like a great deal, but I am not sure if I want to go the .40 route, mainly due to the ammo cost and because I think ammo will go up in price in the future as more departments get away from that caliber. Plus I hadn't even considered a laser on a concealed carry until playing with this one. It didn't add hardly any weight or extra length/width to the pistol. Both the .40 and the 9mm shield seemed to weight the exact same and have almost the exact same dimensions. You lose a round with the .40, but according the lady there, the .40 packs much more of a punch (I know, I know, there is a lot of controversy there and it wasn't the time to start a long discussion with her). The crappy thing is that I will have to pay local sales tax, which would make the above guns more in the $470 range each. I can find these online for like $320 with a $30 FFL fee. Part of me wants to buy local and support the local shop, especially after the help they gave me, but a big part of me feels like I am getting ripped off with the $100+ higher price.

Yeah, I'm definitely in the market for a single stack 9mm as opposed to the fatter double stacks. In reading, I have it narrowed down to the S&W Shield and the Glock 43, both seem to get great reviews online. The thing is that even with the large discount from the Glock Blue Label program, the glock is still like $360ish while I can get the Shield for less than that online with no discount. Oh, well, I guess my next step is to head to the gun store and lay hands on them both.

Curious, why are there so many political posts on the gun thread??? Isn't there a separate thread for that? Anyway does anybody have any experiences with the Glock Blue Label program? Did you purchase online or in person? I have heard some places require military ID, of course, plus orders to a base somewhere in the local area. This might be a problem for me since my reserve unit is very far away, plus Reservists don't exactly have "orders" to be stationed at a certain unit. It looks like GT Distributors has some good prices, so I was thinking of going with them. Are all the blue label prices standardized, or does each store set their own prices? I'm still leaning heavily toward the Glock 43 for a single stack 9mm concealed carry, unless anyone has any other strong opinions on a good 9mm for carry.

Cool, I have purchased from GT distributors before. I was doing some research on a 9mm for concealed carry, and it looks like GT distributors has the best Blue Label prices for a Glock 43 ($358). Anyone have any experience with the Glock 42 or 43 as far as using it for concealed carry?

Good to know. I asked the guys at the local gunshop about this and they definitely said there were a lot of .40s coming in as people try to sell them. The gun store said they stopped taking them in because they had too many to get rid of. I asked him what a good price was on, for example, an M&P .40 used, and he was telling me $425 or so. That didn't seem like that great of a deal. Where were you picking up these used LEO .40s? I even looked in a few local pawn stores for one and didn't see anything.

Good info bro. Funny you mention blackout, my good friend who built several ARs currently has a 300 Blackout version and was recommending the same thing to me. I just don't like the higher ammo price, which is why I was thinking of that 22 to really have fun with while keeping the regular 5.56 for home defense and occasional hog hunting or something. And I guess at the end of the day, if I were really going to get a good 7.62x39 rifle, why not get the original "assault" rifle that it was designed for. Questions on magazines: 1. How many magazines do you guys keep on hand? I have read guys having several to several hundred. I friend of mine bought a case of 100 GI magazines when the Obama freaks were talking about banning high capacity mags. 2. If you keep multiple mags on hand, how many do you keep loaded up while your AR is in crew rest? I think I have like 8 magazines but only keep like 3 or 4 actually loaded in the safe next to the rifle. I heard it doesn't really harm the spring to keep them loaded with 30 rounds indefinitely.

I just wanted to bump up the Palmetto State Armory name. I bought some ammo from them, and they email me their deals. They regularly have 5.56 ammo (XM193 or 855) that breaks the $.30/round threshold that I try to seek out, many times with free shipping. I just ordered the 420 round ammo can, 30 cents per round, including the ammo can and free shipping (Federal American Eagle, XM193). I won't post a link, because they constantly change, but it might be worth signing up for their email flyer if you buy a lot of ammo. I seem to remember a few weeks back they had a deal for 10 5.56 boxes of Federal, along with 10 MagPul magazines for $120 shipped - that's $6 per box of 20 rounds and $6 per MagPul magazine, which was a heck of a deal.

My cousin said they first banned the window MagPul magazine, which I have 5 of, specifically because the window was a weak point after being dropped and stepped on. He said they then banned all polymer Magpuls. I told him I like the window feature and don't plan on dropping and stomping my magazines like a typical SF guy killing people for a living would do.

Back to the original topic. I picked this Del-Ton 316 Echo up a few weeks before the latest incident. It's my first AR. We shot up some beer cans a few weeks ago and I just took it to a real range the other day to sight it in. Seems a very solid, nice piece, and all for $399 online delivered, no tax from CDNN (sold out now). The only thing I added was the MagPul rear sight and a cheap sling. I kind of like the classic, non-jazzed up look to it with the standard mil spec stock, heat shield, front sight, etc. My cousin (army SF) came over and approved of it after tearing it apart, but not before recommending all the fancy accouterments like a quad rail with lights, scopes, a fancy sling, etc. Overall this seems to be a great piece. Now I want another before the freaks try to ban them! I was looking at other caliber ARs - anyone have any experience with the 7.62x39 or .308 ARs? I also heard the .22LR versions are very fun and cheap to shoot and can be had for like $300. I am eyeing up the S&W MP 15-22 gun for a plinker. Any strong opinions on magazines out there for the 5.56? I bought a few Magpul mags to supplement the two "GI" mags that came with the rifle. I really like the Magpul ones, but my cousin said they are banned by SOCOM, plus a lot of videos online (and the Marine Corps Reservist who works at the range) all say they swear by the cheap metal standard issue ones vs the plastic ones.

And I like how each time he fires the weapon his forward grip is on a different part of the rifle. I guess his hand position is different in semi-auto vs full semi-auto. LOL.

Also, Lockheed Martin is still cranking out C-130's at a good clip and there is an Airbus factory in Mobile, Alabama doing the same. I know of a few folks who have worked at both places - some of the C-130 guys still test fly the birds as they come off the assembly line. Decent pay as well.

Good info. Thanks.

Out of curiosity, can you give a few sentence summary of the culture problem there? I have only known one CBP pilot and he said it was a good deal and seemed to like it. I am also sort of asking for a good friend who is an Army Guard helo guy who is looking to get into something bigger/better.

Even if BUFFs, 'Nam, bombing, and SAC are not your thing, this was a very well written book and very engaging. In the cliche, it was a "page turner" that was hard to put down. I especially liked the parts described from the bad guys point of view based on interviews with the actual SA-2 operators. I read this book based on a recommendation in this thread from like 5 years ago, so it is nice to see it get bumped again. It's also fairly small, so it wouldn't take too much of a commitment to tackle this and gain a deeper appreciation for bomber/SAM operations, along with the idiocy of bad airpower tactics in Vietnam.

That was pretty funny. My favorite: " I get paid to make the hard decisions, and I owe it to our gender non conforming Airpersons to make sure everyone feels special." Haha, Airpersons.

I haven't made the jump from IMA to TR reserve yet, but my understanding is that it's the same process as if you were anyone else - start pulling contacts you have at units you are interested in, or identify a unit you want to join and start knocking on doors. After getting hired, the paperwork folks at the new unit should generate a gaining order and transition you over to the TR world and get you on their Unit Manning Document. I'm sure it's much more difficult than I've written it, but I think that's the big picture process. If you're asking which unit, then I suggest you just go to the AFRES website and see which units interest you.