btq96r

If you want to stick with Anderson, I think you'll be fine. The biggest thing with the upper is making sure it "fits" to your lower tight enough. Despite uniform specifications, not all uppers and lowers go well together. The barrel will be determined by what you want it for. If you're shooting .223/5.56, for everyday purposes, I wouldn't see a need for more than 20", as the round isn't that great at distances where .308 would be a better choice. Remember, if you want anything less than 16" and a real stock for it, that's an SBR and you need to do all the paperwork and pay the tax stamp. Again, we need to know what you want this gun to do. What's the furthest you want to be able to reach out and smack that ass? With .223/5.56, there is a limit well short of what you would get from a .308. So, tell us what you want it for, then we can help you build it with parts advice. As to your other points... Anderson "no -ube" Yeah, I'll believe in a no-lube AR when I see it. What features should I look for in a gas block/tube? Unless you want the fixed front sight post (the triangle one) just get a decent brand made low-pro gas block so you can slide a good hand guard system over it. Your real question is where you want that gas block to be...carbine, mid-length, or rifle. This is determined by the length of your barrel. What separates the 'charging handles' from one another (does it really matter?) Depends on what you're using it for. If you're using a short barrel rifle for close in work like home defense, a fancy dan charging handle can make the difference in working a malfunction drill faster. For longer distance, the standard charging handle is fine. Proper cleaning and lubrication makes the most difference on a charging handle, however. Are all bolt control groups the same? It's bolt carrier groups. The quality of manufacturer differs. But once you're past a certain enough quality level, the differences level off fast. To quote an armorer I know from another site: " MILSPEC calls for Carpenter 158, shot-peened, heat treated and high pressure/metallic particle inspected." Also, making sure the carrier key is staked properly is a big deal. Once you have a few BCG's in mind, post the links and we can chime in.

I'm not familiar enough with lapping to offer an opinion, but installing replacement sights would fall under part 1-e, and/or 1-g. Triggers would be good to go unless it involves cutting, drilling, and manufacturing, and meets the definition of replacement parts discussed in 1-b. If someone makes a trigger, then they fall under this. The biggest thing I can see is that this is meant to bring those homegrown gun makers and shops that do things like drilling and cutting barrels under the fold with traditional businesses.

The list under section 1 is pretty much your everyday gun repair stuff. As long as there is no "drilling, cutting, or machining," this won't be a thing for someone. I'm not seeing the real limitations on this.

I'm learning just how good these things are at keeping ice from melting. It's making me want to drink more water, which is a good thing. Maybe next order we look at adding the bottles as an option as well? I'd love to have something like this I can throw in my bag without worrying about leaking.

Got mine in today, too. Looks sharp.

Nice bit of machining there, but I would have to take out a line of credit for bulk ammo.

Magpul's cajones were only as big as the tax breaks and offset funding they were not so subtly shopping for from other states. While the financial motive of such a move it is axiomatic, they didn't leave Colorado as an exclusive act of conscience as their PR narrative pushed. As to Smith & Wesson...it would take a lot to make them move. They've been in Springfield, MA for a long time, and it's been a good area for them. Take a look at the pictures in this article, and you'll see that it's just not a pack up and move kind of thing. Throw in the potential loss of institutional knowledge depending on how many workers wouldn't go with them if they left, and it's not worth the hassle unless it becomes an imperative. Mass won't push them to that point.

Massachusetts politicians are hypocritical, not stupid. As long as none are sold inside the state, they'll let S&W sell ARs to anyone else in the country and wet their beak from the business taxes they get to collect.

It's different, but if they are just standing there, it's not a threat. Not one that justifies the level of force a vehicle represents. Crowd charging your car, surrounding it, banging on it, things like that...now you're talking some level of threat depending on the situation, and making an egress for your safety may be appropriate. But just standing there inconveniencing your day...not even close.

What's "accordingly" when they're just standing there? If you try to run the protest line and they don't move, I'm pretty sure you'll be at the defendants table.

Anything else from the Bull Connor playbook you'd break out on them?

Of course it's a scam. What they were really after is the only question. I don't even answer the phone anymore unless it's a number in my contact list, or I'm expecting a call from that area code. If someone has something important to tell me, they can leave a voicemail. Once in a blue moon I get a voicemail, but it's always a recording asking for a callback and I'll only follow-up with a real person.

Big boy rules and all...if you stay, you can have the time and experience to fill your resume, hopefully getting a good reference when the time comes. If you go, you may have to pay them back, you can probably forget the reference, and you'll need to be ready for the question of why you left that position in your next job interview. Like most things in life, this is a cost benefit analysis where only you can determine the variables.

PA law already has a carve out exemption that nixes open carry in Philadelphia. http://www.pafoa.org/law/carrying-firearms/open-carry/

@adamedwards_5 If you are willing to save up for a bit and go over your ~$200 range, the Aimpoint PRO is about the best overall value you can get these days. Post some pics of it on an AR if you have a chance. I'd be interested in seeing the mount for the SPARC II on an AR. The EoTech is better close in (IMO), because of the outer circle (65 MOA) that helps you get on target faster, and the rectangle window of an EoTech is easier to see from than the circular one in an Aimpoint. Out to 200, I'd call it a draw. Both are good though. More important than anything is the ability of the shooter and willingness to keep in practice.

They can have the same protection that the military has. It's the armor inside the vest that determines the survivability, not how many pouches you can attach to it or what color it is. If a city wants to equip their police with ESAPI level protection, go for it. But they need to look like law enforcement and present an aura of openness to the public. Not lookatme, taticool commandos, who want to get their war on. If I wasn't seeing what I can only view as a lot of scared cops firing first and thinking second, I would be more sympathetic to the point you raise. I've quite frankly lost faith in the ability of law enforcement to overcome the "just get home at the end of the shift" mentality when assessing risk. It's clouding their judgement, IMO. They can have their guns drawn and on target with the safety (if applicable) disengaged, but they shouldn't be allowed to fire unless there in direct threat, not the potential of a threat. And yeah, HCP holders should have that requirement too. The use of deadly force needs to be a damn high bar. I based it on the officers comment "I told him not to reach for it!" That tells me that the officer didn't have a weapon drawn on him, and if that gun never left the holster (or cleared the inside of Castile's pants if he was carrying without one), that officer needs to be fired for cause, and open to civil liabilities. I'm not there yet on criminal charges since the laws as they are written now would preclude that as best I know.

I think there is a difference between a BearCat (what was used in Orlando), and an MRAP/M-ATV, especially since the BearCat was designed for police use. As to the rest of the gear, I'm not opposed to officers having increased firepower (not automatic) and better body armor (Lvl III or IV would be a department choice), but I think absent an incident in progress, the proper place for at least the rifle or shotgun is in the trunk. I'd also like to see the body armor be more of the low-vis style, not the PALS webbing all over type...not unless it's the SWAT team anyway. The kinds of vests the Murfreesboro PD are using now would be an ideal one if they can accommodate hard armor. We're starting to stretch the interpenetration of "immediate danger of death or great bodily harm," IMO. I'd like to see it brought in line with overt acts of hostile intent. Simply reaching for, or even drawing a gun shouldn't be enough to justify the police firing first. Drawing and pointing a gun at an officer would meet the criteria. Alton Sterling and Philando Castile seem to be two cases where a stricter standard might have been good things...though in Sterling's case, his appearing to resist arrest makes it a less clear situation (the videos are still unclear on that one). Still, I would think that two officers in a position of leverage would have been able to contain the situation. That may be a training and conditioning issue. Castile on the other hand did not convey a sense of immediate danger of death or great bodily harm to me. I'm still waiting for more on that investigation to come out. All the other news has seemingly buried it. See my first reply to Dave. While I don't disagree that rifle rounds are becoming a more prevalent threat, vs. the once in a blue moon occasion, the most likely threat is still a handgun of the common criminal encounter variety. Also, the more heavy armor you put on the police the less effective they will be in movement. One thing I try to remember is that police officers aren't always held to a physical fitness standard, and their median age isn't exactly spring chicken. So, the more weight they have to carry around, the less effective they could be in response situation. The trade-offs from armor weight has always been an ebb and flow thing.

I don't think we're at a downward spiral yet...though it can come out of nowhere fast enough when we get into these things. I do think that it's telling that on a sight as tilted to the right as TGO is, that there is a still vocal minority of opinion that as a profession, law enforcement needs to take a hard look at how they carry out their duties and think about if they are exacerbating the problem. Encrypted comms would be a huge cost, one that I think could be better allocated. I do admit to liking the idea of open frequencies so someone other than the police have the ability to record the traffic for future use. Better radio range and reception for the officers and other first responders is another legit need. Force on force and de-escalation training is definitely needed. But Dave specifically said " tools to kill the people that are attacking them," and I'm at a loss as to what that means when you look at existing force rules (which I think are a bit too loose to begin with), and their issued equipment.

They have their service pistols. Also, depending on the local budget, they may have shotguns or long guns in the cruisers (and on them as needed), along with body armor. What else should they be have available for a standard duty shift?

I've heard good things about the Vortex Red Dots. They're not Aimpoint tough, but for sit at home just in case, and the range, they'll get the job done. The SPARC II and Strikefire II can be had for <$200 from the right places, though the mounts might put you over that price when all is said and done.

I look at the police unions as a barometer of the department they represent. If they truly were against the grain of the officers on the street, then their tenure as speaking for the wishes of the officers would be in jeopardy. While I realize the flash to bang on that isn't instant, no position as inherently political as union leadership tends to take a position absent a feeling of support, at least from key personnel. The Ohio General Assembly could be called into emergency session to produce a one page suspension of open carry riki tik for the governors signature. Or they could just let the feds take over overall command, and have Secret Service rules extend past the inner perimeter.

"They" in this case is the police union. So, it's not the usual crowd trying to tell us that open carry is a public danger. I don't say that to advocate an anti-police position, but I do think that they are susceptible to the "government knows best" mindset. Especially as the local PD are the ones in charge of the outer zones, most likely to see incidents, people will be looking to them if anything bad happens. But still, screw them for thinking there should be an exception to state law. As to it getting done, or not...I'm honestly not sure. One open carry asshat making a scene that gets recorded could change things easily enough. I'm glad Gov. Kasich is holding the line thus far. Laws aren't suggestions or only applicable in the good times. We'll see if it holds through for the entire convention.

Open Carry/2nd Amendment is just the low hanging fruit. I wonder how many other laws and rights they'd like to see curbed. I'm sure we'll see some out of sight, out of mind "free-speech zones" to take care of the 1st Amendment and it's pesky guarantees of free speech and peaceable assembly to petition. They probably wish the 4th Amendment wasn't around either so they could stop, frisk, and check the bags of anyone in and around downtown Cleveland. Of course, it would only be temporary and never extended to full time under the guise of some continuing emergency. Not without some Orwellian sounding name like PATRIOT Act...oh, wait.

Saw it in theaters last year. Steve Carell especially was awesome. Margot Robbie in the bathtub was hilarious. There is talk of turning Flash Boys into a movie, that one will be just as good if it ever makes it to the screen.

Biggs1, welcome to TGO. This would be a better place to ask your question. http://www.tngunowners.com/forums/forum/7-handguns/