Sidecarist

I'll agree with that completely. Very nice example of a #3 too.

Well that's interesting! One protecting the good guys (sort of).

  YES! old eyes see optics best, but if Irons are what you want get that rear as close to the eye as possible. A receiver sight makes a world fo difference. and even though they are cheap you can mount a Williams on almost any rifle with a little effort. Many target grade 22's come with them as well.   With pistols if possible mount a red dot. it feels like cheating after struggling with irons for a while.

Exercise your best judgment. It can be a noble pass time preserving these fine weapons for the future. You must be comfortable with it you are maintaining these for the future. I gladly defer to your judgment.

So as a group we can grew food and grain, hunt & fish, preserve these food stuffs, fix most things likely to still be running in a SHTF situation. Run a distillery and brewery, have some entertainment from Groot, sounds like a party and I'll bet that we'll be glad that there is basic medical care in the morning... Sarcasm aside. We all have skills some we don't even recognize as valuable. Maybe the biggest skill is the ability to see what needs to be done and either do it or find someone who can. Organization and team building (leadership) might just be the most important of all. Many of our retired military gave those skills and they would be invaluable in a crisis.

With those dies you don't need lube. I used to only tumble my brass every 3rd loading. It won't likely cause a change in pressure bease of reduce cas volume, more likely a small change due to increased friction between the bullet and case. It's unlikely it would be measurable with normal loads... Rememberfollow the data and work up. With your M&P reliability is more important than max velocity.

If you're loading 9mm and using carbide dies you don't need case lube. Again if you have carbide dies you don't HAVE to clean the brass, but it helps you a bit with seeing the powder in the case etc. as well as there is some pride in good looking ammo.

Sturdy counts for a lot starting with a nice thick plank is a good start. When you clamp it you may want to use blocks to help stiffness. That looks like a good start. As you use it you will develop a system that works or you.

Creative solution !

I thought I had some advice for you but others beat me to it. I'll second most of what others have said here. This from a 53yr old

Welcome.

This is an example of why I hang out on TGO! I'm fairly new here but I've seen this type of thing several times. Dolomite Supafly we will meet some day and it will be my pleasure. Shooters do look out for each other. Thanks!

Thanks. I didn't know about this scope the reticle looks like something I could use. How does the ring portion of the reticle look at mid power say 3 or 4x?

Metal working and mechanical skills. Basic blacksmithing, welding, machinist, distillation of grain to alcohol for "fuel" also some basic farming skills, milling grain etc. I think that these skills would be useful for barter. I also know I have limited medical skills. It's just as important to know your limitations as the skills you have. Knowing what you need to trade for and what you have to trade with is the key.

I'm not stuck on the idea of a bdc reticle. I've never even used one. I have used a mil dot in a 10x leupold. I do want a ring or horse shoe reticle for use at 1x. My ideal scope would be 1-8x first focal plain with a mil dot and a 30moa ring for close work. I've never seen such a thing but there is hope if I had a bigger budget. Thanks for the comments on the Vortex. Hopefully someone has feedback on the PA scope as well. I've never owned either brand so any real world feedback is appreciated.

I'm looking for a 1-6x scope to use on my AR15 in 5.56. I'm considering either the Vortex Strike Eagle, or the Primary Arms 1-6X ACSS. While I wish I had 1K+ to spend, my real budget is $500 including the mount. Does anyone here have either optic and what are your opinions? Are there other options I've overlooked? Thanks

I drive a 2500HD with a diesel. Door placard says 65 front 80 rear. For day to day driving I run them all at 65, rotate them every 5k and got 65k out of the last set nice even wear. When I hual the trailer the rears go to 80. If I don't the handling is awful. Empty if I run them that hard the rear skips and chatters. This is my 4th HD truck and I learned this from following the advice of a good tire guy. He's seen more tires than I ever will... Wife's car I run the door placard pressure and we are expecting 70k+ from those tires. Again I am following the advice of my tire guy. The moral is in a good tire guy and follow his advice.

A straight blowback sub compact 45acp... the slide better be made of tungsten, or its sprung like a truck. Straight blowback guns are only held in battery by the recoil spring. Slide mass keeps the slide velocity within structural limits. Think about how heavy they have to make a 9mm hipoint so that it operates reliably and safely with a reasonable recoil spring. With the size specs they advertise I don't know how this will work in 45acp. Maybe it's got some sort of delay mechanism or geometry that aren't talking about yet. It will be interesting to find out.

I can guess how he'll do in prison when his cell mates find out that he was shot while running away from an 11 year old! I'm sure they'll have deep sympathy for him...   Karma

Well said!

Strange thing all the same rules apply to knives... Don't point it at your self, don't stab or cut yourself, know where its going to go if it slips. No one has sympathy for the guy that slices himself with a box cutter, but he also doesn't make the news. Its still not a smart thing to do and everyone regrets it when they do. The big difference is how loud it is and the potential for fatal consequences are a bit higher with a firearm. In ALL cases the problem is complacency. We should NEVER be so comfortable with gun handling that we get careless. We should be competent and attentive. A great many of these incidents happen when we are distracted, tired, etc. Those are times when we need to be EXTRA vigilant about our actions.

My experience is that you will start to see unbalanced wear across the tread and shorten the life of the tire considerably. Also cold pressure vs hot pressure. I wouldn't be surprised to find that after a little highway driving that the pressure in the tire is as much as 5psi higher just from heat. So 30psi cold could be 35psi hot, or 35psi cold could be 40psi hot. Be consistent about how you set tire pressure. Driving to the gas station and setting the pressure at 30 (hot) your cold pressure would be several psi lower and your tires will be under inflated. The harder tire will also perform more poorly in the rain. Lastly the handling may get twitchy as pressures increase. As to safety those pressures were selected for handling and mileage reasons. It's kind of like using handloads. You can do it but no warranty applies etc. If you want better handling I suggest you go up in wheel size and use a lower profile tire. Tire rack has some good tools on line to help you figure that out.

The attacker forfeits the right to a trial by peers by trying to take the life of an innocent. The difference between justifiable self defense and murder is intent. Life, Liberty, & Pursuit of Happiness. These words are in this order for very good reasons.

Take a look at a havaheart motion sensing sprinkler too. I have a buddy that used them for crows & bluejays.

Electric fences for pests need to be wired different. I learned this with my honey bees... Bottom wire hot, next ground, next hot, repeat. You can't rely on small animals being grounded to the soil like livestock they just don't weigh enough. Don't know if this works on squirrels as they need to touch both wires to get a hit. I know they sell electric fence netting for protecting chickens from foxes and weasels that might work better. Don't worry about your dogs. Mine can sense the electricity and stay away on their own, but then again I don't have squirrels inside the fence to chase.?