Erich

So....did it come with a jar of pickles?? Funny related story. They required me to take the MSF advanced course to get a base sticker on my bike. I took it at Mather AFB, which is where they held the Navigator school. There were two Navigators in my class. One drills was an accident avoidance quick turn. They had you roll up on a to a set of lights at 25 or so, and they would turn on either the left or right light at the last second and you were to break right or left depending on the light. The only guy to turn the wrong way was one of the Navigators. The other one dropped his brand new VFR1000 on the rear lock up drill. Sounds like you did great all things considered. I dont think any rider, in the right place or time (or wrong place?) is immune from at least doing something questionable at some point. Only way to know where the limit is is to at least dangle a toe over it. Track time is great for that. But its effect on your street riding has ups and downs.

That's great. Hope he enjoys it and you all see a lot of fun safe miles together.

Love this question and your great supporting the habbit Its a great hobby and would recommend it to anyone. Some of my best friends I met riding. Conventional wisdom shared thus far makes sense and great basis, especially any classes where they provide a loaner. I believe one of the biggest factors really boils down to maturity level and if you both agree on where that is at. Do you think he has a good head on his shoulders, decent impulse control, and will keep his wits about him? Since he had some practical experience, did he show good confidence and comfort level? Those bits can help point toward the range of bike that could work and keep him engaged for a longer period of time. If the answers to those are positive, you may consider something in the intermediate weight class. Inline 4 600's to 750's. 250 to 500 parallel twins are great to point, but tend to be outgrown the quickest. Especially if he gets some riding buddies and they swap bikes. How is the market? I have to think today's market may be similar to used cars where things are overpriced or limited offerings. I just scanned thru Nashville Craigslist and it was slim pickens. I can see how that would make new a more viable option, but depending on how engaged he is and how good that first choice is, that may make the least financial sense even if those same used are asking close to that price. What I've observed with used beginner bikes or those owned by younger people is they tend to lack real life experience in selling so tend to overprice them, which is why their adds are there (well priced things are gone and you dont see em). Wait em out if you must. But iff he gets bitten by the bug, I'd agree with your early thought that he would get disinterested fast. Your gonna take a good hit on anything new since you cant rely on used overpriced values that dont move. Your budget may be in line with better value and offerings in something a bit larger if (after consideration) factors point to that being a viable option. Bringing me back to intermediate weight class. YZF600 (R6S), 750 something, 900 standard (naked detuned sporty bike). The other thing I use to tell first time buyers if they like the look of fully faired sportbikes, is that gravity can win a stop light balancing contest, or remind you if you dont set a kickstand right. Seems 90%+ of first time owners will drop their bike and fairings are expensive. Naked bikes are 90% the fun without that spendy bodywork. Extra points of naked bikes. FWIW, I got bitten by the bug in 1987 when I bought my first bike, a Ninja 750. It and I both survived. I sold it in perfect shape 2 years later when I moved up to a GSXR-1100. I've never been without at least one since then. Good luck, and let us know what you guys do.

As CA escapee, I like to follow their shenanigans. The city of SJ had their lawyers noodle up an interesting way to stop people from buying guns without banning. By pricing folks out, suggesting the cities gun owners pay nearly a half a billion dollars in tax. Obviously will be fought, but the danger of planting the seeds in the current environment has to be the worst aspect. I would think this could actually backfire in that one could claim it disproportionately effects lower income individuals gun owners, and is directly contrary to their efforts along that line. And could possible be deemed racist by some. Apparently its Ok to be racist against gun owners? Add another reason to the list of reasons to hate lawyers. https://www.yahoo.com/news/san-jose-force-gun-owners-143557603.html

A mere $4500 gives you a fun toy, but better yet, a great way to stop folks from tailgating you. https://www.smga.com/tippmann-armory/tippmann-9mm-gatlin-gun-glock-mag-10897??wk

Thanks Mr. David, appreciate the thought.

I'm started to see them with the pandemic frenzy drawing down. All good, it was a thought. I'll share elsewhere.

https://www.primaryarms.com/aero-precision-stripped-lower-receiver-ar15-gen-2?avad=9441_b20865635&utm_source=affiliate-referral&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=7645&utm_content=product-review Just went OOS

Appears the deals area has been nixed when I was about to post a deal on AR lower receivers. In retrospect, it was obviously a bad time to initiate it as the pandemic was starting up and buying frenzies drove ALL retailers to pretty much stop offering discounts, making it moot subject area. Can it be reconsidered now that it may be a viable area again over the next few weeks?

Nah, that wasn't any deal for sure. They had receivers in stock for a few hours. Typically they are gone in minutes. Nice to see it slowing. But they didn't send out notifications, which likely helped.

Something like that Seemed lesser of evils weighing the annoyance of missing something vs not being able to care if you didn't know what that thing was. Given it was there for about 5 hours with no seeming interest before it went OOS, ya didnt really miss anything.

Item OOS now

Keep an eye at Bass Pro, they were selling them without markup. I got both of mine there. You’ll love it. I’ve got an Apex PPQ and Walther figured out a lot of tricks working with them. They don’t come in 5”, but 4.5 for the longer version. I’d offer you my full size, but I got the 4” version

That was a great movie!

There was a thread. But no one cared it would appear. Or at least it lacked the panache of your posts that get folks to respond I picked a couple up, but I got the impression the folks here are more interested in PSA AR’s as more worthy of their time.

A man after my own heart. I am still in search of the holy grail. Its great to have options and seeing improvements on AR specific tools. I just bought the VISM Receiver block to try out https://www.ncstar.com/optics-acc/tools/ar15-tools/vtaruvb-upper-receiver-block-for-ar-15 I got them for 308 and AR15. It seemed to offer retention at the charging handle channel, bottom of the receiver and its lugs. Best of all worlds. I knew it was Chinese made, but it seemed to have good reviews and good concept without having to worry about extension splines or pin shearing. I found the VISM tool is sloppy fitting, neither having any upper channel engagement, doing all the work at the detent pin lugs, which is not ideal. No improvement over the plastix revolution low end version. I would say anyone looking at it, they should pass. The URR is still best of breed in its price class for those that are not die hard clamshell guys. I think this is next up for me to try is the JP receiver block. Some may say its just the glorified version of sticking it between a couple 2x4's, but it engages the lug to prevent any rotation without the need to vise pressures that can crack the receiver. Only concern being finish marring. https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1007099477

Quick note on these. Yes they are fantastic, I sold off my Geissele's after upgrading. I have both for the AR10 and AR15. But...if you have an alignment issue with the extension lugs do all you can to verify, it may not be your receiver or extension, but the tool out of spec. They do not do the machine cut for the charging handle fin, its subbed out. How do I know this.... First time I used my 308 MI rod in putting together an upper, it would not line up, was off a few degrees. It fit the extension lugs without the receiver ruling out the lug cut, and the extension pin was centered on top and feed ramp lugs, and a laser showed it in line with the gas port. Hmmm. I then tried it on 2 factory AR10's builds and it would not engage their lugs. I then started to look at the fin and could see it was just a hair offset. I called MI and they initially denied it could be the tool because they are supposedly QC'd blah blah. Then commenced to blame my upper receiver being out of spec. I explained it more slowly and deliberately why that was not the case and what checks were run. Was asked to call back tomorrow and talk to so and so. Upon doing so, they copped to having a batch that their machining contractor flubbed the fin cut on. They offered to go ahead and swap it, apologizing for the "confusion". Replacement Rod was good to go, slipped right into all 3. Moral of the story, verify a new rod if first use finds an alignment issue, it may not be your parts.

Thanks for tracking on it. I have just noticed that 762x39 has jumped another $100. So the pressure is increasing. I was at Bass Pro this Monday. They said they got more 9mm after a wait over a week. They are not putting it out, they are holding it back for those buying pistols. They are charging $15 per box for 9mm range ammo, and I am sure that is at a fair profit margin. So that confirms in recent time the distributors are still not the issue. FWIW, I passed on buying the ammo.

My EMP went back for light primer strikes (titanium firing pin) to get get a proper steel firing pin. It received on a Tuesday and back in the mail on Thursday, so cant ask for much better. They have great customer service from the two times I have had to work with them. Good luck, I am sure they will get you sorted.

Kinda if you like it in mini form

Not sure the type of roof rack you'd need for your beetle

The P227 is a great gun, it should not have been discontinued. I had a Tacops and in general the 14 round deal gave it a bad rep, outside them being a bit girthy compared to the 220 grip. All you have to do is get some heavier springs and they worked 100%. If you can find 14 rounders. You probably have already noticed the 14 round mags seem to be triple gold plated so folks want a mint for them. The 10's are only silver plated You can still get P227 Tacops extended G10 grips if you want them. Many of us use to get a spare set and cut them down for the 10 rounders. I still have a new set of them if you end up wanting the extended grip and find 14's. Enjoy! Look forward to the pics.

Its still a novel concept to me, not being treated like a gun buyer is a problem waiting to happen. CA did not allow more than 1 every 30 days on top of the 10 day waiting period. The first couple months here, I did go pretty nuts. The upside to the pandemic lack of supply and overpricing in is it helps rein that in. BTW, that PPQ is one I already owned. I just got the 2 PDP's. Though someone may want to see is replacement next to one. Looks like we dont have many Walther fans though.

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Well that sounds a bit racist All those are born equally evil !