OldIronFan

Coworker has a low miles 2016 ram eco diesel. Pretty nice truck for the most part but I don't love it. We have had several work related road trips in it and it has some weird quirks that bother me. It has a strange transmission shudder on part throttle acceleration from a stop. My coworker seems used to it or unaware but it sticks out like a sore thumb to me. Overall the transmission seems to be the issue not the engine. There are weird hard shifts or hunts for the right gear with moderate to quick transitions. Also seems to have some throttle response issues but that may just be my picky nature and the fact that I am normally driving a sports car or motorcycle. If I am being fair my f-150 is sluggish on the throttle in comparison to my other vehicles too.

In - XL

Yes, yes you have. With someone else driving I am guessing... Or you really trust that Tesla self driving mode....

I don't think I have ever seen and exposed water line to a house. Are you talking meter to home or PEX/copper in a crawlspace? If the the former they are 100% underground to the house. If you meant the later I am not sure how you would do it any different other than the lines being buried in a concrete slab foundation. Same goes for gas lines. They are 100% underground until the get to the meter at the side of the home. Foundation choices are often about ground type, ground water/water table, and cost. Concrete slab foundations are expensive. They are only used when absolutely needed/required. Go toward West TN and most homes are slab foundation with no crawlspaces or basements, water table is high and crawlspaces would stay wet. Here in Middle TN there are few basements and many crawlspace based homes. Lots of rock and fewer water table issues. Crawlspace construction is generally flexible, cheap, and efficient. Less digging, rock breaking, or blasting is needed.

Not really that simple. Country Defense Spending (USD) 2022 Population Per Capita % of GDP (2020 Data) United States $750,000,000,000.00 334805269 $2,240.11 3.7 United Kingdom $55,100,000,000.00 68497907 $804.40 2.2 Germany $50,000,000,000.00 83883596 $596.06 1.4 Russia $48,000,000,000.00 145805947 $329.20 4.3 China $237,000,000,000.00 1448471400 $163.62 1.7 Ukraine $5,400,000,000.00 43192122 $125.02 4.1 The Ukraine spent nearly as much of a percentage of their GDP on Defense spending in 2020 as Russia and more than that of the United States, the UK, Germany, and China. They are simply out scaled. They do not have the resources to compete with a country over 3 times their population, over 9 times their GDP, and significantly more land mass/natural resources. Russian GDP is 1.483 Trillion Ukraine's GDP is 155.6 Billion. Ukraine would have to spend nearly 31% of their GDP to just match what Russia spent last year on military much less build above and beyond. That would have put them second only to the US in per capita spending.

I ride more in the fall/winter than I do summer. I can stay warm easier than I can cool off and I just don't tolerate heat and humidity like I did when I was young. Coldest I have ridden is 18º F. I did have a heated vest and heated grips to help but it was still a bit chilly. I good with anything above 30 as long as there is not significant risk of ice/black ice/snow. I find the 40's and 50's more comfortable than 90+ in the summer. I was riding out west a few years back when it was 113º F. and it was like riding in a blast furnace, pretty miserable.

laughs in bullpup 50 BMG...

Back when Mosins were $49~$89, SKS were $79~$99, and surplus ammo to feed them was just north of free I bought them as fun plinkers because it was what I could afford. I had no illusions they were valuable or desirable but I could not afford much better on a broke college students income. Once I could afford a higher caliber of firearm I discarded those old com bloc surplus rifles selling them off for little or no profit. If I had had the space to keep them I would have a nice little C&R collection now that would actually have some value. Hindsight can be painful but I don't truly really regret buying or selling them I guess. I would love to have a few of them back, but honestly I have enough nicer stuff in my collection these days.

I feel that way about just about everything I look at when I walk into a gun/sporting goods store.

H&K Fans, Fanbois, and Haters (if you wish)... If you had the opportunity to pick up a SP5 variant at a very reasonable price what would be your choice, SP5 or SP5Kpdw? I picked up an MP5 .22 LR Pistol not long ago and would like to pick up its big brother in 9mm. (and yes I know the .22 LR MP5 is not produced by H&K) For this reason I am leaning toward the standard SP5 rather than the Kpdw since the overall look and feel is very close to the MP5 .22LR. Nearly (externally) identical fore ends and rear caps. I believe there are a few more end cap options for installing/adapting braces to the standard SP5 as well. I added a brace to the little MP5 and it is a blast.

In my opinion there are Dual Sports, there are scramblers, and then there are Adventure Bikes. Dual Sports are dirt bikes that are street legal. Most are going to be 450cc or under. They are going to generally have a narrow seat, more ground clearance, longer travel off road oriented suspension, aggressive or at least 60/40 dirt oriented tires. They are going to have a 19"+ dia. front wheel and 17" dia. rear in most cases. Generally smaller fuel tanks, and high clearance fenders. Key here is they are light, narrow, and nimble. Scramblers are street bikes made to handle a little dirt. They are going to be a bit classic in look and in the mid range on engine size, likely in the 500cc - 800cc range. Very little plastic on the bikes, think old school exposed perimeter frame, round headlight, and a high pipe that runs up just below the seat or rear subframe level instead of at approx. wheel axle height. They may have a slightly more aggressive tire but will still be primarily road oriented. Likely a wire spoked wheel set in traditional 17" street wheel diameter sizes. Fairly upright riding position and a flat or very slightly pulled back wide handle bar. Maybe a bit more ground clearance than the street version but still a lower seat height. Mid weight but still pretty chunky to really throw around in the dirt. Adventure bikes are the big aggressive touring bikes that claim they are off road capable but most just eat up asphalt miles. The one key feature that most have is the "Beak", the high plastic fender out front usually just under the monstrous headlight assembly and windshield. There is going to be a bit more plastic here but not full cladding like a modern sport bike. Generally a high seat height with good ground clearance and a fairly compliant medium travel suspension. They are going to be big, 600+ cc and 450+lbs (likely 600+lbs) and have larger tanks for range. Generally full luggage with side cases, a top case, or at least racks for adding them out back. Spoked wheels are common but front tires sizes can vary from 17" to 21" diameter. Tires will be mostly street oriented from the factory but generally are pretty poor in any real dirt, sand or mud. Great or the highway, good on the backroads, decent on a forest service road or gravel road, but just this side of a road glide as a true trail/woods bike. Once you drop and have to pick one up a few times off road you will be looking for a lighter more nimble bike with a lot less "baggage" for any real trails. If I had to have only one bike it would the the lightest mid size Adventure Bike I could find since my days of being in any real trail or woods terrain on two wheels are behind me. That way I could enjoy some backroads on a comfortable yet still capable bike with an upright riding position one day and hit a few forest service/dirt roads the next. I could commute to work with relative ease and even knock out a nice long weekend trip with a bit of luggage and some highway miles if I wanted. As it stands now I am only regularly riding my sport tourer (VFR 800Fi) but I do have a few vintage project bikes waiting in the wings.

I have been lucky I guess. Everywhere I have lived has had underground utilities. Back when I was in Millington in the 1994 ice storm we lost power for a few hours due to the transmission line to the three neighborhoods on my side of town got taken out before it went underground. They fixed that junction in a matter of hours and we were back up and running. My last two homes in the greater Nashville area have also had completely underground utilities. I don't think I have been without power longer than a couple hours total in two decades. Hope everyone is staying warm and safe.

Ohh I like that...

I have not had a chance to get any range time yet but I recently picked up a S&W Performance Center Shield Plus with the top ported barrel and slide. I wonder how it will compare. The only other pistol I have with any sort of comp or porting is a G17 with a Mass Driver comp so not exactly apples to apples. I actually had a bit of buyers remorse the morning after getting it but I am hoping that will pass once I get some time with it. I think once I find a good holster solution and comfortable carry configuration I will feel better about it.

We had the first death in our family this weekend. My wife's elderly aunt passed after contracting COVID and being the the ICU for several days. She had was extremely immunocompromised after fighting multiple bouts of cancer and chemo but she was also unvaccinated. She did not stand much of a chance once it hit her. I honestly do not know if the vaccine would have reduced her symptoms enough to have mattered. I guess if there is any consolation she went quicker than most who succumb to COVID and the worst of it was while she was in a medically induced coma so she likely was in less pain that she was in all those years fighting cancer.

Most of those VHF/UHF repeaters are on backups and will operate for some time in a power outage. They are used for the purpose of emergency communication in the event of natural and not so natural disasters. In fact any time there is a severe weather warning or tornado warning the MTEARS groups take over the repeater net for the purpose of storm damage and conditions reporting. They regularly run drills as well with most people participating on emergency backup power. It encourages people to not only have that emergency backup power but test and use it. Some revert to an HT for those exercises while others go to their mobile (car/truck) radio setup. Still others go to the effort of using a battery bank style backup (Goal Zero, Jackery, Ecoflow Delta, or homebrewed equivalent) and run a base station style unit off that. Between a handheld, a mobile unit in my truck, and a small base unit with a small antenna I am fairly covered. It does not hurt that I sit on top of a ridge at 900 feet of elevation only a few miles from a local repeater.

That being said there was never an issued opinion letter on FRTs as there was with pistol braces. That and the limited number of forced reset triggers out in the market due to the limited number of manufacturers at this point makes them a much easier target for the ATF. I believe pistol braces will be a much steeper hill for them to climb with their history of approval/opinion letters allowing them. They may very well try to climb that hill in the future but I do not think it will be a focus in the immediate future. 80% receivers, parts kits, Form 1 products (solvent traps), binary and forced reset triggers will all take priority over braces in my opinion.

The forced reset trigger companies were not raided. Neither Rare Breed or Wide Open Trigger was raided by the ATF. The ATF did go to Big Daddy Unlimited and seized their inventory of Wide Open Triggers FRTs. I have found zero reporting of any action being taken against any individual owner of a FRT product from either company.

Well that was quick. Most of the folks that see it don't have a clue or did not know it existed.

I thought I would throw this odd ball up here and see who has a guess on what it is. Probably my strangest 1911 so I keep it around. JMB would not approve...

Had one just like it. Never should have sold that..... story of my life.

The Fort Campbell guys were selling in Chicago if I recall. They were spreading their purchases around a fairly broad area in central Kentucky. I bet this guy did the same, picked them up around middle TN or KY shops or maybe a few gun shows. Just another reason I rarely if ever sell a gun to anyone.

To be fair a big part of my anti Ruger stance is business practice related. Most companies in the firearms business treat other firearms manufacturers with a certain level of respect even when they are, at some level, in competition. Ruger actively undermines other manufacturers with petty and vindictive practices. They screwed the company I work for by acquiring part of our supply base and cut off supply to all other firearms related customers. There were several other companies affected besides ours. All were sent scrambling to find new vendors, move tooling, and/or produce new tooling to keep the flow of parts coming in. The P series was clunky, bulky, not all that well refined and the two examples I fired had an ejection pattern that put about every 2nd or 3rd case on top of my hat.

Had one of the P series guns back when they were "new". Hated it and did not keep it long. One of the reasons I don't like Ruger or buy Ruger products. I do own a couple 10-22's but have had them for many years now.

Wattage has has very little to do with distance in line of sight communication until you get to the margins of that line of sight. Frequencies below 2MHz are reflected off the atmosphere. They can follow the Earth's curvature traveling much further than the horizon. CB (26.965-27.405 MHz), VHF 130-174MHz), and UHF (400-520MHz) are well above that and are almost strictly line of sight. Signal propagation is dependent on height of the signal source (antenna), wavelength of the signal, atmospheric conditions, and topography interference (natural or man made). Many HAM operators trying to do long range do so with ultra low wattage transceivers as a challenge. They can hit the other side of the country or the world with 1 watt if they find the right atmospheric conditions and frequency window. That is called QRP operation and is a very popular subset of the HAM community. Now in these internet driven days, as Chucktshoes mentioned, most are relying in GPS based traffic updates through a stand alone GPS unit, their smart phone, or a tablet running a GPS app like Waze. CB is still used but it is nothing like it was 30 to 50 years ago. If there is a significant back up on a major road there will be more CB chatter. 10 or 15 years ago I was still hearing drivers call out to others when trying to overtake a slower truck or just to call a Swift driver an idiot. I do know OTR drivers with HAM but they are running UHF/VHF not the lower frequency long distance communication we traditionally think of, i.e. the old guy in the dusty basement with a headset, mic, and a rack full of radio gear. UHF/VHF is the go to in mobile units and handhelds. Most of your emergency communication is done across the UHF and VHF bands. There are some pretty extensive networks of repeaters that allow you to stretch the ~26ish mile line of sight radio horizon limit across several hundred miles.