McAllyn

Should have signed the deal with Red Jacket.  Then there'd be 2 reasons for me to not buy them.   Mac

Be sure to check how to replace the battery in those Peltors.  My 6's require that you pull the ear cups off (which is not a easy task) and dig into the cans themselves to replace 2 batteries in each ear.  Had I to do it over again, I'd have spent more money on something more efficient.   Mac

If a SDB is possibly in your future... just buy a 550 now.  You'll never need anything else, really.  (Keep in mind, I have a 550, SDB, and 3 single stage.)   Mac

If you can find one, just buy an M&P Sport, keep the upper, and sell the lower.  Using "Old World" pricing, that would mean you'll be out about $350 on one of the best entry level paper punching uppers available.   Mac   ETA: They are going for about $650 on GB, as of right now.

It's good that the OP's wife has decided to elevate her situational awareness.  My fiance has recently made the same decision.  She seems to think that a carry permit will help her defend herself.  I worked very hard in explaining to her that a carry permit is great, but it is "in no way" any kind of training.  As a matter of fact, if it's home invasions that are your main point of focus, a carry permit is completely irrelevant.  You can have as many loaded weapons in your home stashed whereever you wish with no permit required.   What she needs to know is what to do with them.  Where to go to get the closest one in hand.  How to effectively deploy it in whatever situation may come up.  Is she going to stand and fight, or retreat to a safe/safer area?  Does she know what happens AFTER the big boom and flash?  Does she practice with both hands/one hand/kneeling/awkward positions/etc.?  Rarely (more like never) are you going to experience a home invasion that will play out with you able to get into perfect stance and grip like at the range before the bad guy is on you.   That's just the things to think about in the home invasion scenario.  The "out-in-the-world" carrying situations bring a totally different set of variables into the conversation.   Both of these groups of scenarios bear heavily on the ability and willingness to pull the trigger when the time comes.  The "If my gun clears leather, somebody's gonna die" thing is way too ridiculous for me, personally.  She (and everyone) has to know that every situation will be different and only she (all of us) will have to rely on our split second decisions.  The only way to do that is to think about it, question it, plan it, practice it, truly give it some thought.   Mac

Has the Crossbreed Supertuck gone out of favour or manufacture?  At one time, it was the highlight of any holster party.  I have one for my G26 (but don't have the G26 anymore) and my CW9.   Mac

Crap, I just sold my AR at a normal price!!!  Should have waited until next week and used it to pay off my car.   My timing sucks.   On a serious note, from the small amount of info I've heard, this took more than a little planning and more than a fair amount of training.   Mac

I'm in for (2) uppers and (2) lowers pending final price.   Might as well... all the cool kids are doing it...   Mac

In that situation, my only restraint would be in deciding if I wanted to clean the guy's brains off the beer cooler.   Mac

But how would one shoot themself in the butt with a carbine?   Mac

When I saw this, I had to go look to make sure none of my AR builds have been posted here...   Mac

If that's the exact weapon you want, go for it.  I've never heard any negatives about Wilson's, EB's, Nighthawks, etc.  But, personally, when I was looking for something in that price range, I decided to contact a custom builder and have exactly what I wanted, not something that was essentially "upgraded" not "custom."  If it's got a list of standard parts and is mass-produced, it's not "custom" regardless of what the vendor calls it.   There are a lot of vendors that would be happy to work with you over the phone (at least one locally that would work with you in person) and build exactly what you want (and help determining if what you want is, in fact, what would work for you.)   Mac

Enough components to load what I need.  Only thing sitting tighter on than I'd like is .22lr.  Everything else (9MM, 40, 38spcl, 12g, 223)  I have enough to shoot what and when I want.  The only thing I've had to adjust for is my primers.  I started out with CCI's, then switched to Federals.  I still have PLENTY CCI's but I dried up my Federals, so now I have to dig up my old load data.  (Not much of any change to speak of, but I don't play around when it comes to explosives.)   I learned a valuable lesson in 08, bought my reloader about 2 weeks before everything hit the fan.  Unfortunately, that lesson didn't stick when it came to my non-reloadable stuff.  That will be corrected.   Mac

I've seriously considered camping out at one of the Wal Marts at the 6-7am timeframe just to see if anything does show up.  All I'm looking for is .22, and I'm really just curious to see the madness in action.   Now I just need to decide which one:   1. "Big City" Wal Mart that has higher customer traffic, but less "need" for ammunition 2. "Smaller Town" Wal Mart that has smaller customer base, but every customer is in the gun community.   Kind of a gamble, but more than anything, it would be a social experiment.   Mac

Whether you blind pin or weld it, make sure the person doing it knows how to weld and is a careful and detail oriented person.  Go ahead and ask me what can go wrong... I dare you.   Mac   ADDED:  When I was researching mine, most people recommended looking at going to an OAL of 16.1".  Just adding that tiny extra bit to cover all the bases.  Not really necessary, an inch is an inch, but I felt better doing it that way.

Glad it worked well for you!  That thing is a miracle of modern engineering!   Mac

My girl is a 1911 girl, but her choice for carry is the M&P9c, but without the safety.  As mentioned above, there are literally hundreds of choices out there, and what she thinks she wants may not be what she ends up with.  $10 rentals are common and a VERY wise investment when it comes down to dropping several hundred dollars on something you can't trade in (for any reasonable amount) or return.   Mac

I'm a big fan of giggles.  I've never cared much for sh*ts.   And I don't shop or visit CTD.   Mac

Wow, that took all of... 15 minutes.  Awesome tool.   Smith, let me know when you're ready for it, and we'll meet up.   Mac

I just got word that mine will be delivered today.  After I get my sites on tonight or tomorrow, I'd be happy to let you borrow it.   Mac

As someone else stated above, I immediately discredit and dismiss anyone who uses "fart joke" names in their posts, conversation, stories, what-have-you.  Even if everything else they say is perfectly reasonable, incredibly well thought out, or factually well-represented.  It's just not the way I was raised to debate that way.  It immediately negates your credibility to take low shots at someone.   FWIW, I also discard anyone who uses the term "sandbox" in any discussion, and when perusing GunBroker, I will immediately scan past ANYTHING that mentions "BAN" or "Get them before you can't!!!"  As soon as I hear "sandbox" I start guessing what headset you wear when playing XBox, and as soon as I read "BAN" I start wondering how long you'll be in business after trying to rip off those that you NEED come the end of the current situation.   Bottom line, David, I appreciate and support whole-heartedly your proposal.   Mac

I love my Kahr's, but personally, I'll deal with the extra 1/2" of barrel length and keep my CM9.  That's just my dislike for the 380 caliber, though.   Mac

I searched for one of those for quite a while to replace the one the ex ran off with.  Gave up and bought one of the 4.25" Pro Series with night sights.  Not the same weapon at all, but I've already done the APEX trigger and am in the middle of a sight change out.  If I could find ANY magazines, I'd be good to go.   All in all, I've been really happy with the M&P, but it will take a while for me to be comfortable switching over full time from my G34.   You should get some really good performance from that 5".  Out of the box, they are great sport guns.   Mac

Is your the 5" M&P Pro or the 4.25" M&P Pro Series?   Mac

I'm always got time for coffee and gun conversation.  Definitely not as much an expert as many of our other members, but might be able to offer one or two atypical insights.   Just let me know if and/or when.   Mac