East_TN_Patriot

This was a non-event. If you read the live updates on Fox News, you'll see that the original call was made by three kids who were on campus for a summer camp: "The school says on its website that three young people attending a camp at the school reported seeing a man holding what may have been a handgun. They said it was covered by a cloth or covering of some sort, and that the man was walking in the direction of the volleyball courts... He’s described as wearing a blue and white vertically striped shirt and sandals, with a clean-shaven face." Kids say they saw a man with a towel covering something that MAY have been a gun. In other words, it was nothing and the college and the media all over-reacted.

Now THAT'S advice to live by. That and not riding like an @$$hole because your vehicle is more maneuverable, has better acceleration, and you have your own special interest group with special personal injury lawyers who are ready to sue a car driver at the drop of a hat. Incidentally, I see many motorcycle riders wearing flip flops, and they are more often than not going sans helmet as well.

I wear my Chaco Z1 sandals most of the time. I can do just as well in those as I can any pair of shoes I own. If I die, at least I'll die comfortable. Besides, I kind of have some sexy feet and the zombies may just leave me alone because of it.

Considering there are plenty of paid benefactors here who do holster work and paid sponsors who do sell their own products as well, I think my comment is warranted. The first post was not made in the introduction forum, nor was it made in the support forum, but here and it reads like an advertisement with the OP's business info clearly laid out. I've been around web forums enough to see business people do hit & run posts like this to drum up some free business. I know of three Tennssee based leather holster makers who are long-time forum members who are all paid benefactors and are very careful not to use the forum to "advertise" their products in such a blatant manner. I know one who for an absolute fact contacted TGO David quietly to find out about paid sponsorship and was unable to afford the cost because they are a very small and do it as a side-business. I also know for a fact that they are active users of this forum and have not made a blatant "advertisement" of their work because they don't want to violate forum rules and take away from the paid sponsors who have dropped a decent chunk of change to officially offer their wares here as a business sponsor. Rather, they quietly go about their regular forum activities and sell a holster here and there to forum members who can't find what they need elsewhere. I am certain that both would benefit from some free advertising in their own thread, but the rules don't allow it, a rule that has been respected for obvious reasons. I hold to my original comments and believe a simple, "How can I become a paid sponsor?" would have been more than sufficient and not any problem at all. Assuming it was an honest error, I do think the thread should be edited regardless. It's simply not fair for those who pay to advertise to allow someone to pop in and advertise their items like that. Based on this thread and the mod's response, it seems that the rules regarding advertizing aren't really all that important after all.

That looks strikingly like a jab at some free advertising there. I think a simple, "Hey, I make holsters and need to know how to become a sponsor" would have done the same thing. I'll be interested to see if they participate in the future.

Kind of surprised to see that coming from CCI. They usually put out good stuff. I wonder if the box had too much weight put on it at some point, which pushed the bullets into the case. Either way, I generally avoid the Blazer ammo because it is the only pistol ammo I ever had feed issues with due to the aluminum case.

Man, I have busted up more of those cheap guns (including the Raven, Lorcin, and Jennings/Bryco) than I can count! I worked for a gun shop that would destroy the guns for the local police department as a public service (meaning they stripped the springs, screws, and small parts off of the decent guns before destroying the frame/slide/barrel/cylinder). We would take those little cheap guns and whack them with a small sledgehammer. They would shatter. Then we enjoyed crushing the barrels in the bench vise using our finger to turn the handle. The gunsmith didn't even bother stripping any parts off those cheap guns. We had to cut up a machined receiver on an SKS once. We used a hacksaw. We should have taken it to a welding shop and had them cut it with a torch.

Yeah, those are sweet pistols. I worked with a guy who had one and got an H&K suppressor for it. I actually got to shoot a couple of mags through it one day. That thing was SWEEEEEEET! Congrats on the buy!

I kind of leaned towards Stag Arms because they tend to be a bit more competitively priced. I've started to get turned on to Spike's Tactical. I have read fantastic reviews of their products and the price is very competitive. Their lowers have some innovative touches as well that I like (themes, special markings, etc).

That's one I have been thinking about all day long. I have a ST lower and a ST M4 LE upper on the way, so it would be kind of nice to get a matching parts kit. I have read some good things about that battle trigger they put in the enhanced kit, plus there are several upgraded parts in the kit as well. Hmmmm...

I was looking at Palmetto State who sells their basic kit for $50. Anyone have any input or experience with which LPK gives you the best value for the dollar? I'm not looking for any sort of national match trigger, so I definitely am not looking to spend $200+ on a Timney or Geissele at this point. Any thoughts are appreciated.

Doing that bayonet charge at the last silhouette target didn't help your score either...

I would agree and they have been out of stock for a couple of months now. GAH!

"Unclear why many in state were gun-shy?" That's easy. People are generally misinformed and the anti-gun lobby does a good job of pushing BS on people who don't know any better. This is the same story in state after state, pro-gun law after pro-gun law. Before the law is passed, the anti-gunners predict carnage, bloodshed, and random gun battles in the streets over parking spots and car accidents. The law passes and the anti-gunners talk about how the gun lobby has corrupted the political system and kids are going to die. Then... nothing bad happens and people act surprised. It's the same story time and again, yet the public can't seem to wrap their minds around the fact that law-abiding gun owners are not the problem and criminals who will use guns will do so regardless of what laws are in place. Why people are so naive to believe that a law will somehow magically get law-breakers to do the right thing is beyond me. ***EDIT: I typed the above before I read the actual article, and it looks like I was quoting the article. GAWD these anti-gun people are so predictable!

Fair enough, but the media should report it that way. I suspect most people here are pretty aware that the likely scenario was something of that nature, but most people in our world don't know that, nor do they understand firearms laws as well as most gun owners (and many of the gun owners I know aren't particularly knowledgeable about gun laws). It's also very concerning what the spokesperson actually meant by their statement. With the anti-gun bias in our state's largest cities, such a vague statement should make every law-abiding gun owner stand on edge.

Yeah, well you ain't gonna be happy come 3 gun day in August...

I think something that needs to be mentioned here is that not all Muslims are radicals who want to do harm to us. There are plenty of peaceful Muslims in the US and we should not drag them into the same net we are casting for the radical ones. Many nations in the Middle East have been hijacked by radicals who follow a very specific interpretation of their faith. One Muslim academic here in the US described it as if the Aryan Nations and the Ku Klux Klan was able to take over the US government and spend decades integrating their radical views into every aspect of American society, including the law, education, and media. These groups follow a very specific and radical interpretation of the Bible, just as the radical Muslims have done with the Koran. It would only take one or two generations before our citizens would be as radical as the Muslim terrorists we are dealing with now. Where I do lay some blame is at the feet of peaceful Muslims who are not more vocal in speaking out against their radical counterparts. I also think the military's response is absurd and just another reason why the US has become vulnerable to terrorist attacks. We trust our service members to go to foreign lands with the most advanced weapons humans have devised, yet when they are home, they are instructed to run away, hide, and throw objects in the face of an armed attacker. It's absolutely absurd. Finally, I applaud the mods for opening this back up. I think it's an issue we need to talk about even if it results in some name-calling and insults. We certainly won't reach any sort of consensus on these sorts of hot-button issues if the debates get cut off as soon as any sign of incivility breaks out.

I personally think your scenario is a given fact, which perhaps is why nobody else has really mentioned it. I have been under the distinct impression for a few months now that this "crisis" was looming and everyone in DC was very well aware of it, which is why Obama has stuck with his "I inherited this crisis" rhetoric for over two years. The only way the Dems can keep control over the White House and the Senate is to paint the Republicans as the villains in this debacle. When you listen to the rhetoric, it's clear that all sides are trying to craft a "reality" where the other side is wholly to blame for this mess, when the reality is that both major parties have been working for decades to get us here. Be very certain that every single politician involved will be working this as much as possible to maximize whatever political value they can extract from it. I am also not so convinced that we are really on the brink of any "crisis" or "default" as the politicians claim. Just like during the bailouts, there is a constant reference to arbitrary dates whereby we will meet a certain and catastrophic economic collapse is drastic action is not taken immediately. Just recall this time one week ago when there were predictions of global economic chaos if nothing was passed by Sunday afternoon when the Asian markets would open again. Nothing passed Congress and the world has not come to a crashing end. Just listening to the rhetoric tells me a lot. Pelosi says they are trying to preserve "life on earth as we know it." The White House says the Republicans are trying to ruin Christmas. The TEA party folks are not willing to compromise at all, which tells me the catastrophe is not as imminent as some would like us to believe. We are seeing politics in action with the 2012 presidential election as the prize.

So here is the latest update. I received the upper and a new BCG today. I can definitely tell the difference between this BCG and the one that I originally received. This one appears to be as good as the one that came in a Compass Lake custom match rifle I bought from a friend a few months ago. The upper itself appears to be in good order. I am 99.9% certain this is not the same upper I originally received. There was distinct rubbing inside the upper from the defective junk BCG and I don't see it on this upper. I also got shipping papers with this upper, unlike the original one. Based on all of this, my suspicion is still that the original upper I received had been returned to them with that defective BCG, nobody at DSA checked it, and they sent it back out to me. I have not checked to see if they have refunded any of my return shipping, but at this point, I am so tired of dealing with it, I will eat the $20 instead of fighting about it. Throughout this mess, the customer service manager was polite enough, but I am still not totally convinced that he is particularly sincere about whether he believes that they made a mistake. Although he finally did make an effort to correct the mistake, they were not exceedingly gracious in handing me the olive branch. Will I purchase again from DSA? Probably not. I am unlikely to order anything like this again from any company based on this experience. This was the first time I have ever encountered a problem like this and the experience was one that has soured me on buying items online that I can't afford to just eat the loss if the product is faulty on the chance that the seller will choose to blame me for their mistake. I'll continue to order small items from companies like Brownell's or Midway, but that's about it. The extra $125 it would have cost me to buy an upper locally would have been more than worth the aggravation and time it has taken to deal with this mess. In retrospect, I should have just told DSA to keep their upper and refund me the money because now I wonder what recourse I will have if I take this one out to the range and find it's a piece of junk. Ah well, live and learn. I'll be posting a review of this upper along with the PCF lower I have it mounted on as soon as I can get out to the range.

I voted for the 3rd option, but it doesn't really reflect what I think needs to be done. I think we need to hold the line on the debt ceiling, make some very significant cuts to spending, AND increase revenue in some way to start paying down the debt. To increase revenue, I think they should do away with the progressive income tax and implement either a fair tax or flat tax so EVERYONE pays their share that is proportional to their income. Obviously, the flat tax still brings up the issue of the tax being the flat percentage of what the government decides is taxable income, thus taking us back down the path we are on now with credits and deductions. That is why I support the Fair Tax. A state sales tax in lieu of an income tax has served states like Tennessee and Florida well, and so would be the case at the federal level.

I'd be afraid the corn and sesame seeds would jam up my pistol.

I have a Remington 870 that I carried for many years on-duty as a patrol shotgun. It came with an 18.5" barrel with rifle sights. I added a mag tube extension. That's it. Millions of cops have been working for decades with a basic Remington 870 pump shotgun with a simple bead sight. I can't recall any situation where I deployed my shotgun where I said to myself, "Crap! I wish I had a sling/light/laser/collapsible stock/barrel shroud/etc." I needed two things: 1) A reliable shotgun that would function and fire properly when I needed it to. 2) Ammo. Fortunately, I never had to fire my shotgun other than on the firing range, but even on the range, I never felt like my basic setup wasn't suitable for my needs. The only addition I would personally consider is a side saddle of some sort for extra ammo. I made several leather side saddles for the butt stock and kept one on my shotgun for a few years. My shotgun still has the wood furniture. I have tossed around the idea of upgrading the blade sights on the shotgun since I did use it for slugs, but decided the likelihood of that happening now is slim to none. On a loosely related note, the question of what type of ammo to keep in the shotgun is important. For home defense, I think 00 buckshot is more than adequate. The reduced recoil shotgun ammo is great as well and was actually issued to us at the department I worked for. Slugs are totally unnecessary for home defense IMHO. We carried them on-duty in case we had to take out a vehicle engine (can't say I know of any cases where that actually happened), make a longer range shot, or take out a person wearing body armor (based on the North Hollywood bank robbery shootout). I kept 00 buckshot in the mag tube and the slugs on the side saddle so I could tactically load a slug as necessary, but have the buckshot readily on tap for the average encounter. I knew other officers who stagger loaded them with buck out of the mag first, then a slug, then buck, then slug, and so on. The logic was if the target survived a 00 buck load, then a slug was probably in order and would eliminate the threat.

I always train people to practice proper grip, proper sight alignment, and proper trigger squeeze. I have never even heard of "taking up the trigger." Based on your original post, my impression is that it means you start pulling back on the trigger, which is unnecessary and could cause someone to fire off a round without intending to. Once the finger hits the trigger, the shooter should be squeezing it in order to fire. Until that time, their finger should be outside of the trigger guard.

I currently use a Lee Turret Press. I really like it. It does what I need it to do in a reasonable amount of time. If you are going to be loading large amounts of ammo or just have the extra money on hand to spend, you really can't go wrong with a Dillon. I worked a side job at a gun store a few years ago and they had a Dillon set up in the shop that we could use. It was simply fantastic. For my needs, though, I spent the $100 on the Lee press instead of $500 on a Dillon. I may upgrade at some point, but my current needs simply don't justify the cost of the Dillon.

When did you send them a copy of this thread? They called me back within a couple of hours of the initial discussion. If you did have some part in this, I appreciate it. I'm still a bit leery of their intentions, but we shall see. Like I have said previously, I understand their position regarding people who try to scam them out of parts. However, the way they approached the issue is with an attitude of "there is no possible way we could have made a mistake." They did make a mistake. A big one. But with their attitude, it's not possible for anyone to prove it because they refuse to accept that any mistake could be made. I still fully believe that someone duped them by returning that bad bolt carrier group and it was sent to me either due to bad quality control or intentional misconduct by someone (perhaps the person who inadvertently accepted it as a return?). I am actually wondering if the entire upper had been returned, they never bothered to double check the BCG, and sent it back out. For the record, there was no paperwork in the box with the upper, which I found odd. Typically you will get a packing slip with the name of the person who did the QC check and sent it out. Either way, I was looking at being out $110 plus a total of $41 for shipping back and forth and had zero recourse through their company. According to the manager's response, had I not been the @$$ that I can be, I would still be S.O.L. I should get it all back late this week, and I will keep this updated. Like I said before, I am willing to let them try to make this right since they made the effort to correct it.