East_TN_Patriot

I tend to agree with your point. Even if you want to buy American, you find that many "American" companies actually make their products overseas while many "foreign" companies make them here. It's especially true with cars. I try to find American products when I can, but many times the quality isn't there to justify the price difference. There is a company in Bristol, TN that makes nice denim jeans and work clothes called Pointer Brand. Pointer Brand Overalls and Jeans | Denim Jeans I have some and the quality is top-notch and the prices competitive. I also despise Wal Mart. They try to make it look like they are an all-American type business, but the vast majority of their products are imported. I think they actually played a part in the outsourcing of many products because they force suppliers to agree to sell their products to Wal Mart for a low price that Wal Mart specifies. If the supplier doesn't agree, they don't get to sell their products at Wal Mart. If you can't make the products cheaply here, you go overseas where you can be competitive. Apple is another company that annoys me (while I type this on my MacBook). They are a massive "American" company that makes all of its products in China, which is well-known for its terrible environmental record, terrible working conditions, and human rights violations. All the while, you will see more Apple products on college campuses used by the academic elite that talk about how evil capitalism is and how we should punish those evil rich people. In other words, mutli-billionaire Steve Jobs has made his money off of Chinese labor and lax environmental policies, but is a darling of the elitist political left. In any case, I figure anytime we can support true American businesses, it's a good thing.

Interesting article with links to companies that sell products made in the USA. » Is It Too Late To Buy American? Alex Jones' Infowars: There's a war on for your mind!

I was going to get a PSA upper, but they have been out of stock for a while. My intent was to get my carbine GTG for the 3 gun match at ORSA last week. Obviously, that didn't work out. Had they not eaten crow and offered to do all it took to make things right, I was going to just wait on the PSA upper. I was happy with the quality of the upper I got, but didn't know enough at the time to recognize the problems with the BCG (except for the fit problem). I am planning an SBR build and will likely go with the PSA upper for that one.

EPIC WIN!

I definitely will. I can't help but wonder if he went to the back and said, "Hey anyone seen this bolt before?" and some worker said, "Yeah, that's some piece of junk that showed up in here one day. Why?" I'm still a bit miffed at their initial approach, which was polite, but still accusatory. As long as they are willing to make the effort to make things right, I can respect that and will give them the opportunity. He admitted that my immediate and vigorous response helped convince him that I wasn't trying to scam them. I still have the charge disputed on my card until this is resolved. I really liked the look of the upper, so I can only hope that this was just a freak isolated mistake and the final outcome will be satisfactory for all involved.

I definitely will. I can't help but wonder if he went to the back and said, "Hey anyone seen this bolt before?" and some worker said, "Yeah, that's some piece of junk that showed up in here one day. Why?" I'm still a bit miffed at their initial approach, which was polite, but still accusatory. As long as they are willing to make the effort to make things right, I can respect that and will give them the opportunity. He admitted that my immediate and vigorous response helped convince him that I wasn't trying to scam them. I still have the charge disputed on my card until this is resolved. I really liked the look of the upper, so I can only hope that this was just a freak isolated mistake and the final outcome will be satisfactory for all involved.

Well, it seems my tenacity has paid off a bit. I just received a call from the manager I dealt with earlier. He said that he is not sure how it was possible that my junk BCG managed to get shipped from the facility, but he apologized and offered to send me a replacement upper and BCG and cover all of my shipping costs. I am relieved to see that they are willing to give be the benefit of the doubt and he also explained that they have a big problem with people trying to scam for free parts, which is why they took the initial stance they did. It takes a big man to call and do that, so I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and see how it turns out. My suspicion is that someone sent in that junk bolt carrier group and it ended up getting mixed in with the good parts somehow and a bit of sloppy quality control completed the mistake. I will give an update, good or bad.

Well, considering I only paid a little more than $200 for it, I wasn't too concerned with the resale value. I get your point, though. I simply couldn't do that to a new Glock. The slide finish is pretty much shot, the grip was worn smooth, the night sights are dead, and the original mags look like someone drug them behind a truck down a gravel road. It functions flawlessly, though. I can always invest in a new grip frame if I need to. This option was far better for me than dropping $225 on one right now for sure.

I was thinking that it would be nice if there was some sort of visual record of a member's reputation regarding the TGO Trading Post, something similar to the feedback score you can see on eBay. Maybe a score posted under the member info. It may be more trouble than its worth, but I thought I'd suggest it anyhow.

I just saw this. I purchased a DSA ZM4 upper last week. The BCG they sent wouldn't fit. I sent it back requesting repair or replacement. They claimed it was not the BCG they sent me and refused to refund my money or exchange it, basically accusing me of trying to scam them. I am returning the upper immediately. Unless Visa can help, I am out $110 and about $30 for shipping this crap back and forth.

I appreciate that info, but I'm done with them. I have packaged up the upper with plenty of padding so they can't accuse me of damaging their upper. If that's how they treat customers, I have no interest in dealing with them. I only hope that Visa can help out because I don't have $100 to waste.

Yeah, lesson learned the hard way here. I'll be getting my next upper from Bill's Outpost. As soon as I can save up another $100 that is. Un-friggin-believable!

Yeah, I am out $110 for a piece of junk BCG they sent me. I'm on the phone with Visa now to see if I have any recourse.

I purchased a ZM4 upper and BCG from them a couple of weeks ago. The BCG that came with the upper was seriously flawed and would not function in the rifle. I contacted them the next day, and they advised me to return it. I received a call today stating that the BCG I returned is not one of theirs and that there is no way that BCG would have left their facility. They also said that it is well-used and near the point of failure. In short, it appears that someone in their facility took a junk BCG, stuck it in my upper, and now they are refusing to make things right. They are accusing me of scamming them. I have NEVER experienced a problem like this from a company. DO NOT BUY FROM DS Arms. They are crooks, plain and simple. I will be returning the upper as well, because I have no faith in their products at this point and their customer service is definitely lacking.

I don't know if I'd agree that they are junk, but you are correct, the Norinco has a chrome bore while the Yugos don't. My understanding is that the Yugo rifles were beefier than the Chinese ones. Other than the chrome lined bore, what is the difference based on your examination of the guts of both? I have not disassembled a Yugo, so I can't speak for what the innards look like.

Based on the info in this news story, he may have been experiencing a health problem before the crash. It says his bike ran off the road and struck a guardrail. It's not all that uncommon for people to have a heart attack and they are deceased before their vehicle leaves the roadway. Purely speculation on my part, but something that will be seen once the autopsy is done. RIP. Update: Deadly Week on Lexington County Roads - Lexington, SC Patch

HAHA! When I first read this, I was thinking about a Yugo car that you fixed up. Then I saw the rifle in the pics. I personally would hang on to the Yugo. If I am correct, the paratrooper model wasn't actually a regular issue variation of the SKS, but was done by Norinco to drum up sales in the export market. I'm a purist when it comes to military rifles, so I'd much rather have a genuine Yugo. Just my 2 cents worth.

Several times as a cop. Never as a civilian. I hope to keep it that way. As far as experiences, they all generally go the pretty much the same way: Idiot commits crime (usually a felony), I approach said felon, they act stupid, I draw my weapon, they suddenly get a case of common sense, I arrested said felon. Only once did I actually come close to shooting a guy. He was on parole from federal prison for drug and firearms charges and decided to violate the protection order against him by his ex-wife. When I approached him, he refused to take his hands out his pockets. He then took them out and put the right one back in his front pocket. I saw him grab something in his pocket and I started to pull the trigger as he withdrew his hand. I knew I had the advantage and waited just long enough to see what was coming out of his pocket and realized the object he had was not a weapon, but a set of those silver oriental exercise balls. He pointed them at me, I assume in hopes of committing suicide by cop. As far as I know, he went back to federal prison.

Thanks folks. I must admit I prefer the pristine look of a new grip frame, but function is definitely more important than looks. In this case, the original finish was so worn that it was slick and hard to grip. The difference is tremendous and I think I got the general effect I was looking for. I have seen several pistols on the web that looked like they had been attacked by a meat grinder, and although I am sure the grip is good, I don't like the look at all and for me all of that stippling isn't needed. I must also admit that there was a split second right before the wood-burning tool hit the frame that I almost stopped for fear of screwing it up. Then I decided the heck with it and go for it. Worst case scenario is that it looks like crap and it would still give it a better gripping surface. Absolute worst case scenario is that I'd have to go ahead and plunk down $250 for a new stripped receiver. I might add a couple of other small spots around the trigger guard using a pointed tool, but I'm not sure I need it.

My wife has a job that could easily be done from home, at least some of the time, but the management simply won't allow it. It's one of those examples of how many folks won't change the way of doing business just because that's the way they have always done things. But of course, they have issued her a CrackBerry in order to do work when she's out of the office.

I was there as an observer this month as well. I think I met you Jon_L at one of the pistol stages. I will definitely be participating next month. If you are even remotely proficient with your firearms, you will enjoy the shoot. There were folks from all levels of skill there and I didn't see any 'gun store commandos' there trying to impress everyone with how much they know. I had a great time and didn't fire a shot.

Here's a pretty cool "virtual gun coater" for the Glock that KCC links to in their website. I like the look of a graphite black slide with the sniper gray frame myself. NIC Industries - Virtual Gun Coater

Well, I have a Gen 2 Glock 22 that I purchased used. It was a police trade-in and the frame was darn near worn smooth. I can't stand the rubber slip-on grips and recently saw a fellow who had done a stippling job on the frame of his Glock. I looked at the Internet, watched some vids on YouTube, bought a woodburning tool, and here is the result. I went for the minimal look and just hit the areas around the main grip frame. It took me about an hour to do it with a $15 burning tool from Lowes and a sanding block to clean it up a bit. If anyone is thinking about doing this on their Glock, it's really not that hard to do. My advice is to practice a bit on a piece of hard plastic first to get a feel for it and see what the different tips will do. I practiced on a scrap piece of Kydex, but I saw a video on the web of a guy that used the inside of a plastic gun case. Plan out your stipple job, get in a comfortable spot with plenty of light, get the burning tool good and hot, and go to work. I chose to use the broad round tip to give it a lizard scale look. The work is pretty forgiving because if you make a mistake, you can generally go back over it and touch it up. It turned out pretty well (IMHO) and made a world of difference in the feel of the grip. Definitely the better option for me than spending a bunch of cash on a new plastic grip frame. Here are some pics: Before: After:

I'd go with the XD over the M&P any day. Not dogging the Smith, but I think the XD is a great design.

Boortz has a way of cutting to the chase and hitting the nail on the head. Progressives believe in the power of government to provide an egalitarian utopia where all evils and ills are done away with. It's a very dangerous mentality if you believe in the concept of individual freedom and private property rights. What's interesting, is that Marx talked a lot about freedom. Socialists believe in freedom as much as any red-blooded American, but it's a different kind of freedom: freedom from want. Marxists believe that most individuals are slaves to the capitalist machine and that the only way for man to be free is to overthrow that system and redistribute all wealth equally throughout society. Until this revolution happens, it is the job of people to infiltrate that system and work internally to drive society in that direction. Most Marxists have come to realize that the revolution of the proletariat is not likely to happen, so they have cleverly adapted their approach to one that can generally be referred to as socialist democracy grounded in the concept of social justice (I am painting with a pretty broad brush here for the sake of simplicity). The overall idea is that people can elect leaders who will work internally to act in their own interests to reach that utopian state. Many progressives on the left fit this mold, as does our beloved Obama (whether he'll admit it or not). We have progressives on the right as well, which is just as dangerous, but they tend to be focused on moral and social issues rather than economic policy.