East_TN_Patriot

Yeah, I was thinking about a plinking carbine. Not like I will be going to war with it or putting thousands of rounds down the pipe. Thought one might make for a nice 9mm carbine perhaps. Hmmm....

I didn't realize they had done this, but it makes sense. eBay owns PayPal and that's their way of forcing people to use their service, which of course is done for a modest fee. So, eBay has figured out how to get money from the listing fees, money from the final selling fees, and money from the payment. Nice...

I'm just pondering the durability of the polymer lower and wonder, is it plausible that it is able to hold up since all of the moving parts are contained in the upper and the buffer catches the majority of the force when fired? In reality, all the lower does is hold the trigger group, magazine, and buffer meaning that so little stress is actually placed on the lower that polymer is completely sufficient. I based that on the idea that the mil-spec lowers are aluminum, a very soft metal compared to the steel pins and parts installed on it. Also, polymer frame pistols absorb some of the recoil through flexing, something aluminum can't do. If the aluminum lower really took that much abuse during firing, it seems to me that over time the steel pins would start elongating the holes and the steel parts rubbing and bumping around would damage the lower. I've not seen either of these happen. Perhaps the aluminum lowers are a special alloy (I really have no idea). The majority of bad reviews PCF lowers have gotten are from people who have never held one, much less owned or fired one. Reminds me of the Glock criticisms during that pistol's early days: plastic = junk. Just trying to make sense of it all.

I've had places do that to me. They are doing it to keep their competition from posing as a customer trying to undercut their prices, but it usually peeves more people than it's worth. I am now intrigued... anyone know of a place near Knoxville that has them in stock? Now I must research how to build an ultralight upper...

Because this thread has endured for so long, on behalf of everyone here at TGO, I would like to present the OP with a little award:

My signature seems rather pertinent on this topic.

The other thing to keep in mind is that the Secretary of State and President do not have the power to ratify the treaty. They can sign it, but then it goes to the Senate to be ratified. My suspicion is that it would not pass the Senate at this point unless political winds change dramatically.

Well, the dummy gun in this case was a solid aluminum one, but it conforms to their policy. Essentially, they have some moron that can't tell the difference between a crudely molded block of aluminum and a real firearm.

I've been frequenting Ace Pawn on Clinton Highway in Powell / N. Knoxville lately. They recently started selling firearms and have a fair selection of firearms available and most are new. They do buy and trade, and will give you a fair offer for your firearm. They will also order for you. I recently ordered a handgun and found that their price was actually in line with Bud's price on the same firearm. They also do FFL transfers for $25 + $10 TICS. The guys who work there are pretty knowledgeable and not a bunch of gun shop commandos. They are currently trying to build their business and inventory and are also working on plans to open a new indoor range in the I-75 / Emory Rd area if they can show the bank there is enough interest to secure the loan. Good place for folks to check out.

This is correct. Even the best steels can be useless if they are not heat treated correctly or if they are overheated by someone using a bench grinder to destroy the blade, uh... I mean *cough* sharpen it. Also, as others have alluded to, it depends on what the intended purpose of the knife is. Some steels are treated to be more flexible, but that means it will not hold an edge as well as a harder steel, but the harder steel is more brittle and will break more easily under lots of stress. Also, the construction of the blade is important to knife performance. For a rough use knife, I much prefer a convex grid or a flat grind because it leaves plenty of material behind the edge for durability. Hollow ground blades tend to cut a little better, but aren't as durable for heavy work like chopping. Again, it all depends on what you want to use the knife for. Then we can get into handles. A fantastic blade is useless if it's put into a crappy handle or if the tang is so weak that even minimal rough use will snap the blade off at where the tang goes into the handle or the handle will come loose easily. I prefer a full tang knife with scales riveted to the handle. Stick tang knives offer better opportunity for putting on nice looking handles, but won't hold up to rough use for a long time. In reality, knives are kind of like guns. They are a combination of materials and designs that all have their strong points and weak points. Some of the best steel out there for knife blades is good old high-carbon spring steel like you see on vehicle leaf springs, but it will rust very easily. This discussion wants to make me get back into knife making again...

You folks have answered my question. It would be nice if Ruger made that a bit more obvious. Thanks for the help!

I just picked up a Ruger Single Six and it has the plastic grips. I want some nice wood grips and I am trying to figure out what will fit. Some places say that New Vaquero grips also fit the Single Six and Blackhawk. Ruger's online shop says that the Single Six grips will only fit the Single Six. Can anyone offer any insight?

Nope. I got a notice that my listing was pulled because the pictures contained a gun and magazine as props in the leather goods. I contacted customer service and they said that unless I displayed the dummy items outside of the holster and mag pouch they can't tell the difference so they will pull it. They also said that the dummy gun must have an orange tip because federal law requires it (I corrected them on that point). Basically, they don't want anything that looks even remotely gun-like or magazine-like in their pictures. I asked about Red Guns, Blue Guns, and Airsoft guns, but they didn't have an answer for that.

Just wondering where this started. It's on the majority of gun forums I have seen. I assume it's all in fun, but where/why did this start? Why zombies of all things?

I do love my PPS. It's one of the best handguns I have ever owned and I have plenty to compare it to. The PPS is on the pricey side, but it can generally be obtained for roughly the same price as a Kahr PM9. Also, the mags are overpriced in my opinion. They are well made and a pistol with crappy mags is useless, so it's a small price to pay for a reliable firearm. That said, I think they are overpriced. $50+ for any mag is just too high (the best regular street price I see is $45 range). The removal of the backstrap does render the gun inoperable. It was Walther's version of the lawyer lock and I have seen no indication that the backstrap will easily pop loose especially since gripping the firearm, a properly seated magazine, and the grip frame all work to hold it in place. The general rule of thumb in the PPS world is to put in the one you like and leave it there unless you have some compelling reason to remove it for safety purposes. The benefits of the PPS are its design. It's very slim, has a compact profile, is striker fired with a smooth trigger pull, and has a chamber loaded indicator. It also allows you to use three different size mags (6, 7, or 8 in the 9mm) and they all fit flush to the grip frame. It has the interchangeable backstraps, which is a nice feature. I personally like the mag release (like the H&K USP) and I didn't have any issues adjusting to it. It seems to be well built, fit and finish are excellent, and it has the accessory rail to mount a small laser. I have Meprolight night sights installed and I put on a LaserMax Micro laser that I received as a demo unit. It is a great EDC package. Recoil is manageable and the accuracy is what I would expect from a compact 9mm. The downsides are the cost, the lack of aftermarket accessories (although the pistol is so well-done, I don't think you really need many), and the size is on the large end for pocket carry (I generally use a belt holster). If someone is in the market for a compact 9mm, I highly suggest taking a look at it. It's worth dropping the coin in my opinion on this one.

I might be able to help out. Shot you a PM. It's tough from the pics you posted to tell if it's leather or not. It kind of looks like the part that is attached to the seat may be leather. It also should be noted that even if it is technically leather, all leathers are not the same. For instance, you know that leather belt from Wal Mart/Target/JC Penney that only lasted a few months? The reason it fell apart is because it is "bonded leather," which is basically a leather McNugget made up of leather fibers left over from other leather production. They grind up the leather, add in stuff to hold it together, spread it out, print a grain pattern on top, and there's your "leather." I'm 99% certain it's not a full-grain leather, which is the type of leather that will last you for years like a nice horse saddle. That is also the type of leather that should be used for tooling. As far as the pattern, it looks like it was embossed or pressed into the leather, and was colored in with a pen. It's definitely not dye or leather paint. As far as eBay goes, I've gotten to the point where I buy almost nothing on there because of shady dealers and counterfeit items. A very good portion of the brand name items that you see listed are fakes and even when I have reported them to eBay as such, they don't do anything about it (but they did pull my holster listing the other day because I took the picture with the dummy gun in the holster and we can't have pics of fake guns floating around out there). Ah well, if I can help out, let me know.

Whatever man. You say I sound like the mainstream media, I primarily get my news from Fox, CNN, Drudge, and BBC. My opinions on Palin are based on my own observations and research on her background. Have you looked at anything about her other than what you see on Fox? This constant "mainstream media" thing is just a Rush/Hannity/Fox talking point and that tells me something. Every network has its own bias and Fox has a very distinct conservative bias. That's fine as long as people recognize that bias and try to balance it with other perspectives as well. I've seen Palin's speeches, I've seen her interviews, I've read about her background, and I think she is far from being qualified. You have this hangup about my mentioning her education, but you obviously missed where I clearly said that a lack of advanced education should be offset by some significant professional experience that includes management (and frankly, education should be as well). Again, another piece of evidence to show how you just start slinging around baseless and totally meaningless insults for no reason other than to try and score points. I specifically made the narrow comparison I did to point out the manner in which you tend to do exactly what you are complaining about. I've seen you do it in response to other people's posts as well. You take people's arguments that you disagree with, digest them down to the most simplistic terms possible, cherry pick a very limited theme in that argument, and then twist it into something that you think makes your point more valid. That's what you have done with my argument. You may think you "politely suggest" alternatives, but you don't do a very good job of it, which is why people get flamed by your responses. And I've seen you complain about it in other threads as well. Let me refresh your memory here. Your previous post said: And you claim you never brought up sexism? Really? I never said anything about racism, but did mention that Condi Rice is a black woman who I would likely support to illustrate the ignorance of your claim that I was sexist. You tell me to "pause and reflect," but on a baseless accusation such as that, no reflecting is necessary on my part. As far as a candidate to beat Obama, Palin isn't it. The only one even close in the polls is Romney. And that sucks because he is far too moderate in my opinion, but at least he is much better than McCain ever was. If you want a libertarian, then support a Libertarian. Republicans must support the party platform and the Republican Party platform isn't libertarian. It's neo-conservative, which has helped get us in the mess that we are in now. I agree about the over-emphasis on "social justice" put out by the left. It's socialism, plain and simple (democratic socialism to be specific - that means we just vote for our dictators). I think we actually agree on politics, but clearly not on candidates, which is fine, but I am allowed to run that woman or any other candidate into the ground, and I will do it when my research and gut tells me that the candidate is bad news. I see in her everything I saw in Obama, except for political stance of course. She can't handle the job. Period. If she is elected, she will carry her message to the White House and give great speeches while the nation crumbles.

There is a big difference in my mind between doing malicious harm and compassionate care. Doctors make ethical decisions all the time that result in the deaths of patients. Doctors must do some harm in many cases to help the person's illness. Surgery is doing harm to the patient, but it is done for the purpose of a greater good, which is to give the patient the best quality of life possible. Many treatments, such as chemotherapy, radiation, and pain management do tremendous harm to the patient, but are for the greater good of treating the patient's condition as much as possible, even if it means that the treatment will ultimately lead to the patient's death due to failure of the kidney's, liver, etc. Doctors abort unborn children, sometimes for the purpose of saving the life of the mother. Sometimes doctors must allow a mother to die to save an unborn child. Doctors remove people from life support, which essentially ends their life, and it is done for compassionate reasons. The ethical dilemma in my mind is whether the doctor is neglecting care and/or doing malicious harm, not doing harm in order to stop suffering.

Do you even actually READ people's posts or do you just make it a habit to cherry pick extremely minimal parts of a response and twist it into something that isn't remotely close to what was originally said? So, you are completely comfortable with handing the job of POTUS to anyone regardless of their experience or credentials just as long as they they talk a good game? Whatever....

Funny how we put suffering animals out of their misery and call it humane, but when a coherent human being who is suffering asks to be put out of their misery, society wants to call that murder. Who does your body and life ultimately belong to? Some politician? Some bureaucrat? Some religious leader? Last time I checked, my body and my life are mine. Those who fully understand and believe in our concept of Natural Rights and human liberty already understand why the answer to this question is important. If we lose control over what we do with our own bodies because someone else doesn't like it, we have lost the greatest part of our liberty.

Really? Where in any of this have I made ANY suggestion that I have an issue with her gender? Point to ANYTHING. You can't unless you do exactly what you did here and just conjure up some random BS in order to try and score a point. I couldn't care less if she is a woman. I was hoping that Condi Rice would run (GASP! THE HORROR! NOT JUST A WOMAN! BUT A BLACK WOMAN!). Palin has gotten to where she is because she gives good speeches, and just like Obama, her random unscripted comments come off like gibberish. I also don't think that education alone is enough for anyone, but when you chalk up the fact that she her education is minimal, her non-public work experience is virtually non-existent and consisted of zero administrative or supervisory duties, and her political experience is even less impressive than Obummer, that should tell you something. I actually really like Herman Cain. He has plenty of business experience and actually has made some clear proposals on how to deal with our rancid economy and national problems. Palin has not. I look for experience and substance behind rhetoric. Palin has neither. If you like her, fine, have at it. It's your right as an American, just like it's my right to think that she's a dim-wit. As an aside, it's interesting... Obama supporters say if you don't like Obama, you're a racist; Palin supporters say that if you don't like Palin, you're sexist. Of course, Palin supporters would never actually admit to stooping to the same drivel of the left. I can't say for certain, but I am beginning to think you might not like the fact that someone is showing that the right-wing messiah is actually an empty talking head.

True, knowledge is nothing more than the collection of centuries of human ideas that are gathered, filtered, reworked, and passed along to others. But plagiarism is only taking someone else's ideas and words as your own and not giving them credit for their work.

Yup. And I almost made one that I would likely end up regretting. Fortunately, I know enough to ask folks who are more knowledgeable than I.