raz-0

Most of the little caldwell targets are CRAP. Even the ones that say for 30-06. They mean 30-06... shooting lead... at 1000fps or less. Which isn't really 30-06 anymore. 7.62x39, .223. .308 will all put holes right through it, and hot centerfire ammo from a pistol will dent the hell out of them. The big caldwell ar550 gong is pretty solid form what I have heard though. It's also $100. If you want something durable for pistol, you want something made out of AR450 or better (or a differently named equivalent). For rifle, you want AR500 or better. HAlf-inch thick is best, but unless you plan to REALLY beat the crap out of it, 3/8" will do. Mike gibson manufacturing makes very nice stuff (mgmtargets.com). Their auto poppers rock for rifle practice at 100+ yards if you don't mind the price. GT Targets makes OK stuff, not as nice in my opinion, but several of their pieces are on the more clever side, and some of them, although not as nice also aren't as overbuilt, and thus more affordable. Action target makes some nice stuff. For simple transport and setup, their evil roy target is awesome. BTW, do NOT put your ar500 targets closer than 100 yards when shooting rifle. .223 will pock mark the surface a bit at 50 yards just on velocity. If you want something cheap to abuse, you cna get ar500 plates from wideners in 1/2" thickness for a very reasonable price. It's ugly but functional, and cheap. If you like the MGM autopoppers, I just scored a couple of "auto-reset steel" from bunker hill steel. ( http://bunkerhillsteel.hostedbyamazon.com/ ) It's their only product, not as nicely cut as mgm, gt, or action targets, but much nicer than the stuff from wideners, and at $80 it is 3/8" ar500 and comes with a couple of lag bolts and an extra spring. I got two recently (two fit in one flat rate USPS box), but haven't gotten to shoot it yet.

We have had people under 16 compete regularly. I think the youngest one I had no problem trusting to reliably shoot safely was an 11 year old girl. If you want to let them try uspsa, start at the indoor matches.

Just to be clear, participate in 5 is just fine for finishing probation.

For USPSA stuff you really need to shoot with both eyes open (except for maybe the 50 yard standards kind of shots). Losing 50% of your visual field will really slow you down. Is it hard to master? That depends on the shooter. It wasn't particularly hard for me. I think about the only thing you can say definitively on difficulty is that it will be easier for some and harder for others, and that if you are cross eye dominant you still have that range, but it will be generally a bit harder.

frikin awesome idea, I may have to steal it. I currently use a large box, but I ahve enough at this point to make it problematic. If midway has more sales on their range rug ripoffs where you can get them for like $6, I may just have a range rug for each pistol.

Here's a hint. You aren't shooting against the guys with the open guns unless you are shooting an open gun. REally waht you wind up arguing is something like an inside the waistband holster which is practical for CCW vs something like a plane jane uncle mikes kydex holster. Not having fancy gear is no reason not to compete. It certainly isn't hgoing to keep you from getting better. Also, you can' buy enough gear to be better than you are except for maybe practice ammo. All it really does is up the odds of you delivering your best performance, and even then the only things that owuld count as gear that can make more than maybe a 5-10% difference at best are sights if you are using ones that your brain really doesn't like processing, and a gun that doesn't jam... which is about as practical as you can get.

That's 10,000 a year for a popualtion around 300,000,000. The military is down 6000 for a population of about 200,000. cars are near 500,000 for the same decade.

I'd dig the accu-range ina 1-4+ range scope for 3-gun. For hunting, a plex is fine if you understand what the subtensions are.

Define practical gear. My production rig is pretty no frills. Heck, my "race gear" is pretty no frills except for the gun. I usually finish at the border of the top third with either my l-10 or production setup. You can finish pretty high without a lot of the go fast gear. Most of it isn't that much faster, just provides some looser tolerances on the performance envelope of the shooter.

Main difference is that precision delta is usually a little faster for the same powder due to a softer jacket that is real thin. the thin jacket can sometimes come back at you more easily form steel targets, but not enough that I ever worried about it. For cleaning supplies, primers, and sutff like that, the prices are what they are (usually competitive enough to buy the one or two things ratehr than having them shipped), and you can buy them without any drama. heck, even ammo isn't a problem if they have what you want anymore and don't mind paying the prices. It's the guns and most anything in the glass cases where things become stupid unless they decide they like you for whatever reason.

"If you don't like it, leave" is all well and good right up until you run out of places to go. Tiresome as it is, the fight needs to be fought every day in every place it needs fighting.

Don't care what it is made out of. If you increase surface area, you increase friction. You have to increase mass, velocity, or both to not lose penetration.

To answer all three. At least when I got mine, they did not come in a tall. I'm 6'7", 37" inseam, about 245lbs. I actually wear my pants around my waist, not halfway down my pelvis, and I don't have an issue with my techwear shirt pulling out, and definitely not with it hanging up on my gun, although I am pretty near the limit. At least with the quarter zip polo style. For the quarter zip polo style, you really aren't going to get much below about $80 unless you order a ton of them. The round collar tee style is much cheaper ~$50-60 depending on what you have done.

My inner trouble maker would buy a box just to start the rules lawyering at whatever USPSA match that I don't run. In fact I think I may go start a thread on benos to see if I can get the rules lawyers stirred up.

I already linked the actual source of them with the files to print them out.

For the M&P I'd go with no thumb safety. Not because I have anything against them, but because I find the implementation of it on the M&P to have put the wrong shaped lever in the wrong place.

You'd lose money. But look at people that are getting tea party group endorsements during primaries and getting the nod for races. But when your platform is cut spending, but not defense, medicare, or social security, you are going to be hard pressed to cut more than about 15% of the budget assuming you fire everyone else. It's not a rational position, but rather more of the unicorn pooping rainbows type of solution. I like freedom. I don't mind responsibility. I want fiscally sane policies, and I want people to be left the hell alone by government. When I deal with the teaparty, it's a very face-palm kind of experience. I don't have much use for the causal racism, homophobia, and absolute certainty that everyone will be happy with the religion they think is most awesome. Especially in NJ, this wasn't so bad, but as the more rational fade into the background, this stuff is getting more concentrated, even here.

In general they are as reliable. Except the wilsons. Like I have stated previously, their little welded on stop seems tough, until the weld breaks form repeated impact on insertion. I've seen way more of them fail than I am comfortable with. If I were going to go with a 10 rounder for self defense, tripp mags.. no question, as good or better build quality on the tube, nice follower design, especially in .45, and the basepad as insertion stop on theres is spot on and as far as I have seen does not have the issue with needing trimming in some guns that the CMC does. Also, despite virgil's house burning down, the business is fine and still getting stuff to customers.

True, if you studiously avoid anything that might be construed as a pistol grip, you can have the threaded barrel.

As long as you don't sell them, you can manufacture all you want for personal use. I forget if you have to put a serial number on them or not. Want to sell them, you have to get licensed. You just need to meet the requirements for whatever you are making (i.e. pistol, rifle), and what you build has to be legal. Federally. In NJ, you would have to be registered with the superintendent.

When the whole tea party thing started, there was a lot more variety to what you would find there. Also, a lot more issues got more attention with a lot more nuance. Now, it's mostly soundbites of inconsistent squawking about government spending and complaining about the personal lives of others. I don't begrudge them their existence, the left has plenty of loons I don't want to see win either, and it is better to ahve a counter balance than not. However, I would still like someone to show up with a well reasoned plan that is not really interested in telling me how I should be living my life. At this point the tea party isn't that, at least on the national level. I'm sure you can still find local groups filled with generally reasonable people, but they aren't getting people like them into office, so it doesn't really matter.

If you weld, a piece of rebar and two exhaust hanger u-shaped parts will take a fair beating and hold them at nearly any angle. Pick one end of the rebar, call it the top. At the top end, weld the two U-shaped bits with the open part of the U facing the top. Attach them at a 90 degree angle to each other. If you don't weld, these ain't cheap, but will last until the end of days. http://mgmtargets.com/tstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=6&products_id=109

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:11636 printable ar-15 magazine.. with printable spring. makerbot is about $1300.

Good and cheap: green mountain and adams & bennett (jhust a store brand relabeling of a GM barrel). Good but not so cheap: clark custom guns makes barrels. Their 16.25" fluted bull barrel balances REALLY nicely in a traditional stock. Volquartsens also shoot nicely and come in lots of cool looking fluting designs. Good and light: whistlepig, tactical solutions For NJ, I'd just go whistlepig and avoid trying to deal with getting a non-threaded version of the TS. It exists, but some places don't differentiate well in their inventory the difference between non threaded and non-threaded with thread protector installed. But it's still a good barrel if you find one.

As PA residents, did you follow all the PA laws for a face to face transfer between individuals of a firearm? I'm guessing yes. So it was your gun, then you moved here. No need for a permit to purchase. If the gun is NJ legal, you are good to go. If you want extra peace of mind, and as others stated, PA keeps a record of initial sale, have your dad write up a note saying when it was purchased and gifted to you, and have it notarized. That's probably the best you can do in the case he is no longer around to testify on your behalf at some point. You aren't breaking the law, so at best you are concerned with convincing the authorities of that if it is ever necessary. You might want to also have some documentation that at the time it was gifted to you, you were a PA resident.