Wojo

Tactical Monkey...and everyone else, thanks again for the input. The more I read and research the more likely I am going to adopt this platform. I'm not really interested in the 9" or suppressed configurations....(well I am, but this is the PRNJ). I've always considered having a CQB / short range rifle that was a 30 cal. The M1 Carbine I had and had to sell because of NJ's AWB filled that niche. My wife's grandfather jumped the night before D-Day and his experience was that M1 Carbine was plenty good to take out a few Kraut's at close range. His endorsement of a weapon speaks volumes to me. He was re-activate for a jump instructor for Korean Conflict and then brought back in again for Vietnam. He liked making 30 cal holes compared to the 5.56. I was re-considering getting an AR10 and using 125g's for fast follow ups, but the idea of having a close to 10lb rifle was a con. I have M1's for that. I lust for M1A's but the reality is my gross motor skills are soooo in tune for an AR, it would be foolish to except in a stressed situation, my mechanics would work a 'secondary' system faster. So after doing some research into the wee hours of the morning last night, I think I am going to jump in right after Xmas. I will wind up buying my dies, case length gauges, go / no-go gauges, trim / chop saw and jigs to make the brass etc. much sooner. I like Savages so I am leaning towards an Axis for a donor gun, but am not 100% on it. Mostly because of the economy of the Axis and will rebarrel it. Waiting on a Remy 700 SPS in 300 seems in practical and will be pricey. At some point, I will drop the coin and get a top shelf AR upper for it. If I can get 1 MOA with the bolt gun @100 yrds I will be more then happy for such an economy set up. I would lean towards a 2x-7x scope for the bolt and a 1x-4x for the upper and call it a day. I have fun shooting sub-sonic 22LR's out of my 10/22 even with the occasional FTE's. I'd imagine sniping from an interior room to the exterior, with some sound absorbing materials on the walls (Sleeping Bags / Blankets) would make this nothing more then a pop 50 yards away with windows closed. Certainly nothing to wake anyone from a dead sleep or to spook the rest of the Zombie Herd. The next question is....why isn't our military looking into this.

I guess some experimentation is in order to judge the 'time value' versus 'money value' of annealing. Labor intensive...if it only gains you one or two more additional loads compared to not annealing, I'd pass on it. IIRC, could be wrong, but something in the back of my mind recalls that if you do the 3-way (edge) trim on the case, if helps to reduce / disapate the stresses on the neck. Which was one of the selling points of me buying those cutting heads for my motorized trimmer versus a flat cut. I'll wait on the annealling process for the Beta rounds. Maybe this is way I haven't had any case issues with my reloads...also, I don't reload to max pressures either. Precision and case life are better then getting an extra 5% velocity.

Thank you to everyone so far. I'm a geek so I'll be pondering all this in the back of my head while my sister in law is blabbing endless about her last vacation over Thanksgiving dinner. As far as the brass prep...I have the RCBS motorized trimmer with a 3 way cutting head does a real nice job cutting cases square and adding a nice bevel on the inside and outside of the case. I plan on using that once I trim to the rough length and size. What has been the method to cut the case down? Special tool, hacksaw, pipe / tubing cutter?

I'm looking for a short range thumper. If I am going beyond 150yrds, the 308 / 30-06 will be utilized. I recently purchased a Tikka 30-06 that will be a combo hunter / tactical...it has a fluted barrel and I already have the tactical bolt and other goodies to help it perform both well. That with a M1 covers my longer range shared caliber needs. I think this 300 will fit nicely in the shorter range roles. The lower noise signal is attractive in the bolt gun role. Need to investigate the sub-sonic functions with the AR. Like I mentioned, the AR upper will be after I play with the bolt gun. The other bonus, it for my twin teenage girls. The lower recoil on this might make for a good multipurpose round for them as well. My son is 14 and is already my size and he wants my 308. If I can develop this 300 in a good 150g load....I might be buying some 150g 308 bullets that require a tail gate delivery to be dropped off curbside. FWIW - all my kids once leaving the nest will have a shotgun, 22lr, a deer gun and an AR and a pistol. Throw a bible in and they will have guidance to keep thier compass true and tools to thwart evil or put food on the table.

FWIW - I was looking at making a sub-sonic 30-30 round but this might be a better use of my resources. My intention is to buy a bolt gun chambered for 300 before I drop coin on an Ar-upper. With the WH's very open and anti- 2A coming to light, bolt guns 'should' be off the radar if they decent to go for our jugular.

Thanks TBill.I have a butt load of used 223 brass and a nice stock of 30 cal bullets. How has TAC powder worked? I am waist deep in TAC and being that is / was meant for 223 / 308, I figured it might be decent. But that heavy bullet, small case might make a pistol powders favorable...just getting my feet wet and need to spend more time on the suggested website when I have some time. I recently sold my SKS which I rarely used. The 762/39 round is a good one, but if can use a hybrid of my 223 brass and 308 ammo, that certainly is nice. Correct me if I am wrong. After reloading 223/556 brass, say X amount of times, the most likely failure is going to be in the neck IIRC. Never had one and I have reloaded some of my brass 5 / 6 times. So trimming 223 brass that has been reloaded a few times, should be fine to convert to the 300...maybe?

T Bill - you are looking at it the way I am as well. I reload and love 30 cal. I was seriously considering picking up an AR10T again, but was having a hard time justifiying the costs. A 30 cal 125g bullet using a Nosler BT is pretty versatile for deer under 150 yards without busting thru brush and if needed CQB. At one point I was considering getting a 7.62x39 upper but they always seemed to have quirks. I need to investigate this a little more for a winter project I think. I came across the 300BLK site and just scanned it real quick. Guess I will be lurking there for a bit. I am also considering get this in a bolt gun as well. Might make for a nice dual purpose round for urban environments where 90% of your shots are under 100 yrds.

Looking into getting a 300 blackout and figured I would ask the peanut gallery for some input.

For some reason I seem to get lots of booze for gifts. I really don't drink anything other then the occasional Guinness or red wine. All that booze is stashed away and will be liquid gold as will be all the reloaded ammo I started to amass.

I had to talk a friend thru, via the phone, how to hot wire his furnace with using an extension cord from his neighbors house.

I'm a huge fan of hunkering in. The only thing that will get me to move is a fire. But, like with Sandy, sometimes you need to help people and having a tool bag ready to roll is nice. FWIW - having a dedicated chain saw bag / box with your extra parts / chains / protective gear / oil is a good idea. When time matters, moving fast counts. Irene proved the value of that last year when I went around helping out some neighbors. As you might have guessed, I have go bags / boxes / kits for all sorts of things. Even got my boating ditch bag for when I go off-shore fishing. Semper Paratus!!!

This is my Go Tool Bag. I am putting it back together after being in the field yesterday at our beach in Lavalette and working with Team Rubicon in Rockaway. My pliers and vise grips are missing and are somewhere in my pack. The idea behind MY bag, is to demo, make shelter or make hasty repairs. Throw in a few brown tarps, some nails, a roll or two of thick clear plastic and you can make some decent repairs / shelter. I also keep a couple small boxes of nails and dry wall screws near by to throw into the bag if need be. Nails / screws are heavy as hell in bulk. Another neat tool to have is a camping / backing saw. You load in a few hacksaw blades and some bone cutting blades to handle various chores. All my packs have a SOG Tomahawk for better chopping if needed. FWIW - Walmart has the FastHawk on sale for $20 and is a smaller version of the Tomahawk.

Also, look into old school push drills / hand drills. I have a few sets from my father who was carpenter and his are built to last and you can still get bits. When you don't have power, these can replace a cordless drill for many tasks. Not as fast, but when you can't recharge your drill or just want something small in your BO Tool Kit...they are nice. http://www.oldtoolsnstuff.com/yankee%20style%20push%20drills%20info%20page.htm http://www.traditionalwoodworker.com/Hand-Drill/products/335/

I bought one of these some time ago and have used it quite a bit. Recently is came with me for some disaster recovery work thanks to Sandy. This is a monster. You want to twist studs until they break free...punch thru drywall...pop a hole in cinder block to make a drain hole...rip nails out of concrete with ease...then this is a must have. Plus, in 'weapon-free zones' this tool doubles as one heck of a close personal protection device. Plus is has a bottle opener on it and a cool skull logo.

Water filtration straws are nice to have. Make sure you use / purge the charcoal dust before sticking them in your bag. Even having the Brita Water Bottles are a decent, (not perfect, nothing is) if you plan on dropping a drop or two of bleach into your water to kill the nasties. The Brita removes a lot of the bleach or iodine taste from the treated water. If you have clean water, you can run it without the small filter.

One of the combat vets called it a war zone without violence. The destruction was beyond words and scale. I am trying to get back there. There is so much that needs to be done for so many. Much of the work has to be done by hand, 5 gal pails and shovels. You need to clean out basements, demo down to studs. push cars, shovel sand, cut trees, and perform random acts of kindness / share a kind word wherever you can. Go to Team Rubicon's website or on Facebook if you want to see some stuff. Click on the video of Harry if you want to cry. I hung out with him on and off throughout the day and had no idea of his story until they cut the video on Sunday. If you are a veteran, the tears will form either in your heart, throat or eyes.

RedRiver, it wasn't me. I drove to the Port Authority Bus Terminal and took the subway to Brooklyn to meet up with Team Rubicon. From there we boarded a bus and went to our Camp Hope at 125th Street. Sometime tomorrow I am going to start a post. It was an amazing show of Veterans doing some amazing things for total strangers. I wish I could go back today, tomorrow or whenever. My wife has a feeling that I will be burning some sick days to go back. So much work needs to be done.

Heading to Breezy Point tomorrow with a bunch of veterans connected to Team Rubicon. It will be interesting to see how things actually are. Considering the group I will be with, firearms wouldn't be needed.

Good for you RedRiverII. Mindfu*cking them with kindness. Too funny, but more people could follow your lead. I hope I can get over to spend a day helping out this weekend. I'm starting the enrollment process with Team Rubicon.

Hobby...very funny.

RIP America 1776-2012

Retail around $1800. I like quiet. Less noise, less people looking to steal or borrow your generator. So yes, I will pay the premium for these features. Buying some Harbor Frieght brand that might be out of business tomorrow does me no good. Having a reputable brand, with local dealers I can drive to matter to me in an emergency. Not for nothing, B&S and other motors, aren't what they used to be. You used to be able to rebuild them because they were built to last. Now they are another disposable component. I got a B&S motor on my lawn tractor and the upper rocker arms crapped out after 3 years. And yes I did maintain it. I'm a former helicopter gas turbine engine mechanic, I'm anal when it comes to maintenance. I pass on anything with a B&S motor on it now. I really hope you got one of the good ones and it lasts forever for you. FWIW, I am not one of these guys that needs to have his big screen TV, full sized fridge, incandescent lights on and running exterior halogen lights. Power the blower on my gas furnance for a few hours, cycle once or twice a day my little apartment fridge in the basement and recharge my phone and I'm good. 3k is fine in 120v for me. I like to kept a very, very, very low profile.

Honda makes a 3k generator that has a kit to make it tri-fuel for under $200. You replace the carg to change it from gasoline to LP/Natural Gas. This unit has nice options as well. You can directly recharge 12v car / marine batteries without having to run them thru a traditional charger. And you can run these in series...add one more and you have 6k of power available and the benefit if one craps out, you still have a spare or to pull parts from if need be. http://powerequipment.honda.com/generators/models/eu3000is http://www.generatorsales.com/order/Honda-EU3000iS-Tri-Fuel-Kit.asp?page=Honda_EU3000iS_Tri_Fuel_Kit

I am NOT for a National Police force (we already have several). But in times like this the NG should be allowed to detain looters to PROTECT the unarmed. What happens when the NYPD shoots the wrong people...it goes to the courts. Happens a few times every year. What happens when the military / civilian contractors shoot the wrong people overseas? It goes to court. What happens when thugs kill innocent civilians and there is no law enforcement around? THEY get away with it. Not for nothing, a lot of our NG members have some serious combat time and are better trained then the rank and file NYPD cop in the use of deadly force. What happened in Texas after Hurricane Ike hit? Nothing. Because they honor the old code of protecting your possessions and your neighborhood. It isn't just about being protecting yourself from certain death.

NYPD didn't want FBI snipers covering the Pope and a pissing match began. NYC EMS wanted to handle it. It is all about CONTROL and egos. Imagine if they had Big Gulp sodas with them!