10X

Thanks for that. I can't stand 10 minute videos when all I really want is to see the article I can read in a minute.

Oh, good. Life is so much better with the law requiring that P2P's be issued in 30 days or less, so I expect NJ will follow this with equal diligence.

OK, a bit of a presumptuous thread title, but I'm just back from an almost-cross-country road trip that took me through 16 states, from NJ to Idaho and back. The goal was to get out to visit Mom, for the first time in almost a year. My wife wasn't ready to get back on a plane ('flying aluminum germ tube', in her vernacular), she's never seen most of the interior of the country, I'd not taken any vacation yet this year, and so the plan for a 16-day, 6000 mile road trip was hatched. The good news, Mom is fine. Her assisted living facility locked down tight back in March. No visitors in the facility, period. Harsh, but they've not had a single covid case. If they had been in Cuomo's NY, a quarter of the residents would be dead. Recently, they started allowing in-person (masked, socially distant) visits, so we scheduled our trip to take advantage. We originally planned to camp (minimizing risk of bringing the virus to Mom), but learned that nearly all hotels have Covid protocols in place, deep cleaning between guests, no maid service during a stay, grab and go breakfasts instead of the buffet, etc. so we wimpled out and decided to not take a chance on snow camping once we got to higher elevations. Most of the states we passed through require masks when indoors, but are pretty much open for business. Mask compliance in the the common areas of the hotels, restaurants, and in stores ranged from maybe 80% in most states to perhaps 60% in a few...Indiana, Wisconsin, Montana seemed particularly low. Mask use correlated with age; older, at risk folks nearly all wore them, the young-uns didn't care so much. No confrontations over masks anywhere we went, everyone just went about their business. We had lunch with a friend of mine in Billings, and in a week a Covid flare-up had Billings hospitals at full capacity, with new patients being sent to nearby towns. We drove long hours most of the way out, did a quick tour of Notre Dame since our route took us through South Bend, then enjoyed the Chicago Skyline after dark, without the slightest interest on getting off the beltway to actually go into Chicago. Interestingly, and I take this as a further sign of Chicago disfunction, EZPass works until you get halfway around the Chicago beltway, then abruptly it is no longer accepted at the toll plazas, and you have to use iPass, which of course we didn't have, and all of the cash lanes were shut due to Covid, but also to stick it to any non-locals passing through without a valid pass. I'm still waiting to find out what blasting through those last 4 or 5 toll plazas is going to cost me. Sightseeing really started in South Dakota, with a few hours in Badlands national park (where I lost my drivers license, apparently when purchasing a multi-park pass). Both Dakotas have badlands, and they are both very cool to visit. Besides the fascinating geology, we saw a lot of elk bison, and pronghorns, and a bighorn ram, just 30 yards off the road. I grew up in prime bighorn range, and this was only the second or third one I've ever seen. Next up was Mt Rushmore, and a drive-by of Wall Drug. Montana was more of a focus for us, both to visit a number of towns we're considering for retirement in a few years, and also to visit Glacier National Park. I'd not been there in decades. We lucked out with the weather. It was warm and dry, they'd not yet had any snow this year. The Going to the Sun Highway is the road that bisects the park, carved out of a mountain face most of the way (it's a National Civil Engineering Landmark), and most years it is snowed closed by mid-Oct...and not plowed open again until early July. It gets a LOT of snow, there are sections where drifts and snow slides can bury it under 80 feet of snow. But we got to drive it in both directions, with only a little smoke from distant wildfires partially obscuring the highest peaks. We crossed into Idaho and followed the Salmon river south for half a day. It's some of my favorite country anywhere, and it happened to be the first day of Elk season so every turnoff was occupied by trucks, horse trailers, quad runners, etc. I had to smile at all of the gun cases we saw carried through the hotel lobby that night. Saw quite a few nice racks on trucks, too. Almost every general store seemed to carry ammo, alongside the groceries, fishing tackle, auto supplies, etc. My home town has a Sportsman's Warehouse, like a Cabelas, but less gentrified. Biggest guns and ammo department I've ever seen, so I had to check it out. The inventory of guns was definitely low, but they didn't seem to be quite out of anything. Lots of revolvers, shotguns, bolt action rifles. Quite a few semiautomatic handguns. Just a handful of ARs, and their usual good selection of .50 cals. They had quite a bit of ammo as long as it wasn't 9 mm or .22, I didn't see those. They had a pretty good stock of reloading supplies, most bullets and many powders, but primers did seem to be completely sold out. Prices on anything in stock seemed normal, or very close to it. They chose to sell out rather than price gouge. We didn't do much sightseeing on the way back, other than a diversion to drive around Bear Lake, a rather large and incredibly turquoise body of water spanning the Idaho-Utah border. A week after we left Glacier, they had five consecutive days of snow with highs in the single digits, lows in the minus single digits. Two days after our stay in Des Moines, they got 9 inches of snow. As I said, we got lucky with the weather. And I avoided getting ticketed for driving without a license!

I donate a lot through Goodwill stores. They mostly don't take children's toys (concern about lead in the Chinese imports), but I doubt that stops them from accepting bikes. For larger stuff, Vietnam Veterans and the Lupus Foundation do pick-ups.

It's nice. I'm not a member, but I've shot a number of matches there. I think it's the second largest private club (after Central Jersey) in the state.

And there is another reason to never buy from Cheaper than Dirt! (the search function on this site will show others)

Deputy fire chief charged with possession of firearm suppressors He says he ordered them believing they were fuel filters for his truck*. If that defense works, I may have to repatriate to NJ my collection of black Gen4 17-tablet PEZ dispensers. These *OK, he was arrested while voluntarily surrendering them at his local police station, so maybe it was all a mistake.

I admit, I took on faith their written claim in the policy that they are approved to do business in NJ, and that the Guaranty Fund covers me since I'm in a covered residence. I've not yet taken time to independently verify those claims or see what the Guarantee cap might be.

NRA-Lockton insurance, which I used to have (I believe it's also a surplus lines insurer, as it isn't listed in the link SGJ provided) requires itemizing any single gun over $2500 in value. I don't recall if they want an appraisal at that level, or only for more expensive guns). I don't recall if the limits are the same for Collectibles Insurance--I think they are, but I didn't have anything that triggered that requirement, so I know it's not a lower limit. I was simply asked if I could prove ownership in the event of a claim. I responded that I have a complete list, with descriptions and serial numbers. That was good enough--I wasn't asked to provide the list. I only specified the coverage amount I wanted.

Good question! Quoting from the policy, Collectibles Insurance "is written by a surplus lines insurer, not subject to the filing or approval requirements of the New jersey Department of Banking and Insurance." "The insurer has been approved by the Department as an eligible surplus lines insurer." "Property insurance covering owner-occupied dwellings of less than four dwelling units are covered by the New Jersey Surplus Lines Guaranty Fund. The insurance is issued pursuant to the New jersey Surplus Lines Law." I'd never heard the term surplus lines insurance prior to getting this policy, but it's defined here: surplus lines insurance.

I quite agree, that's the place to start. They are inexpensive and simple. And, it's not a wasted investment. You'll always have a use for it, at least if you load rifle calibers. If you load much pistol ammo, you'll want to move to a progressive for that, but keep the single stage for rifle, or perhaps just for operations like resizing the big cases. Edit: I haven't used a Lee 4 hole turret, but if operating as a single stage press it could accomplish the same thing. You could also do the same with a Dillon 550-it doesn't auto-index, you flip the shell carrier forward with your thumb after each handle pull.

Welcome to the club! You're not too far from a good private range in Bridgewater. They just completed a massive renovation, and they are accepting members. SCFGPA

Retail is $650 from Dillon, though they have it on backorder. I don’t think you’ll ever find it discounted, and its a new enough model that you won’t find many used The model 650 that preceded it is also very capable, and occasionally you’ll find a used one. As you move to faster Dillon presses, the caliber conversion hardware costs more and it takes longer to to change over to a new caliber. That may or may not be a consideration, depending on how you plan to use it.

Switching to depleted uranium? Not many things approach the density of lead.

Good rifle ammo takes time to reload, but for my needs I don’t load a lot of precision ammo on a single stage press, and I can crank out plinking ammo on my progressive press pretty fast. I load a lot of handgun ammo. Most of my reloading gear is 20-30 years old, so amortizing the cost would add only insignificant decimal dust to the cost of a reloaded round. Cost of the gear is significant if you stop loading in a year or two, but it’s insignificant over the long haul, and resale value on presses is very good. It’s mostly Dillon gear, with a lifetime guarantee, so I have no repair costs. Tumbling takes a minute to start, three minutes to stop, and I’m doing something else the rest of the time. As for the actual loading, a Dillon 550 is rated for 550 rounds an hour-and that’s the second slowest press Dillon makes. I find they cruise at 400 rounds an hour, once you account for loading primer tubes, and periodically weighing powder charges and measuring case dimensions. So it takes me 7 1/2 minutes to load a box of 50, and having tuned the loads to my guns, the ammo is far more accurate than factory loads. And it’s hobby time, it’s not like anyone takes time away from a paying job to reload.

I’ll also recommend a Caldwell. I got the kit with tripod and LED lighted Screens for about $100 a couple of years ago. The lighted screens let it work indoors under fluorescent lights, which my range has. Fluorescents screw up the readings otherwise The free smartphone app has four buttons Push ‘new group’ and start shooting It saves each shot and calculates averages and standard deviation automatically. easy-peasy

I went through this in my town. PD said no problem posting signage on private property, if it says no parking they will ask the person to move (which was fine for us, our problem was parents blocking our lane to pick up kids at the middle school.). I was told a tow away zone would let you have cars towed at your expense, but it wasn’t sufficient for towing at owners expense-I didn’t pursue the question of what had to be set up for that

Yeah, my 147 gr plated reloads come in at 15 cents a round More accurate than factory, too.

Are they using both? I’d only seen the Regeneron cocktail mentioned. I’m not sure using both makes sense, though I’m not on the clinical side of the house.

I've been insuring my firearms through the NRA Lockton Affinity program, which, for a fee, allows you to add any amount of coverage on top of the modest amount that NRA membership provides without additional charge. At renewal time this year, I got to thinking it was getting kind of expensive... Some time ago, someone here recommended Collectibles Insurance Services (Collectibles Insurance) as a better option. So I checked them out. They sell a lot of firearms insurance, though you can also fold in coverage for coins, art, stamps, edged weapons...anything likely to be excluded from your homeowners policy. The website was problematic for trying so submit an application online using either Chrome or Safari, but the humans on the phone were helpful, and I had an application in, approved, and paid for in just over 24 hours. It cost just 55% of what I had been paying Lockton, and for that premium I even bumped up my coverage by a few thousand--because unlike Lockton, Collectibles Insurance covers ammo, and accessories like spotting scopes, chronographs, reloading equipment. It's a huge improvement over my old coverage, and I'm saving a lot. OK, you don't really know how good an insurance company is until you file a claim, but so far I'm impressed!

Over 50 cents a gallon just in state fuel taxes now...and as I recall, NJ puts their gas tax revenue into the general fund, rather than earmark it for road repairs, as it should be.

Some are--many are sold out, but they have rack, field, and service grades available. Limit of 8 per person per year. Current stock includes rack grade, $650, SA or HR (vendor's choice) service grade for $750, WRA field grade for $850, and IHC (receiver, at least, other parts may vary) service grade for $1080. There is still a fair bit of ammo for sale on the CMP site.

Probably not in cooking school...

I hadn't heard that; perhaps it's another reason not to let the generator run dry under load. It's certainly hard on the load when the generator starts surging just before it runs out of gas--the voltage fluctuations can be significant. The cover linked above looks convenient. When mine is out of the garage and in use, I have a half-sheet of exterior plywood that I put on top and bungee down to keep the rain off. With all sides open, it dissipates heat well. I have two notched 2x4's on the bottom of the plywood that fit onto the generator top rails to keep it from sliding around, and the notches on one side are shallower, so the plywood sits at a slight angle, to allow rain to run off.

There are one or two operations best done with both the parts and your hands inside a clear plastic bag. Easy enough.