mikka1

Darn, I so wish I could join you, but hopefully I'll be in NC that weekend :-(

Cross posting this from PAFOA - I found a box of brass from the times I wanted to get into reloading lol. 1) A bag of mixed 223/5.56, NOT cleaned, not de-primed, just as picked - ~4lbs, probably around 280-300 casings 2) A bag of mixed handgun caliber shells, mostly 9mm / .40, possibly with some .45 and .380 in between - ~4.8lbs, probably around 450-500 casings 3) A few .243 and .308 (less than 10 each) I don't need it, so basically whoever wants to pay ~$8 postage gets it (I doubt you would want to drive to Wilkes-Barre PA) Thanks!

I might make it to Clinton tomorrow with my kid, but that's like ~50% chance... See you there if I do!

Will be there with a wife and kid - will try to come at 9am, but it's now ~2hr drive for me, so might be a little late

+1 to T Bill. Check all the fuses, relays and condition of wiring before making any serious commitments and/or investments. Not once and not twice I made mistakes of replacing something (even simple things like central lock activators) only to realize it was a rusted wire / bad fuse I didn't even know about. And my most recent example - I got my car from an auction for very cheap, partially because the guy at the yard told all customers it had some issues with airbags (airbag light was always on). And yes, again, it was just a bad fuse, LOL :-)

I can't believe this topic has grown to ~30 answers. PDs make mistakes in P2Ps. I had several P2Ps with various mistakes (not in dates though, but in some numbers, in employer name etc.). They just cross incorrect things out with pen, write a correct thing above and sign there. Hell they extend permits in our PD just by writing a new date and signing in presence of applicant (without filing it to any database or so). Just go to the PD and ask them to correct this obvious mistake if you want to use this permit now.

Hm. I wonder how much money has been ... emmm... "lost" in such a program (if it is not a joke), if the cheapest phone I got so far was around $7 or so (old Samsung) and the cheapest plan known to me is $3/month plan from TMo... I mean, if you can't spend $7 upfront on the handset and $3/month for a "lifeline"... no program will likely help you *** But one thing is often neglected and I keep repeating this again and again - by international (=European for me) standards cost of mobile & residential phone/internet service in the US (and especially cost/quality ratio) is simply outrageous, but everyone seems to be perfectly fine with that :-) (I heard about people paying more than $200 a month for 3 cellphones, LOL)...

I'm sure at some point we discussed this particular type of ammo here (ZVS 124gr), but I can't find that thread. My bottom line - I was not really impressed by it, but I can't really explain why. It just didn't work for me (no, it didn't have any FTE/FTFs, but I had a strange feeling I don't shoot it as accurate as some other brands), but I generally prefer 115gr. BTW, again it's strict IMO, but I find Remington UMC the second dirtiest 9mm ammo widely available - I was dumb enough to buy almost 1000 rds of it from Walmart a year ago, and I still have a lot left as I just can't shoot it. Maybe it's just me, but a month ago I heard the very same thing from another guy at RTSP USPSA match, so I guess my initial impression was somewhat true. On a practical note, I personally strongly prefer: 1) Winchester White box 115gr. Normally at Walmart for ~$26 per 100 rds. Very clean, I like it 2) Freedom Munitions remanufactured 115 gr ammo - I think it totals to around $10+change per 50 if you order 500 or more - they used to have free s/h campaigns quite often before. I personally think it's absolutely not worse than any factory new ammo available.

Yesterday evening I tried Union, Woodbridge and South Plainfield stores and they were all OOS of $50 boxes. I gave up at that point, f it. South Plainfield associate told me they only received around 15 boxes before this sale and they went in less than 3 hours. BTW, as per yesterday Wayne didn't have proper papers yet, I called them and was again told "maybe end of this week". Those guys are just pathetic, it's, I think, almost 5 months since it opened...

Maybe I'm missing something, but do you plan to rely on open (=free) wi-fi networks to place calls? If that's the case, I would just buy $3/month plan from T-Mo Prepaid (it includes 30 minutes of talk per month for these $3), put the SIM-card in an Android smartphone and install Hangouts Dialer app couple with Google Voice number. With this setup you'll be able to make free calls when you are on someone's wi-fi (or at home with your wi-fi network) using Hangouts app and still have a chance to use a cellphone for calling/texting in areas where there is no wi-fi coverage...

Do you need a generic OBD-II tool (i.e. do you have OBD diagnostics port on your car) or do you need a specialized tool that can read airbag / more advanced brand-specific codes? If the former, I would suggest you to just order a simple ELM327 Bluetooth OBDII dongle and install Torque app from Google Play to any of your Android devices - you'll be able to see some codes and erase them from memory (e.g. if you need to "shut off" check engine light before showing a car to a prospective buyer, LOL). Mind that this tool will definitely NOT see any advanced brand-specific codes / airbag codes, but at the same time it will give you a plenty information about the vehicle (its dashboard features are fantastic!) I have such dongles in both of my cars. Actually I bought one branded BAFX for $20+ and one cheap no-name one for $5 or so shipped from China. Despite warnings of BAFX on their product page, those 2 dongles work in exactly the same manner (but maybe I was just lucky).

T Bill, thanks, I already got the point with tires - I went there last week for an interview and it was completely dry in the morning, so it took me around 1h 40m to get there. Snow/rain started quickly in the afternoon and it took me almost 5 hrs to get back to Newark + a couple of episodes when I might have well ended up wheels up in a ditch... RWD is definitely NOT for winters there, LOL

Thanks to everyone! Well, I guess very little can surprise a person who grew up on outskirts of Moscow, Russia and then moved to a place a couple of miles from Newark, NJ :-) But I'll be keeping an eye on where to settle. And as a kind of continuation of the previous question - if I expanded the area radius to, let's say, 20-30 miles from Scranton itself (to make it still reasonably commutable), what are the areas I might look at (that are not right next to Scranton, but maybe a little further...). Maybe I'm missing some hidden gem there? BTW, I liked the township of Moscow, PA there (it's around 7 miles from Scranton, I think). Would be quite funny to settle there and answer a question of where I am from...

It seems that something I've been dreaming of for a long time is becoming reality, at least partially, LOL... There might soon be a 6-months temp position (with some potential to extend / convert to perm later on) for me in Scranton PA area, and I am pretty much set on pulling the trigger and jumping on it. It is still only 2hrs from both New York City and Philadelphia, so not that big of a move (and I like it very much). I checked the area out when I went for an interview there and I totally loved it (well, at least visually). My job will likely be in Moosic PA or a little closer to Wilkes-Barre. I really know nothing about the area except that there are mountains around, LOL, and apartment rent prices are easily 2x less than in Newark NJ area for similar properties. That said, some questions to you, folks - abstract and practical: 1) Any insights about Scranton area are more than appreciated - I haven't even started looking for an apartment there (I still have some time before I start), so hints on what areas to avoid / prefer are very welcome. I scrolled through NEPA section on city-data.com forums already and have some understanding that it is better to avoid Scranton city center itself, but will very much appreciate other insights. (edited for added clarity: I am in my late 20s, will be renting there, likely 2-3br apt or a part of the house; school is also a concern as my son will go to school this fall...) 2) (stupid question) NJ Registration is due on my car in the end of this month, so I really have the following options: - Extend it for 1 more year (I still have NJ inspection until 03/16) now, keep NJ plates, change the DL to PA one, potentially get some tickets for driving improperly registered car in PA, get rid of the car completely in 2016 (or reregister it in PA then) - Get temp PA plates in the end of March, surrender NJ plates, get perm PA plates when I establish residence there, get PA inspection. Probably the cheapest way, but lots of running around - Extend it for 1 more year in NJ, as soon as I establish residence in PA (in 1 month), change plates to PA perm ones and get PA inspection. The easiest way, probably, but will lose annual NJ reg fee. I am frankly favoring option #1 (no hassle at all unless pulled over), as for many years I haven't been pulled over even once, so IMO there is a relatively slim chance to get busted with NJ plates and non-matching PA DL. Do you think it's a stupid way of doing things? (not a legal standpoint, just practical)...? Any other thoughts why I should or should not do this? (I was once walking in an apartment complex parking in Charlotte NC and I swear more than half of residents' cars there had non-NC plates (NY/VA/NJ/PA/SC/FL and counting...), so I guess I'm not the only person in the country doing this...) Thanks! (Too early to congratulate me yet, you will when I finally move, LOL :-) )

The only thing left unclear from the post is if they were actually carrying guns on them...

I would seriously consider investigating options to move to a more modern hardware - as mentioned before, hardware that old (as lots of other stuff when getting old) is prone to sudden and complete failures with hard drive probably being a "good" candidate to start with. I also guess "hardware key" is some kind of LPT-port HASP key - legalities aside, there is a very good chance that you might be able to "dump" this key to a file and use a key emulator - this might be a first step towards new hardware. I don't know how your cutter is connected to the computer (likely LPT port as well, maybe through HASP key), but this may limit what kind of hardware you can use. Ebay probably has everything you need, but IMO you first priority in a short to medium-term should be making sure your data (i.e. hard drive) does not fly away and you have all needed backups. But still, the fact that your mouse is COM, not PS/2 gives a hint that your computer might be REALLY old :-) Another idea (but I can imagine you've tried this already) - if this type of equipment has been produced en mass, I might guess that there might be some solutions already developed / figured out, because Win95, let alone 3.1x family is not around for more than 15 years already, so somebody somewhere might have faced the same issue before and maybe posted his/her findings online... *** P.S. Offtopic: I have some nostalgic feelings. It was 2002-2003 when I was finishing my high school in Moscow, Russia, and somebody brought a whole truck of old decommissioned PCs to our school, "for tech savvy kids to play around". I have no idea how this "gift" ended up in our school, but I was among the few guys who were very excited and volunteered to help with those. It was the time when Pentium III 600 Mhz was considered a GREAT computer as everyone around still had Pentium II 266 MMX or so :-) It was also the time I saw high-end SCSI drives (of course, high-end, they were of the whole 8 Gb or so capacity!), 56k v.90 modems, branded Dell towers and other cool equipment that we literally spent weeks playing with... All displays were CRT, not flat screens as now, and not all computers had CD-ROMs, but there were 3.5" floppy drives in each of those. Getting mouse to work meant inserting a line in autoexec.bat or config.sys... Does this mean I'm getting too old, LOL?

vlad, so how can we have mentioned above 15-22 mags blocked to hold 10 rds in such a fashion, that is EASILY reversible? Or are there basically TWO sets of standards - one for manufacturers that can basically write on a mag package "I hereby swear/affirm that this mag is permanently altered to hold no more than 10 rounds" and just insert a small and easily removable pin and at the same time have discussions about how mags should be modified permanently by end users? And yes, I am from the school of thought that almost any modification can be reversed chemically / mechanically, using proper tools / techniques and after spending countless hours on doing so (practicality aside). And in my view this way we are absolutely NOT talking about dealing with the "other" thing, this is the very same product. So far I have only seen a handful of mags that we _designed_ to hold, let's say, 10 rounds, and they were done in a way that modification is almost impossible with any reasonable means (mostly these were mags that were initially designed with a body that is physically capable of holding certain amount of rounds due to its dimension). And we really deviated from my original question as I have sworn to myself from the very beginning that I would *not* get into a discussion around permanent vs temporary modification, LOL :-) So, 1) I am driving through Newark with a bag of 30rd mag bodies and I am pulled over and searched... 2) I am driving through Newark with a bag of springs from 30rd mags, baseplates and followers and I am pulled over and searched... 3) I am driving through Newark with a bag full of assembled 30rd mags ready to be loaded, I am pulled over and searched... I more or less can guess what will happen in #3. Will anything be different in #1 and #2 and why?

With VZ after the question "How much" one needs to ask another question - "OK, I got how much you want me to think this costs, now tell me, what will be the amount in the bottom line of my monthly bill that I'll have to cash out every month?", LOL I am almost sure it will be far north beyond 50 and probably even closer to 60...

We still haven't determined what to consider a "part" that has the potential of being "treated" as a mag. So far we focused on the mag body as it is probably the most logically and intuitively solid, but in essence Magpul mags have at least 3 more parts that are essential for mag functioning (spring, follower, baseplate). You remove any of these parts and the mag will not work. That said, for the simplicity, if I am found in a possession of a bag of long and scary springs, followers and black baseplates, but not mag bodies, this can also be stretched to having large capacity mags, because the parts I have were initially designed to be in a large capacity mag... And to substantiate this point I can give you an example that I posted here a couple of times - Mecgar limits capacity of some of its mags by using a half-inch or so depressed part of the spring near the baseplate. Putting the discussion of if it is permanent or not aside, we have the situation when the capacity of this particular mag is determined NOT by its body, NOT by its follower or by its baseplate, but ONLY by its spring. You swap the spring with the one without the depressed base and you immediately get a 17rd mag. That said, possession of mag springs initially designed to be used in large cap mags should also be considered a crime :-) The letter itself leaves more questions, than answers, at least with me. Okay, I got that "temporary blocks" are not an acceptable modification, and "permanent alterations" are. But at this point we have no real clue what to consider permanent (at it is proven by multiple lengthy discussions here on this board). There is also a strange white spot regarding permanency of modifications made by a manufacturer of a said mag. The letter only (at least to my understanding) puts the liability on the dealer, who makes some alterations of the mag, and if he fails to make them "permanent", a dealer can be went after for disposing illegal mags. BUT, if you are a gun manufacturer, you can essentially say, that this mag is 10rd, place a piece of paper on it saying so, put one small pin inside and you seem to be good. An excellent example here are factory blocked 10/25 mags for M&P15-22. They have full 25rd body and the only alteration required to revert it to 25rd capacity is a pin that is just inserted inside and not even glued. On average it takes around 20-30 seconds to modify this mag to hold 25 rounds with pretty much bare hands (ok, multitool will be more than enough). Yet those mags are easily sold by any gun stores in NJ, NY, MD and other restrictive states... I guess I just need to stop looking for any logic and give it up, LOL :-)

Went there with my son and wife yesterday, ~2.5 hrs drive from me in NNJ - just some random thoughts / comments below. I've been there in 2014 and this time there is MUCH more people attending there. Just to compare - in 2014 we went either on Sat or Sun, don't remember correctly and we were able to pretty much park the car in a main parking lot right in front of one of the entrances to the Farm Complex. This year it was crowded even on Thursday! Main parking lot was closed, so had to park in an adjacent lot with shuttle connection to the complex. Lots of vehicles with non-PA plates (MD/NY in the top, but NJ and VA were also very much presented in a parking lot with some random plates from OH, CT, IL and others - just what I spotted) I would give it 4.5 out of 5 for the show, it was definitely a very pleasant experience - we spent almost all day there from ~11am until maybe 6pm or so when we were leaving already exhausted. IMO firearms hall was pretty much the same as the last year. I again handled Tavor with thoughts of what I should rob to find another $2000 to buy it, LOL. I was quite disappointed with the fact that some gun manufacturers decided not to participate. There was no Glock booth (I really wanted to handle their new ones with integrated red dot rail or whatever they came up with to make it easier to mount a scope, but no luck this year). No HK booth either. There were SIG, S&W, Taurus, CZ, Beretta, Magpul, Kahr (very knowledgeable rep there, was very happy that Kahr moved out (or planned to move out, not sure) from NY), Savage, Remington, Mossberg booths for sure, many others as well. CZ booth IMO was the biggest disappointment for me - first of all, they didn't have ANY new competition guns they announced recently (Czechmate & others), but they had at least several new Scorpio pistols around. Secondly, two or three guys at the CZ stand could have probably won an award for being "The most unengaged company reps in the whole event". Seriously, when we approached the stand, it was empty and they kept chatting loundly on some personal topics paying literally no attention to us for all the time we've been there. Fine, I don't mind, but it somehow left an awful impression as I was really looking forward to coming to CZ stand... There was also some blonde "celebrity" girl there offering an autograph section and pics with her, but as long as I had no clue at all who she was, I skipped this part :-) I liked Geissele stand very much - they had mechanical dissected examples of pretty much all trigger assemblies they have to offer and a very knowledgeable rep who was willing to explain how each one was different from the others. Lots of exhibitors were outright greedy, LOL. Cabela's reps were luring everyone to sign up for their credit card WITHOUT letting people know upfront what they were signing up for - just saying something like "just fill out this form and get a free baseball hat... -what am I signing up for? -Ehh.. it's our card. -Is it a CREDIT card? -Mmm.. yes... -NO, thanks". I personally very much dislike tricks like that so no kudos to Cabela's this time, very disappointed with such a tactic. Big LOL was from companies trying to sell something AND asking to pay to give their product a try. I'm not sure I remembered companies correctly, but there were several companies offering their laser training systems (cartridges, software to track hits etc.) and most of those companies were readily offering to try their stuff right there, except for one or two, that were SELLING tickets (like $3 for 1 minute or so) to try their laser training kits. I just don't get the point of paying a lot for a booth and then instead of showing their product off charging people for trying it... One thing to mention is that there is a lot to offer to kids. There is a separate section sponsored by NRA where kids (and not only kids) could have tried airsoft replicas of AR, shotguns and various handguns shooting at small steel targets and even engaging in a "3gun like experience" with airsoft guns (with a timer!). BTW, they didn't charge a penny for this unlike some other companies I mentioned above. Huuuge hunting- and fishing-related expo. Lots of taxidermists, travel agencies with destinations ranging from Maine and Virginia, to Alaska, Argentina and South Africa. Big aquarium with live demo of different baits sponsored by Bass Pro. Hunting calls, bbq stations, all kinds of meat processing equipments (even with butchery classes!). Great section on various vehicles, ATVs & RVs. I definitely want to get RV one day, LOL, maybe 30 years later. There was a section with boats as well, but we were too tired already to check it out in details. Separate big section on archery - very active on selling / buying stuff, but as I don't do any archery, I can't comment on if prices were adequate. Bottom line - we liked it a lot, my son had a very good time and this was completely worth a day off I had to take. And as a final thought - we had a very good dinner at Appalachian Brewing Co @ 50 N. Cameron St. Harrisburg, PA, http://abcbrew.com/ after the show - I am very fond of GOOD burgers and they pleasantly surprised me for sure - it's probably <10 mins drive from the show complex. I've chosen it only based on Google rating of the place (3.8/5 based on almost 100 reviews) and it didn't disappoint me. *** Edited: and to comment on time required - just simple math. I think they announced that they have ~1100 companies presenting something. If you are even set to spending mere 10 seconds on every booth (barely enough to acknowledge what it is, read the sign and pass by), you'll need more than 3 hours just to do so! :-) If you increase the time to 20 seconds per each booth, you'll need 6 hours to go through all of them! So you clearly need to set priorities before going there...

I kind of see the "rationale" of such a logic (and I understand why many people prefer blocked mags with permanently attached baseplate - because this way you can't easily disassemble it into a mag body). But then I immediately have another consideration - if in the eyes of a state having a bag full of 30rd mag bodies is equal to having fully-functional mags, then what about the definition of a magazine? I mean, why having mag body is considered a mag if it does not function? My Orbit chewing gum can is capable of holding probably 50 9mm rounds and much more 22lrs. It does not work&feed rounds, but neither does the mag body. And another point - if we assume that I trash mag bodies right in front of the store, but take springs, followers and baseplates - stretching this logic I might be also considered having a restricted mag, as I have SOME PARTS that were initially designed to be used for a large capacity mag and I have not modified them in any way, just disassembled the mag...

I don't really know what Verizon Wireless is reducing, but my Verizon Residential bill has grown at least 20% over last years, it has NEVER EVER stated all fees upfront (e.g. when I first signed up for it, I have chosen a plan that was stated as "$29.99 + mandatory fees". Ya know how much I paid then? $42!!, almost 30% more than the stated price. And the fact that kills me most - for almost 60 bucks or so I get residential internet that is 10 or more times WORSE (slower, with higher ping etc.) than I was getting in an essentially a "third-world country" (at least as it is usually perceived from the technological point of view) called Russia where I've been paying $15 or so a month for true 100Mbit internet access (I guess even FiOS does not have such a speed). So, sorry for saying this, f**k VZ (yes, there is one thing that almost every person from Europe who moves to the US notices immediately - telecom prices here are ridiculously f**g outrageous with quality and speed of services that were easily available in major European metro areas 10+ years ago for a fraction of price)

That's a great price! I wish Steve had them on hand the last time I went to pick up another handgun from him Or, to say optimistically, I hope he will have those when I find some money to buy another gun

vlad, and what will be your interpretation of the case I mentioned in the beginning according to the law? (having mag body, mag follower and spring, but not baseplate and an insert)? I have already mentioned, that my interpretation exactly for this definition in the law is that it does NOT violate anything, as you basically has several pieces that can't be assembled together into a "magazine capable of feeding..." without extra parts (that you do not have readily available). >>>in the eyes of NJ a mag that simply has the potential to be a large capacity mag then it is still a large capacity mag What is "has the potential"? A chunk of raw plastic or whatever material is used by a 3d printer probably "has a potential" to be a large cap mag (at least in my interpretation)

Actually, quite a simple explanation - most of those who sell blocked AR mags also completely epoxy a baseplate to a mag body as it is believed (and I have absolutely no appetite to discuss or challenge this) that this is one of the few acceptable ways to make sure the mag is not reversible and thus "permanently" modified. Unfortunately it makes those mags impossible to open and clean inside. I shoot USPSA and I know how at least pistol mags can look after a long match outdoors in a bad weather. So it is basically a full stop here - I tried to buy one blocked mag from one of the vendors and in addition to the fact that it holds 14 rounds, not 15 ("to make sure it is 100% legal"), it was sealed / locked / glued probably better than my local bank's vault. A couple of shooting sessions outdoor and this mag is pretty much done and I can't do anything with it. Yes, this is the biggest point now. I agree that with 15rd hexmags easily available for this price the whole situation bears little practical meaning. At the same time, there are still mags that are not that common as AR ones that in theory can be acquired the same way. I would also remind that if I'm not mistaken, legality of Hexmags with their way of limiting the capacity to 15 rounds just by extending the bottom part of the follower has also been scrutinized heavily here... :-) That was actually the reason why I mentioned placing follower, spring and body of the mag in one bag :-) The theoretical idea is that you can rivet the mag body with follower already in place. It is indeed negates my "cleaning" point at least a little, as you will not be able to remove the follower, but you will still have access from both sides of the mag body. Noted, thanks Pay cash, toss receipts and packaging, disassemble mags and give baseplates and inserts as a "gift" to your cousin thus making them leave your possession (or sell them as parts for $1 each). *** In the end of the day, I can really think of very few scenarios concerning particular AR mags (unless you somehow get a full box of them for free after some event in Nevada) that make the whole idea practical and economically reasonable, but I'm more after the reasoning part here. It's essentially good to know that there might be some stupid, yet still legal solutions to the problem apart from widely accepted and convenient ones