jm951

There was a real problem a number of years back with road rage bullies in the town I lived in. I had just been to the gun store to pick up a rifle being repaired and had rifle and some extra ammo in the back seat. Pulled over into a parking lot when the idiot attempted to ram me. He pulled in wanting to fight, so I decided to end the issue and pulled the only thing handy, a 3006 rifle. Fortunately, the other guy left when he saw me racking the bolt.

Those who hope to ban firearms are nothing but utopian useful idiots for those who want to exert power over the rest of us. I am not one of the sheeple, I would rather be responsible for my own choices. Being responsible, I take precautions against adverse outcomes (risk management), hence I own firearms. Some are for competition, some hunting, some purely personal risk management. So if the liberals can live in a high crime area and not need a gun, well good on them. The postman is one other person who gets protection in the hood. He's the guy who brings in the welfare checks. Think I'm kidding, my dad carried mail for nearly 30 years, some of it in very bad hoods where the cops wouldn't venture. I was attacked in supposedly a good area. It doesn't matter where you live, you can be a victim at any time, like in a shopping mall or college classroom, or high school classroom. Better to be prepared than get prepared for burial. Your choice. That doesn't make me fearful, it makes me cognizant of potential problems and being prepared to deal with them.

To set some background here- the wife and I are just short of 50, her job doesn't provide any health benefits. I got downsized out, COBRA is ruinously expensive. The industry I was in is downsizing due to manufacturing moving offshore. To stay solvent, I have to take some other job, competing with younger, potentially less expensive employees, or start my own business. I've chosen to start my own to avoid potentially being downsized again in a couple years, but health care ins is outrageously expensive. I'm still in my first year, so profit isn't in the cards for some time. My wife had some health issues that required CAT scans, blood work, doc visits, etc. While in the waiting rooms of these places, I've noticed a number of people who didn't speak english so well or at all. A number of things lead me to believe they aren't insured (like me) and also, they aren't legal residents. Bear with me here, why should my tax dollars go to support free care for illegals, when I now have a huge medical bill expense that will drag on my slim cash flow for the foreseeable future? Not to divert the issue to illegals, but rather to highlight where some of the costs in the system are. Fully half of the people in these waiting rooms fit the "profile" of an illegal. I'd like to know if they have the same financial obligations on their future income that I do. Next on the cost front, how about reforming the malpractice lawsuit situation? There is a reason many hospitals no longer have emergency rooms and in my state, no OB services outside of major population centers. (thank you John Edwards et al). Let's face it, the medical center does have to be run like a business, if you don't have cash flow, you can't pay employees, pay for facilities, pay for supplies, etc. If a substantial number of your "customers" don't pay, won't pay, and/or sue you, what do you think the costs of the paying customer will be? I really don't like the idea of gvt taking over the system. Maybe we should look at some of the factors influencing the actual cost of services before letting fed god get involved.

Workers of the world Unite!! Down with the bourgeois!!! Long live the Proletariat!!! Tax the rich, feed the poor, till there are no rich no more. I'd love to change the world.... Ten Years After

My daily is a truck and it's used as a work truck. There are currently no hybrid options out there that are economically viable for my purpose. There are lots of guys like me, independent contractors, who have to have a truck to work out of. It's hard to put a load of lumber, concrete and tools in a Honda. I'd like to see some diesel trucks that weren't so expensive. Here's something I've observed on weekends. When I'm calling soccer matches, most of the parents will pull up in some type of SUV and there seems to be some competition as to who has the bigger vehicle. There is no reason to have something the size of a Ford Expedition to haul around 2 kids and get groceries. If people would just use some common sense about what vehicle they really need v just want, the operating costs would go down, along with overall fuel consumption. It wouldn't surprise me to hear off in the future an economist doing a study about how the truck/SUV exemption from CAFE standards caused the huge increase in fuel consumption in this country.

------- What's the cavity made of on an industrial CO2 laser? Is the gas circulated for cooling or anything? There are two main types of CO2 industrial lasers- Slow Flow- Gas is moved through the resonator cavity mostly by convection currents with some by adding gas. Gas usually flows axially, ie straight through the cavity. Power output is somewhat limited on these but it is very stable, especially at the low end of the range- less than 20watts. Fast Flow- Gas is mechanically circulated through the cavity. The mechanical means are usually either a roots type of blower or a turbine. Power output can be very high, on the order of 20kwatts. Most industrial cavities are also a folded design to decrease the size of the cabinet needed. They also require a cooling jacket around the cavity. The coolant I've seen in use mainly is DowTherm, basically a jazzed up version of antifreeze. Here's an interesting factoid, the main gas in a CO2 laser is Helium, with Nitrogen second and CO2 the least. There's tons of stuff out there on beam mode, types of exciters, what can/can't be cut with CO2 lasers. (PVC being a huge no/no as it emits cyanide gas as a byproduct.) The lasers we used were in the 2kwatt range and could cut 1/2 steel with no problems. For more info- here's an interesting site- http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/laserco2.htm#co2typ0

8/10 2 correct guesses

Lasers- 7/10 7/10 no guesses, just a couple duhhmb moments. I used to operate and maintain CO2 industrial lasers, they can do some very cool stuff. The questions related to those lasers were easy, the others based on actions of the atoms in the resonator cavity, weeellll.. not so good.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA.. Right from the mouths of the party faithful... he does not even register on their screens man... I hear a whole lot of people here with that same response... so much for all the FAKE libertarians... hell I bet they dont even know what the platforms are of the libertarian party.. yet I bet they have never voted for anyone but a good right wing republican..... Ok bucko- Allen Root is currently the front runner for the Libs followed by Jingozian and Imperato. There are a number of others, but so far, these are the only ones that are qualified. In my state, Mungo (the "Poodle") is running for guv. He won't make it because of the recent gerrymandering along the I85 corridor between Charlotte and Raleigh that concentrated DNC members into blocks that guaranteed that Mel Watts idiot a seat. Want to know what the libertarians "stand for"- http://www.lp.org/issues/platform_all.shtml I really like the idea of smaller gvt, lower taxes and greater personal freedom- but all of those come with greater personal responsibility. (Darn close to basic conservative ideals except for the drugs part of the lib platform) As for "being" a libertarian, I never said I was a lib party member, just that I have libertarian/conservative ideals that I base my voting patterns on. As for all repubs being "right wing", get a grip, nearly the entire current field of presidential wannabes is "center" or "left of center". You don't know me, you don't live in NC, your comments are not much more than a$$hat static. Nothing significant or thoughtful to add other than rank hubris.

I'm partial to biodiesel until fuel cells become economically viable. The conversion on a conventional diesel can by done by the average guy who is somewhat acquainted with a set of wrenches. Until those days come, keep your tires slightly overinflated, keep the front end properly aligned, change the airfilter regularly, keep good plugs and wires on, and drive thinking of how often you can coast. Try to combine trips whenever possible.

Look for a no sodium salt. IIRC, they have a fairly high amount in there. It can also be distilled from urine. Back in the day, we used to be able to buy reagent grade stuff with no questions asked. My how times have been a'changin.

7 outta 10 some parts of chemistry class were rather interesting

How do you know a cylinder is "blown"? Leak down test? compression test? Oil/water mixing? Diagnose the problem properly first, then start thinking of a course of action. If you have the last scenario, you might have pretty much toasted the engine. Driving around with that will ruin the bearings in short order, necessitating a rebuild or replacement of the engine. If that is the case, there are cars out there in the $2-3k range that are in decent mechanical condition. You'll just have to shop around.

This time around there are virtually no good choices on either side. The one I like best is Tancredo, but he's got a snowball's chance in a stove of winning. Next would be Thompson. Nobody on the DNC side. I could be pursuaded to vote for Lieberman, but the DNC would never run him.

I see you still have the Christmas tree.

I have better sense than to be a member of the DNC. If you must know, my leanings are strongly libertarian/conservative, that pretty much rules out my support for about any DNC candidate.

Hey, I live in NC and there is no way in h$ll I'd vote for that clown. He made his nickels by suing doctors on very questionable malpractice cases. He's a bigtime phony.

Valentine1- sorta like Porsche, there is no substitute. Aside from that glib, but true, answer. The radar detector isn't a magic shield to keep you from getting a ticket. You still have to drive carefully and stay alert. If there's no other traffic around you, don't go much more than 5 over. Even with a V1, laser or instant on will nail you. Drive smart and let somebody else get to the trap first so your radar detector of choice has a chance. One last word, VASCAR has no defense. For those who don't know what it is, it's the old time and distance equation applied to speed traps. John Law will have an observer sitting in an unobtrusive location armed with a stopwatch and with a view of two reference points. All he has to do is time you, a computer spits out the speed, and then he radios ahead. Sometimes there are marks on the road to tip you off that it's a trap area. When you see a horizontal line all the way across the road and another one shortly thereafter, it's a trap area. Best defense, drive carefully and sanely.

I used to hand load for accuracy just for grins. I also neck sized only each time. The key to avoiding problems there is to fireform the brass and check case length each loading. It's pretty time consuming, but can be quite rewarding. I agree, it's waaay overkill on most hunting ammo that will be used in a gun that is best a 2moa proposition. Even so, handloading can make it more economical for an average shooter to practice more. With the cost of a box of 3006 exceeding $20, that works out to over a $1/shot. Handloading can easily get that down into the $.3-.4 range. It isn't for everybody, but I enjoy taking the time to make good ammo.

Lateral runout and projectile/neck concentricity play a pretty big part in ammo consistency. To check it, you will need a dial indicator and something to hold the finished round in. The problem in loading accuracy rounds for an auto is that the chambers have fairly loose tolerances. With a bolt gun, you simply fireform and neck size only. Other factors- flash hole size and position, and brass uniformity. Check that all flash holes are the same size, use jet drill to do that. Keep the brass all of the same lot together. Some of this won't matter with autos, but will really help with bolt guns/single shots.

One item to look for in ammo shot through a semi, and this would take some experiementation. Check the lateral runnout on your ammo prior to loading a 20 rd mag, record the runnout on each round. Shoot 15 rounds, check the runnout on the remaining 5. It may be that the recoil impulse is affecting the seating of the bullet. If so, it's easily corrected by changing setting of the seating dies. One other variable to check, look at how your operating rod functions and check to see if it binds any as the rifle heats up. It would take some fiddling but there may be some issues with the gas cylinder as the weapon heats up that would affect accuracy. Cryo treating is open for debate, some swear by it, some hate it. The main advantage I can see is that it "might" extend barrel life a bit.

One other thing to consider, as the rifle heats up, it's going to change how the receiver seats into the stock. Have you had the receiver glass bedded? Past that, I'm thinking barrel heating/operator error.

I had an FNFAL, built on an early Enterprise receiver using an inch pattern L1A1 kit. With irons at 100, a 3.5 inch group was the norm with decent ammo. A scope mount from DSA allowed me to tighten that back up to about 2" at best. It was a great rifle and I had several 30rd Bren mags for it. Wish now that I hadn't sold it.

Yup, all the way up to the 19th century, cavalry was used as shock troops. It took the massed musketry of the British squares at Waterloo to drive home the point that there are some things a horse just won't do. The French cavalry was only able to gallop around the perimeter of the squares and couldn't be forced to crash into them. Meanwhile, the infantry was having a grand time picking them off.

MS13 killed two guys last night in the Greensboro/High Point area. I'll bet they weren't using legally acquired firearms, nor are they legal residents.