ptrthgr8

Added to my list! I'll be on the lookout for them this weekend! I forgot about the Pumpking. That is indeed another good one. Thanks, gents. ~ Greg ~

That Mach 1 is most excellent. My father had nearly the same car, only his was yellow, when I was born... and then he sold it for some reason. A shame, too. That would have been an excellent hand-me-down. Cheers, ~ Greg ~

I have no direct experience with the .338 Lapua, other than a couple of years ago I was toying with the idea of getting something chambered up for either that round or the .300 WM. But then I started looking at all the costs involved, after already having gotten into .50 BMG, and I ended up moving on to the next "gee I'd like to have X" moment. If I were more of a hardcore long range match shooter I might consider it, but even then there are still some pretty amazing things you can do with the .50 BMG loads at 1000 yards when needed. The .50 BMG might not be as accurate as the .338 Lapua, but its effective range is a lot greater (.338 Lapua can kill a deer out to 1800 yards, while the .50 BMG can reach out to 3300 yards to do the same thing) and... well... there's just something really super cool about having a .50 BMG rifle. .50 Browning MFing MG, man! Since I know I'm not interested in long range precision competition, I think I would only get into .338 Lapua if I had more money than sense and had nothing better to spend it on. Cheers, ~ Greg ~

tl;dr: Hey, guys. Quit bitching about our shitty tires. K? Thanks. Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk

To me, it seems like the same deal with adopting 9x19mm as the standard sidearm cartridge. Yes, the gun can hold more ammo in the mag and the warrior can carry more rounds on them in combat, all because of the smaller size compared to previous service cartridges, but then you get into the issue of diminished marksmanship - it's a lot easier to just keep pulling the trigger when you know there are plenty of more rounds to fire. Plus, I think the 5.56 NATO was adopted partially as a result of typical engagement ranges dropping considerably in WW2 with all the house to house fighting in the urban areas. I seem to recall reading in more than one place that the 5.56 NATO cartridge was intended for engagements of no more than 300 yards. Or somewhere around there anyhow - the point being that it was assumed that the days of the 1000 yard engagements were over so there was far less of a need for larger/more powerful service cartridges... outside of sniper applications, of course, which is also why most sniper platforms don't even use something as small/limited as the 5.56 NATO. But the fighting in the desert has really demonstrated the limitations of the 5.56 NATO round. I'm sure most warriors would gladly take something in 7.62 NATO (or even .300 BLK) if it was made widely available to them. The 62gr. M855/SS109 loading gave the 5.56 NATO some addition reach/oomph, but it still wouldn't be my first choice in a service cartridge if given other (better) options. Cheers, ~ Greg ~

Yeah, I've seen that. But it's still an issue with the inherently less crisp trigger linkage of the bullpup design. I'm sure it's better than the stock trigger pack... but it's not the same as their AR triggers. The Tavor is still a sweet rifle, of course. I have no plans to get rid of mine any time soon. Cheers, Greg Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk

I've heard a lot of really good things about Hopslam - I've got some friends who really got apeshit over the stuff. I've never been a fan of IPAs in general, though... but I do like Summit's Saga every now and then. Is Hopslam anything like that one? Or is it over the top on the bitter hopishness?

You can tell it's September already: the various pumpkin beers and Oktoberfest brews have been out for a while and it's only a matter of time before the other winter/holiday beers start making their appearance. So, what are some of y'alls favorite fall/winter/holiday brews? My number one all time favorite is the Maritime Pacific Jolly Roger Christmas Ale... it's not Christmas without it! For the pumpkiny stuff, I'm also a big fan of the Southern Tier Warlock: I've recently been enjoying six packs of Alaskan Pumpkin Ale and Leinenkugel's Oktoberfest. Mmm.... pumpkin and Märzen! What are some others I should be on the lookout for? Cheers, ~ Greg ~

I rarely speak in absolutes... we don't take most prisoners. LOL

The AUG series is definitely rather interesting... I almost got one of those a while back, but just couldn't get beyond the terrible trigger pull that really defined these bullpup designs for so long. I finally got my first (and currently only) bullpup when IWI released the Tavor here in the US. It still has some trigger pull issues (will never be as clean/crisp as a Geiselle two stage trigger in an AR), but it's considerably better than previous designs and ergonomically it feel like the Israelis designed this thing for be specifically. Everything about it is perfect. But I do agree with Ray that the 5.56 NATO round isn't all that when it comes to longer ranges... and we have a lot of wide open flat space here in North Dakota. Something with more oomph is needed when you really need to reach out a ways: And when anything less than a belt-fed simply won't do... you have to break out the belt-fed. Because belt-fed! Cheers, ~ Greg ~

How James Bondy! Excellent! LOL Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk

That's definitely an interesting video - I hadn't seen that Mercedes concept before. But if that didn't work out, I suppose they could always put doors on the cars. I bet the F1 engineers would *love* that. Cheers, Greg Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk

Hmm... perhaps? But if driver extraction was so difficult from an enclosed cockpit, why are most racing series using cars with enclosed cockpits? I would imagine a closed cockpit F1 car would essentially be like an open wheeled LMP or Group C car perhaps? I suppose it's generally easier to remove a driver from an open cockpit, but I would also suppose that I most situations an enclosed cockpit would make the drivers safer in general. Cheers, Greg Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk

What are the disadvantages of a closed cockpit design? I personally like the looks of that Ferrari concept - looks pretty damned slick. I don't understand what disadvantage there would be, other than diverging from the tradition of the open cockpit. I would think the closed cockpit design would be more aerodynamic and certainly safer. And it doesn't appear that drivers' visibility would be any worse than it already is (helmets themselves reduce visibility in general), so in don't understand what Bernie is going on about. Cheers, Greg Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk

Ermagerd! I can't believe I missed seeing those listed up there... and now they're all gone. Well, fiddlesticks. The 898 and Lusis have gone back and forth as my favorite Partagas, though I think if I had to chose one over the other I'd have to go with the 898s. The D4 and Shorts are close right behind. I've liked the P2s when you get good ones... just seems like they've been harder to come across compared to the others. I did send an email Di's way for two boxes of those P2s, so while I wasn't quick enough to snag more 898s, perhaps I at least was quick enough to get the P2s. Cheers, ~ Greg ~