BigFreddie

And some of those slots even accept 11Ms...

Just a word of advice - take the spousal unit and have her attempt to manipulate any semi-auto you are thinking about. I found out the hard way that my wife can't operate the HK I bought "for her"... And you can't go wrong with a basic Glock (17 or 19) in 9mm. Very good pistol that you could likely get for $400 as a military member. I would still suggest finding a local range that rents guns to see if you will like it though.

I don't think they really need a specific address for the trust - it is definitely based on a specific state. The actual ATF paperwork is 100% physical address - and they want to know everytime you move...

Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force! You are about to embark upon a great crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers in arms on other fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world. Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle hardened, he will fight savagely. But this is the year 1944! Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle, man to man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our home fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to victory! I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory! Good Luck! And let us all beseech the blessings of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower

A chopped FSB will be solid, cheaper and fit just fine under any of the rails out there. I'd also look at the Troy/VTAC rails, the Centurian Arms line, the Daniel Defense MFR as they are all very nice and some of the lightest ones out there. Don't forget to look at how the rail attaches - if you get one that goes right on the barrel nut you can remove a few parts to cut down the overall weight. Look at DSG Arms as they give a good military discount on all their stuff along with Brownell's.

I would probably go with new synthetic furniture. The old school, used wood look would be great but the 90 degree gas block would look out of place... Do you plan on taking the comp off? I can't remember if these barrels are threaded underneath them or not...

Every company has a different piston standard. If you break it you'll need that company to be around to support it. Some of the bigger companies will be around for a long time but some of the smaller ones won't. Unless you are running something with a short barrel, in the sub-14.5 inch arena or using a suppressor a lot, I don't see the benefits of a piston system. I have heard of issues with carrier tilt and weird wear on the receiver extension/buffer tube. I have heard arguments, but no proof that piston guns are less accurate than DI versions. No one can argue that pistons are much cleaner and cooler running... I have a quality AR I shot for around 1600 to 1800 rounds without cleaning, just lubing with Slip 2000. I had no issues with it at all. The thing was filthy but ran because I lubed it, used quality magazines and ammo. Unless you are in the two specific scenarios I mentioned earlier, I think the piston isn't worth it.

I've got multiple ARs and both sizes of the SCAR. My bottom line is if you want a .308 battle rifle get the SCAR17. If you want a 5.56 evil black rifle get an AR. Don't get me wrong, the SCAR 16 is a great gun but it isn't so much better than an AR to be worth the $2300-$2500 you'll pay for it. To me, the big benefits are the fact it is lightweight, uses AR mags (for the most part), runs any ammo I've tried (55 gr Wolf to 5.56 pressure XM193), and has a folding stock. Negatives - SCAR specific accessories are a bit spendy, the trigger isn't great (back to expensive accessories), the bolt handle is just waiting for your thumb/hand to get in the way and parts availability is defnitely less than the AR series. I really like my SCAR but haven't beat it up enough yet to really determine how reliable it is but it is showing above average accuracy. To me... If you don't have an AR, get an AR but spend some money to get a quality one (Colt, BCM, DD, KAC, Noveske). If you've got the AR bases covered buy a SCAR. If you are going to jump into the .308/7.62 battle rifle world, it should be a SCAR 17. I've owned almost every major 7.62 battle rifle over the years (no 7.62 Galil) and it is the most ergonomic and lightest recoiling 7.62 I've found. The new breed of 7.62s like the KAC ECs and HK MR762 are great but start around $4000 while the SCAR 17 can be found for around $2700-$3000 most days (the mags are a different beast). Bf

http://youtu.be/PWo-qd1plxg This should end the debate on AK versus M-16.

Exactly. Crew got hammered after they returned from the mission. The DO yelled at everyone in the squadron before the crew in question even got back from the mission.

I've seen this multiple times. 18 hours into a day after being alerted out of bravo alert at midnight - crossing the pond at night with storms and severe turbulence. The crew was dog tired and the AC called. The squadron leadership called him on it to explain himself why he couldn't hack a 24 hour day after being in bravo. No real repercussions to the AC or crew. Second was similar, flying on the east coast. Alerted late, had mx issues, flew an hour to another location, pounded the ramp for a bit and everyone was dead tired. An evaluator was giving an OME and the AC-to-be miscalculated the ORM worksheet - he ended up with a total in the 70s or 80s. They called TACC who asked if they would like to crew rest or continue and the crew opted to crew rest. TACC entered it into their mission detail as the crew calling safety of flight. Crew called home and told the on call ADO what the story was. By the next morning everything was rolling downhill. AC-to-be was Q3'd, the evaluator was de-certified as an EP and the DO (who was a huge dude) berated the entire squadron making every single young pilot in the squadron determined to never call safety of flight for fear of their life and career. After being the subject of a Class A mishap investigation I don't mess with crew rest or flying fatigued... BF

I filed about 3 weeks ago and received my refund about a week ago. My response is due mid-May. I'm thinking DTS orders, paid voucher and a trip report should work.

Has anyone received the "prove you were in a combat zone" letter from the IRS? It states "Please include a copy of your military orders showing your deployment dates for the combat zone or contingency operation." Do you think the DTS orders along with a paid travel voucher will be enough proof for the IRS?

Do you guys realize the NGA app for the iPad is available on the NGA website? Its been there for at least a few weeks - the fun part is getting it from the NGA site to your home computer - along with the monster chart files...

True. But you can make it work with a little effort. Plus it is like investing in fun for your retirement!

I got into the NFA trust thing when it started to get popular - probably 2006ish. At the time the ATF did not subject the trusts to much scrutiny and along with an increased number of examiners the process was taking 60-90 days. I decided to use a trust because the local LEO folks did not want to sign off on the ATF forms - by using a trust or LLC you can skip that portion of the process. At the time everyone was having great success with Quicken WillMaker for trusts. I went that route because the software was $30 or so. Since then I have gone back and had a real live lawyer redo my trust - the folks at Guntrustlawyer.com were very quick to help but the cost was about $700 (depends on the state). Gun Trust Lawyer did a great job and I feel much better with a professionally prepared legal document built specifically for build NFA items. It also has information to buy additional NFA items and how to properly add them to the trust. If you have the money and are serious about NFA toys I highly, highly recommend a lawyer draw up your trust. As for PCSing... Look at your career field and the locations you are likely to be stationed. Chances are there is a possiblity that you will get stationed where you can't have your NFA items. Now what? Can you live in an adjacent state with better laws? Can you leave them at a parent/friend/life partner's house in an NFA friendly state? Me - I'm now in a non-NFA item state. Lucky for me my Dad has a close friend in a neighboring state who I added to my trust - he now holds all my NFA items. And you must tell the ATF when you move your items across state lines - so each PCS means finding a storage location before moving the items or leaving them behind to move later. Also factor in paperwork time (I had my last one returned once and then approved - took about 3 weeks in total). I have questioned my desire to have NFA items due to the pain of the entire process. An ideal situation would be to live in a location where all NFA items are legal, the local chief LEO will sign off on ATF forms, and I never need to move. In this situation I would complete the ATF paperwork as an individual not as a Trust or LLC. Ask any specific questions you have... BF

As to safes... I've got one that is 1200 pounds. It makes me $600ish on each DITY move I've done. All you need is a rented pallet jack and a couple pieces of PVC pipe. Get a couple friends - your real buddies typically will help you move a safe if you let them shoot your cool toys! Safes aren't that hard to move - just think like the Egyptians did when they built the pyramids. Granted, mine stays in the garage but if you require it in the house you better opt for multiple smaller safes. And the rule of safes is to decide on the model you want and then buy at least the next bigger one! ForgotPassword - no full autos but other NFAs. What do you want to know? I've gone the trust route with my stuff but continual PCS moves coupled with NFA rules gets tiresome...

From the EFB conference in early October the NGA guys (and there are only 2 working this project from what I understood) are completely focused on the iOS app now. If the AF decides not to go with the iPad then they will quickly try to shift to whatever OS the chosen platform uses. There were some other companies with really great apps already developed. Some were fairly cheap while others were very expensive per user. I like the ARINC setup because they would bring small servers wherever the AF wanted and completely circumvent the comm folks from being involved. Their app was very user friendly as well. Jepp had a great product as well and the best solution would be to have the NGA app and a Jepp app to have complete access to all the pubs and other required items. Now if you could get a GDSSII interface for all the documents that seem to be hidden behind that barrier...

To bad Microsoft is smart enough to keep track of purchases - you can only get one copy - either for Mac or PC but not both...

I know for years folks were buying big trailers and using them for moves and were legally able to claim the weight of the trailer itself. Once they got to the final destination they sold off the trailer and profited on the move. You could use or buy any trailer you wanted but now they are pretty specific on size and type to be reimbursed for. Another good deal gone. I am in this process as well. The DITY/PPM is pretty easy to do with the online system - getting into the right program was the hardest part. I estimated 4000 pounds and they said $2200 or around $.55 a pound. I believe there is also a factor in how far you are moving as well - Dover to Scott isn't that far so the total might be smaller in my case.

Hell, our base spends close to $50k a year on printing safety supplements and checklist changes... There is a lot of savings out there using these devices. My 3500 page T.O. has to be expensive to print. I think we totaled the weight of the pubs on a C-5 at somewhere in the 175 to 200 pound range and that is not counting the 52 volumes (3" binders) of maintenance T.O.s we carry as well.

I have shot in a few. It really doesn't matter what you use as long as you are comfortable and proficient with it. I remember using a stock AR and beating a bunch of old guys with really tricked out ARs because I could move faster and had better eyesight. I honestly would just go for it and see how it turns out - most 3 gun clubs and matches are filled with friendly people who will help you out as much as they can. Just practice safe gun handling skills and you'll be welcome at 99% of the matches out there! This was my project over the last 8 months or so... Original MAK-90 my dad gave me when I was 16 or 17. Nasty thumbhole stock, unthreaded barrel, no way to mount the all critical bayonet... After months of searching I found a folding spike bayonet front sight block. Then I needed American wood to get my 922r count up to par - but no one had a set with the Chinese style drop to the stock nor a place for the bayonet to rest on the lower handguard. Ironwood Designs released their Chinese T56 stock set a few months ago and then later added the bayonet cut. A little work with a file and 3 coats of Bullseye Amber shellac and there you have it...

Who has a current AMC code?

I'll just leave this here... NSFW

New Gen Welsh video on YouTube... http://www.youtube.c...bed/hFBpxB5zgnY Can we vote for who the next CSAF is???