davidwiz

Verio sucks. They are on so many public and private blacklists for hosting spammers that they'll never get off. They only hurt their legitmate customers by hosting spammers. Matt Burkett's BurkettOnline is a great web host. I've used them to host my Section's web site, and Matt was very helpful in setting it up and running it. Very reasonable rates too. -David

It's not the wait I hate. It's when the 'smith %#$@ lies to you. They've say, "It will be ready in X months." X months come and go and still no gun. "I've been working on it," they say, "check back next month." Next month, still no gun. Then you find out that your gun and parts are still pieces in the same box that you gave him and he's been working on something else. All I ask for is a little honesty. If you have to estimate, then be conservative in your estimate. Forunately, I've found a good shop in EGW that they take care of you and don't BS you about anything. -David

2 more good bbl makers are Nowlin and Storm Lake. The later makes private-label bbls for some of the bigger custom gunsmiths. -David

Not to mention that PayPal is *not* an escrow service. If you pay for something w/ PayPal and the item doesn't arrive, or there is a problem, etc. PayPal will still remit your money to the seller. All PayPal does is allow a seller to do is accept various forms of payments. 2nd and 3rd hand, I've heard of people having trouble reversing charges on their credit card that was used to buy something via PayPal. -David

Online, the best place to buy any type of footware, including the GSG9 boots, is from Zappos They will 110% match the price of any competitor, and usually offer free shipping. So, if you want the GSG9 boots, wait until they go on sale at Botach, then order them from Zappos at the Botach price! Whatever you do, stay far, far away from Botach. They have horrendous customer service and unethical (borderline illegal) business practices. About a year ago, I ordered a pair of Royal Robbins 5.11 pants from Botach. According to Botach's online store (run through Yahoo), the pants were in stock and would be shipped out the next day. I emailed their customer service dept to get a UPS tracking number. After emailing them 3 different times for a week and a half, I finally get a response that, "Sorry, the pants are out of stock, we don't know when we'll get more in." Meanwhile, Botach took the liberty of charging my credit card in full, knowing full well that the item was not in stock. I was not a happy camper. Luckily, I was able to cancel the order and get Botach to reverse the charges. I have personally talked/emailed with several other people who have had the same thing happen with Botach (items not in stock when they were told otherwise, credit cards charged for items not in stock, no response from customer service for weeks, etc.) -David

I ordered a model McLaren Grand Prix car from a retailer. Car was $60. What I HATE is that this store ships based on the amount of the product, not weight/dimension. The model is maybe 8" long and weights about 10ozs, yet I was charged $10 to ship it via US mail. When the package arrived, the metered postage on the box said "$1.10". I bitched to the company and told them I was never ordering from them again.

$60 is full-boat retail. You can find them for around $35 - $45 from any number of authorized retailers. Goto their web site at 5.11Tactical.com and click on "find a dealer". Stay away from Botach. The Wilderness are very friendly folks and have good prices.

In my 5" standard-frame, bushing bbl .40 SV, I have a 5oz Wilson tungsten guide rod w/ 16lb spring and buff. Over 20k rounds later, still going strong.

Curious if anyone has tried McCormick's new AR trigger group? It's a 1pc drop in design and costs $185 McCormick AR trigger IIRC, JP was/is going to introduce a similar set-up, being 1pc and pretty-much drop in. JP's existing trigger & hammer is similarly priced to CMC's, but seems to require more skill to install. On another note, does anyone know if all post-ban (after 1994) Colt AR lowers have the sear block? I have a 6724 Match Target lower. TIA, David

FWIW, I have an AR built by EGW. I am using a Colt 6724 lower receiver with an upper that George put together. Flat top upper with front sight tower, 20" Wilson bbl (not Wilson Combat), EGW free float aluminum handguard, EGW E2 compensator, trigger job, and for optical sight, I have a 3.5x35 Trijicon TA-11 ACOG (donut reticle). Picture of my rifle http://www.uspsa-ma.org/images/AR_Rifle5.jpg -David