郵便番号検索

年賀状を出すために郵便番号を調べることがあり、検索サイトを探して日本郵便のページに辿り着いた。後で使うかもしれないからリンクを保存。

HK G3/91 Resources

Lately I've been consumed with the Heckler & Koch G3/91, and have read up extensively on it. Here are some of the fruits of my labor:

Parts Stores:

• Numrich - the best for general parts
• RTG - the cheapest source for mags, surplus parts, and some new parts
• HKParts - expensive, has the MagPul stock, rear sight adjustment tool, and MSG-90 buffer
• HKSpecialist - expensive, has the vented handguard, bipod, PSG-1 parts
• PTR - manufactures HK-91 clones on HK tooling from Portugal, and they also sell some parts
• HKPartsOnline (not very useful)
• Arizona Response Systems - HK refinishing and parts (no pictures)
• Hi-Vel (parts list, no pictures)
• POF-USA - manufactures some parts on HK tooling, like PTR, but their website is slightly broken
• Copes Distributing - has a good price on the Hensoldt scope with mount

Build Information:

• HK-91 disassembly/reassembly
• G3 build using Century Arms receiver
• G3 trigger disassembly

Mod Information:

• Williams' custom set trigger
• 'Smiths for G3 clones
• C&P for SEF grip frames
• Rail mod for the HK wide handguard

Specific Part Info:

• BufferTech's plastic buffer
• Picture of the famed heavy bipod (which I can't find for sale anywhere)
• Here's a good price on HK's mag loader/unloader
• Knight's Armament makes a RAS for the HK-91 (see the bottom of the link), sold here
• Brugger & Thomet Tri-Rail Handguard - The picture shows a brass catcher on a G3, but all DSArms has is one for the MP5
• Smith Enterprise makes a version of their Vortex flash hider for the HK-91 (spec), sold only by Brownell's
• Compensator
• "Recoil Eliminator", aka "tank brake/comp"
• PSG-1 style Ergo Grip for metal grip frames

List of Surplus Ammo

As for forums, HKPro is pretty cool. Useful posts:

• How to check the bolt gap
• Installing a heavy 2-stage buffer
• Picture of the different buffer options (G3, MSG-90, G3 heavy, HK-21)
• How to bend an HK flat
• How to avoid marks from attaching a claw mount (more info also on mg-42.net)

Manuals and such:

• G3 Armorer's Manual (found here)
• G3 Green Book

I may update this post as I find new stuff. Last update: 2008.04.13 20:25.

Blogger enabled OpenID

Interesting. OpenID looks cool, but is too insecure. There should be a middle-ground between OpenID and separate login.

Internet Crime Complaint Center

The IC3 handles complaints of Internet fraud, etc., for the FBI.

Gun Laws

Over on the Guns Network, I found a post with some links to gun law information. Notably, the 922(r) "foreign parts" law—which is total and utter gestapo bullshit—is detailed. One majorly useful piece is the state gun law summaries, which are better than the cut-and-paste ones that are on the BATFE site. Some of the links in the post above are outdated, but once you know what you're looking for, it's easier to find.

Comment on CNN Blurb to Ron Paul Donations

I posted a comment on the article, since I couldn't leave some asshole troll's comment alone.

To Robert of Pensacola, those comments are misguided and factually inaccurate. Dr. Paul's core base are middle-class individuals, not rich special interests, unlike donors to major campaigns who can afford to dump the maximum $2300 into their candidates' coffers. (Check FundRace for details.)

I'm a middle-class working stiff who's sick of government bloat and incompetence, and I've donated what I can. There are plenty of people like me who support Dr. Paul. Don't talk about things you don't know about or understand.

Furthermore, I've been a registered Republican for as long as I've been able to vote, and I'm disgusted with the current crop of "Republicans" who are closer to neo-cons than Republican. Dr. Paul's as close to a classical Republican as I've seen.

Vote Ron Paul!

FundRace 2008

When looking for fundraising information, after donating to Ron Paul's campaign, I found this site that shows all donors over $200 by name, zip code, company, and employer. This could be useful. Maybe I should donate an extra $100 so I get listed.

Riviera Maya

Don showed me a diving magazine that had a list of dive spots, and the Riviera Maya was one of them. Perhaps after going to Cozumel, that should be the next on the list for Mexico.

100 Greatest Japanese Rock Albums of All Time?

From Rolling Stone, ca 2007. I haven't even heard of most of this shit! But, uh, Utada Hikaru is definitely not rock.

Military Optics

Some gear that would be cool to have, although since it's produced for the military, naturally it's expensive.

• Trijicon ACOG [ MFG, Wiki ]
• AimPoint CompM2 [ MFG, Wiki ]

Bruce Schneier Q&A

The Freakonomics site has a great Q&A session with security guru Bruce Schneier (blog).

Import/Export-Related

International Trade & Transportation Glossary - A very useful glossary to international trade jargon, including a chart of ocean/air container dimensions.
US Customs FIRMS Codes - "A US Customs FIRMS code is a four digit alpha-numeric identifier for a container freight station, warehouse deconsolidator, or other US Customs Service bonded facility."

ATF P 5300.5: State Laws and Published Ordinances on Firearms

Useful reference to firearms laws in all 50 states plus territories.

Supreme Court Showdown

Found a couple recent articles (1, 2) regarding the Supreme Court considering a ruling on whether the right to bear arms of the 2nd Amendment is an individual or collective right. I'm a bit nervous since if it doesn't go the right way, things may go downhill. We'll see.

Frame of Mind

Another article from Oprah.com featured on CNN that has some enlightening content. The "three key markers of pessimism": personal, permanent, and pervasive. Of course, being a pessimist, I like to think that I'm being realistic. At the same time, overestimating the extent of the badness is unhealthy as well. Wish I could find the right balance.

Charts and graphs of rap song lyrics

Got this link from Russ. My favorite was "Feeling of Well Being Based on Occupation"—friggin' hilarious!!

Stop Dwelling On It

Rare sage advice from Oprah's clique?

It's 5 p.m., the deadline for an important work project is at 6, and all you can think about is the fight you had with the next-door neighbor this morning. You're dwelling, says Susan Nolen-Hoeksema, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at Yale and author of "Women Who Think Too Much."

"It's natural to look inward," she says, "but while most people pull out when they've done it enough, an overthinker will stay in the loop."

Ruminating regularly often leads to depression. So if you're prone to obsessing (and you know who you are), try these tactics to head off the next full-tilt mental spin cycle ...

Distract yourself

Put on music and dance, scrub the bathtub spotless, whatever engrosses you --for at least 10 minutes. "That's about the minimum time needed to break a cycle of thoughts," says Nolen-Hoeksema, who's been studying rumination for more than 20 years. Or choose something to focus on. "A friend told me that she once started counting the number of times the speaker at her conference said 'like,'" Nolen-Hoeksema recalls. "By the time he finished, she'd stopped ruminating."

Make a date to dwell

Tell yourself you can obsess all you want from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., but until then, you're banned. "By 6 p.m., you'll probably be able to think things through more clearly," says Nolen-Hoeksema.

Take a 3-minute dose of mindfulness

For one minute, eyes closed, acknowledge all the thoughts going through your mind. For the next minute, just focus on your breathing. Spend the last minute expanding your awareness from your breath to your entire body.

"Paying attention in this way gives you the room to see the questions you're asking yourself with less urgency and to reconsider them from a different perspective," says Zindel Segal, Ph.D., co-author of "The Mindful Way Through Depression."

Ask yourself ..

"What's the worst that could happen?" and "How would I cope?" Visualizing yourself handling the most extreme outcome should alleviate some anxiety, says Judith Beck, Ph.D., director of the Beck Institute for Cognitive Therapy and Research in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. Then consider the likelihood that the worst will actually occur.

Next, imagine the best possible outcome; by this point, you'll be in a more positive frame of mind and better able to assess the situation more realistically.

Call a buddy

Ask a friend or relative to be your point person when your thoughts start to speed out of control.

Say "Oh, well."

Accept that you're human and make mistakes -- and then move on, says Beck. Be compassionate. It's harder than it sounds, so keep practicing.

Title II

A site with BATFE forms.

Freedom Under Siege

I found a copy of Ron Paul's Freedom Under Siege on his Wikipedia entry. From a quick glance, it looks very reasonable. Ron Paul may be one of the few decent candidates in the running—I hope he does well.

CNN Health-Related

A few days cold, but interesting and useful.

Five ways to stay fit on business trips
Healthful breakfast tips
The CDC's MRSA warning

USB Pendrive Howto

Some random thoughts and links regarding USB memory. Of moderate usefulness. I was looking for information on accessing USB storage devices from the BIOS. Well, the BIOS must recognize the device for it to be accessible, so this would be highly dependent on the BIOS itself.

LPI Certification Self-Study Guide

Interesting Linux-related training materials for the "Linux Professional Institute" certification exams. Much of the sections are as of yet unwritten, though.

Forged M14SA

LRB Arms makes a forged M14SA (semi-automatic) receiver, unlike the investment cast receivers on Springfield Armory's M1A. Seeing how expensive M1As have gotten, I think spending a few extra hundred and picking up a forged receiver makes sense.

Forging vs. Casting

I'd been looking for more information about firearm manufacturing processes. This is a fair summary, albeit for 1911s:

FORGED: Forgings are made from bar stock which is almost universally round stock. The bar is heated in a furnace to a pecific temperature for the type metal. It is then removed and placed between two dies. In the drop forging process the upper die is weighted (can be several tons) and is literally dropped onto the bottom die forming the softened steel into the shape desired. There are usually 3 or more different dies and the bar is moved from a rough forging to the final die which is very close the exact shape of the part. A good hammer operator can usually forge the part (or strip of parts) with one blow per die and one for the cutoff. Sometimes the forging spec will call for multiple blows per die. Drop forgings get their strength by this hammering process, just like how the old blacksmiths did it. There are other forging "hammers" which use other means than dropping the upper die. The raw forging will need the flash cut off the edges (usually with a punch press) and the part will need to be machined to the exact shape. Small parts like 1911 hammers will have several parts in a strip and separated in the press. If necessary further hardening is done to the part after machining using any of several methods, from heat-quenching to cryogenic freezing.

CAST: Molten steel is poured into a mold that is the size and shape of the final part to be made. Once cooled the mold is broken away leaving the rough-cast part, which is then machined or given further hardening treatment as necessary. Cast parts are much cheaper to make than forged ones, but are somewhat less durable due to having a lower density and no grain structure. Investment casting is simply another method of casting parts. A wax duplicate of the part to be made is created, then encased in densely-packed sand. Molten metal is poured in, which displaces the wax and results in a part much closer in final shape to the finished part. This results in less final shaping or machining being required to produce the finished part.

MIM: Stands for Metal Injection Molded. This is a relatively new process of making small parts for less cost than machined, while making them denser than cast. There are four primary steps to the metal injection molding process (per www.phillipsplastics.com):

1. Feedstock Formulation – very fine metal powders are mixed with polymeric binders.
2. Molding – parts are molded in specially-equipped injection molding machines. These as-molded components are known as "green" parts.
3. Debinding – 90% of the binder material is removed from the green part. These parts are then referred to as "brown" parts.
4. Sintering – brown parts are sintered using controlled temperature and atmosphere profiles for final densities between 96-99% of theoretical.

In other words, the end product results in no more than a 1% variation in its final size. Done correctly the resulting part is nearly as dense as one made from forged steel, yet is much cheaper to make. Done incorrectly the process can leave small voids in the metal, creating a weak part.

STAMPED: Some metal parts are made from large pieces of flat steel, which are punched out using a die then pressed and formed using bending/forming dies. As with the other parts, heat treating or final shaping is done after the item has been stamped out. Normally the finished part needs no shaping or machining, only polishing to remove burrs caused by the stamping or forming die.

Early 1911 pistols up until the end of World War Two used forged steel parts exclusively, as the technology of that time often didn't result in acceptable cast or stamped parts. During World War Two stampings were used on an increasing scale to save time and materials, but the only 1911 part to become made from stampings was the trigger assembly. Heat-treating methods were still in their infancy, however. Most parts were only flame-hardened in critical wear areas. As a result early guns are more prone to cracking, stress failure, and peening damage than later ones. The quality of the steels and their alloy content wasn't as refined as it is today, either. Following WW2 the Austempering method of hardening metal parts was perfected, which hardens even large parts like slides and barrels correctly along their entire surface.

By the 1970's cast and stamped manufacturing methods were further phased in by Colt and other 1911 manufacturers as a means of reducing production costs. The 1911 has never been a cheap gun to produce, requiring many complex milling operations during the course of manufacture. A number of makers who had been offering investment cast replacement frames and slides soon began making complete pistols by the late 70's. Colt and other high-end manufacturers continued to use forged slides and frames, but the smaller internal parts were now often being made from cast or stamped steel. A few non-critical parts such as the mainspring housing and trigger pad were even made from molded polymer to further reduce costs. In 1996 Kimber's 1911-type pistols were introduced, and they were the first to use MIM manufacturing for their small parts, resulting in a well-fitted 1911 that was still relatively inexpensive to make. Kimber still uses forged steel for their major parts such as the slide and frame. Colt also has continued to use forged major components, with a mixture of forged, cast, stamped, or MIM internal parts. Most other makers (such as Springfield Armory and Smith & Wesson) use mostly cast or MIM small parts depending on model, although they too use forged steel for the slides and frames. The higher-end custom makers (Wilson, Ed Brown, etc.) will normally use forged slides and frames with either cast, MIM, or forged steel small parts as the price point requires. Some pistols continue to be made using investment cast frames and slides, but this shouldn't automatically dissuade the buyer. Caspian Arms for example is known for their quality 1911 components, despite the fact that they now use castings almost exclusively. All of these methods have their place, and they can all result in a quality pistol as long as the various processes are done correctly. There is a common belief that anything other than forged steel is inferior. While that may be true with parts subjected to high stress levels such as barrels, with many 1911 parts the other methods are just as durable and result in a more affordable final product. For example, a stamped or plastic trigger pad is every bit as durable as a machined steel one. It just doesn't look as nice in the eyes of many 1911 purists, hence the reason why many will replace such a part with one made of steel.

CheyTac

After watching the Shooter movie, I had to go check out CheyTac's website. The M-200 is pretty sweet, but $14k for the civilian model? Probably for just the rifle? Ouch!

Bad Motivational Posters

Sma sent me this great link to a parody of a parody, the Demotivators series of posters. Remember, "None of us is as dumb as all of us."

Encrypted Mail on OS X

Found a couple links on how to get OS X (1, 2) working with Thawte's free encryption certificates.

Hitachi GST News

The Reuters article, in English (print version) and Japanese, reeks of authenticity. Maybe some good will come of it, who knows.

More on the Eee PC

Ars Technica has some more details about the Asus Eee PC (previous news). I'm tempted to buy the $299 model. $100 for another 2GB of flash is a bit steep, especially since there's an SD slot. The one downer is the battery life: 3 hrs is paltry. I'd expect more since there's no optical drive or HDD.

Pimp My Rice Paddy

Real or Photoshopped, I'm not quite sure. But they look convincing....