Libertycon 29 is drawing to a close. All of our group who drove up from Texas - Old NFO, Lawdog, Alma, Miss D. and myself - have enjoyed it. (There's been much giggling and speculation about what next year's LibertyCon will be like. You see, in Roman numerals, Libertycon 30 translates as LibertyCon XXX. Draw your own conclusions!)
I was particularly amused to see Lawdog's surprise at how many people recognized his blog-name, and demanded to know when he was going to start writing books as well as his blog. He's a genuinely modest man, and hadn't believed his popularity was that great (despite our nagging him for months to get on with it and write!). I reckon he'll probably sell more books than I do, because his reputation as a raconteur precedes him. Rest assured, we'll redouble our efforts on your behalf. We want to read his books, too!
Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting Tom Kratman for the first time. I've enjoyed his military science fiction books, but never run into him before. He's an impressive gentleman. Our group kidnapped him, DaddyBear and a couple of others, and adjourned to the English Rose Tearoom (which Miss D. and I highly recommend), across the street from the convention hotel, for afternoon tea and goodies. The conversation was interesting, to put it mildly. When you get a bunch of bloggers and writers together, who are also military veterans, the
I've had three signing and meet-the-fans sessions, one panel discussion and one workshop with Miss D. at this year's LibertyCon, as well as the opening ceremony and a 'Kaffeeklatsch' where fans can meet-and-greet with the authors gathered here. I think we're all tired by now. It's time to head for home. (We're going back via Clarksville, TN, where Miss D. and I are looking forward to introducing our friends to Beachaven Winery. We took a lot of their wines down to Texas with us, where they've been very well received. I daresay several
I'll try to put up a few blog posts on the road. We hope to be home by Tuesday evening.
Peter
Is mixing and matching AR15 complete upper and lowers from different manufacturers a problem?
ReplyDeleteIs the 1:8 rifling turn a good compromise for different bulletweights?
If I get a T-shirt with a picture of an AR-15 on it will women find me irrestible? (Optional question.)
@ richard on the T-shirt. No, but the shirt will be a quick way to filter out the women who aren't worth even talking to. ;)
ReplyDeleteOn uppers and lowers, no problem as long as both are either large pin or small pin.
ReplyDeleteMost AR rifles are built with mil spec pivot and takedown pins.
For some reason Colt decided a few years back to make a version with larger pins, and of course correspondingly larger holes. These are generally referred to as the Colt civilian model. I don't know of any other manufacturer who ever did this.
As you say, 1:8 should work well with 55 to 75 grain projectiles. For only 55 and under you would want 1:9 and for 62 and over 1:7 Though rare, you can find 5.56 bullets in 90-100 grain weights, mostly intended for subsonic suppressed fire.
Good call on the shirt. Will work even better if you pin a few $100 bills right under the picture.
It was my wife's (aka The Boss) first ever sci-fi convention, and she was amazed at how many famous authors she got to meet. Thanks for making her feel comfortable, and not scaring her off!!!! So now, not only does she like your books, she's hoping you come back next year, when she will have some non-electronic ones for you to sign!
ReplyDeleteThanks again!
I had a great time seeing all of you! I learned a lot, and I hope it will make me a better and more productive writer.
ReplyDeleteAnd tell LawDog to write faster!
Got to speak with Peter and Dorothy Saturday night after their panel on indie publishing.
ReplyDeletePeter is the creative part of the team, but his wife is one hell of a business woman.
Sunday morning I got into the con suite when they opened to grab some coffee and wound up helping out for a couple hours. As an added bonus I had the distinct privilege of having John Ringo cook me a cheese omelet for breakfast. He just showed up and started cooking eggs to order for everyone. But then Libertycon is like that.
Uncle Lar:
ReplyDeleteColt did that large (front/pivot) pin on civilian guns in the 80's. AFAIK, they stopped that foolishness by the early 90's. If you bought a complete upper assembly from Colt, though, it was the military (small) pin size, and it came with an adapter pin to fit it to a large pin lower, if necessary.
There is an adapter pin setup to put a large pin upper on a small pin lower, but I've never seen that size upper marketed. Rare item, I'm guessing. Most likely, all the large pin uppers are the old style integrated carry handle type, due to the age.
IIRC, the small pin is 1/4", and the large is .312" (5/16").