Docwagon

So did the car bloggers before Ford announced new pricing. Fords process turned out to be more efficient than outsiders expected. All the trucks went up, but how much depends on trim level and most of it is due to more standard equipment, not the aluminum body. The base truck only increased MSRP by $395.

About $700 per truck per most sources.

I'm curious as to how well they'll hold up over sheet steel, but a 700 lb drop in weight is nothing to sneeze at. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ford-aluminum-f-150-truck-more-gas-efficient-2014-11-22 The manufacturing is pretty efficient as well: http://blog.caranddriver.com/fords-aluminum-recycling-plan-saves-nearly-125-on-every-2015-f-150/ I'll be driving my Ram for many, many years to come but the F-150 was my runner up choice. It'll be interesting to see what pickups look like in 8-10 years.

I solved a pretty major case today. I've been working it non stop since it happened, ran down every fucking dead end lead, and finally got something to break. My partner helped a ton in a critical interview, and now I get to present a very neat package for a warrant for a major league SOB who shot a woman in the neck. Police work is one of the few places you can say "I made a deal with a tranny hooker" and none of your friends even bat an eye.

Tagged.

Here we go: It came with two flush fit magazines and two extended magazines (P220 magazines with a spacer floor plate). It is a used gun, of course, but appears to be a very low round count gun. The exterior of the barrel is barely worn, and the frame rails look almost same as new. Based on the serial number, I believe it was manufactured in 1999, and is a German made gun with factory Sig night sights. I carry a P220 daily, and the first thing I noticed is that the gun fits my hand exactly like the P220. The grip is the perfect length for me to get all of my fingers on it but not have any grip hanging out the bottom. It feels just as good in my hand as the P220 and does not feel “small”. Of course, it is not particularly small, despite being what Sig considers a compact. The overall length is ½” shorter (7.1” vs 7.6”) and the height is 1” shorter (top of rear sight to bottom of magazine: 4.75” vs 5.75”) Width is the same, and the pistols will share holsters (with the obvious that a P245 specific holster will be ½” to short if a closed bottom design or if you don’t want the P220 to stick out). Shooting it, it feels very much like shooting the P220. I was worried the recoil would be noticeably more intense, but it wasn’t. The heft of the P245 and the good grip-to-hand feel made it feel so close to the full sized P220 that I can’t say for sure how much, if any, more recoil there is. I was on an indoor range and did not engage in rapid fire or timed follow-ups, to it’s a bit tough to tell at this point. First instinct is any difference is minimal, though. So, here’s my first group. 6 shots of my own reloads (230 gr plated bullet over 4.4 grains of Winchester Super Target). I strung them a bit vertically, and realized I was holding too tight with my support hand. I was concerned it would have more recoil than it did and had squeezed to hard in anticipation. Once I figured that out, it tightened up a bit. My third string was near perfect, as I’ll show in a later picture. This is 6 shots of Hornady Critical Defense 185 gr. Hornady markets this as being for short barrel guns. The P245 is a 3.9” barrel, so its sort of a middle length. I’ll be interested to chrono it when I shoot outdoors next time. Recoil was very minimal, and it was an extremely pleasant cartridge to shoot. The one flier is all my fault, and otherwise the group touches. I believe this cartridge would allow very quick followup shots. This is likely what I will carry in the P245. Next up was Hornady Critical Duty 220gr +P. Hornady markets this as being for 5” barrels. I sucked with it. I was consistently low, often left, and the group was dinner plate sized. I thought perhaps the P245 just didn’t like it, so I tried a magazine through my P220 (4.4” barrel) and the results were basically the same. I thought perhaps I was just shooting terribly for some reason, so I then ran a magazine of my reloads through the P220 and shot normally, about a 2.5” group. I don’t know if the Sigs just don’t like this cartridge (both are rated ok for +P) or if I just wasn’t doing something right. The recoil was very heavy, but I didn’t feel like I was shoving the gun and I can normally call my shots if I push it and hit low. Regardless, I ran all 20 rounds through the two guns and even taking my time, firing single action, and concentrating on the fundamentals I could not hold groups approaching those with the reloads or with PDX-1s or Critical Defense. I then did some basic head shot/torso shot….torso shot/head shot with a bit of speed and with both eyes open. I had to relax my strong hand again, as I was starting to string left, but got it figured out and back on track. Note the group labeled #3. That was my 3rd string ever with the gun, and at that point I had the sights and the grip figured out. I still prefer my Trijicon HDs, especially for trying to shoot with both eyes open, but the Sig lights did just fine. I had one failure to fire. One of my reloads did not go off with the first hammer fall. Pulling the trigger again touched it off with no problem. This batch was reloaded on my old press when I was having trouble seating large pistol primers, and the primer was likely set to deep, so I’m blaming the cartridge and not the gun on this one. There were no failures to feed or eject. All factory ammo fired as expected. The trigger is good, but not quite as smooth as my P220. It does stack just before tripping in double action and feels heavier than my P220. Firing them back to back makes it much more apparent. The SRT trigger in the P220 is also much crisper and quicker to reset. The P245 has a bit of mush in the trigger as it resets. Once it clicks there’s some very light mushy feeling take up before it “catches” and starts to feel clean, then breaks the hammer cleanly. The SRT clicks and is immediately “catching” and trips the hammer very cleanly. The stock P245 trigger is certainly good, but its just not excellent. Luckily, a SRT trigger is an easy upgrade. The one concern I did notice is the magazines do not drop free when the slide is locked back. They drop partially free and then hang. I know certain guns are designed to do this so you can retain your magazines easier, but I don’t know if the P245 is designed to drop free or not. None of the 4 mags drop free with the slide locked back, but all 4 eject with authority with the slide closed. I would prefer my mags drop free on an empty gun reload. In the future, I’ll likely send this gun to the Sig custom shop for an SRT and an Equinox style front sight (to help facilitate both eyes open shooting) and to have the trigger polished up a bit. I don’t intend for this to replace my P220 as a EDC, but I’m sure it will get some quality holster time on longer road trips or vacations when the shorter height will be more comfortable and easier to conceal.

Even if we accept that as true, you're blaming the US for MEXICAN policies within MEXICO that were in place for 14 years before NAFTA? Seems like the Mexicans screwed up Mexico, they didn't need our help. Did the US cause the commodity market to tank? Did the US build the Mexicans to build their economy on cheap low skill manufacturing labor, and then cause other countries to develop and work even more cheaply? Did the US nationalize their oil industry for them and eliminate free market incentive to efficiently scout for and exploit oil reserves? Did the US cause their ultra inflation? Did the US cause their government to be rife with corruption and bribery, with elected officials being in bed with violent drug cartels? Did the US cause their oppressive bureaucracy for opening a legitimate small business, and requiring Immigration to approve any duties done by foreign nationals attempting to open a business in Mexico? Did the US cause Mexico to allow much of their economy to exist in the black market, away from the 30% corporate tax rate and off the books? Did the US cause them to fail to invest in infrastructure, education, and the other requirements to build a healthy modern economy? If you think NAFTA caused Mexico's ills, you have oversimplified to the point of absurdity, and a random internet article from 1994 from an opponent isn't going to change that. I've been on the border, I've seen the illegals coming across, I've spoken with them (and been offered cocaine by them) in the late 90's. I've seen the construction labor market crash as illegals took less-than-living wages to do the work. I've seen the cartels try to make inroads into my own city, the gangs that think they can run the town here like they do in Mexico.

I picked up my new gun today. To celebrate my Sig P220's anniversary, I got it a little brother. This is a Sig P245. It is out of production, replaced by the nearly identical Sig P220 Compact. The P245 has a few differences, including a carbon slide instead of milled stainless steel slide, slightly different slide serrations, and is made in Germany. They are almost entirely the same otherwise, parts interchange, dimensions are the same, etc. The really cool thing is it will accept P220 magazines, although they stick out the bottom (of course). The standard P245 magazine holds 6 rounds whereas the standard P220 magazine holds 8. This particular firearm came with two flush fit magazines and two P220 magazines with a built in spacer so the magazine extends the grip. I'm hoping to take it to the range tomorrow and test fire it. I am going to run some Hornady hollowpoints as well as my own reloads and make sure it runs right. I'll post up some more pictures and range results.

Big corporate names seldom die. It's an asset as much as a patent is. Look at Indian motorcycles. Dead for decades and revived, dies again, revived again. Somebody will buy "Colt" and start cranking them out again. I'd love to see you back that up. The Mexican economy tanked in the early 80's, well before NAFTA. In the late 80s, they had years of inflation between 50% and 160%. Silver, one of their primary exports, dropped like a rock in price. Their oil industry Their government is widely recognized as being full of corruption at all levels, the black market is huge and doesn't contribute to the reported economy, other developing nations such as Bangladesh took over much of the low skill labor market for manufacturing as they'd work even cheaper, China became a major power house at the expense of other nations dependent on cheap manufacturing, and you blame NAFTA?

Sales were increasing and were not the issue. The "investors" and owner were pulling millions of dollars out of the business, over a quarter billion dollars over a 5 year period. Sales weren't enough to keep up with that drain. They were even borrowing money as a corporation to pay themselves personally. The company is bled dry by the people who are supposed to be growing it.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/gun-manufacturer-colt-warns-of-possible-default-1415892942 Thanks to an owner and investors who've viewed it as a piggy bank to be raided instead of a business to be grown, Colt will likely default soon. The assets, including the Colt name, may be up for auction. It's a shame. Colt is an American icon, but years of ignoring the civilian market, lack of innovation, draining money from the company to fund the owner and investor's wealth at the expense of the company's health, and it just adds up to a failing business.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/11/17/rejected-asian-students-sue-harvard-over-admissions-that-favor-other-minorities/?intcmp=latestnews Asian students are required to have much higher SAT scores to get into Harvard because Asians score higher overall and they don't want to have a "disproportionate amount" of Asian students. That's right kids, you may be the best choice out there, but your skin is the wrong color, so you can't go to this school because its racist if we don't allow other people who aren't as academically accomplished but who have a different skin tone to go in your place. Serves you right for having a culture that values education and hard work.

The battery is dead: https://news.yahoo.com/low-battery-comet-probe-alive-uploading-data-esa-224233729.html

Atari 5200 NES Gameboy (got it off a school friend who smoked for a carton of Marlboros) Super Nintendo I was then out of console gaming for about a decade. I played PC games a bit. Once my son was born and got old enough to play, we got a Wii, and then expanded from there and still have the following: Wii PS3 Xbox I doubt we get a next gen console anytime soon. **Edit** Oh, and my favorite was the NES. Super Tecmo Bowl for the win.

Amazon had 25% off the "trap team" kit if you have an Amazon credit card (which I do) so I went ahead and ordered it. There's a disc replay within walking distance of my house and they have a metric shit ton of used figures, and if he wants more figures he can buy them there out of his allowance.

Mankind does some amazing stuff.

Payment has been received. It should ship tomorrow with any luck.

Ok, thanks for the info.

Apparently this is what my son wants for Christmas. Is there any difference in the game on Xbox, PS3, or Wii/Wii U? Is there any reason to not buy the figures used?

After 20+ years? People in a good place don't Google/Facebook people 20 years after the breakup.

12% through the series now. I'm actually kind of flagging. The setup was good, but its sort of starting to drag now. I get its a book about intrigues and double crosses, but come the eff on.

Go with your gut. Over thinking it leads to justifications for marginal decisions when it comes to these sorts of decisions.

So will Marty.