From the free-throw line—a distance of just 15 feet—I can maybe put the ball in the basket about twenty percent of the time. I’m not NBA material, but the league might consider drafting the guys from YouTube’s How Ridiculous, who just nailed a seemingly impossible 660-foot basketball shot.
There isn’t a human alive who could throw a basketball that far (a football field is about half this distance) so the guys took advantage of the towering Maletsunyane Falls in Lesotho, Africa, to pull off this trick shot. The group doesn’t mention how many missed attempts there were while they tried to snag this Guinness World Record, but they apparently spent six days at the falls so their shooting percentage was probably nothing to brag about.
If you’re looking to build or customize a rifle that looks and shoots exactly how you want it to, you’re not going to find a better gun than the AR-15. With a seemingly endless supply of upgrades at your fingertips, modding or building your AR-15 from the ground up has never been easier.
For the most part, modding or building your AR-15 from the ground up is relatively simple and straightforward. And best of all, most of the tools needed for the job are probably lying around in your toolbox already.
Modded AR-15s
And if this your first time building an AR-15, make sure to take a look at our list of essential gunsmithing tools to see if you’ve got everything to get started.
Today, we’re going to look at…
Vise blocks
Pin punches
Wrenches
Tool kits
Screw kits
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s take a look at some of the best AR-15 build tools designed to make gunsmithing easy and convenient.
Brownells Upper and Lower Vise Blocks
When assembling your AR-15, it’s important that you use vise blocks to clamp your receiver halves together without damaging or distorting your upper and lower receiver.
There are a number of different vise blocks available on the market, but the advantage of going with Brownells is that you’re able to get two high quality products without having to pay an exorbitant amount of money.
The lower vise block will run you about $50, while the upper receiver block costs roughly $60. Brownells also has the two vise blocks available together for $80, which is a hell of a mark down if you want the pair.
Both blocks are made from a heavy duty urethane plastic that’s strong enough to withstand pressure from your bench vise while also keeping your upper and lower receiver protected from damage.
Sporting Conversions Takedown Pin Tool
A takedown pin tool is built form a heavy duty plastic that’s strong enough to remove takedown pins without damaging your gun. It’s also helpful for installing your magazine catch without marring or scuffing up your lower receiver’s metal, because it lets you push the mag release back far enough so that you’re able to install your mag catch without any issues.
The stock wrench is a basic spanner tool designed to make tightening and loosening castle nuts on your receiver quick and convenient. The wrench is created to give a firm grip on the nut in three places, making it easier to exercise control over the nut without causing any damage.
The Stock Wrench is a pretty straightforward tool, so don’t expect any fancy gadgets to be included. The tool serves only one purpose, but it’s its convenient size and non-slip rubber handle make it better for tightening and loosening nuts than a regular spanner.
Plus, it makes a great lightweight tool to carry around in your range bag.
Brownells AR-15 Armorer’s Wrench
Know how the Stock Wrench was a purely functional gunsmithing tool designed to get the job done more easily? Well, if you’re not about living that minimalist lifestyle and want the Swiss Army Knife of wrenches, the AR-15 Armorer’s Wrench is right up your alley.
As you can see, this wrench is significantly thicker than the Stock Wrench. That’s because the Armorer’s Wrench is built for work. This heavy duty tool is strong enough to withstand heavy use without breaking or bending, but is delicate enough to protect your gun from scuffs and scratches while handling stock and pin-style barrel nuts.
Magpul AR-15 Armorer’s Wrench
The Magpul Armorer’s Wrench is for when you want the Cadillac of spanners.
This sturdy wrench is designed to maximize grip and comfort. Just like the other armorer’s wrench, it works with both pin and stock-style barrel nuts, is compatible with standard-sized muzzle suppressors, and is able to tightly grasp castle nuts without causing damage to the nut.
Oh, and you can also open bottle caps with it, which is great for cracking open a cold one after you finish working on your build.
Overall, when it comes to armorer’s wrenches, it’s the quality and durability that makes the Magpul wrench stand out from the rest. You can expect to put this thing to endless work with numerous builds without issue.
Brownells AR-15 Critical Tools Kit
The critical tools kit is perfect for the first-time gunsmith who has taken an interest in learning how to build or modify their AR-15.
Just like its name suggests, the critical tools kit come with all of the essential tools that you will need in order to work on your rifle, such as…
Brownell’s AR-15 armorer’s wrench
A lower receiver vise block
An upper receiver action vise block
Two pivot pin tools
A pin punch for your bolt catch
What really makes this tool kit awesome is its value. For less than $100, you get a premium set of tools that will help you get started with your build. That’s cheaper than most people will pay just for the two vise blocks!
Wheeler Engineering Delta Series AR-15 Ultra Armorer’s Kit
If you’re looking for everything you could possibly need in a gunsmithing toolbox Wheeler Engineering’s Ultra Armorer’s Kit has got you covered.
Wheeler Engineering Delta Series AR-15 Ultra Armorer’s Kit
This heavy duty tool kit is filled with literally everything you need to build, modify, or maintain your AR-15. In fact, one of the selling points of this kit is that it enables you to perform more than 50 different types of operations when working on your AR-15.
The kit comes with a number of useful tools, including:
A bench vise for your AR-15
Vise blocks for your upper and lower receiver
Combo tool for torqueing and tightening nuts
Pivot and roll pin installation tool
A workplace mat to keep your AR-15 parts protected
Delta ring tool
Bore guide
Bolt carrier, bore, chamber, and magazine brushes
Custom carry case for your tools
As you can see, the Ultra Armorer’s Kit is one of the most comprehensive set of gunsmithing tool sets on the market. All of the tools are built with to be durable and easy to use, and are able to withstand heavy usage without any problems.
Wheeler Engineering AR-15 Armorer’s Essential Kit
If you don’t want to spend nearly 300 bucks on gunsmithing tools, but you still want to make sure that you’ve got everything you need to start your AR-15 build, Wheeler’s Essential Kit might be right for you.
This tool set is perfect for beginners and for people who’ve got some gunsmithing tools lying around already. It comes with all of the heavy duty instruments that you need to build your AR-15 or modify the one you’ve already got.
Additionally, the tool set also comes with a durable bag to carry around your tools and keep them protected from the elements. And while the Essential Kit isn’t quite as comprehensive as the Ultra toolset, its tools are made with the same heavy duty design that’s built for longevity and maximum usage.
Multitasker Twist AR-15 Tool
The multitasker twist tool is a screwdriver multi-tool designed to help make maintenance and optics adjustments quick and easy. This compact tool is the size of a pen, making it easy to carry around in your pocket or in your range back.
While not a necessity for building your AR-15, this tool certainly is handy you’re trying to clean or adjust sights. The tool also comes in a sleek black finish, but for about $10 more, you can get a desert camouflage tool instead.
Don’t Forget to Have Fun
Whelp, that’s our list of best AR-15 build tools to help you get started with your rifle.
As you can see, building or modding your AR-15 is a complex process. For this reason, it’s always a good idea to come up with a tool checklist before starting your build. That way, you don’t have to worry about stopping midway just because you forgot to buy a pin punch set or something.
Also, if you’d like to learn more about building your first AR-15, Glock, or a variety of other popular guns, make sure to check out our build guides to learn a little but about gunsmithing.
Lantac USA posted up a photo of a new AR BCG that has an external handle. This unusual looking BCG turns your AR into a bolt action rifle when built into an upper with no gas system installed. My friend Brian M. turned his .300blk AR into a bolt gun by simply blocking off the […]
Adam Fieldson of WhipWorks makes beautiful bull whips by weaving nylon paracord. Here, he walks us through the painstaking process of making one of his whips – a gift he presented to Tested and Mythbusters star Adam Savage. You can purchase his work in his Etsy shop.
Tips: How to create a PDF of a webpage for offline reading in iOS 11
By Roger Fingas Wednesday, January 17, 2018, 09:36 am PT (12:36 pm ET)
Though there are certainly alternatives like Pocket, often the simplest way of saving a single page of a webpage for later reading on an iPhone or iPad —especially if you want to annotate it —is saving it as a PDF.
In Apple’s Safari browser, the first step is to navigate to the page you want, then find the Share button. This is a square icon with an arrow, and will be located at the bottom or the top of the app, depending on your device and its orientation.
Tapping the button opens up the iOS share sheet. On the bottom row, swipe until you find the “Create PDF” option.
If you like, you can then make simple sketches and highlights using iOS’s markup tools, which are the same ones that pop up when saving a screenshot. Here, however, you will have to tap the pen icon in the upper-right to get started. Once you’re finished, or if you have no changes to make, you can hit “Done” to move on.
Select “Save File To…”, and you should see a list of possible destinations, including cloud services like Google Drive and iCloud Drive, and/or subfolders where relevant. If you go the cloud route, you may have to take extra steps —in Google Drive, for instance, you’ll have to open that app and specifically designate a PDF as accessible offline. To view a file you’ll need to load an appropriate app —often dictated by the destination.
I am an equal opportunity macaroni eater. I like it baked. I like it made with a roux. I even like it out of the blue box. You may think the convenience of Kraft can’t be beat, but you’d be wrong. This homemade recipe comes together in about 15 minutes, with only one pot (which you don’t have to drain) and no roux.
Two things make this recipe easy and effective. For one, the pasta is boiled in milk, not water, meaning the starch released is retained, not drained. Shredded cheese is coated with a bit of cornstarch to facilitate an even, not clumpy, smooth and rich cheese sauce. It’s easy. It’s creamy. It’s hard not to eat it all in one sitting. To make it, you will need:
2 cups dry macaroni
2 1/2 cups whole milk
1 tablespoon of butter
8 ounces shredded cheese (I used cheddar but feel free to mix it up)
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon mustard of choice (yellow, Dijon, and stoneground all have their merits)
Hot sauce (optional)
Pour the milk in a sauce pan and season it with salt. Add the butter, bring it to a boil, and add the pasta. Reduce to a simmer, and cook until the macaroni is tender and the milk has thickened. (If the milk evaporates too quickly, just add a little more.) While the pasta is cooking, toss the cheese with cornstarch so that each strand is coated. Stir the mustard and hot sauce (to taste) into the pasta, season with salt and pepper if needed, then stir in the cheese, handful by handful, letting each one melt completely before adding the next.
Consume the gooey, cheesy mass of carbs with gusto while you plan your next batch. Not only is this recipe super quick and easy, it adapts very well to variations, meaning you can churn our the cheesy experiments almost as fast as you can dream them up.
Your Customers Are the Key to Expanding Your Business
As a business owner, you know only too well that without your customers, your business would grind to a halt. Your customers are your business’s lifeblood.
You also know that the key to improving your bottom line is expanding your business.
Depending on the nature of your business, expansion could mean opening new stores in multiple locations or adding new products or services to your current offerings. However, regardless of your expansion strategy, one thing remains constant: Your customers make expansion possible.
Customers Are a Source of Revenue
Your business needs money not only to stay operational, but also to spread its wings.
There are multiple sources of business revenue. You can secure a business loan from a traditional bank, get a business cash advance from a specialist lender, run an online crowdfunding campaign, borrow from friends and family, or even make a deal with an equity investor.
While these are all ideal capital sources, none beats your customer as a source of revenue.
Except for your customers, all those other sources have a downside. When you take a loan, for instance, you’ll need to repay it with interest. If you go the equity route, you’ll need to dish out a share of the business, diluting your ownership stake.
But when it comes to customers, you get money when they buy your products or services. The more they buy, the higher your sales revenue, and the greater your profits. You can then use those profits to fuel your business expansion efforts. When you use profits to expand a business, there are no interest rates or share dividends to worry about.
Customers Can Be Your Brand Ambassadors
What if we told you that there is a way to market without spending a dime?
Don’t believe it? Listen up. Your existing customers can help you to market your business to the people in their social circles.
Did you know customers are 4 times more likely to shop from a certain brand when they have been referred by a friend? Clearly, word-of-mouth is still king when it comes to marketing. Therefore, you have to do all you can to leverage its power.
You already know that there are several other marketing options at your disposal. Digital marketing platforms such as Facebook and Google have proven effective, to begin with. Plus, good old television and print advertising still yield good results. But each of these options cost money, especially TV and print.
To turn a customer into a brand ambassador, you need to offer great products or services. Then, use loyalty programs to hook them in and get them excited. In time, they will naturally tell their friends about your business. As a result, you’ll get more customers. And more customers mean more sales!
A botched business expansion strategy can have disastrous effects. For one thing, you could lose a lot of money. For another, it could harm your brand’s reputation. It’s never a good sign when a store opens in a new location only to close down a short time later.
To plan and execute a perfect business expansion strategy, you must do your research and gather the right information.
For instance, if you’re planning to introduce a new product, it’s essential to forecast how your target market will receive that product.
One of the best ways to understand how customers will respond to a new product is to conduct a customer survey. This might involve giving product samples to some of your existing customers. Ask them to try the new product out and provide feedback.
Depending on the feedback you receive, you can gauge whether to launch the product as is or make improvements before launching.
The gist of it all is that customers are a valuable source of data. They understand your brand better than anybody else, so they’re well placed to offer information that can help you execute a successful expansion.
Need to Crowdfund? Your Customers Have Got Your Back
In 2017, businesses in the UK raised more than 60 million pounds through crowdfunding. This shows that crowdfunding is quickly becoming a go-to source of capital for many business owners.
However, the untold story is that for every business that holds a successful crowdfunding campaign, there are many others that fail at it.
There are many factors, but you generally need to craft a moving story about your product or business. Then, you need to widely share the campaign on social media. Importantly, you need people to believe in what you’re selling them.
When you already have existing customers who love your brand, you’ll have a head start with your campaign. Many of these customers know your potential. They therefore won’t hesitate to contribute to your campaign, especially if you’re raising money to develop an even better product.
Customers Can Fuel Business Expansion
As we have illustrated, customers have the potential to drive your business expansion efforts. However, as a business owner, you need to know how to tap into this potential.
Do so by offering excellent customers service, ensuring that your existing products provide value, and always going the extra mile to put a smile on a customer’s face. Remember, one loyal customer is far more valuable than two new customers. The happier your existing customers are, the more they will buy your products and spread the word about your business.
Now that we have the new MySQL community workspace on Slack we opened a workspace channel for our users there. If you have a question or problems with Workbench this is the place to be.
This channel will soon replace our old #workbench IRC channel.
There’s been a lot of excitement lately about the Hearing Protection Act making silencers more accessible and less regulated, but silenced or not, the crack of gunfire still deserves respect. After all, silenced isn’t really silenced at all.
What if I told you that the percussive vibrations of each gunshot actually kill vital little hairs deep in your inner ear? And then what if I told you that can open the door to a high pitch ringing or humming noise that can last forever?
No, I’m not your mom, but I am doing this for your own auditory well-being. And if you’re good—and you read on—you’ll never forget your ears again.
Shooting with Hearing Protection
Shockwave, Meet Inner Ear
Everyone always talks about the middle ear. That’s mainly the eardrum and those three little bones with cool names: the hammer, anvil, and stirrup.
But what really causes hearing damage though is what happens in the inner ear.
You’ve seen the diagrams showing the cochlea. It looks like a delicate ivory nautilus suspended in a brain galaxy.
Anatomy of the Ear
Inside, picture a spiral staircase. Only this passage is just 2 millimeters wide and maybe 30 millimeters long all coiled up.
Sound races along the outside of the staircase, but in the middle are the organ of Corti (yup, sounds ominous) and the basilar membrane. Both are long and thin, with the organ resting on the membrane. All along this little assembly are tiny little hairs. They register sound and transmit it through the auditory nerve to your brain.
But—and here’s the kicker—exposure to an intense sound—that’s 140 dB or more—can make segments of the organ of Corti separate from the basilar membrane. Portions of it actually tear away and float around.
Sounds you hear all the time can have a huge effect your hearing.
So you end up with an inflamed lesion that causes an accompanying chemical reaction. Hairs die. Scar tissue forms, and even with rest, the tiny hairs typically continue to degenerate. A cascade effect takes over, and the entire auditory central nervous system goes deaf.
Researchers suspect that tinnitus—that high pitch noise inside your head that won’t go away—“begins as a result of the brain trying to regain the ability to hear the sound frequencies it has lost by turning up the signals of neighboring frequencies.”
One more thing: noise exposure is cumulative. Each loud sound is killing ear hairs, so you need to be thinking about total exposure over the course of days, weeks and years.
Ready for some hearing protection yet?
Proper Hearing Protection
First of all, forget cotton balls, tissue, packing peanuts, or my personal old-shooter favorite, cigarette filters. While they are better than nothing, they are also next to nothing. At best, you’ll get a reduction of maybe 7dB.
Cotton Balls are Barely Better than Nothing
Effective choices for hearing protection come down to
earplugs,
earmuffs,
combinations of the two and
some techy alternatives with sound-circuit technology.
There are so many options, there’s no reason not to protect your ear hairs. From neon foam-on-strings to high-tech headphones, there’s something for everyone.
What you should be looking for is a minimum noise reduction of 15dB, but 30dB is preferable. Pair a good set of plugs with muffs and you might shut out another 10 to 15dB or so.
Decibel Comparison of Different Guns and Rounds
You know the load you like to shoot, but a conservative 140dB is a common figure for an average muzzle blast. A .22 will be less, a magnum more. With quality protection, you can start approaching a range that’s still loud—as in chainsaw- or sandblast-loud—but may be up to 1,000 times quieter.
Pros and Cons of Hearing Protection Options
Hearing protection is an investment, but it’s a lot like exercise equipment—it’s productive only if you actually use it. It’s no use buying a $200 set if they’re always going to be somewhere else. Likewise, going cheap but getting something you hate isn’t going to work either.
So let’s take a look. There’s something for everyone—even the high-tech crowd.
Traditional earplugs fit inside the ear, forming a seal that blocks sound. They come in a range of sizes, configurations and materials—from foam to hypoallergenic rubber and moldable polymers. Earplugs tend to be more efficient at handling low-frequency noise.
Foam Ear Plugs Are the Run-of-the-Mill Hearing Protection Option
Pros:
Least expensive option.
Highly effective.
Disposables available in bulk at pennies per pair.
Some rated 30dB or better.
Available strung or unstrung.
Reusable models washable.
Some models moldable for custom fit.
Compact for transport.
Good for tight spaces; no snagging.
Cons:
Fit constraints for narrow or wide ear canals.
Comfort varies widely.
Muffles all sound indiscriminately; works too well.
Foam models require proper roll-down insertion, removal and reuse.
Some models difficult to pair with muffs.
Moldables more expensive; may be difficult to alter.
Fumble-and-loss factor in dirty environments.
Traditional ear muffs come on a headband and have foam pads that cover and form a seal around the entire ear. For those who don’t like the over-the-head fit, a few versions have back-of-the-head wrap designs. Muffs typically are better at screening out higher frequency sounds.
Weak Hand Shooting Drills with Ear Muffs
Pros:
Convenient to put on and take off repeatedly.
Comfort level.
Easily paired with earplugs.
Relatively inexpensive.
Foldable models compact.
One size usually fits all.
Durable.
Cons:
Can be bulky, heavy.
May snag or bump in confined spaces.
Comfort issues, especially in humidity, hot or wet weather.
Can interfere with proper cheek weld.
Issues with safety or prescription glasses and proper ear seal.
May not provide as much noise reduction as earplugs; can require pairing with plugs.
Hats or long hair, anyone?
Hybrids—also known as semi-insert earplugs—may be an option if you can’t stand stuff jammed in your ears or the spatial interference you can encounter with muffs. Basically, they’re “sort-of” earplugs, that sit at the entrance of the ear canal rather than inside it, usually (but not always) on a streamlined headband.
Hybrid Ear Protection
Pros:
Comfort of soft tips held in place rather than wedged in.
Allows easy, quick, and repeated donning and removal.
Inexpensive.
Light and compact.
Available with passive sound-reducing and dampening technology; requires no batteries.
Cons:
Typically may not offer efficient noise reduction due to lack of seal on ear canal or around ear.
High-tech electronics are stepping up the game for earplugs, ear cuffs, ear muffs, and every smart device in between. These focus on screening out the loud booms while letting you still hear conversations and the sounds of the great outdoors.
Shooting with Electronic Ear Muffs
Pros:
Noise filtering; loud noises muffled but conversation and subtle noises amplified.
Comfort.
Small, compact.
Lots of options, including Bluetooth to enable smartphones.
Available in stereo.
Variety of formats—muffs, earplugs, semis and cuffs.
Cons:
Price point—usually $100 and up, up, up.
Batteries required.
Not always water-resistant.
Expensive to lose; fallen electronic cuffs and earplugs hard to find in the field.
Comfort.
Some models are bulky, heavy.
The Brand Tour
Like any industry, certain manufacturers have mastered hearing protection. Some are selective specialists while others offer a range of options from foam to smart. FYI, NRR stands for noise reduction rating. It’s a spec that should be printed, stamped or stickered somewhere on every package.
Walker’s Game Ear
If you like digital gadgets and nano tech, Walker’s will at the very least give you something to talk about. This company is fully focused on hearing protection. Yeah, they offer the little disposables and muffs for kids, but their target audience is techie shooters:
Pro Low-Profile or EXT Folding Muffs: Coming in at $15 to $20, these two models deliver 31dB and 34dB NNRs, respectively. That’s a solid NNR value for a really reasonable price—good enough to pick up more than one.
Razor Series Ultra-Low-Profile Muffs: For a hot range, these electronic muffs have an NNR of 23 dB, two omnidirectional mikes and “full dynamic-range HD speakers.” They automatically muffle gunshots while allowing you to hear range commands and conversations. They have an audio jack too. All you need are three AAAs and about $70.
Walker’s Game Razor Series Ultra-Low-Profile Muffs
Digital HD X Game Ear: This little cuff has an NNR of 29dB and a Sound-Activated Compression circuit. Water-resistant and less than a quarter of an ounce, it’s got an “8-band graphic equalizer, four digital sound processing channels, volume and automatic feedback control, and a low-battery tone indicator.” You can get this in versions like Elite, Power Elite and Pro, but prices start around $150 an ear.
Silencer Ear Buds: Tiny but mighty, these may be the coolest thing yet. These ear buds protect your hearing while also enhancing it—without sacrificing directional hearing. And you get both the left and the right in a slick little case with lanyard for about $175. They’re designed to give a perfect fit and seal every time, giving you 80 hours of protection from four little #10 batteries.
This brand offers everything from earplugs to some pretty sophisticated electronic headphones:
Disposable Earplugs on a String: Convenient, with an NRR of 33dB, the only complaint was that they worked a little too well! You can buy ‘em by the bucketful. The brand also makes versions for ladies and for tiny ears. They’ll run you about a dollar a pair.
Howard Leight by Honeywell MAX Corded Disposable Foam Earplugs, 100 Pairs
L1, L2 and L3 Leightning Series Muffs: Model NRRs range from 23 to 30dB, and prices go $15 to $25. These are traditional-style muffs with padded headbands, yet they’re noted for being lightweight, foldable, comfortable and low-profile.
Howard Leight by Honeywell L3 Leightning Series Muffs
Impact Sport and Impact Pro Series Muffs: These will cost you more—$60 to $85—but they’re a different kind of tech . These will suppress sounds over 82dB yet let you turn up the volume on conversations or nature. Impact Sport is more low-profile. Impact Pro has an audio jack and input cord.
Howard Leight by Honeywell Impact Pro Sound Amplification Electronic Shooting Earmuff
Known for quality, Pro Ears does passive, electronic, custom-fit, in-ear hearing enhancement and everything in between.
Ultra Pro Muffs: We’re talking leather ear cushions here, 30dB NNR and noise-dampening dielectric construction. They’re sturdy, with snap-in ear, and you can probably pick up a set for under $40.
Stalker Gold Muffs: It’s hard to go wrong with anything from the Pro Ears Gold Series. With Dynamic-Level Sound Compression™ technology, amplifying Automatic Gain Control and a built-in microchip processor, what’s not to like . Add stereo, onboard diagnosis and 80-percent white noise elimination and these appeal to hunters, professionals and competitors alike. You’ll need about $300 to call a pair yours.
ProHear IV: About as low-profile as a behind-the-ear rig gets, the ProHear combines sound amplification and suppression while aiding hearing. It’s especially helpful if you’ve already suffered some hearing loss but want to keep shooting and be able to hear while you do it . The tech will cost you about $450 an ear.
Pro Fit: The Pro Fit is a custom-molded in-ear “hearing amplification/compression Ear Plug good enough to be called Pro Ears.” It does everything—period. As these are the saltiest of the bunch, you’re looking at around $800 an ear.
Pro Ears Pro Fit Custom Ear Plugs
I know, the price point on some of these hurts, but quality hearing aids run in the thousands each. What’s really important is that you preserve every little inner-ear hair that you’ve got, so have hearing protection that you’ll use with you when you need it.
But wouldn’t it be nice if the guns were just quieter?
Silencers and The Hearing Protection Act
The idea of quieter guns has been gaining traction in recent years.
The Hearing Protection Act would remove suppressors from the list of NFA-regulated firearms. Under this simple bill, suppressors would be treated as nothing more exotic than long guns. What would that do?
For one, as long as you’re a law-abiding citizen in a state that allows them, you’d be able to walk into any firearms dealer, show your ID, fill out a little paperwork, pass the NICS background check and walk away with a suppressor.
A Variety of Suppressors
And you could skip the $200 transfer tax and 9-month paperwork waiting period.
Now, while suppressors will not silence anything, they will take the edge off a gunshot. And they’ll average a reduction of about 30dB—equating to pretty much the best hearing protection on the market.
Got a magnum? Imagine taking 30 dB right off the top. A little quality ear protection would take it down another 30, maybe more. Suddenly, you’re looking at a sound profile of under 100dB—for a magnum!
Shooting with Hearing Protection and a Supressor
As for suppressors, there’s plenty already—for shotguns, rifles, and pistols from brands like Salvo, Omega, Harvester, Saker, Hybrid, Osprey, Octane, Sparrow, Warlock, Spectre.
Just imagine:
going to the outdoor range and being able to hear commands or conversations,
going to the indoor range and being able to stand it,
hunting and being able to hear the gobble of a turkey or the snort-wheeze of a deer in rut,
spending all day without a hearing protection-induced skull ache,
target shooting on your 100 acres without everyone wondering what—or who—you’re killing, or
having the batteries go dead in your muffs and it not being the end of the world.
Dare to dream of a kinder, gentler world, where all hearing is protected, and the only suppression in sight is right on the tip of your very own barrel.
If you’re a Google user, learning the ins and outs of its many apps can make you a power user on the internet. But who has the time? Psst, instead of a crash course, peruse these cheat sheets to level up.
, and they come in all forms. Some of them are extensions that teach you as you use apps. Others are condensed guides to shortcuts and features.
Surprisingly, some of these shortcuts come from Google itself, perhaps from realizing how much its users need an easier way to learn its products. Others are made by fans, journalists, and anyone else willing to help.
. Trust me, you’ll be shocked by the number of various apps and services that plug into it.
Largely, the site shows you new and trending commands, services you can use like food delivery, quick updates for things like directions, and how to use it as a media player, among other things. To know everything possible, the left sidebar is a list of categories such as arts and lifestyle, home control, productivity, shopping, food and drink, games and fun, movies, photos, TV, music, sports, travel, weather, and so on. And of course, since this is a Google product, it features a strong Search feature to find anything you want quickly.
But really, take your time in browsing and exploring the site, more than searching. It’s amazing to see how many services are available in Assistant beyond the Google apps.
“Ok Google,” you say to your phone, “Who is Jay Z married to?” And right on cue, Google will tell you the answer. It’s Beyonce, of course, but the point is that Google is able to give you a lot of information if you ask.
The “OK Google” commands on your smartphone are almost as useful as the questions you ask Google Assistant. And this nifty site has a full list of every single command you can ask, from information about relationships and movies to setting an alarm and calculating a quick tip. The point is to know each command’s phrase and use it effectively.
It’s not easy to know these commands given how varied they are. But use a few memory boosting tricks to remember anything and you’ll soon be maximizing your Android phone’s abilities.
3. Google’s Official G Suite Training
Without much fanfare, Google has launched a massive online tutorial to learn all of its apps. G Suite Training is excellent to learn the basics of any major Google app, and to also get a few hints.
. This extension monitors when you are using any Google app, like Gmail, Search, Docs, and so on. And when you miss a shortcut, it helpfully points out how you could have saved time or energy.
Apart from the extension, the G Suite Training app hosts a bunch of cheat sheets made for each Google app. These are all downloadable, printable PDFs featuring basic tips and tricks for each service. Perfect to stick one up in your cubicle:
Google search operators, or search operands, can make a huge difference in the quality of results you get. And they aren’t that difficult to learn. You usually only need a quick reminder, which this printable cheat sheet will do.
It includes a lot of the simpler stuff that you remember on a daily basis, like using quotes to search an exact phrase or minus to remove mentions of a particular phrase. But it’s the slightly more advanced stuff that helps, like using “inurl” to find posts with your search term in the page’s URL.
There are also the shortcuts you can use, like “Define:” to look up a word’s meaning or “movie:” to find which cinemas are showing that film and at what time.
, so here’s a quick cheat sheet to print and hang.
The minimalistic Gmail cheat sheet’s biggest feature is how beautiful it looks. And the tiny graphics are excellent to draw your eye towards what you’re trying to do and check the shortcut for you. Sure, you can learn those shortcuts through an app, but who wants to add more bulk to your already slow Chrome browser?
The Power User Guide to Gmail This free Gmail Guide is for those of you who already use Gmail as an email client and want to take maximum advantage of its many productivity features. Read More
The Easy Guide to Google Chrome This Chrome user guide shows everything you need to know about the Google Chrome browser. It covers the basics of using Google Chrome that is important for any beginner. Read More
The Best Guide to Google Forms You’ll Ever Find Google Forms is one of the best free web tools available to gather data. This Google Forms guide will give you everything you need to master essential form-building skills. Read More
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Are cheat sheets enough to become an expert in an app, or do you need more? Are you proficient with Google apps and services without an actual tutorial?
Lantac USA posted up a photo of a new AR BCG that has an external handle. This unusual looking BCG turns your AR into a bolt action rifle when built into an upper with no gas system installed. My friend Brian M. turned his .300blk AR into a bolt gun by simply blocking off the […]