RockHoundTX

Unless those are absolute top quality (and that is not something Helzberg is known for) or have a fairly high gold content, that sounds expensive. I would start by looking at what Costco or Sam's Club has in-stock. From my experience, their prices seem to be about half what most pure-play jewelry stores sell for. As what has already been mentioned, Clarity/Cut/Color are the biggest influencers on price given a specific size. Just realize that not all diamond grading companies grade the same. GIA certs tend to be the most accurate. It is not uncommon to see an IGI/EGL cert that grades the s

Taiwan definitely has the best "kids" shows. Think something like Seseme Street (mostly live-action skits with some occasional cartoon background) but the 3 main female hosts are named Peach, Strawberry, and Melons (the guy is called Banana ;-). Usually when my kids would watch I would sit down as well and enjoy the scenery during the every-present dancing (especially Melon ;-).

Large (200+ pounds) hogs are EXCELLENT to eat. My kids like them better than deer. If you can catch them live, the processors pay a hefty premium for them. The trick is in the processing. A quick kill, getting them gutted and on ice within the first 30-45 minutes is critical. You then soak them in ice and apple cider vinegar for 3-4 days. Put them on a smoker for 15-20 hours and get the meet to 204 degrees and it will just melt in your mouth. Almost no gamey taste at all. However, a badly processed hog is NASTY. My brother got a piglet (about 30 pounds) and thought he could skip the soaki

The first thing you have to ask yourself is "Is my idea worth at least $11M in retail sales within the next 18 months?". If not, then you are wasting your time and money getting a patent on it. Everyone talks about their "Million dollar idea", but it takes WAY more money than that to design, market, and distribute a successful product. Assuming your product is successful, then you had better have REALLY deep pockets to fend off all the patent lawsuits that are surely to come. Also remember that you have to file the patent not only in the US but outside the US as well (this is where it gets rea

Spent several years working in Asia. Best to stay away from any drinking games even if you "think" you can hold your liquor. While many asians (such as my wife) are alcohol intollerant, I have seen more than a few that can even give a Russian a run for their money (especially when drinking the local beer). Most of the bars will have hot girls that work for the bar that act as your hostess. Basically you buy them drinks (which are apprpriately watered down in most cases) and they sit an chat with you. As for stuff to buy, just go to the local street "night market". They usually open around

Based on personal experience, at the top of my list is Noveske. Mine is sub 1/2 MOA (truly could not believe it was more accurate than my competition sub 3/4 MOA Remington 700 Varmint). Unlike others here, I MUCH prefer Armalite to DPMS. DPMS is great "bang for the buck", but my experience is that Armalite tends to have better fit and finish and traditionally is more accurate than DPMS out of the box (unless DPMS has really upped their game over the last few years). KAC, JP, GAP, and LaRue all have excellent reputations. I have friends that own each of these and they all swear by them. If I di

You are wrong. BATFE does not regulate the length of a buffer tube It's all about "intended use" and they have determined that the intended use of SB15 brace is for the user to wrap it around their forearm. If the user chooses to hold it a different way, the intended use does not change. It is still a pistol. There are several opinion letters from BATFE saying that firing a pistol from the shoulder does not change the fact that its a pistol--putting a stock on it does. ???? Wrong about what? Where did I ever say that the BATF regulated the length of a buffer tube? Reading is fu

As I mentioned in another post, several of my friends are using hand-held thermal for detection and then night vision to take the shot. The FLIR One is kind of useless but the Therm-App is pretty dang cool (definitely worth $999 but not the new $1600 price tag).

I am not sure why this is so hard to understand. I have a pistol AR. While the buffer tube "could" be used as a stock, no-one in their right mind would want to on a regular basis. The tube is too short for one thing but more importantly would hurt like hell each time you pulled the trigger. Thus it is a pistol even though there is something hanging off the back-end of the receiver that theoretically you could put against your shoulder. No different with the SB47. While you "could" use it as a stock, no logical person would want to. It is too short and would not feel too good on the shoulde

When I started hog hunting that pretty much brought me into the night vision game. After lots of research and a growing collection of "toys" that include digital NV, Gen 2+, and Gen 3 (plus playing with numerous friends' toys as well), here are some of my real-world observations: If what you really care about is detection, then better to go thermal. The prices of thermal are dropping like a rock and getting cheaper every day. The new ThermApp is amazing (hooks to a cell phone) and is only $1k. At least when it comes to hogs, many of my friends are using thermal to locate them and then nigh

With Century it is always a crapshoot. I would have just kept the first pistol especially since it was listed as a G/VG and not just a "Very Good" or "Excellent". I have received rifles from them that were listed as Good that turned out to be near new. Also had the exact opposite experience a few times as well. I got a Mosin listed as VG that the bands were rusted so bad they literally broke in half when I toughed it. Sent that rifle back with a polite note saying that this rifle should have never been sent out and to send a better one. I kind of expected something decent but was sorely disapp

Just get the newest Photon Digital. It runs right at the $500 mark, it is plenty good for hog hunting, and handles both recoil and flash well. Image quality is roughly that of a low to mid Gen 2 unit (but WAY better than any Gen 1 unit I have seen). With the built-in IR you are good out to about 75 yards and with a good external IR good to 200 yards pretty easily. Only down-side to the Photon is the Field of View sucks. It is half the FoV of my traditional Gen 2+ scope but the Photon is also only 1/3 the cost. For someone on a budget, it is still the best option. My opinion is that traditional

Between those two, go with the .308 with an expanding round. You will more than likely end up doing most of your hunting at night so the sights on the S-12 will not work as well as an illuminated scope. I am in Central Texas and been hunting hogs the last few years on my land. Started with .308 then "downsized" to a Yugo RPK using Wolf 150 grain soft point (fitted with Gen 2+ night vision). Killed two hogs with one shot the first time out (complete blind luck). Went all the way through the first one (about a 120 pound sow) and about 2/3 the way through the second (a smaller boar). Unless you a

I have several million miles in the air across most of the major carriers. These days $1200 for a round trip is not a bad price at all especially in May. Prices on all the majors have gone up by about 10% a year for the last few years. This is especially the case with international flights. I used to get $750-$850 flights to Taiwan pretty regularly but now they tend to be $1200+ for the cheapest fares and $1400 is pretty normal. The idea of waiting until the month before can cost you majorly. Your $1200 seat can become $1500-$1800 overnight. If you want to play that game then figure out 3 or 4

A couple of years ago I got into high-$$$ air rifles. I have a 10 Meter Olympic rifle that is literally a 10-shot perfect hole that you would swear was only a single shot. It is loud and the sites are only meant for targets but it is the ultimate in accuracy. For dispatching varmints (rabbits and squirrels mainly but could take larger game as well) out to 50+ meters, I use a .22 caliber Logan 16S. It is quieter than my son's Red Ryder. At 35 meters it is a single ragged hole when shooting off a sandbag and I am sure that is more me than the gun. Roughly the same knock-down power as a .22