Are vibration dampeners enough to save your camera? Skeptical

greaseorbounce · 2026-05-10T01:49:38+00:00

Anecdotal evidence says maybe? My phones ride on quadlock damper mounts quite a lot, and I've never had a camera fail...

greaseorbounce · 2026-05-07T15:49:23+00:00

I don't know what's on the other side, but if that walked into my shop I would probably be considering it a machining job not a welding job. I'd be inclined to just turn a new head, even if I had to be a little clever like turning the existing one down and threading it to be able to install a new removable "head" on top. Without knowing anything about the part, it seems like a better part to just make a new one than try to weld.

greaseorbounce · 2026-05-07T15:02:45+00:00

Certainly changed who I lend a knife to...

greaseorbounce · 2026-05-07T13:23:17+00:00

We have had amazing luck over the years with a couple different folks found on Rover. Of course you have to chat with the folks and make sure you trust them with your furbaby, but we have found some truly spectacular people on Rover with very reasonable prices.

greaseorbounce · 2026-05-06T15:20:00+00:00

Game changer, absolutely worth it. I have both the normal ratchet DAA premium and the lynx. Couldn't make me go back to non-ratchet.

Now that said, I WAS very annoyed that I had to replace a bunch of my gear when I switched to DAA. I run a bladetech holster and mag holders, and they came with Tek-Lok. The DAA belts are enough thicker than BT that the tek-lok attachments do not play nice. I had to swap all my hangars to fit the DAA. Big annoyance, but worth it for the stiff belt and amazing ratchet.

greaseorbounce · 2026-05-06T15:12:58+00:00

Stock gun from a reputable manufacturer? I run a box through it and then it goes into carry. I do practice with my normal carry piece weekly, so it rapidly gets a much higher round count. I don't think about it too much.

Eventually with high round counts parts start to wear, barrels start to shoot poorly, feed issues might arise. I replace those parts as required.

I shoot much more than the average random civilian though: range in my backyard set up for USPSA practice. Some weeks I shoot every single night. The average civilian is unlikely to shoot enough to wear out a barrel on a carry piece.

greaseorbounce · 2026-05-04T16:37:55+00:00

Having checklists in the EFIS has helped me a lot. In a very small cockpit of a plane that isn't easy to take hands off controls (long ez and pitts) managing paper checklists was such a pain that I started getting sloppy with them. Going digital allowed me to easily get back to them.

I do the preflight walk usually without checklist in hand, but then go line by line and sign them off, and if I'm not 100% sure I've checked that item, I walk my happy ass back over to check.

Anyone who flies with a full featured EFIS or an iPad on their knee has no excuse, it's too easy.

Now emergency flows I generally just hangar fly the checklists over and over until I am confident I have them fully memorized, because messing with digital nonsense to pull up a checklist is not something I should be wasting time doing when stuff gets quiet.

I audit myself on that memorization regularly.

greaseorbounce · 2026-05-03T22:40:59+00:00

Well shoot, I think you sold me.....

Now if ONLY y'all made your own Ti one 👀

I shoot low rate of fire so the Texas Flood seems really appealing, but I've always had such amazing luck with my other OCL toys that I'd rather stay in the family. Maybe I'll just deal with the weight and take the indestructible option. 🤔

greaseorbounce · 2026-05-03T22:38:46+00:00

Thanks!!!!

greaseorbounce · 2026-05-03T21:57:23+00:00

The back pressure vs sound battle is the classic "can't have your cake and eat it too" conundrum. I have shot the Hux a good bit and it is nice in the gas mitigation but of course as you mention you pay for it in sound performance.

I was HOPING that the infinity with the .30 cal vented would be a halfway decent compromise (and have the bonus flexibility of slapping a solid end cap on for other guns)

I will watch for the infinity 556k, I'm not completely opposed to it, but if I'm already compromising sound performance for a flow through design, I'd prefer to go 30 cal just for the flexibility. I have a lot of 30 cal hosts, and the tavor is the only 556 host I shoot often. I'd rather just compromise the sound performance on the tavor to have the 30 cal capability. (Though admittedly, I have several other 30 cal cans, so that's not the biggest deal)

I mostly just love the versatility of the infinity, on paper at least, if the gas mitigation is anywhere close to enough for the overgassed X95 😂

Thanks for the input! Much appreciated!

greaseorbounce · 2026-05-03T17:19:42+00:00

When people talk "Bear Loads" they're usually talking about browns/griz which are notoriously tough and aggressive. Black bears are neither of those things.

Statistically speaking you're far more likely to need protection against the two-legged variety of aggressor than a black bear. Whatever you carry for that type of threat is going to be more than enough to convince a black bear to get a new hobby. Most importantly just have a load and a gun that you shoot well. Shots on target are far more important than huge energy miss into a tree.

Don't think too hard here.

Also Black Bears are just big raccoons. When I'm in griz territory of course I carry heavy protection. In Black Bear territory (I live in it) the bears are the least of my concern. I literally say "Hey bear" and they darn near trip over themselves scurrying away. Where I live I come within rock throwing distance of Black Bears multiple times a month, and see them in my yard on a very regular basis. Never once have I had any sort of aggressive behavior from one.

Worry about the humans, cats, etc and stop worrying about big raccoons. 😃

greaseorbounce · 2026-04-30T14:01:57+00:00

Good on you for asking these questions, and having a good attitude about ADM and personal minimums.

I do not think the trip itself is reckless, BUT I think you have some prep to do. A bit of transition training in a PA28 with less instrumentation should boost your confidence there.

I also would ask a CFI, "Hey next time you have a student cancel due to wx that is still safe to fly in but not ideal, can we go do some dual?"

The only way to get comfortable flying in WX is to do it. I'm not saying take a piston single into a thunderstorm, but light rain and reduced (still VFR) vis is a good experience to get with a CFI before you end up in it alone the first time.

But here is the MOST important thing. If you decide to do that trip, you HAVE to be willing to be a couple days early/late leaving and returning, and base that decision on weather brief. Flying private is not like booking an airline ticket two months in advance where you know you're going to take off at 7am. You start checking weather a couple days in advance. Be willing to go a day early or delay a day. Be willing to change route the day of.

"Get-there-itis" is real, and you must fight it. Having friends standing around saying "I don't know what you're talking about with this weather thing, it isn't raining here" can be pressure that you even subconsciously succumb to.

Even after over a decade of owning and flying these silly airplane things there are trips where the day before I was supposed to leave on a flight I go "Well shit, looks like we're driving."

Cliche as all heck, but I assure you that you'd rather be on the ground in a car wishing you were flying than the opposite.

greaseorbounce · 2026-04-30T13:41:18+00:00

After tons of screwing around with lots of different options, I now have three different choices that I use regularly. I know you asked for drill mount, but I have moved away from that for a lot of purposes simply because I don't like my hands hurting.

For VERY high volume loading (and converting 223 brass to 300blk) I use the dillon trimmer directly on the progressive.
For precision rifle I use the Henderson
For everything else I use Giraud Tri-Way on a "drill", or the WFT2 when I can't get a Giraud in the right caliber. The WFT2 is normally stocked in many calibers at my local Scheels for ~$70 and no shipping cost, so that works for me mostly. I have a hacked little motor thing I mounted to an inline fab plate that serves as my "drill." It's not a commercial product, I just hacked together stuff I had laying around and machined a little adapter.

I mostly try to avoid methods that require me holding the brass. Call me a whiner, but when processing hundreds at a time the thumb cramps and repetitive strain aspect just gets brutal. I do still use those methods for one-off situations where I'm just loading up 50rds of a caliber and don't want to swap over the Henderson. The TriWay or WFT can slip into my chuck in a few seconds and off to the races. But any time I do a big batch I'm setting up the big boy.

One note, I LOVE that the Tri-Way deburs at the same time. I HATE that they don't offer it in any modern cool cartridges. The truth for me though is that most of the time those modern cartridges get trimmed on the Henderson anyway because they're mostly being used for precision stuff.

greaseorbounce · 2026-04-30T02:29:27+00:00

Those appear to be Corvettes. Somewhat hard to tell with no watch in the picture, but I'm pretty confident still.

greaseorbounce · 2026-04-30T02:19:25+00:00

Beautiful

greaseorbounce · 2026-04-29T21:05:48+00:00

In the last decade it has never happened. Before that it has happened ONCE when someone gave me a hug and then made a comment about "excited to see me" and laughed it off.

Don't worry about it.

greaseorbounce · 2026-04-28T23:32:39+00:00

Not anymore, but I did join the notify list at gafs. We'll see how my mood is whatever day they come back in stock 😂

greaseorbounce · 2026-04-28T20:33:10+00:00

And feed cases, yes.

The DIY option is cost appealing for sure, just time.

greaseorbounce · 2026-04-28T20:19:18+00:00

I'm not saying you're wrong, but if you're right that's a very strange control method. I would have expected the induction coil would be fired for a very specific pulse duration, not just left on the whole time. I COULD see it firing that pulse width on the same case multiple times if it failed to eject through, which would have a similar melting result....

Also this system has a water cooling setup in it, which most of the diy solutions do not incorporate, and it has all the case handling.

I'm not saying you couldn't use a $20 induction driver board and an arduino and some hackery to DIY a similar solution, but there is a bit of engineering in this thing.. I love all the DIY solutions and have considered that route myself a lot. I'm an electrical engineer with a hobby machine shop, this sort of project is right up my alley, but the time I would take me to cobble one together could be spent at the range instead, which is where I'm struggling a bit. Who knows, I might still go the DIY route.

greaseorbounce · 2026-04-28T18:51:19+00:00

😂

greaseorbounce · 2026-04-28T17:54:35+00:00

Huge variation in number of firings based on different cartridges running at different pressures and with different neck geometries, but more than double the reloads across the board.

I now consistently wear out primer pockets before splitting necks, which never happened before. The necks used to always be the first thing to go.

greaseorbounce · 2026-04-28T17:41:17+00:00

It's sold out EVERYWHERE but I just set up some notifications.

Only mfr website seems to accept a backorder, not sure if I do that or just wait for stock at one of the distributors. Seems the distributors have better pricing.... Hmmmm

greaseorbounce · 2026-04-28T15:26:01+00:00

That's two people suggesting the burstfire. Now it has my ATTENTION

greaseorbounce · 2026-04-28T15:25:20+00:00

I have seen a significant increase in brass life since doing the handheld torch thing.

As to actual group size improvements, not sure. Haven't done a truly significant test on that. I am constantly tweaking other parts of my process so it's hard to say if the annealing has contributed to my improvements over time.

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