I see famous people

Wow. I hardly know where to begin. It's pretty overwhelming.

Thirdpower and I wandered around the exhibit floor for a while and saw wonderous and incredible things.

David Hardy and David Young, Second Amendment scholars extraordinaire, were at their booth and spoke to us for a while. Thirdpower got a good picture of David Hardy and I together but I haven't gotten a copy from him yet. We ran across Cam Edwards from NRA News and spoke to him for a while. I mentioned that I'm a big Ted Nugent fan and he said that he's going to be interviewing him later an this afternoon and if I stop back by, he'd introduce me. I'm going to give a try and see if it pans out. I ran into Phillip and Dennis from VCDL on the floor again and we spoke for a bit.

We stopped by Lauer custom weaponry to admire the Bloomberg collection and spoke to them for a while.

We stopped by Barret and thanked them for the stand that they take against government over-reach.












This afternoon we're supposed to meet Sandra Froman this afternoon. As well as the "In your own words" forum that Sebastian is speaking at. I've got to try to get back in to meet Ted. Busy, busy, busy.

Stand by...more to come.

Blog Bash Day 1

I'm tired.



The day went well. It started out a little inauspiciously. My boots were still wet and it looked like it might rain again, so I put my still damp socks back on and wore the wet boots.



I did bring another pair of shoes, but I didn't want to wear them and take a chance on it raining again...then I'd have both a wet pair of boots and a wet pair of shoes and nothing dry to wear.


Well, the rain thankfully held off and it actually cleared up later in the day. The sky was clear by the end of the day.

The first event was the grassroots workshop. Phillip and Dennis were there and I ended up meeting with several other bloggers including Sebastian, Robb Allen, SayUncle, Joe Huffman, and my roomie, Thirdpower.

I got there early enough for a little breakfast and several dainty cups of coffee. Why are hotel coffee cups so small? Don't they know they may get crusty old retired Chiefs occassionally that are used to coffee cups with capacities measured in quarts? But I digress.
We heard from many of the leaders of the NRA. The workshop itself was pretty good, but didn't really break any new ground. They talked about the pending legislation that we've been following closely. They talked about the Heller case, They talked about methods of outreach, what types of help we can offer for campaigns and in spreading the word. I'll have more details later. After I have time to decompress and review my notes and the audio that I recorded.

Thirdpower and I ran to the hotel room, dropped of his stuff and my bike (and I changed shoes and socks) and we hopped in his car to head for the Expo center.

I got checked in with the media office and got my media badge and then they escorted us to the media line to get into the Leadership Forum. After the obligatory strip search (I exaggerate, of course) we found our spots in the media bullpen.

It was actually very cool, we were escorted down to the front to take pictures of a couple of the speakers from close up, had tables to use for note-taking etc. Had our own monitors with which to watch the action. It was an interesting experience.


The forum was WAY to long if you ask me. The speeches, again, didn't break any new ground. I suppose for people who don't stay up on the day to day details like bloggers and blog readers do, it was probaby informative, but nothing was covered that we didn't already know about.

The highlight of the session were Navy Seal Marcus Luttrell and Army Special Forces Sargeant Greg Stube who were both injured during operations in the War on Islamic Extremism. I enjoyed them much more than the canned speeches from the politicians. Again, I need to sift through the (4 hours of) audio from it before trying to post specifics but I don't think there will be any big surprises.

Finally, we bloggers ajourned to the Bass Pro Shops across the river in Indiana for "happy hour" with Michael Bane along with others from the Outdoor channel and Todd Jarrett,

Other bloggers in attendence (in addition to those already mentioned) included Squeeky, Rustmeister, xrlq, and many others. If I didn't mention you specifically, it's nothing personal...I'm senile, remember?

Anyway, I'm exhausted so we're hitting the sack. We've got a "demonstration" from FN first thing in the AM so ujp and at 'em early. And, hopefully, we'll get a chance to tour the exhibit hall tomorrow. Just didn't have time today between the three hour morning workshop and 4 hour afternoon forum.

That's all for now. More later.

I'm here

I ended up having to bypass Indianapolis because the buddy I was going to go see there got stuck in Kansas (long story, don't ask). I didn't find out, however, until I was already in Cincinnatti. Luckily, we made contact before I got all the way to Indy. Anyway, I called the hotel and, Miracle of Miracles, the room that I had reserved was open for tonight so I shot down 71 to Louisville and I'm safely ensconsed in my room.




Now the bad news. The last, oh, 250 miles or so were in...um...less than ideal conditions.

Here...let me just show you.

The picture doesn't really express the extent of it. It was freaking pouring.

No real harm done. I've done this whole "trip on a motorcycle" thing once or twice before so I was prepared. Still sucks.

What's funny is that I have a CB on my bike and I like to listen to (and sometimes talk to) the truckers when I'm on the road. I passed a gaggle of them that were talking and they kept commenting about the crazy biker riding in the rain. One of them opined that he thought I must have a death wish.

They were a bit surprised when I responded to them and we had a nice talk for a few miles until I outstripped them and got out of range.

Anyway, I'm here, safe and sound and wet. My rain gear, gloves and assorted other nicknacks are hanging in the shower drying as we speak.

I hope my boots are dried out by tomorrow.

Heck...I hope the rain stops by tomorrow.

Anway...more to come from beautiful downtown Louisville.

CZ-82 Gunsmithing Part 4

This will be my last post before leaving tomorrow morning. The next time you hear from me should be from the Bustling Metropolis of Louisville KY while attending the NRA convention and the Second Amendment Blog Bash.

In the first post of the series, we Introduced the CZ-82 to our collection and identified the areas that needed work.
In CZ-82 Gunsmithing Part 1, we discussed the loose grips issue and disassembled the slide components.
In CZ-82 Gunsmithing Part 2, we disassembled the magazine catch and lightened the magazine catch spring tension.
In CZ-82 Gunsmithing Part 3, we removed and disassembled the safety and disassembled the slide.

In this edition of CZ-82 Gunsmithing, we're going to remove the slide stop and spring, and then the trigger, trigger spring and trigger bar.

As always, we're picking up where we left off last time with a partially disassembled CZ-82 so if you are starting with a complete pistol, make sure your pistol is unloaded, then start from the beginning to get to this point.

Click pix to make bigger

The slide stop is very easy to remove in and of itself, however it also incorporates a wire spring that engages on the trigger guard latch pin.

The spring catches in a lip in the trigger guard latch pin (at the arrow).






The first step in removing the slide stop is to push the pin out of the lip so that it is no longer engaged in the pin.











Then drive out the trigger guard latch pin with a pin punch.












Note that one end of the pin is machined to a smaller size than the main part of the pin. This means that the hole on the right side of the frame is smaller than that on the left and that the pin can only come out from right to left (it actually appears to be from left to right in this picture because it is looking up from the bottom. When I say "from right to left" I'm always referencing it from the pistol upright and the barrel facing away from you).



The wire spring is then pulled out of the hole in the slide stop and the slide stop pulls easily from the frame.










Done.













Next is the trigger, trigger spring and trigger bar.

They are not difficult to remove either, but are a bit trickier to reinstall so pay close attention to how they are oriented when taking them apart.

First, use a pin punch to drive out the trigger pin. This one was not tight at all and may not even require a punch to get out.










Once that pin is removed, you can lower the trigger and fold it back out of the way to get a good look at the trigger spring.










It is a coil spring that the trigger bar pin passes through and provides tension between the trigger and the trigger bar.

As you can (hopefully see) there are holes in both the trigger and the trigger bar for it to pass through when installed.






After you've gotten a good feel for the orientation for the spring (or have taken pictures for future reference as I did), remove the trigger bar pin.

This pin is also a loose fit and may just fall out on you. When assembled, it is up inside the frame which is what keeps it from falling out under operating conditions.




Once the trigger and trigger bar are separated, they can be pulled free of the frame. You may have to do a little maneuvering to find the right angle to get the trigger bar out, but it shouldn't be too difficult.









One more shot of how the trigger, trigger bar and trigger spring go together. It may be easier to see without the frame in the way.









That's it.

In the next exciting edition of CZ-82 Gunsmithing, we'll remove the mainspring and then the hammer strut, hammer, sear, disconnector and associated other small bits and pieces which will complete the disassembly posts.

I just occurred to me...

...that I never posted the pictures of my "donation" to the Brady Campaign like I promised to do.

It just so happened that I had a perfectly sized box on hand.

I was able to fit a complete brick and a little less than half another brick, in the form of two pieces, into the box.








When packed, it fit tight enough that I didn't need to worry about extra packaging to keep the contents from sliding around and busting loose. It was a perfect fit.











Before taping and attaching the envelope, the package came out to exactly 8.2 lbs on my infinitesimally accurate, never to be questioned, bathroom scale.










And, finally, all packaged up and ready to go.

In a an post linking to my original proposal, Standard Mischief says that it won't work...that the PO just throws it away.

It seemed too good to be true to me at the time I initially read about the idea, but hey, it cost me nothing more than the price of a few feet of packing tape. The bricks were waste, the box was something I had laying around and I was already making a trip to the post office anyway so what the heck.

If the Post Office is as efficient at following their own guidelines as any other governmental organization, there's a good chance that they'll deliver the thing and charge the Brady's anyway.

At any rate, I'll just have to use my imagination to conjur up the image of the recipient's face after paying the $25 postage due and opening the box to discover the nature of my donation.

Breaking Local News

"Explosion" at gun range:

Battalion chief Leon Dextradeur said the explosion happened at 1:30 p.m. Sunday at A&P Arms, a shooting range on Lishelle Place in the Lynnhaven section of the city. The explosion, which occurred in the section of the building where customers shoot at targets, set off a flash fire that burned seven of the 15 people who were in the range at the time. Two of the victims were listed as critical when they arrived at the hospital.

Prayers go out to the victims. If anyone knows more about what happened, please comment or shoot me an e-mail.

Stand by for PSH in 5...4...3...2....

And: no, I don't know why it took two days for the story to make it into the local paper.

Update: Another story from a different local paper. Fire but no mention of "explosion". And the PSH begins.

The fire that ripped through an indoor shooting range Sunday, injuring seven people, is the latest in a string of problems at the facility.

Nice Catch

My son went fishing with his boss last week. He just brought me some fish to fix for dinner (have I ever mentioned I have a pretty good son?)

Anyway, his prize catch was a 40 inch, 23 pound Striped Bass and he even got a good picture on his camera phone.

Click to make bigger

Bigger than anything I've ever caught.

And he didn't even tell any stories about "the one that got away."


Update: I fixed the fish he brought me for lunch today. Broiled it with lemon juice and some spices. Wow, that was some good fish. Thanks Josh.

CZ-82 Gunsmithing Part 3

I know it's been a while since the las CZ gunsmithing post but, as many of you know, I've had a lot going on.

I'm still caring for the wife following her surgery last Friday, but she is doing surprisingly well and isn't requiring as much waiting-on as I'd anticipated.

This weekend is the 2A Blog Bash so I'll be leaving for Louisville via Indianapolis on Thursday morning so I don't know when I'll get the next one up. It may be a while again.

In any case, without further ado:

In the first post of the series, we Introduced the CZ-82 to our collection and identified the areas that needed work.
In CZ-82 Gunsmithing Part 1, we discussed the loose grips issue and disassembled the slide components.
In CZ-82 Gunsmithing Part 2, we disassembled the magazine catch and lightened the magazine catch spring tension.

In this edition, we're going to remove the safety and disassemble the slide.

As usual, click all pix to make bigger.

Also as usual, this post takes up where the last one left off so it assumes the pistol is already partially disassembled. If you are starting from a complete pistol, please remove the magazine and ensure that the chamber is empty before beginning.

The safety is actually very simple and easy to remove.

Just drive out the pin...










...and pull it to the rear and off.













There is a little bit of disassembly to be done.

The silver "safety latch" seen in this picture is what provides positive locking in the safe or fire positions. It is spring loaded and presses against a steel ball that is swaged into a recess in the frame.





It is only held in by the pressure of the spring and pops right out. Then the safety latch spring is pulled out of its hole in the safety.








Pretty simple.

The only trouble I had was getting the pin moving to remove it. I had to use a starter punch to break it loose, but once it started moving, it came right out with a pin punch. The rest was cake.



I decided to add disassembling the slide to this post as well just because neither the slide nor safety were very complicated and made for fairly short posts. If you haven't removed the slide from the pistol yet, see Post One for field stripping instructions.

The first thing to remove from the slide is the firing pin.

The firing pin is spring loaded and is held in by the firing pin stop. To remove the stop, press in on the rear of the firing pin and then slide the stop down and out of the slide.




Have your palm over the rear of the slide before completely removing the stop or you'll fire the pin and spring across the room.









Next is the rear sight. It is peened in place and shouldn't move easily but can be drifted out of the dovetail in the slide. I've since heard that it should be removed from left to right but I didn't know that at the time and I did it the opposite. I've experienced no ill effects from doing it the "wrong" way so take it for what its worth.

I clamped the slide in padded vise jaws to do this in order to keep the slightly rounded slide from shifting while trying to drift off the sight.

The front sight is held in by a single pin but I didn't remove it because I had broken the pin punch that I needed to do it and hadn't replaced it yet. There is really no reason to remove the front sight anyway unless it's being replaced.

Next is the extractor. It is held in by a pin that runs from top to bottom through the slide. I drove the pin out from the bottom and, as you can see, I clamped the slide in the vise again. This served the purpose of holding the slide stable while driving out the pin, but it also served another purpose as well. The extractor is under spring tension and using the vise to hold the slide compresses the spring, removing the tension and preventing it from being ejected from the slide once the pin is free.

I should also mention that this pin was pretty tough to get out. I ended up having to use a starter punch to get it out as far as I could and I still ended up breaking a pin punch driving it the rest of the way out. I don't like having to beat on itty-bitty gun parts that hard to get them out...but ya gotta do what ya gotta do.



After the pin is out, be sure to carefully and slowly open the vise jaws to keep the extractor and spring under control.


That's all there is to it.






In the next CZ post, we'll remove the slide stop and the trigger, trigger spring and trigger bar. I may try to get that one in before leaving on Thursday but I can't make any promises.

Offered without comment

Click to make bigger.

From reader Andy J. via e-mail.

Report

Just to let everyone know: Yesterday was a long day but she came through the surgery great. They replaced the problem disk with an artificial one and didn't have to fuse vertebra which is a good thing.

The doc says that she should be feeling much better within a week but can't go back to work for at least two and can't lift anything over five pounds for a month. She came home today and is doing fine but is having some pain (of course).

Thanks to everyone again for your thoughts and prayers, God answered them and she is doing fine.

First Video with the new computer

I finally got the video that I've been fighting with for ages done. It was by request for a Youtube buddy and it gave me fits trying to do it with the old computer.

Without further ado, I present M1 Carbine Disassembly:



On an unrelated note, my wife's surgery is Friday. Thanks to all of you who've wished her well and offered prayers. They are greatly appreciated.

She is very anxious about it and needs all the help she can get so further prayers wouldn't hurt.

Needless to say, blogging is going to continue to be light at least through the middle of next week. I'm going to be waiting on her hand and foot for a while.

Just to let you know

I haven't died or fallen off the face of the planet or anything.

I'm still learning the ropes with my new Mac and I've had some self-induced issues that have had to be resolved. I'm going to be in northern Virginia this weekend motorcycling with my wife and brother and then my wife is having spinal surgery on the 9th so it's gonna be a bit slow for a few weeks.

I did get my donation to the Brady campaign mailed off and I have some pix of that that I want to post and I'm going to try to get the next CZ post up pretty soon.

Sorry for the slow posting...life just sometimes gets in the way.

New Shooter Report (sort of)

I'm still feverishly working on setting my new computer up, transferring files (the 160Gb hard drive seems to be physically unharmed and still works fine, it was just the file system that was corrupted) and learning the new system; however, I took a break from that yesterday to take advantage of a rare opportunity to spend some time with my son...what better way than to take him to the range that I recently joined, Airfield Shooting Club.

We were supposed to have a friend of his along who's never shot before so I was looking forward to a "new shooter" report...alas, the friend got called in to work so he didn't get to come, but my son and I still had a good morning of shooting...and this is still a "new shooter" report of sorts.





I knew that the boy scouts were supposed to be doing a merit badge shoot but I didn't think they'd be there until afternoon. They were actually there when we got there doing their safety brief and we shared the range with them the whole day.

They were under the capable instruction of an NRA instructor and club member who was also acting as RSO. They were shooting .22 rifles at 50 feet at reduced size targets.

They ooh'd and aah'd over the collection of rifles I brought, and then when we moved down where they were to shoot pistols at shorter distances, they were very interested and curious about all the boomsticks my son and I had brought with us. I don't have a huge collection and I even left a couple at home, but we had four rifles and three pistols there for the two of us.

One of the scout's parents was there and asked if his son could shoot my .45. Since his father was right there I had no problem with it and, although I stood close by his shoulder in case he had any issues, I needn't have worried...he obvously had been well trained in gun safety and handling and shot very will with the big pistol.

My son has been trying to decide what type of pistol to buy for himself when he gets is Concealed Handgun Permit. He recently passed the class so all he needs to do is fill out the application, pay the fee and wait for the background investigation to be done. Anyway, he fell in love with the CZ while we were there. I didn't even get a chance to shoot it because he hogged it the whole time (with my permission, of course...I can shoot it whenever I want). Anyway, he's seriously considering that or a CZ-83 (which is virtually identical) for a carry pistol now.

Anyway, we had a great time and, although I wasn't directly involved, we got to witness some young 'uns introduced to the world of the shooting sports. A good day all around.

Oh...did I mention it was almost 90 degrees here yesterday? Today the high was 66. Don't like the weather here? Wait a few minutes, it'll change.

Cross posted on The Sentinel

My first post...

...from the New and Improved Bridge.

I'm still transferring files over from the old brick so it's still sitting here on the floor next to me. I also have a 160gb drive that was corrupted with my laptop fried. I'm working on salvaging everything from it that I can before reformatting it and hoping that it is still usable after giving it a shiny new MBR and file system.

I haven't figured out how to resize pictures yet on the mac so if you click on the photo to "make bigger" as I usually say, it will actually make it "freaking huge" so fair warning.

Finally, I mentioned my Son's concert Wednesday. It was wonderful and, just so yoiu all get to share in a little of it (and to brag a bit as well), I present the Old Dominion University Wind Ensemble performing Cecile Chaminade's "Concertino for Flute and Band" featuring Joshua Stone - Flute Soloist.




The kid can play can't he? (I call him a kid...he's 21 years old and has a kid of his own...I feel old sometimes)

It's a miracle!

My computer was just delivered...to the right house...the first time...and at a decent time of day.

I still say Fedex sucks.

On an only tenuously related note:

Further evidence that God is truly at work in this world.

I had recently received a personal letter from Jim Brady begging for money because closing that gun show loophole is darn expensive.

I had placed the letter on my desk thinking that I'd figure out a creative way to reply to it.

Lo and behold, yesterday, via Free Constitution, I was led to this wonderful idea.

Use "Postage Paid" Envelopes to mail a brick to junk mailers!

...

Q: How much does this cost the recipient?
A: This costs junk mailers about twenty cents an ounce. That means an eight pound package costs them about $25. And all of the proceeds go directly to the United States Postal Service.

Well...

Guess what my personal letter from Jim Brady included...

You guessed it:




Bankrupting the Brady Campaign, one brick at a time.


God truly does work in mysterious ways.

CZ-82 Gunsmithing Part 2

Welcome to the latest edition of CZ-82 Gunsmithing.

In the first post of the series, we Introduced the CZ-82 to our collection and identified the areas that needed work.
In CZ-82 Gunsmithing Part 1, we discussed the loose grips issue and disassembled the slide components.

In this edition of CZ-82 Gunsmithing, we're going to disassemble the magazine catch and lighten the catch spring tension.

Of course, I'm starting this project with the pistol already field stripped and the grip panels already removed. If you are starting with a fully assembled pistol, be sure to remove the magazine and verify that the chamber is empty before beginning.

As usual, click all pix to make bigger

The first step is to remove the trigger guard. That's simply a matter of removing one pin.













Many of the pins in the CZ-82 are not tight. Other components hold them in so they don't need to be. That makes disassembly much easier than some pistols.

I did have to tap the trigger guard pin a little to get it moving, but once it broke loose, it came right out.







Once the pin's removed, you may have to do a little jiggling and aligning to get the trigger guard to pull out, but it shouldn't take any appreciable force. It's just a matter of getting it freed from the trigger guard pin in the frame and angling it right to get it to come out.








Once the trigger guard is out, disassembling the magazine catch only involves one pin as well.












The pin that holds the mag catch in has a lip on it. Pressing in on the mag catch releases tension and then a pick or jeweler's screwdriver can be used to pry the pin out.











Once the pin is out, the mag catch pulls out of the face of the trigger guard.












It's actually very simple how it works.

The small T-shaped part on the top acts as a lever. When the mag release button is pushed in either direction, it moves the bottom of the "T" to the side which tilts the lever. One of the top arms of the "T" presses down on a ledge on the catch itself and pushes the catch back, overcoming the spring pressure and releasing the magazine. Very simple, but effective.





The pin, of course, acts as the pivot point for the lever, and holds the whole thing together.

Here's a view of the catch parts taken apart.










The magazine catch button is then just pulled out the side of the trigger guard.













And there you have it.

I didn't take any super-duper closeups of the button cylinder itself, but there is a notch on the top that catches the bottom of the "T" shaped lever in the catch. That's what tilts the lever when the button is pushed. The edges of that notch seem to get a lot of wear and tear. If you're having problems with the mag catch not releasing in one direction, feeling "grabby" or hanging up, I'd check the edges of that notch and smooth them out a bit if needed. If they get too bad, I could see the release button having to be replaced so don't take any more metal off than you absolutely have to. The top arms of the "T" piece, or the ledges on the catch could also be problem areas.


Since the mag catch is so simply designed, lightening the spring was simple. Many people lighten springs by cutting off a coil or two and that is a possibility, but it changes the overall length of the spring. In this case, I don't think it would be a good idea because the spring's so short already, shortening it more could adversely affect operation.

In my humble opinion, a better way to lighten spring tension is to make the spring coils themselves thinner, and, therefore, not as strong. How do we do that? Easy...with a bench grinder or belt sander.

Sorry for the blurry picture. I'm sticking with the crappy camera excuse. I try to take multiple shots of each thing so at least one might come out good, but I still sometimes fail to get a decent one and the monitor on my camera is so small, I can't tell it's out of focus until I pull it off the camera and look at in on the computer at full size...which is usually too late to re-stage the shot.

But I digress...

My grinder is a "mini" grinder and the stone is fairly fine. If you use a full sized bench grinder or a belt sander, be very careful not to take too much metal off too quickly.

I used a dental pick to hold the spring. Use something that will keep the spring from flying off if you happen to lose control of it for a second, but small enough that the spring can spin on it.

You want the spring to spin freely as you're grinding so that it stays even all the way around.

This spring was VERY tight so I had to take quite a bit off to get it to where I wanted it. Be patient, go slowly and put things back together and test it often. You don't want to go too far and weaken the spring to the point that the mags won't stay in when inserted.

I ended up taking almost half the width off the coil metal to get it to the right tension.

But now that I've got it down to where I want it...it's just about perfect.

Still nice and tight and holds the mags firmly, but releases easily with one finger when the button is pressed.




Reassembly is pretty much the reverse of assembly. I'm going to do this series just like I did the M1 Carbine series. I'm going to do all the disassembly and maintenance posts, then start with it completely disassembled and do all the reassembly posts, ending with fitting and installing the new grips and the range test, so if you're looking for the reassembly instructions, be patient. I'll get them posted as quickly as I can in my "spare" time.

I hope you enjoyed and got something out of this edition of CZ-82 'smithing. We'll be back in a flash with the next exciting episode: Removing the Safety. Same Bat Time...Same Bat Channel.

(I'm dating myself, aren't I)

Outstanding...

...editorial in the Chicago Tribune's online edition.

"There are just too many weapons here," [Police Superintendent Jody Weis] declared at a Sunday news conference. "Why in the world do we allow citizens to own assault rifles?"

Actually, in Chicago, "we" don't allow citizens to own assault rifles. Elsewhere, they are allowed for the same reason other firearms are permitted. The gun Weis villainized is a type of semiautomatic that has a fearsome military appearance but is functionally identical to many legal sporting arms.

There's much more and a refreshing change of pace from the ignorance and hysterics that we've come to expect from the media.

I already e-mailed the author with kudos. Drop him a line and let him know you appreciate a little rationality and common sense from a member of the media on this issue.

I dispise FEDEX

I'm tempted to just never do business with a company that only ships FEDEX.

I don't know how many times I've had them deliver or try to delver packages to the neighbor's house...it always seems to be the same neighbor too. How hard is it to look at the house number (that's right there on the front porch in big black numerals) and think "hey, that's not the right number"?

I mean, the last time I didn't get something and it had been left over there, it had been put on a chair DIRECTLY BENEATH the numbers. The delivery guy had them right at eye level directly in front of him and less than 18 inches away when he put the package on the chair...is it too much to ask for them to actually, you know...look at them?

I've actually had to go to the FEDEX distribution office to pick up a package that required a signature because the delivery guy tried to deliver it to the wrong house THREE TIMES. How do you go to the wrong freaking house THREE TIMES and not bother to look at the house number on at least one of those occasions? I made it very clear when I spoke to the manager that I was not happy. Someone from their customer service called and apologized...but they don't seem to have improved their reliability any.

I've NEVER had UPS deliver to the neighbor's house.

The other thing I despise about FEDEX is their tracking system. UPS' tracking system seems to be virtually real time. As soon as they pick up the package, they project the delivery date and I've only seen them have to change it once. At every stop in between the origin and my door, it's location is updated so I have a very good idea of where it is and how long it will be to get to me at any given time. When the status changes to "out for delivery", I am confident that I'm going to get it that day.

With FEDEX, the status can go days without changing. It seems to take forever for them to update it and when they do, it seems to be subject to change at pretty much any time, and the posted "delivery date" seems to be more of a wish than any type of actual prediction. Is Tom Hanks stuck on a deserted Island again? Who's running the place over there?

Take my computer for example. Since it left Sacramento CA on the 18th, the "scheduled delivery" date has been today. There have been no updates since then. This morning, SIX DAYS LATER, it finally arrived in Hagarstown MD. And now, the "scheduled delivery date" is tomorrow. I have to wonder what it will have changed to tomorrow.

When the "scheduled delivery date" changes ON THE DATE that it is scheduled to be delivered...it's not a "schedule"...it's a "fantasy."

UPS would have reported its location every time the package stopped somewhere. Why can't FEDEX do that? It wasn't apparent two or three days ago that it wasn't going to make it by today?

Sigh...

Note to internet businesses everywhere: if I'm paying for shipping, I expect to have the option of paying UPS instead of FEDEX. If the only shipping option you offer is FEDEX and you aren't paying for it, I'm going to purchase my products elsewhere. In fact, even if you ARE paying for it, I'm going to seriously consider finding another vendor rather than giving FEDEX any money even by proxy.

By the way...my employer uses FEDEX for most of their shipping...go figure.

So, even after I've instituted my new purchasing policy (like, as of right now) you can be pretty confident that there will still be future FEDEX rants for your edification and entertainment.