Author Archives: David Bookstaber

Bump-Resistant Deadbolt Locks

Even though you realize your home is not an impregnable fortress you probably still put locks on your doors and windows. They won’t keep a determined intruder out but they should slow him down and/or force him to make some noise to break in. However, if you didn’t pay a premium for your locks then odds are they can be opened in seconds by even an unskilled child using a simple method known as bumping.

Granted, locks alone don’t secure a house, but they should at least put up a fight. If you are robbed and there is no sign of forced entry you will have a hard time getting an insurance payout.

Bump-resistant locks will cost at least $100 apiece. I bought a set of Medeco Maxum deadbolts here at that price.

2013 Update: KwikSet SmartKey locks are also bump-proof, sell at big-box stores for $30, and can be rekeyed without a locksmith. I equipped my current house with these. I have seen some complaints that the locks can “fail” and need to be reprogrammed, but so long you have more than one keyed entrance that shouldn’t be a big problem given how cheaply and easily they can be replaced. Hackers have also found a clever way to decode these locks, but it takes minutes, after which they have to cut a key. So it is possible a skilled attacker with unguarded access to your lock could make an unforced entry to your house. In contrast, locksmiths tell me that the only reliable way to open a Maxum or Primus lock without the key or code is to drill it (which is expensive, noisy, and time-consuming).

Before You Talk to a Real Estate Agent (or “Realtor”)

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Real estate brokerage in America is a terrible industry. A naive consumer intending to buy or sell a house will probably sign a long contract with a state-licensed broker (a.k.a. “Realtor”) that traditionally involves forfeiting up to 6% of the transaction value in exchange for questionable services. Before you even talk to a real estate broker, please consider the following:

Buyers

As a buyer, you will be encouraged to sign a contract enlisting a “Buyer’s Agent” to help you find a house. In spite of all the industry obfuscation to the contrary, “Buyer Agents” do not work for the buyer. Their incentive is to close a sale with as little work on their part as possible, and with a seller who will give them as high a commission as possible. Hence, as a buyer working with a Realtor you must keep in mind the following perils:

They do not have an incentive to show you the best house for your needs. Rather, their incentive is to show you a smaller set of houses you are likely to buy that pay the largest possible commission to them. This means they will typically show you full-commission houses listed for sale with them or their coworkers. Then they will show you full-commission houses listed elsewhere. They may show you cut-rate commission houses. It is very unlikely they will show you “FSBO’s” or other homes with low or zero commissions, or that would require a lot more effort on their part to close.
They do not have an incentive to help you negotiate the best price on the house you want. Their only incentive is to help you close a sale with as little effort on their part as possible. If you buy a house, it doesn’t matter what they do or don’t do: they get paid the same rate. (In fact, it may be small but technically their incentive is to have you pay as much as possible, since any commission on a higher price is still a little more.)

Agents may proclaim that they are licensed and that they have a fiduciary duty to their clients. However, in practice this fiduciary duty guarantees you absolutely nothing. So what service does a Buyer’s Agent actually provide?

MLS searches. They will also ask you for your search criteria and will print out listings that meet those (and their) criteria. However, you can now do this yourself on the internet (and can circumvent their filters on low-commission houses). Thus, value to you of this service: Zero.
Local expertise. They will be familiar with the communities in your search area. But no more so than anyone else. If you are moving somewhere new you will probably know people at the new place you are going to work, study, or recreate. Ask them instead.
Market expertise. Skip it: When you’re buying they always tell you it’s a very tight market and you have to bid high and close fast. When you’re selling they always tell you it’s a soft market so you should be eager to accept the first offer that comes along.
Referrals. They will refer you to home inspectors, appraisers, title insurers, and any other service provider you may want. There is no guarantee that these referrals are based on quality instead of kick-backs or other conflicting interests. Value to you: Zero.
Chauffeur service. They will setup appointments to view homes and they will drive you to them. However, you could just as easily make an appointment directly with the listing agent and drive yourself.

Nevertheless, even if you don’t value the chauffeur and appointment services, it still pays to enlist buyer agents if only because most sellers offer them a commission. And most of that commission should go into your pocket. Did you know that it is standard practice in the real estate industry for brokers to give 40% of their commission on any sale to a referring agency? This is why there are so many banks and other services out there offering rebates if you work with a broker to whom they refer you. If you take no other advice from this article, you should at least demand up front that your broker share 40% of their final commission with you.

As a buyer, how can you avoid getting ripped off by a real estate broker?

Do not commit to work with only one agent. Every broker will ask you to sign a contract in which you commit to giving them the buyer’s agent commission on any house you buy within a given period. This is absurd – and unnecessary. The industry has a glut of Realtors hungry for your business. Visit multiple brokers and tell them you will pay them if you buy a house that they show you. Working with multiple agents can mitigate many of the risks and hazards on the buyer’s side.
Negotiate a share of the commission for yourself. Since the standard referral rate is 40%, make it clear that you expect to receive at least 40% of any commission. Negotiate your share upward based on the amount of work they actually do to help you find and buy a house. (Note that in a traditional sale of a $2MM house they will walk away with a $60k commission. What’s a fair wage for driving you to a few houses and sitting at your side during the closing?) Note that in 12 states commission “rebates” are illegal. So in those states don’t call it a rebate; call it a subcontracting fee, partnership share, or something else.
Align the incentives. If you aren’t doing your own legwork in the MLS and FSBO sites to find houses you want to look at, then ensure that your broker has an incentive to show you houses that pay low or no commissions. For example, offer to pay them an hourly rate in lieu of commission for their work. Or offer to pay them some minimum compensation if the seller of a house you end up buying does not.

Sellers

People who want to sell a house are in a less flexible position than buyers. It is practically impossible to list your house for sale with more than one agent. (It is possible to list it with no agents, but even today that all but guarantees that 95% of potential buyers will never see your listing.) Furthermore, unless you offer Buyer Agents a 2-3% commission then many potential buyers will never be shown your property (due to the Buyer Agent conflicts of interest noted earlier).

Compounding the situation of the seller is the fact that a good Seller’s Agent will invest a significant amount of time and money marketing the house. This results in better visibility and, statistically, a higher selling price. Agents deserve to be compensated for this work (if they do it). But there are still many bad agents who will make you sign a contract for them to list your house – often for 6 or more months – and then do nothing to market it. And why not? Even if they don’t do anything there’s a chance someone will offer to buy it during that period, at which point they get their full commission.

Seller Agents face most of the same perverse incentives as Buyer Agents: Namely, they would rather close a deal with less work on their part than with more. Though they get a higher commission from a higher sale price, on a 6% commission listing each agent is only seeing at most 3% of the upside. Suppose you’re selling a $1MM house. How much harder do you think your agent will work to get you $1.1MM if at most $3k of that extra $100k ends up in their pocket?

As a seller, how can you avoid getting ripped off by a real estate broker?

Do not sign a long-term listing contract. An agent might invest significant time and money marketing your house. They deserve to be compensated for that. However, I know top-rated agents who offer listing contracts with a 15-day opt-out. I.e., no matter what they have invested to sell a listed property, the seller can choose to opt out of their contract with 15 days notice. A good agent should offer a contract like this, since if they are doing a good job you have no incentive to take your business elsewhere. An alternative contract would allow you to terminate if you pay their sunk costs. I.e., if you want to take your listing elsewhere make them hand you receipts and time-logs of what they have invested, pay them for their work at a pre-agreed rate, and move on.
Negotiate a share of the commission for yourself. Remember the 40% referral rate and use that as a starting point. You could even insist that the listing be free of any seller’s commission, and instead offer them a fixed fee, or a time-and-materials contract, perhaps with a performance bonus based on how much the selling price exceeds a fair appraisal.
Do offer a full 2-3% commission to the Buyer Agent. Unfortunately, due to the Buyer Agent hazards there is a good probability that if you don’t offer this incentive you will have fewer lookers, fewer bids, and ultimately a lower selling price. However, this is not necessarily unfair: If your buyers are savvy (as suggested above) then they will be pocketing a large part of the Buyer Agent’s commission. In essence, you can look at the buyer’s commission as a built-in discount to the selling price. I.e., if your property sells for $1MM with a 3% buyer commission then everyone involved knows that the buyer is really only paying about $970k. (Of course, this isn’t optimal since taxes and fees are typically a function of the selling price. Ideally everyone would agree on the sale and then just reduce the price by 3%. But this is the best we can do in the present conditions.)

The market is overflowing with real estate agents. Some are very good. Many are just out there playing the lottery – hoping to pick up a listing or a buyer on a big sale and walk away with a single commission that they could live on for an entire year. The good agents will not mind contracting with you on terms like those outlined here.

Cell Phone Contract for Casual or Emergency Use

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If you don’t use a lot of cell phone minutes then you probably shouldn’t enter into a service contract. Too many people commit to spending $30 or more per month (plus inscrutable taxes) just so they can make an occasional, “I’m running late,” or, “I’m over here” call.

The best alternative is a prepaid cell service like T-Mobile To Go. There you buy a SIM card that you can plug into any (unlocked) GSM phone and you buy minutes in advance that are credited to that card. For $100 T-Mobile will give you 1000 minutes that will last up to a year. If at the end of the year you haven’t used them all you can spend as little as $10 to buy more minutes and your entire balance will carry over for another year.

Not only can you buy this service without the hassles of a credit check, but you also enjoy freedom from any future bills or charges. If you don’t want or need the service you can just throw away your card, or sell it with its balance to somebody else. Be aware that the cheapest 2-year cell contract will probably cost a total of $700 (hard to tell with all the taxes and surcharges they keep adding — not to mention the billing errors that always seem to be in the phone company’s favor). In contrast you can keep T-Mobile To Go for 2 years for just $110 plus sales tax. And in my three years with this service I haven’t had any unpleasant surprises.

The best way I found to buy T-Mobile To Go is at Costco, where last week I got an activated SIM card and a current-generation slim Samsung t219 phone for just $20 after rebate!

Steel Penetration of .223 bullets

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Here is what happens when you shoot 5/16″ mild steel plate with various rifle rounds from 25 yards.

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Watch Batteries

Instant-Hot Water Filter: InSinkErator HC1100

Freebore Boost Effects

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When I first took my .223 suppressor (Gemtech M4-02) to the range with a chronograph I was surprised, on reviewing the data, to find that it was doubling the standard deviation of muzzle velocity. Baffle suppressors are known to increase muzzle velocity in an effect known as “freebore boost.” Basically they extend the barrel length, which gives the propellant extra time to accelerate the bullet. So I was expecting to see higher velocities, but not higher variance: When I added the can to the end of the barrel average velocity went up about 50fps, but the standard deviation of velocity also went from about 22fps to 45fps!

When it comes to marksmanship anything that increases variance reduces accuracy. Are suppressors inherently bad for accuracy? After some correspondence on the SilencerTalk.com forum I decided to run a controlled experiment. I went back to the range with a stopwatch and a Mastercool infrared thermometer.

Muzzle Velocity versus Suppressor Temperature

What I found is that muzzle velocity is strongly correlated (R² = .60) with suppressor temperature. I.e., once your can is hot your bullets will go faster. Several people hypothesized that this is simply because hot air is less dense, so it offers less resistance to the accelerating bullet. Another hypothesis is that the propellant burns more completely or more rapidly in the superheated air it encounters in the baffles, which increases the rate at which it can propel the bullet.

How hot does a suppressor get? For this experiment I shot Federal XM193 5.56mm (55gr Boat-tail ball) ammunition. On average each shot heated the 16 ounce suppressor by 10 degrees F. During one phase of the experiment I shot 30 rounds in under 90 seconds, which raised the suppressor temperature from 110 to 410 degrees F. During that extended string of shots my standard deviation was only 19fps — which is about the same variance I see when shooting without a suppressor. It took ten minutes for the suppressor to cool back down below 150F. (Ambient conditions were 62F, 25% humidity. Surface temperature in the sun was 88F. Winds were 10-15mph.)

If I may summarize liberally from the results of the experiment: A baffle suppressor essentially has two states, which we could call “Hot” and “Cold.” A suppressor is Hot when either (1) shots are fired in quick succession or (2) its temperature is above about 150F. In the first case I imagine that the baffles are still full of hot propellant vapor; in the second case the can is radiating enough heat to keep ambient air at this elevated temperature. A suppressor goes Cold as soon as ambient air seeps back in.

Using this equipment (16″ bbl and 6″ suppressor) the muzzle velocity out of a Hot suppressor is around 50fps higher than out of a Cold one. And if we look at the standard deviation of muzzle velocity when shooting Cold it comes out the same as when shooting Hot.

AR-15 with Trijicon ACOG and Gemtech M4-02 Suppressor

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A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government. — George Washington

If the Founding Fathers, believing that every citizen should be armed to defend his life and liberty, were handing out guns today, every man would get an AR-15. This is the American arm you can count on to protect your family, property, and fellow man.

The Rifle

There are a number of reputable manufacturers out there building AR-15 rifles to military specifications (the AR-15 is essentially a semi-auto-only version of the M16 infantry rifle), and there are many variations. Since this is a tactical rifle I believe it should have a collapsible stock and the shortest legal barrel (unregistered), which is 16″: This makes it as easy as possible to store, carry, and use in close quarters if necessary. If you start with those specifications then the biggest decision you have to make on the rifle is between a handle or flat-top upper. I like my sights up high and I qualified on the M16-A2 while on active duty, so I went with the former. There is more flexibility for modifications if you go with the latter.

The rifle itself will set you back about $900. I bought one of the first available post-sunset (i.e., collapsible stock + flash suppressor + 30-round magazine) Bushmaster XM15’s for a total of $870 in 2004. Since the standard grip is too small for my hands, I spent $20 to replace it.

Sights

The standard M16A2 sight system is very effective: Using these sights at a long-range FrontSight course I was able to reliably hit man-sized targets at 400 yards from a kneeling position.

But the rifle is capable of more accuracy than you can achieve with iron sights, which is why this gun is not fully fleshed out until you have topped it with a 4x ACOG (Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight). The Trijicon ACOG TA01 4x32mm scope is a standard military issue accessory. And it is a beautiful piece of hardware: It produces a bright, clear image with good eye relief. The reticle includes a bullet-drop compensator and is tritium-illuminated so that you can use it in dark conditions. It mounts directly in the carry handle of an AR-15 using just one screw (and even leaves a hole through which you can still use the iron sights). It is rugged, waterproof, and warrantied for life. It is a perfect match for the .223 assault rifle. But it is not cheap: I waited and managed to get one for $580 on Gunbroker.com, but unless you’re lucky you’ll probably have to pay at least $700 to pick one up new.

Suppressor

There are many options for suppressing this gun. A lot of them are “quick-detach” cans, which can be installed with a single hand and a single twist onto a special flash hider, but these options generally cost at least $300 more than screw-on silencers. Since it’s more hazardous to shoot a gun without a suppressor, I can’t think of a reason I would want to quickly remove mine, so I went with a screw-on can. Since Gemtech has a good reputation and reasonable prices, I chose their $500 M4-02 “Piranha” model baffle suppressor. It makes the rifle quiet enough to shoot without ear protection. Though since the rifle shoots around 3000fps, it is by no means quiet: The sonic crack of the bullet makes roughly as much noise as a .22 being fired out of an unsuppressed gun. But since that sound comes from the bullet’s shockwaves reflecting off of surfaces downrange it is much more subdued than if the shot were going off right by your ear.

Shooting an unsuppressed rifle — even one like the AR-15 with a reputation for very controlled recoil — is a violent experience. In addition to the jarring recoil there’s a deafening report coupled with the palpable shock of propellant exploding from the muzzle. Even with a good flash hider it can be disorienting. Now putting this silencer on the end of the barrel absorbs practically all of the muzzle blast and a lot of the remaining recoil, making shooting almost … peaceful. One drawback, other than the weight (a full pound for this particular can, protruding an extra 6″ beyond the end of the barrel), is the heat: After just ten successive shots the suppressor becomes too hot to hold with bare hands. Keep shooting and it starts to radiate a heat mirage that can actually interfere with the sight picture if you’re trying to make a precise group. (But it’s just doing its job: Here’s a good picture of a red-hot suppressor after hundreds of rounds of sustained, full-auto rifle fire.)

Ammunition

Guns rated for NATO 5.56mm also shoot .223 caliber ammunition. (These have the same dimensions, but different pressure specifications.) Since this is a standard military round it is both cheap and plentiful. Right now you can find it in case lots for as little as $.20/round. Most mil-spec ammo is 55gr FMJ, which leaves the muzzle of my 16″ barrel right about 3000fps. I have also chronographed Georgia Arms’ 68gr match-grade BTHP at just over 2600fps. Unfortunately, with all the ammunition I have tried I have never managed to shoot better than 3 MOA with this gun (that’s 1.5″ groups at 50 yards), though I don’t know if that’s typical.

Drawbacks

You have to keep it clean. The best critique of the AR-15 is a Mad Ogre classic (overboard, but they are fair complaints). The biggest criticism can be summarized as, “The rifle defecates where it eats.” This was due to a design trade-off (direct gas cycling) made to keep the rifle lighter and simpler.¹ It results in a lot more carbon fouling in the action than you would get with a piston design. But you don’t really have to spend 4 hours a day cleaning the gun to keep it from jamming. (Unless you’re dragging it through mud and sand … in which case you’re probably a G.I. with four hours a day to spend cleaning it.) In my experience if you field strip it and scrub it down with Breakfree CLP after every shooting trip it will continue to function reliably.

You will probably come across criticism of the 5.56mm cartridge. A lot of people say you have no business putting anything smaller than 7.62mm in an assault rifle. Again, this is a trade-off: 210 rounds of 5.56mm weigh the same as 70 rounds of 7.62mm; 7.62mm assault rifles have to be bigger and heavier to handle the larger rounds. My reasoning: If you need to kill in one shot, and weight isn’t an issue, then use a sniper rifle. To say that a gun doesn’t shoot the biggest round in existence is an observation, not a criticism. (Moreover, for purposes of suppression the lower the bullet diameter the better.)

Features:

Light, standard weapon. Everyone knows how to use it, fix it, and enhance it.
Light, cheap, plentiful ammunition.
Relatively easy to shoot accurately (for a large-capacity semi-auto rifle).
Military-spec, proven and durable design.

Drawbacks:

Soils itself.
Doesn’t operate well when not maintained.

In spite of these drawbacks, there’s a reason that this has been the standard U.S. infantry long arm for over forty years. Every country that can afford to equip its soldiers with AR-15 variants does. As far as I know this is still the best militia weapon you can buy: Any alternative will be heavier, less reliable, and/or more complicated. If you need a light rifle for tactical operations — which includes the ability to easily carry and shoot a lot of rounds — then take an AR-15.

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Concealment Pistol: Smith and Wesson 642 with Crimson Trace grips

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My wife struggles to just rack the slide on most semi-auto pistols. Since she can hardly operate them, it’s hopeless to train her to recover from the standard malfunctions. I wanted to find a foolproof, easy-to-use, easy-to-carry gun that she would feel confident to train with and carry for self-defense. I believe that gun is the five-shot, .38-special +P Smith & Wesson 642 revolver with Crimson Trace laser-sight grips. S&W sells the gun as a package with the CT grips (model #163811), which my dealer brought in new for $455.

Double-action revolvers are foolproof. Pull the trigger and, if the cylinder can rotate onto a live round, it will fire. As a pure concealment gun the 642 shoots double-action only and has no exposed hammer to snag on anything.

This gun is light — under one pound empty. You really can’t go any lighter and still get enjoyment out of shooting .38sp +P ammunition. (S&W sells 13oz. “Airweight” revolvers that can shoot .357 magnum, but I have never heard anyone say shooting those was a pleasant experience.) So I think the 642 hits a sweet spot balancing weight and size (for ease of carry/concealment) with the ability to fire a proven defensive round.

I wouldn’t get this gun without the laser sights, which are bright enough to use in sunlight. To aim conventional (barrel-mounted) sights you are supposed to focus on the front sight post, which means you’re not focusing on the threat … which is not a good idea when you have to make a split-second decision to use lethal force. Furthermore, as with any small, concealable gun, the sight radius is so small that conventional sights would have very limited accuracy anyway. The laser lets you focus on the target and point-shoot accurately. It probably also adds an intimidation factor on top of the deterrant value of the gun itself.

It is important to note that the laser sight is offset 1.2″ down and .5″ laterally from the bore. If this offset is maintained when the pistol is boresighted (i.e., so the laser shoots parallel to the bore) then the sights will be accurate for any distance, but will always shoot a little high and left (though certainly within the range of accuracy of a gun with a 1 7/8″ barrel). If the sight is zeroed for a specific distance then the laser will intersect the bore line and the pistol will not be accurate for any other distance.

Drawbacks

When I was first considering this class of gun, I was somewhat concerned about ammunition capacity. Unless you really practice for it, you’re not going to be able to reload a revolver in an emergency. After training with high-capacity semi-autos, where people talk about whether it’s reasonable to carry just one spare magazine (only 35 rounds?!), it’s disconcerting to think of a defensive weapon where after five shots all you have left to throw at assailants is the gun itself.

But when it comes down to it, five rounds are reasonably sufficient for both a civilian looking for a convenient carry pistol, and for a gun-fighter’s backup gun. Neither individual is relying on this gun to win a gun battle. The argument for concealed carry is that 99% of the time just brandishing a pistol will send bad guys in the other direction. If you actually have to start shooting, and both you and your assailants are locked in the fight after you’ve sent five bullets in their direction, then something is seriously wrong and it probably doesn’t matter how many extra shots you might have had after that point.

My only complaint about this particular gun is the trigger: It has a very long, heavy, non-linear (sort of two-stage) pull and reset. It takes a lot of practice and attention to control it to get good groups and to avoid yanking the barrel off target. Fortunately, the laser sight makes it easy — even fun — to dry practice the trigger pull: Just hold it on a point across the room (with a reliable backstop, please!) and try to keep the laser as steady as possible.

Sniper Rifle: Savage 10 FPXP-HS .308

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This is a police package. I managed to find mine at gunbroker.com for $1450 (plus $25 shipping and $25 FFL transfer), though that was an exceptional deal. They are routinely listed around $1700, and local dealers stock them for $1900.

If you’re only going to get one large-caliber target rifle, it should be a .308. This is a time-tested NATO cartridge, still used by military and police snipers around the world. (The only reason to step up to the other standards, the .338 Lapua and the .50 BMG, is if you’re shooting over 1000 yards or against light armor. But you’ll pay handsomely for the privilege.) Because it’s such a standard cartridge, you can pick up quality .308 in bulk for under $.50/round at manufacturers like Georgia Arms (see Ammunition section below).

I believe this is the best out-of-the-box bolt gun you can buy: It has the best factory trigger on the market (Savage’s AccuTrigger). It comes mounted with the gold standard in optics: the Leupold Mark-IV, in 4.5-10x40mm with a mil-dot reticle. Rounding it out are a sturdy Harris bipod and impressively rugged rolling, waterproof Storm case. It comes ready for crisp, sub-MOA shooting without any tuning or trips to a gunsmith.

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