Birthdays

So I turned 29 sometime this morning. So far several people have given me money. Some would complain that this is unfeeling, but their checks will fund about 75% of the parts for my AR lower. And now I don't feel bad for spending the money because I'm supposed to buy myself a present with it.

So far the best gifts have been 200 rounds of Federal American Eagle .223 55gr FMJ Boat Tail from my brother and a nice poker set from Amy which is still in transit somewhere. My sister's gift has yet to be shipped which is fine because my gift to her was late to her too.

Turns out Federal makes a lot of good ballistics data available on their website. I'm pretty sure that their AE 55 grain FMJ-BT round isn't equivalent to milspec M193. The bullet design is a cheaper version that doesn't fragment properly. Federal used to make XM193 at Lake City, but I'm pretty sure only Winchester's Q3131A (which is actually made by the Israelis) is true M193 milspec. But the AE will punch paper as well as anything else.