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Thompson
25 January 2014, 10:14
Hello all. I am new to this forum; been lurking in the shadows here and there. I found my way to this site via Stickman's contest.

Figured I'd just do a little intro about myself.

I am currently a freshman in college, at Penn State w/ US Army ROTC. I am planning on getting a degree in mechanical engineering. (After the Army, I would like to move into the firearms industry to do something along the lines of product development/testing.)

I guess something unique about myself, is that I honestly didn't develop a particular passion for firearms until December of 2012 ... in other words the Newtown shooting. Now that I actually think of it, I still remember ,at the end of the day, my physics teacher telling us about a shooting that occurred. To be honest, I didn't really think much of it at the time. I can't quite remember how it happened, but eventually I found my way onto YouTube looking at videos of firearms (you know, you start on youtube on one thing, and you end up completely somewhere else ... I think that's how it happened). Eventually I got to the point where I stumbled upon Tim's Military Arms Channel page on some product review and eventually his voiced opinions surrounding the political buzz on "fully automatic military grade assault weapons". Soooo I started watching more of his videos regarding those completely misguided political statements, and found myself in agreement with pretty much everything he had to say.

Anyways things sort of took off from there. I later on found myself on other YouTube pages: Range Time w/ Cory & Erika, Iraqveteran8888, James Yeager, faliaphotography, hickok, HossUSMC, etc. And of course, can't forget to mention Magpul Dynamic's Art of Tactical Carbine with Chris Costa & Travis Haley.

At some point after college, I am planning on building my own AR. But for now (some time between now and before I graduate), I am particularly interested in buying the Jack Carbine from BCM/HSP. Seems to be a well built rifle (especially considering it's made by BCM) for about $2000. There is just so much information in this industry that I feel that I barely cracked the surface ...

.... outside of everything firearms-related, I do a bit of video gaming (like every other young kid out there I suppose), I also like to run (former cross country runner) and do photography (one day I will rise to Stickman's level).

Soooo that's pretty much my life in a nut shell.

I did have some questions as well. Having poked my way around the internet, I was curious to see what other websites/blogs you read regarding technology in the industry. So far, this website, The Bang Switch, and Kit Up are the only sources that I've found with solid information. What else out there are good places to go to (especially regarding terminology)? I've also been keeping tabs on the new magazine Recoil - was wondering if anyone has read them and think they are worthwhile to subscribe to.

My next point I wanted to address was the Great American Outdoor Show (Harrisburg, Pa) coming up next week. Has anyone here ever gone to it? What is it like? Is it like SHOT at all? From reading the post of SHOT here, you can find a lot of people from the company that's high up to engineers. Would the Outdoor Show have people like that there? Or mainly company representatives?

The reason why I ask is because it brings up my follow up point. As mentioned before, I'd like to work in this industry concurrently (NG/Reserve) or after I get out of the Army. I'm still not sure where I want to go with the Army; orginally before coming in to college I was set on being a career soldier, but with my recently interest in working with this industry, I'm not 100% sure anymore. Slightly off topic, and back to my point - I don't have much going on this summer, so I figured I'd try to find an internship with someone like Magpul, BCM, Daniel Defense, LWRC, LaRue, Geissele, etc. And since State College is relatively close to Harrisburg, I figured the Outdoor Show would be my best shot at networking and trying to get information about internships. Now, granted I understand that the Outdoor Show isn't quite a career fair, but it's worth a shot.

To anyone who reached the end of this post, I thank you for your time!

Looking forward to becoming a more active member in this forum!

Thanks!

UWone77
26 January 2014, 00:02
Oh to be 18 again... Welcome

Some of the websites I frequent:

thefirearmsblog (blog)
jerkingthetrigger.com (blog)
AR15news.com (for the latest deals and new releases)
m4carbine.net (for expert level discussion on the platform)

I know Facebook isn't always popular to a lot of guys, but I check it daily as all the major manufacturers release new information on that media platform.

browcs
26 January 2014, 00:51
Welcome!

Thompson
27 January 2014, 12:01
Thanks!

And I will have to check out those websites some time!

I use Facebook for that as well. Are there really other media outlets that manufacturers use? Or is that the main one?

UWone77
27 January 2014, 23:35
Thanks!

And I will have to check out those websites some time!

I use Facebook for that as well. Are there really other media outlets that manufacturers use? Or is that the main one?

Facebook is great for getting the news first on a lot of manufacturers are retailers on new product. There are a lot of other places, but in my opinion not an all-in-one location like FB. One of the main reasons I even have a FB account is to keep up with all the news.