bercov@bevsun.bev.lbl.gov (John Bercovitz) (05/25/91)
I'm a mechanical engineer and I don't know too much about computers as any number of people will attest; but it seems to me....... There is a lot of good evaluation data on firearms toys that goes through this group. Yet we lose most of it. Certainly a FAQ would answer most general questions, but what if a person wants to know how others in the group appraise a toy he is considering purchasing? Well, of course you would write to this group and get answers from whoever felt like responding at that time. But that wouldn't get you older information which had gone through this group the year before. Like I said, I don't know much about computers so tell me if the following is possible: Could we could create a self-operating database by putting the categorization characteristics in the subject line and then parsing the subject line to insert the article in the correct place in a file? Here are a few crude examples: auto,H&K,MP5,pro,1987 I fired the silenced version of this auto in May of 88 using such-and-so ammunition. The bleed ports were able to make this into a subsonic round. My shooting impressions were that it had very little rise and was easily controlled. Blah, blah, blah. mold,Lyman,401638,con,1991 This mold casts oversize. I was warned by the factory to not size bullets from this mold in their sizing equipment even though the mold was within their specs. Blah, blah,blah. pistol,Colt,DeltaElite,pro,1988 About my only real complaint with this pistol is that the chamber was cut at an angle to the bore; however, the gun is plenty accurate, shooting sub-2" groups with any load now that I've installed a national match bushing. Blah, Do you see how it would work? The program would look at the first word, strip it off, take the remaining part someplace else and so forth. All we would have to do is to write to the database each time we acquired a new toy. By writing in pros and cons we get a balanced view. We would have to write in an evaluation for _all_ acquisitions, not just the ones we hate. If we were to only write in the cons, we'd acquire a pretty dim and unrealistic view. As you can see, the format is: generic name, make, model, pro or con, year of manufacture. I think year of manufacture is important; I've seen and shot Gold Cups from the 60's; I own a Series 70; there's a lot of difference in fit between the two. I'm not suggesting that this database would contain only gospel. But I _do_ think it would give the prospective buyer some things to be aware of and investigate prior to his purchase. I apologize if I have misused any computer-type words; don't know them very well; hope you got the message anyway. So tell me, is this feasible? Does it have any appeal? Thanks for your time, JHBercovitz@lbl.gov