11/3/08

Ow, ow, ow, ow. My right arm and shoulder are sore today. Here’s the poop. Friday after work I went to what I thought was Cheaper Than Dirt to buy another clip, a cleaning kit, a hard case, and see if they had that ambidextrous safety for a 1911 listed on their website. I was also going to think about buying that double-action-only Judge they had for $400.00 or so. Well, the Judge was $440.00 so I decided to think some more about that and went shopping for the other stuff. I grabbed a clip, found a cleaning kit I liked, a bottle of solvent, and the hard case then went back to the Taurus case to talk to a sales dude. He got out the three Judges they had and it turns out one was a single/double-action after all. It was the same price as the other non-ultralight so I thought about it for a bit. I finally decided I shouldn’t do it and had him put them away. I then asked about the ambidextrous safety I had seen on “their” website. “Where did you see it?” he sneered. I told him, “On the Cheaper Than Dirt website.” “That isn’t us. We’re ‘Cheaper Than Dirt Outdoor Adventures.’ They’re a totally different group.” “So… you don’t have the safety then?” I asked. I think he “tsk-ed” me and rolled his eyes. At that point I probably should have left the rest of the crap right there on the counter and walked out but I went ahead and bought what I had come in for, but not from that tool. I will tell you this, I'm not going back there. Just as I was pulling into my driveway, Larry the shuttle bus driver called to ask if I was going to CTD. I ‘splained to him that they were NOT CTD but CTDOA and that I had already been and wouldn’t be going back. We discussed the possibility of going to the gun show on Sunday and then hung up. John called to ask a favor but then didn’t once he found out I was already home. I went in and put away my purchases for the time being then watched some TV. After dinner I decided to run the soft brush through the barrel of the 1911 and fit everything to the case. I installed the tall base on the new clip and loaded it with seven rounds of range ammo then put it in the case with the gun and the other two clips. I arranged everything so it fit well and closed it up. When the doorbell rang with the only Trick-or-Treaters of the whole evening, I put it all away and went down to give them their candy. I watched TV until probably 2300 h and went to bed. Saturday morning I met John at the shop. He had brought a friend’s HL-A10 510 to the shop to tune it up and get it ready for the Old School Japanese Car thing we do on the first Sunday of the month. I had discovered that one of my horns wasn’t working so we went to the Boys of Pep to buy another and then to Lowe’s for some aluminum to make the braces for Shichi’s hood props. John needed fuel line as well which he bought at Lowe’s. We ate at Freebird’s and it was good. Back at the shop, he finished with the 510 while I built my prop thingy. It is pretty solid once the wing nuts are installed and the only thing I'll need to worry about is a stiff breeze blowing the thing up and off. We’ll see. We called it a day and I took off to go to the car wash. Darth Versa is FILTHY! Yes, I said “is” because I never made it to the car wash. I stopped in at Elk Castle Gun Shop and Indoor Range to see what was what with them. The range is $14.00 an hour, first come, first served. I opted to not shoost just then. I did buy an ambidextrous safety but their gunsmith has an eight-week backlog! I don’t want to be without my 1911 until January! I priced their Judges and thought about it for a bit. They were about $10.00 more than CTDOA but like I said, I don’t plan on going back there. I decided to be a good boy and didn’t buy one. I went home and wasted the evening. As I pulled into the driveway I remembered the car wash but blew it off again. Sunday morning Larry called and we met at the gun show. We walked the isles and every Judge we saw was slightly cheaper than the one before. I had stopped at the credit onion and got $460.00 out thinking if I found one for $400.00 or less I'd buy it. Well, about the third seller hit my mark, then they kept going down. Finally I found one for $385.00 and made a mental note of the location. We walked the rest of the show and at the last booth I found something else I “needed.” It is what I call “The Zombie Apocalypse” magazine, a 40 round barrel mag for a 1911! Oh yeah, I bought the hell out of it! Oh, at another booth I also bought the extended slide release for a 1911 so now I'm below $400.00 cash on me. We went back to the booth with the $385.00 Judge and I contemplated it for quite a while. Larry was neither a help nor a hindrance so I can’t even blame it on him but I wound up buying it. I filled out the paperwork and paid with my credit card. We then stopped at an ammo booth and I bought twenty-five rounds of .45 caliber Long Colt Self Defense ammo and fifty rounds of .410 shotgun shells. It was about 1500 h by now and we were both hungry. We left the show and ate at the Dairy Queen on Montgomery. I dropped Larry at his truck and headed to the gun range. The story gets interesting there, so I think I'll save it for tomorrow. Muwahahahaha!