6/17/09

Wait, what’s this? A rant on Wednesday? How can this be? Well, I'll tell you. We’re shifting shop night to Thursday. Way back when, in the good old days, back when I was your age, we used to do shop night on Thursday. For some reason it made the week go by faster, at least I thought so at the time. We’ll see what it does for the weeks now. So, yesterday I mentioned an AK-47, well I went back to Blood Bath & Beyond after work to have another look at it and have a question or two answered. It comes with two 30-round magazines. Ok, so I only had the one question and that was the answer to it. I fondled it a bit but was, once again, a good boy and didn’t buy it. My concerns are twofold. One: I'm worried that Borat Osama is going to get them “banned” again as part of his socialist agenda and I won’t be able to buy one. And B) I wonder what BB&B is going to have on sale next week that’ll be “better.” Of course a corollary to “B” is: it is likely that the thing will go on sale again in the future, I don’t need to buy it right now. I went from there to the Shooster's Club to ask a couple questions. Their AKs were all at least $700.00 or so and no, I cannot shoot one there. I looked at a couple of theirs and then headed to Pat’s house. He wants me to water his yard while he’s away later this summer and wanted to show me what, where, and when. From there I stopped at Burger King on 377 in Beenbroke and had a couple Whopper Jrs. Yum. Ok, so I've been weighing the pros and cons of the AK versus the Space Gun. The biggest argument for the status quo is, well to be honest, that it is the status quo. I have the Space Gun whereas the AK is going to cost me at least five bills. Sure, I'll be able to offset about half that by selling the Space Gun to Ryan, but he wants to make payments so it doesn’t really help me all that much. I'd still be out over $500.00 right now. I have 200 rounds of 9mm ammo for the Space Gun. I have exactly 200 fewer rounds of 7.62x39 for the AK. I can shoot the Space Gun at the Shooster’s Club, the AK not so much. On the other hand, the AK is an AK. Sure, the Space Gun is cool looking too, but I'm pretty much maxed out on the modifications I can do to it. I could probably add a scope or some other optics, and there’s that laser sight thingy, but other than that, I'm out of options. The AK has tons of aftermarket stuff I can do to it. Of course there’s always the “stopping power” argument. 9mm can get the job done, but I've only got two reliable magazines and they’re only reliable up to the ninth bullet in each. Eighteen shots are all I've got. One 7.62 bullet is probably going to drop whatever I'm called upon to shoot. Of course that is if you believe the “high velocity temporary cavity” school of thought. The “bigger hole” school of thought might argue that the added 1.38mm of the 9mm would be more effective. Hmm, that is a conundrum. It might be total bullshit, and in fact it probably is, but I might just hang my hat on the “bigger hole” theory for my long gun. That’s where I am with regards to hand guns. It’s why I carry a .45 ACP and not a 9mm. Besides, the Space Gun and I are accurate enough to “interrupt the central nervous system” with one shot. I think, probably. Yeah, I know I don’t need an AK, and I think I've successfully talked myself out of wanting one for the coolness of it. I've always had trouble justifying a military rifle for myself anyway. I think I'll stick with the Space Gun for the time being and see what BB&B has for sale next. Well, I think I'm done talking to y'all today.