7/19/10

Well, sorry “Little Guy,” instant gratification won again. I surveyed a handful of people on my way out the door Friday asking, “Do I support the little guy and wait until Tuesday or pay about ten dollars more and get what I want right now?” The unanimous consensus was, “If you buy it today you can have it this weekend.” I agreed and headed to Blood Bath & Beyond. I waltzed up to the counter where I'd seen the scope mount and said, “I want one of those.” When he handed it to me I looked it over and said, “Ok, now I need the big thing that attaches right here and makes lots of noise.” He laughed and we walked to the gun counter. I said, “7.62x39 Saiga, please.” He headed to the back to get my gun while I filled out the paperwork. On my way to the cash register I grabbed two boxes of Wolf ammo, which had jumped in price from $4.99 to $7.49 by the way. I paid and headed home. There I tried to fit the scope mount. It wouldn't. Apparently the Saiga and the AK are slightly different after all. There is a ridge on the mount which fouls the gun’s mount. I filed on it for a bit until I could get it partially on. It looks good! I played with the thing for a while and then put it away. Saturday morning I loaded the gun into a case along with the magazine and the forty rounds of ammo. I grabbed my “eyes and ears” and the shoosting towel then headed to the shop. John had to make a stop on the way in to buy some steel for his project so I filed off that ridge on my scope mount while I waited. Once he arrived, John worked on his car while I piddled with Nadine. My back was acting up yet again so I wasn't in much of a working mood. I showed him the gun and think he liked it. He said it “definitely” needs the pistol grip but I'm not sure. I kind of like it the way it is. Now, if I had 20 or 30 round magazines, yes, it would need the pistol grip. But with ten rounders... holy crap! I'm having such an attack of deja-vu right now. Have we had this conversation before? OK, it’s gone now. So, with ten round magazines, the Monte Carlo stock looks fine, to me. Eventually we called it a day and went to “Sticker Shock Mexican Food” for lunch. I wasn't terribly hungry so I mimicked John and ordered the same thing. We ate and blew another couple hours talking about stuff. As we left, I decided I was going to Whiskey Flats to shoost my new gun. Oh, since 7.62x39 is kind of a pain in the ass to type, and since that round is also called by NATO “30 ComBloc” for “.30 caliber Communist Bloc,” I have decided that I'm going to call this new gun Excalibur! Man, I never tire of that “lead them up one path and then ‘BAM’ hit them from another direction” joke. But seriously, I'm going to call this gun “ComBloc.” Although, “Excalibur” would be a cool name. Hmm, maybe I will call it Excalibur. I have always like that name/word. In fact, the first spaceship I ever designed was called... wait, never mind. I've never designed a spaceship. Anyhoo, so I decide to take Excalibur to the range. Halfway there though, my bowels decide they were finished with the nachos, three orange sodas, one glass of water, three Dr. Peppers, and two breakfast burritos I'd consumed since my last poop. I headed home. I barely made it. Since mom was sound asleep and Excalibur was still in the trunk of Ms. Clio, I headed back out to the range. The guy set up the target and had me send one down range. It totally missed. I wasn't surprised since the scope was still set all whopper-jawed from the 7mm Mauser. He had me shoot one at “six o’clock” on the paper. Another total miss. “Ok, try one at ‘nine o’clock,” he said. I did and we saw a bullet hole appear at the bottom right of the paper. I told him that the scope was still set for the 7mm and he made a huge adjustment to the reticle. Another shot and we were getting into the ball park. I was still wide to the right. He made another adjustment and ran out of horizontal. I pointed out that the rings were adjustable and we made a gross adjustment with that. He took a bunch of the horizontal adjustment back out and I think I hit exactly where I was supposed to. He had me shoot a few more. I was sporadic. We agreed that since it was a new gun and I didn't have a lot of trigger time, we’d keep playing. We got it, and me, to a point where we were confident moving to a fresh point of aim. I loaded up ten rounds and shot. Perfect. Another shot and the two holes were touching. Another and it began to make a ragged hole. And so on. Nine of the ten can be covered by a quarter with one half of one hole showing. I am totally satisfied with that grouping. It is a brand new gun and I have maybe half an hour trigger time on it. With some practice I think it will due just fine. I went home and cleaned the gun. I was not as right as I could have been when I told John that the scope mount needed to be removed to field strip the weapon. I can get the action cover off and the bolt out with the scope in place. Once it was back together I went on line and looked for cheap ammo. I found a site with a sale going on, $199.00 for 1,000 rounds. I ordered them. Then I went to Mississippi Auto Arms and ordered four more ten round, and two five round magazines. I think I'm going to leave the gun exempt from “Assault Weapon” status because I think it looks kind of cool the way it is. So, on that note, I think I'll call it a rant. Toodles.