1/18/11

OK, I'm not going to rant about it being “only Tuesday,” even though this week is going by incredibly slowly and I hate Tuesdays. I'm not going to do it. [ Longest. Week. Ever. - SM ] So, yesterday I decided to go to Blood Bath & Beyond to see about one of those vinyl coated wire pistol rack thingies. See, with the addition of the PT92, henceforth to be known as “Petey,” I've run out of room on the shelf in my gun case. With all the pistols laying on their sides, there just ain't enough space. I thought about looking at one of those metal desktop divider thingies but couldn't find one at home or work, mainly because I didn't really look. I decided, “Fuck it” and went to BB&B instead. I knew I could get one from the catalog folks but wanted to wander the store just in case they had one. They did. I grabbed it and started for the checkout. Along the way I passed a clearance table and had a look. There were these silly little “Pistol Bayonets” which attach to the Pacatinny rail on the bottom of the gun. I debated with myself for a second or two and picked one up. I thought about another fifty rounds of 9mm ammo but decided against it. I paid and headed home. I tried the bayonet on Petey's rail. It was a tight fit but it did go on. It is totally silly. I tried it on Pixie where it fit a little better but was no less silly. I laughed. I took it off and set it aside. I tried to put the rack on the shelf of the case but it wouldn't fit. There is about four inches of gap between the top of the shelf and the door opening. I was going to have to remove the shelf. I took out the front screws and loosened the rears so the shelf would rotate down far enough to finagle the rack in place. I reinstalled the screws and had a look. Nope, the legs of the rack are about three and a half inches tall. Remember the size of the gap? Right, I had half an inch to get the guns into the rack. I removed the shelf entirely this time. I had a look at other options. Could I attach the rack to the case without the shelf? No, the rack is too narrow. Could I hang the rack from the top of the case somehow? Maybe, but I didn't like that idea much once I thought about it for a bit. Could I install the shelf upside down so that the legs of the rack sat lower? Yes, but it didn't sit low enough. Could I drill holes in the shelf so the legs of the rack were moo? Aha! Now we were on to something. I did a test of the rack on the shelf as if it were *Lt. Dan. The guns would sit in the rack with the bottom flush to the shelf. I decided to drill the holes. Rather than use a drill and proper sized bit, I got to work boring through with the knife of my Leatherman. Once I had the first hole done, I lined up the second. I test fit the rack and it was good. I bored the other two holes and tried again with the rack. Nice. I made the holes right up at the front edge of the shelf for some reason. I'm not sure why. I installed the shelf and tightened down all four screws. Yep, you guessed it. That was a premature decision. The guns fit nicely in the rack, but the door wouldn't close. If the guns were slid further in they ran the risk of falling through the gap behind the shelf. I sighed and removed the screws one more time. I flipped the shelf around so the rack was closer to the back of the case and there was more room at the front. I screwed it in finger tight. Another test fit of the guns and it looked like it might work. It didn't, but it looked like it would. I had to move stuff around and finger out just exactly how each gun wanted to be placed in the rack. Finally I had it. They all fit and the door would close. I was happy. Oh, you might want to note that every time I removed the screws, I managed to drop one of the nuts into the bottom of the case. This meant removing any and all long guns so I could root around and find it again. Did I learn my lesson the first three times and leave the long guns out of the case? No, I put them back every time. Also, you might notice that I never said anything about going back and finishing up the tightening of the screws once I had the thing in there the final time. Yeah, I forgot. They are still just finger tight. I need to do that sometime. And so you have it. The tale of the pistol rack in the gun case. Have a day.

*You ain't got no legs, Lieutenant Dan.