12/1/11

Well, yesterday after work I went to Bloodbath & Beyond looking for another quick release optic mount for the 7.62x39. I decided the other day that I really don’t need a 3x scope, which is almost as long as the gun itself, on the Beretta Neos carbine after all. I also didn’t want to risk losing zero on the holographic sight or the scope by swapping them Willie Nillie on the picatinny rail of the mount I had. No, I wanted another mount. Unfortunately they didn’t have the quick release mount I wanted. They had one which secured with Allen-head bolts though. I've used one of those before but it didn’t fit the Saiga without modification. I decided to not buy one at that time. I then went to the gun display to see what they had to offer. On the top rack was a Kel-Tec Sub-2000 folding carbine. You may remember I had the hots for one of those a few years back but never did buy one. I had the guy bring it down so I could look at it. It was quite cool. Unfortunately it was a .40 caliber. I want it in 9mm. That made it easy to be good and not buy it. Then I saw the Draco at the bottom of the rack. I handed the Kel-Tec back and asked to see it. Oh man, it is so friggin’ cool. I want one but after shooting the Mare's Leg I realize that a two-handed “pistol” like that really isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. You really can't aim the damned thing worth a hoot out past five or six yards. I handed it back and said I wasn’t going to blow that kind of cash tonight. I shrugged and walked out the door. I was just about to put the key in Fifi's door when I said, “Fuck it! I'm going to buy the damned thing!” I went back in and walked up to the counter. I told the guy to get it off the rack for me and then when to pay. Yep, I went ahead and bought the Allen-head optic mount for the 7.62x39. What? You thought I bought the Draco or the Kel-Tec? No, I'm irresponsible but not THAT irresponsible. At the house I pulled the scope off of the Neos carbine and put the red-dot, holographic optic thingy on there instead. Yeah, that looks much better. Not to mention I don’t really need a 3 power scope on a .22 anyway. After “playing” with that for a little bit, I tried to install the new mount on the 7.62x39. Remember how I said I'd tried one of these before on another Saiga and it didn’t fit? Yeah, this one didn’t fit either. I fingered out what needed to be filed away to make it fit and sat on the edge of my bed with a file. I decided that I'd rather NOT file metal shavings into my bed or on the floor and took everything to the garage. There I filed away the offending material. Back in my room I slipped the mount onto the gun. It was a bit flollopy but tightened up nicely with the Allen-head bolts. I installed the scope and leveled it asbestos I could. Oh yeah, that looks really good on there. I didn’t swap out the tactical furniture for the wood because… well, I'm not sure why I didn’t actually. Hells bells, it looks so good in all black that I might never put the wood furniture on there. We’ll see. After I had the thing mounted and “played” with it for a bit, I took everything apart and went to look at storage solutions. The Neos fit in the exact same spot as before since the red-dot thingy wasn’t any taller than the scope it replaced. I just had to find a way to store the two Saiga side-mount optics I now had floating around. I had made little hooks to hang the holographic thingy and tried hanging the scope from them. By using one of the lightening holes in the side of the mount, it would balance nicely on one hook and just touch the side wall of the case leaving just enough room on the opposite side for the other optic. I tried to hang it from the other hook but didn’t like how it hung at a weird angle. I decided that another hole drilled in the mount would allow it to hang just like the scope. I took the mount to the garage and drilled said hole. Now both optics hang right above the muzzles of the guns as they stand in their respective positions. I just have to remember to collapse the butt stock on the Saiga 12 before putting it away. Oh, speaking of the Saiga 12, I tried the holographic sight on there for grins. It looks good but it sits too high to get a good cheek weld on the stock. You have to hold your head up off of the stock to see through the optic. Well, I wasn’t planning to use it on that gun anyway. And with that I think I'm going to call this a rant. Maybe I'll take some pictures of the guns and how they stack up in the cabinet for your perusal some time… and then again, I might not.