6/21/12

Well, what do we have to say today?  Hmm… nope, I got nothin’.  I guess I'll say that I arrived home yesterday to find a bunch of boxes and packages had arrived.  First was the big heavy box from Summit.  “What the hell did I order from Summit?” I asked myself.  I opened it to find the valve spring compressor.  “Oh, right,” I thought.  Then I had a look at the huge box from McMaster Carr.  This had the oily rag bucket and push button switch for Lil' Wiggly.  The switch it tiny… like teeny tiny… like maybe too teeny tiny to be of any use.  We’ll see.  Next up was a padded envelope from… uh, someone.  It was the valve stem seal installation tool kit I'd ordered from e-Bay.  Oh shit!  I need to go leave feedback for that transaction.  Hang on.  Ok, that’s done.  Where was I?  Um, Summit box, “What did I order…”, compressor, McMaster Carr, rag bucket, tiny switch, maybe too tiny, padded envelope, stem seal tools… ok, I remember.  The final package was from AK Builder dot com.  Juan may remember that I ordered a bunch of stuff from them for my two 7.62x39 rifles and Gregg's father’s Saiga 12 but that they “shorted” me one trigger group.  Well, after installing the Arsenal trigger group in my tactical 7.62x39, and not liking it as much as the TAPCO trigger group in the Woody 7.62x39, and realizing that the Woody 7.62x39 didn’t need an Arsenal trigger group for 922r compliance, I sent AK Builder an e-mail asking if they would be willing to substitute a Hogue grip for the missing trigger group.  Wow, that was some sentence, eh?  Almost Lucasian in its obfuscation, was it not?  Anyhoo, the final package was the Hogue grip… and another fire control group pin retaining plate.  Said plate was kind of stuck to the side of the grip so I sent another e-mail asking if he intended to send that or if it had gotten stuck in on accident.  Turns out he sent it to make up the difference in price, which I was willing to eat and had said so, between the grip and the trigger group.  Damn, now I have an excuse to buy another Saiga.  Wait!  I wonder if all of Larry’s AKs have FCGPRPs.  I'll offer it to him I guess.  So, after looking at all of that stuff, mom and I discussed dinner plans.  I suggested crab salad and avocado wrapped in rice.  She looked at me in much the same way I expect you are looking at the screen right now.  Sort of a, “Do whu…?” kind of look.  When I ‘splained that those were the ingredients of a California roll, she shrugged and said she’d give it a try.  We hopped in Fiona and headed to Wasabi Sushi.  I ordered edamame, two California rolls, and two Cajun rolls.  Apparently at dinner they come with miso soup AND a salad.  We ate and I think she really liked the edamame and the California roll; she was a little cool towards the Cajun roll.  More for me!  I asked her if she’d go again and she replied, “Well, not tonight...”  I took that as a “win” and moved on.  Back at the house, I began playing with the Hogue grip on my tactical 7.62x39.  The other day I had removed the trunnion with the Picatinny rail grip, which I have decided I HATE, and put on the trunnion with the SAW style grip.  I removed the SAW grip and had a look at the Hogue.  The big-assed screw which held on the SAW grip was way too long and the hole for it would have put the grip too far back.  The tiny hole for the retaining screw through the receiver would have positioned the grip well but I didn’t have a long enough screw for it.  I forced the big-assed screw into that hole and looked to see how much too long it was.  Not a lot but still… um, a lot.  I began the search for a spacer.  In my “Gun Crap” drawer I found a Kimber magazine floor plate with a thick plastic… bumper extension thingy attached to it.  This I removed and looked to see if it would fit in the Hogue grip.  It would not.  I trimmed it to fit and drove the big-assed screw through it then dropped that into the grip and screwed the grip to the trunnion.  It drew up to the trigger guard nicely but at a slightly decreased angle.  The front hit first and left a tiny gap at the rear.  I kept hunkering on the screw until it drew up.  This made for a slight swell in the top of the front of the grip but it isn’t all that noticeable.  Oh man, I had not realized just how much I hated the Picatinny mounted grip until I handled the gun with a Hogue.  This grip is perfect.  I love it.  So now my tactical 7.62x39 has enough US made parts… wait, no.  Now my tactical 7.62x39 has had enough foreign parts replaced that it complies with 922r even when using foreign magazines… which is a good thing because I discovered that my Pro-Mag magazines do NOT have “Made in US” anywhere on them.  I would have been up shit creek if I'd taken that gun out relying on magazines for compliance because they would have put me over the minimum parts limit!  Now I'm cool.  So, I guess that’s about all I have for y'all today.  Toodles.