7/3/12

I noticed that I forewent the travelogue of the weekend yesterday in lieu of a regular rant sort of thing.  So today I will rectify that.  Saturday we did not go to the shop… well, I did but John didn’t.  I took the SKS with me and… wait!  Friday after work I stopped in at Bloodbath & Beyond to look at a Monte Carlo stock kit for the SKS.  I also found a fore arm cuff (like a butt cuff but it goes on the fore arm of a gun rather than the butt stock) shotgun shell holder for the Boomstick.  I bought these two items and went home.  I installed the cuff on the Boomstick and loaded it up with six rounds of 000 buckshot.  I now feel the Boomstick is ready for action.  I looked at the butt stock one more to see about cutting it a wee bit shorter… but decided 29” overall length is short enough, for now.  I may in the future chop the stock down to an overall length of 26” but not right now.  After messing around with the Boomstick for a bit, I grabbed the SKS and installed the Monte Carlo stock.  It fits much tighter than the old wore-out Dragunov stock so I'm happy.  I also installed a sling on the gun and walked around the room with it over my shoulder for a bit to see how it rides.  I think it’ll work.  Ok, so NOW we’re up to Saturday morning when I took the SKS to the shop with me.  I cut off the bayonet lugs because I don’t ever plan to install a blade on the thing and it removes one more potential hassle with the man over it being a “military weapon.”  I cleaned up the cuts and spritzed a little black paint on the exposed metal.  While I waited for the paint to dry I... hmm, what did I do?  I think I just looked at stuff.  I know I didn’t actually do any work on anything.  Eventually I loaded the gun back into the trunk of Fiona and headed home.  I swung through the Mobil station for gas and a wash.  Meh, the car is cleaner than it was.  I went home and took a shower.  Online I decided to go ahead and order some stuff for the SKS.  I bought a US made gas piston and operating rod as well as a scoped rear cover.  See, unlike the sheet metal cover on an AK style weapon, and SKS had a machined metal cover over the rear of the action.  I found online several places selling a cover, with scope rings and a 4x scope for $39.00!  It might not be much of a scope for that price, but since there were so many folks offering it, and many sold out of it, I fingered it otter be ok.  Mom and I went to lunch at Zeke’s and had rather tasty fried fish.  No, we shouldn’t have done that, I know.  But we did.  Back at the house I think I took a nap.  At around 1500 h, mom asked if I would drive her to a book signing by the daughter of our neighbor to the rear.  We took off and looked for the bookstore at 6333 Camp Bowie.  The only bookstore was Cokesbury and they were closed.  We drove the parking lot several times and decided maybe it was 3333 Camp Bowie instead.  We drove to the Kimble Art Museum, at 3333 Camp Bowie, but it didn’t seem likely.  We headed back and checked 6333 again.  Nope, no bookstore to be found.  We gave up and started home.  I decided to try one more time and called the Kimble to see if they were having a signing.  They were not.  We finally did give up after an hour of searching.  Turns out the signing was at Baker Street Pub in the 6333 Shopping Center and we drove past it five times.  There was no way we would have thought to try going in there but I'm regretting it every time I think that I missed out on Scotch Eggs.  Scotch Eggs are boiled eggs, packed in sausage, and then deep fried.  They are ambrosia, food of the gods!  Sigh, oh well.  Ok, so how much space have I wasted?  Hmm, almost a whole page.  I guess I'll save Sunday’s tale for Thursday since I won't be at work tomorrow.  Don’t blow your fingers off or put out your eye on the Fourth!  Toodles.