7/21/14

Most.  Boring.  Weekend.  Ever.  Ok, it wasn’t really that bad.  Saturday I took the 7.62x39 Saiga to the shop to see about making the bolt hold-open a little more user friendly.  I took the safety lever off the gun and ground a “ramp” into the BHO slot.  Now when the bolt is locked back with the safety if Juan pulls it back, the charging handle partially disengages the safety just enough for the bolt to move forward and go into battery.  You still have to fully disengage the safety to fire the thing though.  I think it will work.  I’m pretty happy with it.  After reassembling the gun, I packed it up and had a look at Lil' Wiggly’s distributor.  I may have mentioned last week that somehow I wound up wiring the thing clockwise when it should have been anti-clockwise.  I rectified that situation.  Now, hopefully, the engine will bark to life when we get enough juice in the battery to make it spin over.  Oh, I had a look at the water level in the radiator and it has settled a little but has not run out onto the floor… so I guess I have THAT going for me.  I forgot to check the oil level, but again there wasn’t a pool on the floor so I’m going to assume it is ok.  By the time I had the HT leads changed on the distributor I was ready to call it a day.  It was still early enough that I didn’t want to go straight home though.  I considered taking the Saiga to Winchester Gallery to burn up some ammo, and sight in the optic, but didn’t do it.  I took off down Forrest Hill Drive instead.  When I passed Shelby road I thought about going to Alpine to burn up some ammo, and sight in the optic, but didn’t do it.  When I got to 1187 I took off west.  I circled around that little road I used to hoon there near the 377 end of 1187 and then filled up the car at the gas station there in Whiskey Flats.  I thought about going to the gun range there to burn up some ammo, and sigh tin the optic, but didn’t do it.  I took off west on 1187 again and did the FM 5 loop to Lake Weatherford.  At the intersection of White Settlement Road and 1187 I hooked it north to Confederate Parkway and then to Silver Creek Road.  That led me to Heron Road and back to Las Vegas Trail where I got on Loop 820 and went home.  T’was a nice hoon.  Mom and I went to lunch at Maharaja for their Indian buffet.  I ate way too much.  We bought cat food and litter at the Wal Mart then went home to take naps.  At least I assume she took a nap, I know I did.  Sunday I get a text from Larry asking if I wanted to go to the gun show in Not Texas… Irving to be precise.  I looked up the venue and said I would pick him up.  I did and we went to the show.  It was slightly smaller than the small Fort Worth show, but pretty nice nonetheless.  I wound up buying twenty rounds of some dude’s reloaded .45-70 Govt ammo for some reason, 100 rounds of Silver Bear .223 JHP ammo, a 10 round magazine for the Tavor, and a sling for the Ruger American Rimfire rifle.  I can ‘splain… well, all except the .45-70 ammo.  I needed a sling for the RAR, you can’t argue that one.  I didn’t have any hollow point .223/5.56x45 ammo, you might be able to argue against that purchase.  I won’t fight it.  As for the 10 round magazine… well, that will require a bit more justification.  First off, it was only fifteen bucks so not a major investment.  Then there’s the fact that a 30 round STANAG magazine looks… wrong, in the new faux magwell magazine holder thingy I put on the Tavor.  I fingered that a 10 or 20 round magazine would look better and could just sit there as my “Last Line of Defense” cache of ammo.  So I bought it.  The .45-70 reloads… yeah, I got no excuse.  I guess I just like the ludicrous size of that round so every time I see some, I buy it.  I don’t know.  Once Larry and I had spent most of our money, we went to Smash Burger for lunch and then to Cabela’s.  We bought nothing there.  After dropping him off at his house, I took off up 718 through Newark to 114 and into Boyd.  There I got on 730 and headed back south to Azle.  I took the back roads from Azle to I-20 and then went home myself.  There I installed the sling on the RAR… I like it.  I then tried the 10 round magazine in the Tavor.  It fit the weapon’s magwell fine… the other, not so much.  I wound up filing the magwell some until the magazine would lock in place.  I loaded it with 10 rounds of Silver Bear and popped it into place.  I loaded up three 30 round mags with the rest of the Silver Bear and popped one of them into the gun… on a closed bolt.  Juan will have to rack the charging handle to load one in the chamber.  I put the gun away and grokked the .45-70 ammo for a bit.  Those rounds are so over the top ridiculous!  I put them away and went in to the spreadsheet to update the ammo inventory.  I may have taken a nap after that.  Now we’re back at work and hating life.  So, that’s about all I have to say for today.  Well, except that it is now Friday and apparently I forgot to send this on Monday.  My bad.