Early Christmas

I wanted to write this post sooner, but there just hasn't been the time. I've had to either work late or, in the case of last night, go to a Christmas party. But I've really been thinking about it, honest! (Mid-post edit: Grab a cup of coffee. This post is getting long!)

I guess it's time to spill it. As I mentioned here, the Tweaker Family is doing a little panic buying. The Friday before that post, I'd ordered some magazines for my Px4, The Wifey's 92FS, and an AR that I didn't own yet. Saturday brought more fun, trying hard to find a new AR that wasn't overpriced by three or four hundred dollars. Sheerly out of dumb luck, there happened to be a gun show that weekend, so we planned out the day around when gun stores and the gun show opened.

The gun show opened earliest, so we made the trip into and then across town to be there five minutes after it opened. It was still packed. We decided that the best approach was to start at one side, and just go up and down the aisles with our eyes ever watchful for AR's. We also knew that The Wifey's carry gun may be lurking in there, so that meant checking out each and every handgun in the joint, too.

And it's a good thing we did, because the only two new AR's that fit the bill were a $2400 Colt (*drools*) and a DPMS that was about $500 over retail.

After getting within two aisles of the end of that trip, we spotted a pretty blue laminate stock stuffed with a 10/22 that drew our attention to a pretty big dealer. A few long guns (no AR's) and a ton of handguns. Including exactly one Magnum Research box. "Honey, look," says I. "Is that a compact?" she replies. "Yep, but it's polymer, not steel. You still interested?" I ask. "Lemme hold it."

It was the first polymer Baby Eagle 9mm Compact either of us had ever seen in person. She'd been married to the steel version (which we'd seen twice before, including at The Gun Store That Shall Never Recieve My Dollars), but gave this polymer pistol some serious consideration. "It's not steel," I remind her. "But, you said that the polymer version would be easier to carry all day because it's lighter, right?" she answers. "Yeah, and being a 9mm you're not gonna have killer recoil anyway. It should be just as easy to shoot," I say with a touch of speculation in my voice.

All of the sudden, her face lit up, she looks at the lady across the table with a really big smile and says, "I'll take it!" I'm caught off guard. "Honey, are you sure? You want the polymer gun?" "Yes," she says. I need convincing. I didn't want her to get it just because it was there. I needed to know she wanted THAT gun. "Are you positive? Do you LOVE that gun? Does it give you warm and fuzzy feelings when you hold it?" She looks at me with all the confidence in the world and says, "I. Want. That. Gun."

I grin and look across the table. "We'll take it."

Next stop, Academy. I'm determined to show up there until they just meet me at the door and say they have no AR's available. And while they did have a Remington R-15 and a Sig 556 sitting there, they did not have the carbine that I was after. But they did have a shotgun that we'd been looking at for some time. See, The Wifey suddenly got it in her head that she wanted to bust clays, and that when The Little Girl got old enough, she'd be busting clays, too. So we it was decided that a pretty little shotty was in order, in the form of a pink-marble-stocked Mossberg 500 Super Bantam 20ga. Cutest. Shotty. Ever. Keeping with the 200-round-rule (200 rounds will go through a gun before it is considered functional and put to work hunting, defending, etc.), I picked up 200 20ga shells in a couple different weights.

From there, an ammo run at Bass Pro Shops, where I found plenty. 100 rounds of 55-gr FMJ .223, 100 rounds of 55 gr. MC 5.56, 200 rounds of 124 gr. flat-nose 9mm, 25 rounds of 12ga #6, and 25 rounds of 12ga. 00-buckshot. (Note: I now have magazines AND ammo for an AR I still don't own).

We went home from there, as The Little Girl was not so excited about gun shopping as The Wifey and I. We checked out the two new guns, let The Little girl hold what would eventually become her second firearm (the 20ga), and off I went to my local gunstore.

There I found no AR's (a theme that was getting old), but more pink caught my eye. Before me on the rifle rack was a pink-synthetic Crickett .22LR. That was an easy decision. This would be The Little Girl's first firearm. I went ahead and threw in the pink-camo rifle bag. Hey, a girl's gotta accessorize, doesn't she? As I was shouldering the rifle, this one bubba rolls his eyes and shakes his head. I didn't mind, as every woman in the place (many work there, all the daughters, daughters-in-law, or granddaughters of the owner, and the lot of 'em real easy on the eyes) said that I was gonna have the happiest daughter ever and I was the Greatest Dad On Earth.

I grinned at bubba on my way to the register:)

Before I left, I asked if they had any AR's coming in. The owner - the most polite, old-fashioned, bona-fide certified dipped-and-fried Texan I think I've ever met - said that he had some on order, and a waiting list to buy 'em up. He offered to put me on the list, and I accepted.

And I couldn't be happier for doing so. Because the following Wednesday, I got a phone call as I was finishing up a house that was in the trim-out phase. It was right before lunch. The guy at the gun counter of the tack & feed & hunting & archery & western apparel & stuff store said that he'd just taken three AR's off the truck, and wanted to know if I wanted one. After getting a quick description, I told him I'd be in the moment I finished up what I was doing, and that would probably be around late-lunch time. He assured me he'd hold one for me if I wanted to wait until after work, but there was no way I was taking the chance.

I got there, and before me were three Armalite M15A4 carbines. It was truly a thing of beauty. One of the daughters pulled one down for me. I inspected the rifle carefully, and realized that, despite my excitement, I really didn't care for the trigger. It felt like you hit the back of the trigger guard and then had to squeeze a little harder before the hammer fell. I don't know if I just passed on some one-in-a-million factory trigger, but I knew I didn't like it. So, she handed me the second one. Much better trigger, broke right at the beginning of the second stage. She asked if I'd like to try the third one. Why not? Well, good thing I did. This one broke just a split second after the second one, and it felt great. I laid the Armalite down in front of me and said, "This is my AR. There are many like it, but this one is mine." She laughed at me, put the other two away, and grabbed me a 4473 and a bottle of water.

So the gun-buying spree has come to a close. Four new arms in as many days, and including the Hydra-shoks I picked up on Monday nearly 700 rounds of ammo. All I've got left is a small handfull of 9mm Hydra-shoks and some magazines for the Baby Eagle, which my wife sagely decided to wait on, just in case neither one of us likes to shoot the pistol.

Oh, and one other thing. I've got to get a rear sight for the AR. It's got the front battle sight, but a flat-top receiver with nothing on it. I'd bleg for it now, but I think a fellow blogger has just what the doctor ordered.

So the Baby Eagle and the 20ga should get a good breaking-in this weekend. I'll do the Crickett later. I don't want to do 200 rounds of single-shot .22LR before OR after a ton of 9mm and 20ga.

Range report and pics soon (read: eventually).



tweaker