Present Fruit of Future Labor

So, the past couple of days have brought much gunnie goodness into Casa de Tweaker.

Cowtown Cop calls it panic buying. He's right. Since the presidential election, Barack Obama has gone from evil democratic candidate to salesman of the year in nearly every retail facility in the United States that sells guns. I know. I've hit a couple speedbumps along the way.

So, The Wifey and I looked long and hard at the present financial situation, and decided that (for a change) things were looking promising enough to allow for a little panic buying of our own. We redirected some future bonuses and leftover (read: after bills are paid) bucks, and grabbed a Majick Money Card to carry the temporary burden.

As it turns out, said Card arrived right after every Smith and Wesson dealer within 100 miles of here sold out of M&P 15's.

Dammit.

But that didn't stop me from ordering magazines for an AR Friday night anyway. On a sidenote, Cheaper Than Dirt has a shit-ton of Magpul PMAG's (part # MAG-074) in stock in Dallas. As far as I can tell, no one else has any. Not even Magpul. Follow that with a healthy order of mags from Beretta USA, and I'm covered in the magazine department (well, except for the CZ-52, but I haven't even pulled that thing apart yet to find out if it works. I'll get to it...).

Yesterday was ever more fruitful, though. I got to get myself real familiar with the new ATF Form 4473, as I filled out THREE of them! Funny thing is, not a single one was for me. Go figure. The Wifey finally got her long sought after carry piece, The Little Girl got Her First Gun (though she doesn't know it yet), and they both got a shotty that will introduce both of them to breaking clays. The Wifey is ready to bust clays now, but The Little Girl has a little while to go yet.

So, expect Gun Pr0n here just real soon;)

In other news, I'm still on the hunt for a Smith and Wesson M&P 15 (the link is Google Cache, as the Smith website is down at the time of this post). If'n any of y'all should come across a new one ('specially y'all Dallas folks). Anybody comes up with one within driving distance (3 or 4 hours tops), and I'll let you help me break it in with the first 200 rounds! At any rate, I've got a big box retailer and a local gunshop looking for one, too, so hopefully it won't be too much longer before I'm ready to shoot up that AR.

Oh, yeah. And I acquired about 700 rounds of various pistol, rifle, and shotty rounds, too. So Happy Belated Ammo Day!



tweaker

'Bout Damn Time

On May 27, 2007, The Wifey and I took The Little Girl for a little drive to a little town south of San Antonio called Poteet. For those of you familiar with this part of Texas, your mouths are probably already watering over the thought of those sweet, lucious Poteet strawberries. For those of you who are not in the know, gather 'round.

Poteet, Texas is one of those small towns in Texas that's known the world over (which, as far as Texans are concerned, is pretty much just Texas) for one thing or another. Poteet's claim to fame is strawberries. Folks, these are some of the best strawberries on Earth. Proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. Well, like most small towns who are known for something, they hold a yearly celebration for that thing.

Hence, the Poteet Strawberry Festival.

Yup. It's pretty much exactly what you're thinking. There's a Strawberry Queen and everything.

Well, we went to our first Strawberry Fest in 2007. It's a trip we plan to make yearly - we missed this year due to circumstances beyond our control - from here on out. You can fatten up in ways only the child inside of your inner child could imagine. It was here that The Little Girl proved her undying love for the Roasted Turkey Leg by allowing me three bites plus the bone, while she NOM'ed the damn thing to oblivion. She was four.

Anyway, at the Strawberry Fest, there's the standard compliment of festival-type-things, like rides and carnies. We went on our share of rides, and naturally had to acquire some toys, etc., from the toothless, tobacco-stinking, goat-molesting ex-convicts carnies. The Little Girl fell in love with a certain balloon-toy (as did her Daddy), and the decision was made to Win That Game.

Well, Daddy sure did win, and the toy was acquired. I was so happy with it, and she so proud of it, that it warranted photographing the occasion. I quickly typed up a good post about it and was prepared to post the image when The Wifey dashed my Fatherly Dreams to little pieces * voiced her concernes about putting pictures of our daughter on teh intarwebz.

I did what any concerned father would do. I got mad and deleted the entire post.

Well, thanks to the folks at the GNU Image Manipulation Program (a.k.a. GIMP), I have successfully (psuedo-) Photoshopped away any identifying features, and have been given clearance to Post To My Little Heart's Content.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you The Little Girl with her purple, inflatable AR.

I love life. Here's proof.



tweaker



*Just kidding, honey. I love you. I don't wanna sleep on the couch!

Short Relationships

I hate short relationships. I hate feeling like I'm getting to know someone well, only to find out that they are exactly the type of person I deliberately try to avoid.

Even worse, I hate it when the short relationship follows a strong introduction and the types of feelings that make you say, "Hey. Maybe the world ain't so bad after all."

***********************************

So, I've been carefully tracking the arrival of my Gun Fund. I set out today to run a few more errands, and head back to the gunstore I mentioned the other day. I told them that I'd be back through this weekend to give them the update and throw a few bucks at them as a token of good faith for their patience.

Well, to hell with all that.

I walked in and was greeted by the younger guy, who was happy to see us there. I asked for the other guy, the one who'd gotten me back in the store last time when I had given up on them, and he was quick to arrive. I told him where we were at, and that I was expecting to come back in sometime this coming week. I also told him that I could put some money toward it if they needed me to.

With barely an apology, he told me that he would not hold the AR for any longer than today, and the (hardly) discounted price would only be good through 6 p.m. today. He went on to tell me that they only hold guns for 24 hours, and that he got grilled hard about telling me that he'd hold it for as long as he had. He was quick to throw the next guy up under the bus.

Maybe he thought that would make it all okay.

He would be wrong.

Before I go on a rampage of ripping this guy a new one and basically shitting all over the store, let me clear up a couple of points that it may seem that I have missed. I know that very few, if any, gunshops anymore will simply put a hold on a gun. Most gunshops just make you buy what you want right then and there, and the few left that still have a layaway want you to put at least 50% down. These are the rules of most establishments under ordinary circumstances.

However.

This is not ordinary circumstances. I went in there the first time looking for a one-stop shop, where I could get as many as four firearms, over a dozen magazines, and ammunition all at once. We're talking about two or three thousand dollars all at once. Because of one extremely rude gunshop commando, I walked out. It was only after a sincere plea from the guy (with the owner's wife standing at his side) that I was willing to give them another chance, and that was only after including as part of his plea that he would "take care of me."

If, by "taking care of me", he meant as long as I was about to drop a shitload of money in my hand right the hell now, otherwise bugger off under our "normal" rules, well he did just that. I wouldn't have asked him to hold that gun if things were "normal." But that store broke the rules when some asshole that THEY HIRED denied me a "normal" business practice and instead tried to force me to let him tell me what I needed (even after I said I just wanted to drop a bunch of money on his wares).

If you're gonna get me back in your store after treating me like that, then you're gonna have to bend the rules to do it. You're gonna have to come off with a little special treatment to make up for the shitty treatment I got the first time, and that's just to get us back on even ground. You don't get to throw the rules in my face at the first hint that this transaction may be more than barely inconvenient.

Well, you can, but don't expect me to give you any of my hard-earned money.

********************************

I tried. I tried going the way of the gunshop guy. The guy who knows he'll never get rich selling guns, but does it because he loves it. The guy who gives a damn about other guys who love guns. That guy screwed me. So, next time I'm looking for a gun, I won't grace his door unless I've proven that he's the only guy on Earth that has what I'm looking for. Furthermore, if anyone comes to me looking for a place to get a gun, I will NEVER send them to that place.

Fuck 'em. I'll go back to Academy. They're cheaper than any other place, anyway.



tweaker

Gunnie Bleg

Question and answer time.

As I mentioned in my last post, I'm about to acquire some shiny new boomsticks. With particular attention to the AR, I'm going to need some ammo. Mostly ball ammo for range-flinging sessions, and a little for home defense.

Here's my question: I've found a significant supply of two different FMJ rounds that I think would make good range rounds. The first is Remington UMC 55 gr MC (Metal Case, as I found, is basically Remmy's way of saying FMJ) in .223. I can get that pretty darn cheap. The second is Winchester white box 55 gr FMJ in 5.56. That stuff is only $1 more.

I can get puh-lenty of both (which I will likely do. I'll go through 200 on the first range trip!). Thoughts and feelings? Are these both lousy rounds? Any better ideas? I'm open to any and all suggestions.

Feel free to throw in a good defense round while you're at it.

Thanks!



tweaker

The Plunge

Yesterday was an interesting day.

We started the day out with some rigorous house cleaning, fulfilling a need that's been ignored for the better part of the big project I've been working on. Sixteen- to eighteen-hour-days leave little strength left for laundry. Anyway, I noticed an unusual amount of dog hair on the carpet, so the dog required some thorough cleaning as well, in the form of brushing. Anyone notice that when a dog's preparing for winter, you can brush enough hair out to make another dog?

I had the intention of getting out to get another look at what the area had to offer in the way of Evil Black Rifles. I started with a quick look at the Smith and Wesson website, and was surprised to find out that Smith AR's are not nearly as expensive as I thought they were. I had them written off as up there around the Sig 556. I would have been wrong. You aren't gonna get away for under $1K like you might with a DPMS, but you are still that much south of the most inexpensive Colt. That's about where I wanted to be.

So off to Academy Sports first, where I figured I'd be out of luck. I'd been there before the elections, and they had at least half a dozen AR's. I ignored them, figuring that no big retailer would have any idea how to price such an evil device. Now is a different story.

(My only local gunshop was down to two AR's - both Colt's, and the only carbine was a Sporter that was priced out of my budget by nearly double - and the only pawn shop in town was kind enough to reveal that the guy that deals with the firearms is a baffoon. He's polite, but he thinks that All Berettas Forever Suck, and has no idea why the US military won't switch to the FN FS2000 and EOTech sights.)

Academy has a decent selection of firearms, believe it or not. They've got a pretty decent selection of handguns (lot of Glock, Para, and a good wash of the other major players), plenty of long guns, and Huzzah! Some AR's! The selection included two camo Remingtons, a Bushmaster in 7.62x39, a Smith in 5.45x39, and as fine an example of a Smith M&P-15 as I could have hoped for. Upon inspection, I learned that Brandon was right: the Smith was no finer than any other AR, but was still a fine gun. Still, it's exactly what I've been looking for: 16" barrel, collapsable stock, shorty handguard, flat-top receiver, front sight and (A3?) carry handle. And Academy's got a good price on them. Off to the handguns, where we can only find a polymer Baby Eagle (The Wifey fell in love with the all-steel Baby Eagle compact a while back, and we haven't seen one since), and for some reason there's about a 1/8" gap between the bottom of the grip and the floorplate of the magazine, and there's play in it. Yuck.

A quick side venture for bulk purchase of The Good Lord's Brew, and we hit Sportsman's Warehouse. They're always good for hundreds of handguns and long guns, and several AR's, right? Not today. They've been getting hit hard today, and the handgun wall has fewer guns on it than I have ever seen. I actually asked if they're cutting back on guns. The guy I usually talk to told me that they just don't have much left since the election. I asked about EBR's. The only two long guns he's got that could qualify as Evil are an FN PS90 and an Armalite AR-50. They don't have a single round of .223 from any maker.

We hit another Academy in another part of town, and it had almost the exact same selection of everything.

We decided to hit some more actual gun stores. Disappointment set in when I learned that the store where I took my CHL course closed up. That sucked bad. I checked another store where I have never had any luck, and this trip would be no different. No, I take that back. This time, after waiting for a good 10 minutes for help from the other three employees who were not helping other customers, I got to see the 50-ish guy behind the counter pretend to know something about a Springfield XD while pointing it at the man and woman he's helping, then point the damn thing at me. At that point, The Wifey grabs me and we split.

"Is there anywhere else we can go?" The Wifey asks. "Yeah, there's a gunstore over on San Pedro. It's really big, but I've never been in before."

This is where things got interesting.

We walk in, and the place is separated into sections. The front section has watches, knives, flashlights, etc. The back three sections are a firearms paradise. New guns, used guns, consignment guns, and antique/rare guns. The nearest guy to me greets us and asks what he can do for us. "I'm here to see Evil Black Rifles!" He laughs, and takes me back to a guy dressed in olive drab, with a scraggly soul patch and greasy black hair that's not quite shoulder length and hadn't been brushed in, well, ever as far as I could tell. It's okay though, I'm not there to judge one's appearance. I'm more interested in the two or three dozen AR's on the wall behind him. It is here that he revealed his true identity, as a Gunshop Commando:

Gunshop Commando: "Whatcha lookin for?"

Me: "Something like an M4A4..."

GC, before I could finish: "M4 is a military designation. That is a fully automatic weapon, and we don't have any of those here. What are you trying to use it for?"

Me, suppressing the urge to roll my eyes at the lesson: "I'm just looking for an AR carbine."

GC: "Okay, but what are you going to use it for? What are you going to shoot with it?"

Me, still calm: "What I'm looking for is a 16" barrel, collapsable stock, and flat-top receiver."

GC, noticably frustrated with my insolence: "WHAT are you going to SHOOT with it???"

Me, now frustrated with GC: "Does it matter? I want to buy a gun and shoot it."

GC: "YES IT MATTERS. WHAT are you going to shoot with it?"

Me: "Thank you for your time."

I was so furious, there must have been steam coming out of my ears. I politely gathered my senses as best I could on the way out the door, but I could not resist the urge to tell the nearest manager-looking type on the way out just how I felt about the transaction.

Me: "Sir? I came in here prepared to purchase as many as four firearms today, and that guy at the AR's just gave me every reason I need not to."

Managaer Type, with extreme Deer-in-Headlights expression: "What?!? What happened?!?"

Me, still very polite: "I tried to tell him exactly what I wanted, and he was too busy trying to tell me what I needed and wouldn't show me anything."

MT: "Who was it?"

Me: "The dude at the AR's; the dude with the kinda long black hair."

MT: "The guy with all the army crap on?"

Me: "That's the guy that just cost you big time."

And on that note, I walked out the door. The Wifey had already gotten The Little Girl in the car, and was getting in herself when MT came out the door with an older woman (60's at least: likely the owner's wife).

MT: "Sir, please wait. That guy does not speak for us. He's fired. He's done this before, and we've tried to work with him. He won't do this again. We are SO sorry. If you come back inside, I will take care of you, I promise. Please give us another chance."

I looked at The Wifey, expecting a "HELL NO!" expression. Instead, what I got was a "It's your call." I looked at MT and said, "Alright. You've got your second chance."

We went inside, he hooked me up with a young guy who looked strangely familiar, and we started checking out guns. "When you see what you want, come get me and I'll take care of you." They had the Smith! They had a Sig 556, a really pricey Armalite, and a Bushmaster wrapped in Picatinny rails. I still liked the Smith, though. I can't explain why, but it just feels right. Next up? Carry gun for The Wifey. "Y'all don't have a Baby Eagle, do you?" He responded that they were over there. "They?"

Turns out they have several Baby Eagles, including the ever-elusive steel compact in 9mm!!! The Wifey was already happy that they had steel Baby Eagles, but when he pulled it out, I said, "It's a compact." The Wifey literally started jumping up and down and blurted out, "I want it!" To add some icing to this ever-growning cake, it was on sale!

Off we went in search of a youth-stock 20 ga., as The Wifey and I had discussed getting into breaking clays, and when The Little Girl was old enough getting her involved, too. Youth-stock shotguns are pricey! They didn't have a Mossberg, but they had a Remmy 870 Express Magnum with a youth stock. A little more than I want to spend, but I'll keep it in mind.

Last, we checked on what would be The Little Girl's first gun, a Crickett .22LR. They had the new one with the walnut stock (and that shit was esspensive!), and a little stainless/synthetic Henry with awesome fiber optic front and rear sights for the same price (prolly for the sights, my guess).

When the smoke had cleared, and I checked out a couple really cool 1911's and a BHP that I'd give a finger for, we went and got MT to talk money. The Wifey and I had decided over days of research and discussion that we were going to redirect some fundage to acquire the guns we know will get banned, and we were waiting for these funds to become available. We told MT that we'd be ready to move on the AR and the Baby Eagle for sure (and the shotty and .22 possibly) within a week, two at the absolute most. He said he'd cut down the AR, make sure the Baby Eagle was still on sale, and hold on to them until I was ready. All he asked was that if we'd be longer than one week to call him or come by to let him know.

This guy really put his ass on the line to get us back into his store, and put the right guy on the job. I am fully prepared to buy at least the AR and the pistol, and unless some fantastical deal comes along I will buy them from him.

Now the worst part. The waiting.



tweaker

Long, Strange Trip

Wow. It's been about two weeks since I've done any blogging at all. I am beat to death.

Well, I was beat to death. Having only Sundays off for the last two weeks, and working until midnight or later for the remainder, it was high time I did some vegetating. I had today off. I've done nothing meaningful or constructive whatsoever (unless you count eradicating the evils of the Sword Coast south of Baldur's Gate as meaningful).

I've done some resting today. I feel better.

*************************************

Holy crap, y'all. What a couple weeks. It's hard to stuff two months worth of work into two weeks' time. I was lucky to have a good crew and one of my group presidents (started as a tech way back when), and all the after-hours work one can eat, to help. The project was to renovate the top floor of a building and turn it into more of a live event venue (corporate, not music). The tile ceiling was removed, the electrician added a zillion bucks' worth of custom dimmable fluorescent lighting cans, and we provided four nice new huge projectors, four motorized screens for them to point at, thirty-six speakers to prodive sound reinforcement, a show lighting package, and additional wiring infrasctructure to support an additional ten previously installed projectors and forty previously installed speakers.

Yeah, it's a ton of stuff.

I severely regret not getting before pictures of the renovation. But I most certainly be getting after pictures tomorrow when I return to normal hours and normal work. The deadline for most of the systems was last Friday, as we had a charity dinner in that room on Saturday, so that explains the crazy hours and the time crunch. The system was ready, and the event went off without a hitch. Four of the five members of my company's executive board was there, and they were super-pleased with the system. I couldn't have been happier.

The future's bright, y'all.

I'll get some pictures soon. In the meantime, we now return to our regularly scheduled blogging.



tweaker

It's Time To Get Bitter

I am about to make a move that I hoped I'd never have to make. Do to uncertainty about the upcoming electionSince the gun-banning fuckhead looks like the eventual victor here soon, I have decided to enact a plan I conceived when campaigning for this election started (which feels like about 1988 or so...).

Come next weekend, I may very well use some previously spoken for coin and make some firearms acquisitions that are likely to become the subject of the next Scary-Looking Gun Ban. Aside from the obvious standard-capacity magazines for all my handguns (prolly at least four of each), I'm looking at getting myself an AR-15.

Yep. It's time to take the plunge.

I'm going to get a more or less standard AR in 5.56. If I'm not mistaken, what I'm actually looking for is a straight-up -A4 (flat-top, flash suppressor, M-4 stock, etc.).

I'm very, very new to the world of AR's, so I'm very open to suggestion.

Today I looked at a DPMS Sportical and a Bushmaster O.R.C. Both were nice carbines. The DPMS was nice enough at $700. It's a good lightweight flat-top AR, but I wasn't crazy about the stock (it felt very sticky) or the lack of a forward assist. The Bushy, at $900, was a tiny bit heavier, had the forward assist, and also had a dustcover (which I don't care about) and the rail standoffs for mounting an optic. The stock was much nicer (felt solid in place, moved very smoothly between positions), and overall the gun just felt more solid. I feel like I know where the extra $200 is going.

It's kinda like the difference between a Taurus PT-1911 and a Springfield TRP. Both will fling .45ACP just fine, but the latter is just a better built gun.

The AR won't be the only gun purchased, either. We'll likely get a CCW for The Wifey (she's still quite fond of the steel Baby Eagle Compact) with some extra mags, and I could very well squeeze a carry 1911 if I play my cards right.

I don't want to spend the money. I don't need to spend the money. But need's not what it's about.

It never has been.



tweaker