Scorched Earth Policy

Okay so everything with the sale of the wasr went splendidly. Instead of the 7th or morning of the 8th y friend showed up very early on the 6th and we headed toward John Brown’s Armory. We got there too early and had to wait outside the store in fact. Once they opened he and I proceeded to claim the 629 and started the transfer papers. This is where we ran in to some issues, since I forgot to bring my backed bank statements to prove my address (As a permanent resident I need to provide additional paperwork for firearm transfers) they couldn’t transfer the gun to me and simply refused to transfer it to my friend. To save time and make it so he didn’t have to come back the same day he was the one to step up and ask if he could at least pay right then and let me handle the transfer later. Of course they had no issues taking money. He paid in full what was actually more than we bargained for and we left. Later in the day I gathered the necessary papers and headed south again. This time the transfer was able to be completed and I left with the gun in hand.

As I said before about the red dot sight on top. The more I looked at it the more I outright hated it. Looks like a shitty hawaiian shirt, big mustache, mid 80′s magnum p.i. fuckin’ thing. The problem is, Smith & Wesson handguns are drilled and tapped under the rear sight for a pickaninny rail. Often times, and this case was no different, some asshole put that gay looking thing on and sold it without the rear sight. So when I took it off before I left the store I was left with this:

No rear sight. This presented some problems given our limited income. I needed a rear sight and a holster to carry this tank of a handgun around with. After talking to Jane I ordered a rear sight assembly straight from S&W, it was right around $70 but at least I knew it’d be the right one and fit properly.

So $70 later I have the gun the way the makers meant it to be and not with some tacticLOL gay looking bullshit on it.

The next thing was a holster. I had some names in mind already. Lawman leather and bianchi. Lawman is the standard but the problem with them after reading a lot of customer reviews is they take money but take months, even in to years to actually ship a product and I’m left handed no less so they were out right away. Bianchi makes an excellent X15 style vertical shoulder holster. Exactly what I need since my carry permit necessitates me to carry concealed. Problem with them is they each cost around the $200 mark. This is where friend falls in again and I really have to hand it to him because I never would have thought about it. We were going shooting at a local club and he produced an airsoft shoulder holster that costed around $15 that fit the revolver perfectly and is made to hold up under the weight and wear, I simply turned both it and the holster inside out and I had a left handed rig ready for use. After about a week of use I noticed the weight of the revolver made the straps dig in to my shoulders.

Standard X15 style vertical holster.

Not a bad fit considering it was made for basically toy guns. It doesn’t flop around, fits snug and excellent placement. I can see why the X15 has been pretty well unchanged over the decades. While looking for other holsters I found a UTG ambidextrous holster with a different fit design. It’s more a tactical design which I didn’t care for but for $16 I doubted I could go wrong.

I’m currently, slowly, fitting it to myself. I admit I have a few major complaints about this setup. Where you see the buckles attach to the holster is completely my doing. After trying to adjust the straps many times and having the gun stick out like 6 inches from the front of my chest I simply cut the buckles off and placed them where it actually makes sense. The other one is the holster itself. In their reasoning to make it fit as many makes and models as possible they made it so it’d fit a rocket launcher. I can personally attest to the fact that it’ll adjust out enough to fit a Mac 10 with a full sized silencer on it. In fact it balances and holds snugger with that than the Smith.

So far I’ve fired it 114 times. I’m quite impressed with the balance and how it handles recoil. As soon as we both get down to business I’ll likely post even more. This time about accuracy.

A few days ago Jane and I spent the extra and finally got out of the house. We went to Boardman Ohio. It’s kind of north Youngstown so is very large and has a lot more retail and food service in it than New Castle. For my part I found a few different gun shops in the area and Jane wanted to go to the Souther Park Mall. Instead of my standing around and hurrying Jane I dropped her off and went my own direction.

Both places were much different than I thought from their websites. The first was Expert Outfitters in North Lima, Ohio. The impression I got was that it was a huge store. Not so, it was rather small but organized and the staff was extremely helpful answering questions and the finer points of the process of transferring firearms across state borders. – He also pointed out another business based in PA that comes in to play later on.

My focus (as you know by now) has been a S&W 29/629 of any revision. He didn’t have any in stock but took my name and number down in case any came in. I looked at some other stuff and left.

The next place was a dirty cluttered hole in the wall in Poland, Ohio. Millers rod & gun. I didn’t expect anything modern or overly well lit or clean, those places are the exception by far not the rule but this place was dirty, dusty and just kind of gross. The stock they had was immense though. In that little place they had to have at least 3200 weapons on display. I went to the handgun section to start my questioning. They had a couple model 29′s on the shelf but that’s as far as it went. For a used nickel plated one they wanted $1200 for it. Let me say that again. USED. Another stainless steel version for $950, likewise used. After hearing these prices I moved to back up plan in the form of a Ruger Redhawk or a 1911 clone of some type. When I asked for a ballpark price range of either I was told to come back with cash then we’d come to a price.  As a customer that was the end of it for me. Millers Rod & Gun doesn’t deserve any business from anyone.

Now, when I was at Expert Outfitters the guy told me to go to John Brown’s armory in Rochester, PA. I was told that as far as handguns were concerned that was their direct competition and that it was staffed with decent enough people. Thursday I decided when I got up to go for a ride down and see for myself. Instead of the 20 minute drive I was told to expect I was on the road for nearly an hour going down route 18. The map makes it look like Beaver Falls but it’s actually south Rochester which is really North Pittsburgh. Either way. I got there and upon entering the business I seen a huge pile of rifles stacked in the corner and a very large store front. I found someone and asked, once again, about a model 29. To my surprise they had one in stock. A 629 classic. For $675 no less. Not a bad savings. The only dislike is that it had a laser sight on the top of it. I asked if it could be bought without it. Not possible. I asked about sales and possible layaway because I’m impoverished, they do a 20% down and take payments. I couldn’t even come up with that.

Depressing. On the way home I was trying to figure out how to swing this. The last thing I want is someone else to end up with MY gun, at that price no less. I dropped by a friends house on the way back, we had a running deal on him buying the Wasr for about a month, were in fact coming to terms when he kind of fell off the radar for a while. Either way I got ahold of him and explained what was happening and told him the sale was good for a short time only.

The next morning I called John Brown’s Armory and asked them to do me a large favor and take the gun off the shelf on a promise to pay. We have everything set for the 7th. Today I called friend and told him the details of everything and we’re set to go out on the 7th to pick it up.

So, with my most recent pay disappointment  we all have to back our plans up some month(s) (depending on income) We have a few necessities to get out of the road first then, once again, depending on resources Jane and I may actually be able to get what we’d like.

For my part I’ve grown the ability to sit and wait. I can’t do fuck all else what with being hamstrung on an earnings front. I’ve done a lot of digging and have narrowed it down to either a S&W 29/629 or a Ruger Redhawk/Super Redhawk, either of which will be in .44 magnum. The decision maker was the availability of a lawman leather type shoulder holster. They come in both left as well as right handed. and seem to hold larger frame revolvers comfortably with a modicum of concealment to boot. Either model will be in the $1000 range so it’s just a matter of availability at the moment if I (ever) get the money together.

Well, I got my second pay-disappointment today. It turned what was going to be a tight spot in to an impossible situation. What makes matters worse is my former employer is one of those places that just as a matter of course they keep W2′s until the last possible hour when they’re legally obligated to send them out.

I’m hoping with my earnings that we qualify for the Earned income credit. It’ll be a huge bonus to us and may even make things livable in the interim.

On a related note As I said I bought a Wasr 10/63 a few months back. This is exactly what it looked like before I started in on improving some of the factory rough spots and Century Arms well known defects. The wood was dry and gray, the whole thing was done in a cheap blue to keep corrosion down, front sight and gas block was canted. Internal workings were covered in cosmoline. It was just rough to say the least.

The very first thing I did when I got the rifle was take it totally apart. In particular I was surprised by the condition of the wood. The gun has been around longer than most of our generation has been alive and there was no preservatives on it at all. I got myself some sandpaper and minwax red wood dye as well as some polyurethane finish and the results came out excellent. Next I turned my attention to the canted front site and gas block. Straightening them out required a hammer and socket as well as removing some pins and adjusting the position. After that I decided I’d polish the bolt carrier as every other model aside from the Wasr is NOT blued. Finally I put on a slant muzzle brake.

Yesterday I got my Concealed carry permit in the mail. I’ve been thinking of a satisfactory handgun to start carrying now. No real surprise to those who know my tastes but I’ve narrowed it down to either a Colt 1911 or some kind of large frame revolver. Likely a S&W 29 or a Ruger Redhawk. I’m leaning toward the Redhawk simply because I can’t stand the thought of dusting some $1000 on a revolver that has no advantages over a Ruger. Now all I need to do is actually come up with the money.

Which is so much like the old hotness.

Every now and again I get to that point. When I removed all the old posts I figured what with LiveJournal, MySpace and Facebook that it was annoyingly redundant to keep posting on my own journal site. Given that I move servers more often than most people change underwear it was a huge pain in the ass. However, now that I’ve unified blogging and photo software migration shouldn’t be too much of an issue. Mayhap I’ll even make one complete site encompassing all entries when I gain physical possession of my own servers again.

Lets see, I’m still in Pennsylvania, Jane and I are still married and we have 3 lovely children. As I said before I gained my permanent residence status on October 12th of 2010. We had Mia on January 2nd 2011 and I started at New Castle School of Trades in July to attain my Machinist ticket. I had to take a leave of absence, this was only supposed to be for 3 months but employment, then employment issues made it last 6.

Since I’m now allowed to work I applied at a number of places looking to gain some kind of part time or short term work during my leave and it kind of skyrocketed from there. Unfortunately, that rocket promptly ran right in to the ground. With my not being allowed to work before getting my green card we’ve been on assistance to make ends meet. This covered food and medical expenses. Since I’m diabetic, and now on a pump to boot it was a huge boon and one I was worried about losing.

I got a job in a authority role paying fantastically well for the area so it was no surprise that at the end of the month we found out that I made too much and lost my medical benefits. This could not have come at a worse time than it did. I called like usual to renew my insulin prescription and was told that  I was on limited benefits – covering only OTC prescriptions. This meant that Insulin, Reservoirs and cannulas were not covered any longer. Jane and I sat down and figured out the prices and in the end I’d have to work full time and come up with an additional $200 – $400 a month just to cover my medical expenses. Not even counting in food or any of the other items we need to provide for the house and family. It was impractical to work. I had to leave my job and now I sit here until March 2nd waiting to go back to school.

It’s not all bad. I was able to make money for the Christmas season and provided a good holiday for my wife and the kids. That’s most important. I even got a present for myself that I was eyeing for a good while.

On black friday I went out early in the morning and bought a Wasr 10/63 (ak-47) simply because it is what it is, a cheap spray gun that is totally prohibited in Canada. The unexpected problem is I can’t find a single place to shoot the damn thing. I’ve had it for nearly 3 months and haven’t discharged it yet.

To fill the empty hours I’ve busied myself looking for some ways to turn a profit during school while maintaining a schedule that I can handle. One of my brother-in-law’s friends is a fairly heavy investor in firearms so he and I struck up a deal on the Wasr so I could move forward with a preferable model to clean up and sell. The plan was to occupy time and make a profit. I set a time up to meet with him and promptly got stood up. The next day he explained himself and we set it again for the following day where exactly the same thing happened. One and done. I wont be made a fool of again. I’m disappointed in the fact that I thought I found a friend after being here for some 4 years even if it was on and off.

The nights are the hardest. We’re stuck inside because of the season. Even if we weren’t we have no money to do anything anyway. Lately I’ve taken to doing a lot of backend changes on this website, finally putting everything where it needs to be and cleaning up some redundancy in files as well as fine tuning my email to curtail a huge volume of spam that’s been coming in for some months.

So here we are. Life goes on at the pace it will I guess.