GARY'S GUN NOTES

    This week has been one of the goofiest weeks I have had in a long while. Colleen had been gone to one of her Jack Russell field trials which left me running the gun shop along with the 2 machine shops and with only the help of one older fellow. Now that is normally no problem as I have done it countless times thru the years, but this week seemed to be the week the looney tunes managed to escape the asylum.  It was like as they escaped someone was here to hand out maps on how to get to the Pistol Parlor and some of the best questions to ask when you get here.

    Now normally I get one or two questions asked a day that should never be asked in mixed company and by mixed I mean around those that might possibly have a brain and those that don’t, but their brother in law told them the answer to it before they even asked it. And when Colleen’s helper answer the phone and real quick tells the caller, “Gary can probably help you, so hold on” I know it ain’t going to be the local Girl Scout wanting to sell Krispie Kreme donuts. I ask Colleen’s helper what was it. He usually says somebody wanting us to donate something to them. So  I do what any red blooded young man would do, I put that person on hold and quickly forget him.

The second thing that normally makes me want to close the shop for the day and go home is the fellow that just bought a new rifle and someone, probably on his wife’s retarded side of the family, told him he needs to take the gun totally apart to make sure the factory put it together correctly. This is the guy that makes me think of doing harm to him as soon as he sets the bag of parts on the counter. A bag that clinks much like a bag that holds the parts to a rifle or handgun and has a barrel sticking out the end of the bag.

   This stray numb nuts brought in a new CZ rifle, the new 457 Varmint Precision MTR chambered in 22 LR. It was a new model and one that I had never seen before. Now CZ makes great guns and I own several  but often European rifles or handguns are made with 25 to 30 too many parts.  If the gun could work perfectly with 10 parts then most European companies help the economy by putting 2 or 3 times that many in there. And this gun was one of those. The fellow that had bought it less than 2 hours before walking in my shop proudly told me that “I know how to put it back together but I don’t have the time”.    Strike one.  Then he says he wants me to put it back together right then, even though we are swamped with folks in to have their gun checked out and the scope bore sighted due to the hunting season was to start in a matter of a few hours.  Strike 2.  Then this escapee from the local mental institution says he wants to stand there and watch me put it back together to make sure I am doing it right. Strike 3.  I told (with a smile on my face) that “sure we can put it back together for you. But it would be at least 6 to 8 months before I could even look inside the bag”.  I also told him the 5 or 6 guys standing in the shop were there waiting for me to bore sight their rifle and then shoot it in for them in my machine shop next door. And that a couple of them had been here at opening time waiting for me to get here. At that Mr. Brain Dead slides a $10 bill across the counter and with his used car salesman smile says “this should put me in front of them”. Continuing to smile, I walked around the counter and told him to come with me. He follow me with that “I knew the $10 bill would work” smile. I opened the front door and motioned him to my side. I pointed to large tan building across the street, a fairly new Cal-Ranch (they carry some guns and ammo and might have a gunsmith). I pointed to the Cal-Ranch and said “see that big building? That is the new Cal Ranch. The specialize of working on guns that morons have taken apart, so my suggestion is to take your $10 bill back and waddle over to Cal Ranch and I am sure they can help you”. I gently pushed his lard ass out the door and closed it behind him. He stood there for a minute or two trying to decide if I had helped him or did I really call him a moron.

      The second one has the decency to wait until after lunch to come into the shop. He had a new Browning BAR in 300 Winchester Magnum and wanted it bore sighted. He had one of our extremely hard to get antelope tags and wanted me to bore sight it and that was all it really needed. He said the antelope were easy to put down and a hit anywhere on the body would usually put them down. If not his buddy had a dog that could track him and probably find him, and if they didn’t it was no big deal as it was just an antelope, and he could find another one real easy. I said “yeah if you just wound him and he staggers off to die a day or so later, it is no big deal, it’s just an antelope, right?” He was happy to agree with me. I told him to hang in there and I would get it done for him next door and be back in a flash. I took it over next door and ran the up/down adjustment knob as far up as I possible could and ran the left/right knob as far to one side as I could. Handing it back to him I told him it was on the house, just glad to see one of the California hunters get one of our antelope tags.

The third gentleman was one that we really did try to help him and if he had just brought it in when the problem first cropped up he would have been better off. His gun was a very early Browning A-5, the model with the safety inside the trigger guard. He was dove hunting and noticed the bolt stuck back. Rather than bring it in to any gun shop, he proceeded to take the whole thing apart down to the smallest screw. During this he noticed a pin had fallen out. He tried to put the whole thing back together and ended up losing or breaking a couple of small internal parts.  Now like I said we did try to help this fellow but the moral to this story is if you don’t have “I are a gunsmith” tattooed on your forehead, don’t take it apart. His doing so and losing or breaking a couple of small parts that are extremely hard to find plus almost 4 hours of us trying to find out what part he lost or broke and then calling around trying to find these parts he will end up spending enough to buy a new shotgun. So if you have a problem with your gun, whether it be a shotgun, rifle or handgun, take it to your local gun shop that has a gunsmith and let him handle it for you. Gun parts, like everything else these days, are very hard to find.

This situation happens a couple of time every week. Guys buy a new gun and as soon as they get it home they take it totally apart and can’t get it back together. Why they do it I have no idea. The best thing to do to a new gun is NEVER NEVER EVER take it apart and always keep gun oil away from it. It doesn’t need it. If it did it would come from the factory covered with oil. Keep the cleaning gear away from the gun and never take a new gun apart. If you have to do so, run a swab thru the barrel and let it go at that. The Bore Snake is a friend to a gun owner. Get one in the caliber of your new gun and run the swab on the end that looks like a tampon thru the barrel and chamber a time or two and let it go at that. Our Dads taught us to clean our guns religiously as the ammo, powder and primers back then were corrosive. We don’t have that problem with today’s ammo so keep the cleaning to an absolute minimum. Cleaning your gun after every shooting session does more harm than good. Keep a little tube of SNO, the gun grease and put a tiny bit on the bolt with a tooth pick and work the bolt a few times. But keep all oil TOTALLY away from all guns. All it does is attract sand and dust and crap in the air and that turns into a grinding compound and ruins the internals of your gun.  A Bore Snake, a tube of SNO or Rem Grease and a spray can of Rem Oil are all you ever need with your gun. The Rem Oil sprayed on a rag lightly is good to wipe down the outside of the gun including the stock as it has Teflon in it and is good for the stock. After wiping the gun with the Rem Oil rag then go back over it with a dry rag and wipe the excess off the gun. If you like to handle your guns a lot, pick up a pair or two of cotton gun gloves and wear then when you handle the gun. We have them at our gun shop. I keep several pair in my gun safes and never handle my guns without them.

Well, so much for being the kindly old gentleman. There are a few new guns out there that I have seen or played with it and maybe even shot. One is the new 338 Weatherby RPM. Now the gun has been out for a short while but the ammo was nonexistent. Supposedly it is now, although like a lot of the new cartridges it is scarce to say the least. The rifle itself is unusual in that it is an 18” barreled rifle to take advantage of the new smaller 6 lug Mark V action. The gun weighs only 5 pounds and would be the perfect hillside to hillside rifle for sheep or deer size game at longer range. Now the 18” barrel will turn some of the older crowd off who believe you have to have at least a 26” barrel to hit anything at over 100 yards. But that is what Weatherby says in their ads, that it is maximum big bore performance in a 5 lb rifle.  They also make a20” carbon fiber barreled rifle in the same cartridge and at the same weight.

Next if you want to good smaller shotgun for home defense, check out the Rock Island VRF14. A lot of folks re passing up the Rock Island guns for some obscure reason. They are some of the finest made, period. The 1911s are great guns for the 1911 fans and they also have several other models. The new VRF14 is a 5 shot 12 gauge and is small enough to be perfect for home defense. It has a 14” barrel and is smooth and comfortable and easy to shoot. Perfect for home defense.  Check one out if you have a chance.

There are several other new items to go over for you but I will get that done in a couple of weeks as I am 2 days late already.

  Hunting seasons are here or almost here so if you get a chance to get out to do some small game hunting, take a lady or youngster with you. Remember with all the anti gun crap in the news these days they are our best hope.

Til next time, God bless,

Gary