Oh Yeah, Before I Forget...

...another, what was it, four long guns cleaned tonight. I did the New England Fireams Pardner, single barreled, 12 gauge shotgun - the Mossberg M44 bolt action 22 rimfire (marked U.S. Property) - my Ruger 10/22 (as opposed to my son's) and the Remington 513T Matchmaster. The Remington and the NEF Pardner were, in essence, clean and just needed a maintenance cleaning. The Mossberg M44 was a little bit fouled, I guess I must have shot it a bit and put it away dirty.

On the other hand, the Ruger 10/22 looked as if I had put away in the midst of trying to figure out exactly how many rounds I could fire through it, without cleaning it, before it jammed. It was a dirty, filthy, fouled, unwholesome disgrace. I am willing to bet it would have functioned, if not flawlessly in that state, then at least excellently. I cleaned it regardless. I must say, it was a pain in the arse. Why it is that Old Man Ruger put out a few to several firearms that are a pain in the posterior to disassemble for proper cleaning, and then to reassemble to ever shoot again, is way beyond me. Maybe Old Man Ruger was a wee bit of a Sadist. He sure had a captive audience in Ruger fans.

Luckily for me, I had the manual for the Ruger 10/22. No, let me correct that: I had the manual and consulted it but it didn't help one fucking iota. My real luck was that I remembered how to do it, sort of, and remembered that even when I had been doing it on a pretty regular basis, it was a pain in the ass. So, I kept at it, knowing I would get it right sooner or later. The problem was not getting it apart but getting it back together. Aligning the recoil spring, recoil spring guide rod and bolt handle - so as to get the bolt back in place over them - is a tediously painful procedure (not forgetting to get the ejector in the right position). I must have tried at least 10 times before I got the bolt seated properly. It did not help that the pins, holding things in place, kept falling out (they are loose as greased pig shit in an over stretched gay pigs ass) but are held in place by the stock once the rifle is completely assembled. Nor did it help that I had done this probably hundreds of times before. Since I had not done it in what I am guessing had to have been at least a year, maybe and probably more than two years (pre-cancer), I was out of practice and one sure needs lots of recent practice, or one heck of a foolproof memory (and we know that ain't mine) to get it done right when it comes to certain Ruger firearms. Of course, maybe it was not Old Man Ruger who was to blame but his predeceased partner Sturm although I think they both played a part. Either way, who can fault them all that much since they manufactured some of the most affordable and fun guns to shoot in all of the universe, throughout all of time to date - the Ruger 10/22 being just one of them. For guns like it, and the Ruger MKI and MKII, I can put up with a lot of pain in the behind shit taking them apart and putting them back together if only because I had fun with them before needing to take them apart and because I know the end result is going to be one hell of a good time all over again. A wise man, Supervisory Borer Patrol Agent F.J. Danforth (I'll be damned if I can remember his first name or initials for sure), once told me that every time I shoot a gun, I need to take it down and clean it, then test fire it. (Do you understand what I just said, what he told me, the subtle implication of it? It makes for lots and lots of shooting fun.) God bless Sturm and Ruger and God bless the younger Ruger who took over after both Sturm and his old man passed on and God bless F.J. Danforth (who I am sure most likely has passed on by now).

I still have more to clean, I am still a little surprised at how many. Of course, I also have to re-clean those that my son took upstate this weekend. They would be a Mosin Nagant 91/30, Mosin Nagant M44 and the Winchester model 37 shotgun. I was hoping he would have cleaned them but he got home just as I started to write this blog post. He put two gun cases on the floor and then left for an overnighter at work (not at his regular job but where he used to work in the kennel). Go figure, he doesn't have time to clean the guns tonight (which, since he is working, I can understand) nor does he have the time off to go to the Sixth Annual Northeast Bloggershoot with me next week. He told me he had asked off for this weekend months ago and his boss gave him off. I only told him about the Bloggershoot a couple of weeks ago, and he has not been able to get next weekend off when it takes place, I guess because he got this weekend off and he usually has split weekdays off. Still though, those guns that he had upstate this weekend need to be cleaned so I can shoot em next weekend! I bet I get stuck cleaning em but if I have even a little bit of luck, he will volunteer to do it. Oh well, no use complaining if he does not, I just won't let him borrow them again and judging by how much fun he said he and Haylie (his girlfriend) had shooting the Mosin Nagant 91/30, MN M44 and the Winchester Model 37, I am willing to bet he gets the job done if  I make future use of them conditional on it.

I just realized, I need to get more shooting, more gun cleaning, more gun fiddling and more gun anything done; I haven't been doing as much as I used to and now that I have been catching up - it sure has been a lot of fun.

All the best,
Glenn B