Rifles Finally Ready for Rodent Ragnarok

Good things are happening. By my somewhat mundane standards.

I got my workbench set up, and I have been ordering stuff to complete it. I got a set of metric and standard Gearwrenches for about $40. Can’t beat that price. That’s about $2 per wrench, and I already have some Gearwrenches, so I know they’re pretty good. I also got metric and standard Craftsman ignition wrenches. Seems like they’ve gotten pricey, but there is always someone on Ebay…

I still don’t have enough pegboard hangers, but they will be here shortly.

Anyway, the workbench is functional, and I have a little plastic table next to it. Today the peep sight I ordered for my Marlin 60 arrived, and I decided to install it. I also decided to put my new Nikon scope on my Savage A22.

By the way, I had a great experience with Gander Outdoors. It’s related.

A lot of people hate Gander because a guy named Marcus Lemonis owns it. After Trump correctly (if generously) said there were fine people on both sides at the infamous Charlottesville rally, Lemonis said something about how he didn’t want anyone who agreed to shop at his stores. Okay, we get it. You hate racism, and you love all the puppies and kitties and warm fluffy bunnies. Anyway, a lot of 2A people now hate Lemonis, so going to his store is a big sin, like buying a Smith & Wesson was after they agreed to install “Hillary Hole” locks on their guns.

Lemonis put his foot in his mouth, and he is probably wrong about politics in every conceivable way, but it’s not a great idea to judge someone by what he says right after a notorious murder. People say smarter and more accurate things after they’ve had time to think.

I shop at Gander for a few reasons. For one, I started before I knew about Lemonis. Also, the prices are great. I can pretty much match Internet prices at Gander. Also, I don’t have a lot of choices. I have some very bad mom and pop joints. I also have Wal-Mart, which is limited. I have Rural King, which has no selection. I also have Dick’s, which is where Satan shops.

The crazies who run Dick’s decided to melt down all their black rifles after David Hogg shook his rattle at them, more or less, and then they went further and decided to hire pro-gun-control lobbyists. No idea why they would do that. Why try to get laws passed to limit what you can sell? You can just stop selling things you don’t like. Whatever the plan is, Dick’s appears to be legitimate 2A poison, so I am reluctant to walk in the door.

I’m thrilled that they’re destroying their guns, because it will be a big boost to manufacturers. People will still want black rifles, and a bunch just disappeared, so other sellers will place orders to replace them. The net effect is added profits for the manufacturers, added profits for other sellers, and a big hit for Dick’s.

Journalists are telling us Dick’s is doing very well. That’s probably true, because Dick’s is inhaling other businesses. When you’re buying up other companies, one would expect your sales to increase. The question isn’t whether Dick’s is doing well but how well they should be doing. A whole lot of people won’t go near the place, and they will be developing relationships (moving market share) with other retailers.

Springfield and some other arms companies cut Dick’s off. Springfield makes very popular, very nice pistols. Dick’s losing Springfield is like a grocery store losing Pepsi. I think they will suffer in the long run.

Here’s another reason I shop at Gander: because I joined their loyalty club, I get small discounts on nearly everything, and I also get a steady stream of 10%-off codes and free shipping offers. Their prices are already very good, and when you throw in a discount and free shipping, the deals are too good to ignore.

The other day they sent me a 20%-off code. I decided to get a Remington Bucket of Bullets. It’s good to have a few thousand .22 rounds on hand, because the .22 is an extremely useful tool, and we will probably have ammunition droughts in the future. For all I know, I may be shooting crows to ward off starvation some day, and ammunition may be more precious than rubies. A Bucket of Bullets contains 1400 rounds at an attractive price. The shells are Golden Bullets, which are not highly regarded, but they are good for nearly all purposes, and they are excellent for pistol practice.

I ordered the shells and two other things, and then I could not get Gander’s site to digest my code. I called them up and talked to Tamisha, who could not have been sweeter. She looked my products up and learned that the discount could not be applied to the shells. I noted that it would have been helpful if the site had told me something about this instead of just rejecting my code over and over, and she agreed. She gave me the discount anyway. In the end, I got the club price, plus a 20% discount on that already-discounted price, plus free shipping.

I love these people. I don’t care if Marcus Lemonis has George Soros’s baby. I want to send Tamisha a pie.

To get back to today’s adventure, I had the peep sight for the Marlin, and I also came across some “free” rings for the Nikon scope. I bought a UTG BugBuster scope a while back, and it came with quick-detach rings. For some reason I no longer recall, I used a one-piece base instead, and yesterday, I remembered that I had the rings. I had been shopping for rings for the Nikon, and now I had them.

It was pretty glorious. I put the wooden Marlin down on my non-marring plastic table and used my Grace gunsmithing screwdrivers and my Bondhus hex wrenches to take the Marlin’s scope off, remove the factory sights, and install the new Tech-Sights peep apparatus. It looks beautiful, and if I can hit squirrels with it, it will redeem the Marlin. I just want to be able to nail the little creeps consistently within about 75 feet.

The UTG rings fit the Weaver bases I put on the A22, and they worked fine with the Nikon scope. That rifle should be murderous now. The trigger is great. Because it’s a Savage, the barrel should be very accurate. The Nikon scope should be clear and tough. God help anything smaller than a hog that gets near me when I’m holding the Savage.

Of course, I now see that I must have a gun vise. I had a hard time holding the guns while I was working on them. I already have a gunsmith’s mat on the way, and it will fit the workbench beautifully and reduce dinging and scratching, but I also need a vise. I wanted the mat anyway because it will be very useful for just about any task, whether or not a gun is involved.

If I understand things correctly, a gun vise is just a sort of rectangular plastic bucket with two padded vertical forks. You plop your gun in the forks and go to work. Maybe I’m wrong.

I’m super happy with my .22’s now. The Marlin should be great for times when I don’t want a scope. The Savage will be there when the situation calls for glass. The Nylon 66 is around, just for fun. And then there are my pistols.

I still want a Colt Woodsman, just because, but things are looking good right now.

I can’t say enough good things about the Savage A22. Looking into the guts of a Marlin 60 and then opening up a Savage A22 is like seeing Jerry Lewis in his underwear and then watching Arnold Schwarzenegger pose. The Marlin is a kid’s first gun, if you don’t like spending money on your kid. The Savage is a real rifle. It has an adjustable precision trigger. It shoots every type of .22 Long Rifle ammunition known. It can be dry-fired without snap caps. It’s drilled for Weaver mounts instead of coming equipped with a mere dovetail. It has a synthetic stock that will last forever.

Hard to criticize.

Even if you put every known aftermarket part on the Marlin to improve it, you will still end up with improved junk. It will still have two sheets of mystery sheet metal instead of a receiver. And if you want the best trigger for it, you’ll have to fork out around $80 and rely on one vendor: a guy who doesn’t answer his email.

To make things even better, Savage sells a lighter spring for the A22’s Accu-trigger, and I have one on the way. Actually, I have two. I have another Savage.

The Marlin is a friendly, light little gun that feels great in the hand, but it has serious problems, and it has been royally outclassed for only about 20% more money.

We will see how the squirrels feel about the Savage. New ones show up to replace the ones I kill, so I should have no problems finding rodents to practice on.