...And it's home!!!

Picked up the Paul Nelson Commemerative .45 at about 5:30 this evening. Brought it home, cleaned all the green shipping gunk SIGARMS filled it with, oiled it, loaded it, and it's now slumbering peacefully next to my carbine under my bed.

When cleaning it (CopperCleenz, or whatever it's called is the most destructive substance I've ever had the misfortune to be around. It literally chaps my hands whenever I clean a gun. Nasty stuff.) I noticed several things.

~First, a lot of the wear on the inside of the slide is just dirt and that green gunk.
~Second, the rifling looks much stronger when clean. Not as strong as, say, my 9mm, or my battle-rifle, but better than I thought it was.
~Third, the lockup on this gun is TIGHT. It fits together like clockwork. When chambering a round, the slide demands some muscle, but moves like glass on oiled glass. Smooth, that's how we do it...as they'd say in Miami Vice.
~Fourth, this thing has some miles on it. A smile on the barrel, a heckuva ding on the trigger guard that went straight through the finish...those are just the imperfections I remember.
~Fifth, this is not an elegant gun. It's heavy, it requires some muscle to operate, and unlike my 92FS, it's just plain ugly. Absolutely no frills, no unnecessary curves or metal at all. It is utilitarian in the extreme - it is designed for one task only and it is designed to accomplish that task with no flash or pizzazz, just extreme dedication and hard work. It's like a my Spyderco in that regard. I'm not sure I could destroy it, even with a week off work, a pickaxe, and a mission statement. It is THAT tough.

I look forward to taking it out to the range on Monday.

Post-script:I'm buying another battlerifle on Nov. 7th. It's sort of a family tradition - vote, then go buy an assault weapon.
Post, post-script:Two nickel Novak mags and 2 boxes of either Hydrashoks or Silvertips will be entering the house in the next few days. Then that's it, I'm done with buying guns until my 21st birthday, when I pick up a USP45. Or until the godless communists this country's about to offer it's throat to start passing more victim-disarmament.