Visiting the Big Boxes

So I did some hiking/cave exploring near Mt. St. Helens this weekend with my boy scout troop. We had 12 boys in the depths of the Ape Caves and had a hoot. It did rain on us Friday night, but I'd brought a comfy tent, big sleeping bag and thick pad. NormallyI'm an ultralight camper and don't splurge much in that department. As my wife says, I usually go out with a hankie, a small sheet of plastic and a blanket. She's not far off.

Anywho...

On the way down, I grabbed by son from school and we left earlier than the rest of the troop. Two reasons:

a) it was a pretty day, I love hanging out with my son and...

b) Cabelas is on the way.

I stopped at Cabelas last week and bought a black powder rifle and a few other things. Cabelas is in Lacy, which is just before Olympai, making it quite a drive from the homestead. About 1.5 hours or so. It takes along time to get there, so this was my first visit.

I tend to frequent the local gun shops here, mostly because I like supporting small businesses and because I don't wanna drive 3 hours for a box of 9mm ammo.

So, anyhow, the revolver I bought last week was defective, so I wanted to exchange it. Ugh. Exchanging regulated items is such a pain. And the best part was that they gave me a brand new one with the same problem. The little doohickey that secures the ramrod on the front of the barrel comes out of the dovetail. Weird. In fact, all the guns they had did likewise.

So after 2 hours of paperwork, shuffling etc, we ended up taking the new one with the same problem and me planning on doing some home gunsmithing. A tap from a punch and maybe some JB weld and it will save me hours staring at a gun counter.

Ugh.

The other reason I went there was to get powder/caps. I figured I'd get that stuff later around home. Nope. Nobody around here carries it. At least within 30 miles.

So I was chagrinned to find that they were outta caps. Ugh.

So we bought some siliconized socks for a few long guns and headed to the campout.

On our way back, we decided to check out SportCo. I think this is the company that took over/replaced/bought out Sportsman's Warehouse. Didn't know they'd had issues, but regardless.

SportCo is quite a bit closer to home. About 30 minutes. Nice.

They had a nice stock of stuff and I found the caps/powder in stock. Easy peasy.

Now I can go to the range this week and shoot this sucker.

PS. Yes, I carry a gun on all scout outings. I figure, I'm one of the adults in charge and since I carry anyhow, I'm going to be prepared for cougars and anything else that comes our way.

P.S.S I looked at a Taurus Judge while buying powder. It was pretty nice. I'd mostly want it for 45 LC and not .410. Seems to me to be a better backcountry gun than the Kel-Tec .380 I carry now. Bigger, and heavier though.