The 10 Gauge Arrived

The old L C Smith 10 gauge arrived on schedule yesterday.  It was wrapped in so many layers of bubble wrap I told The Lovely Bride that I was going to call it "Tutankhamun."    Despite all the wrapping, the Post Office managed to break the toe off the butt plate.   Super glue made it functional again and I can get a replacement.  Not a big deal but still something I'd rather not have happen.

The old gun has been refinished and the bores aren't perfect but that's ok.  They are still useable and she locks up nice and tight.   I got it for duck hunting.  If it gets a ding or a scratch I won't have damaged a museum piece.  I figure that a 10 gauge will be able to toss a 2 3/4" 12 gauge payload pretty fast and still not build up lots of pressure.  We shall see next season. 

The most striking thing I noticed when I got it unwrapped is how freakin' big it is.  It really is a whole heap bigger than any of my 12 gauge guns.  Its heavy too.   I bought a scale that doesn't work so I can't say how heavy it is but its heavy.  Its not something I'd want to carry all day in the woods but I bet it  will be nice when blasting away at ducks and such.  It may take a little tweaking here and there but I like it.

I may put up a picture tomorrow.  I went to bed early last night and slept in until 7:30 this morning.  When my back finally ejected me from the bed, my brain decided that it was going to be obstinate and stay asleep so I spent the whole day being a couch potato.  Needed to work on Ruth, the Jeep, but it was cold and damp and I have a thing about lying on cold, wet concrete getting drenched in cold transmission fluid.  I didn't enjoy that when I was 16 and I sure as heck don't enjoy it now.  Besides that, I've misplaced my welding gloves again and the project is at a stage that will require a lot of welding.   Come to think of it, I suspect that welding while drenched in automatic transmission fluid would be a good way to self-immolate.

 All I managed to do all day was shorten five of the 3" 12 gauge Active hulls to 2 1/4."