Too Much Like Work

I had no idea buying a new gun could be such a job.

I got the thing home, and thankfully, it is not covered in grease. It's my understanding that they ship them that way from Romania. However, I still had to figure out how to work it.

I got the manuals, and I started playing around.

It looks like you attach the scope by sliding it onto the side rail and turning a lever. I am pretty sure I don't have to fart around with any screws. That rail seems awfully damn sharp.

I decided to take the gun apart, because I did not want to end up at the range with a weapon I did not understand. Having gone through the hell of disassembly and reassembly, I now conclude that not understanding it would have been a better choice. The instructions I located tell you about half of what you need to know.

The springs are all stiff, and the buttons and whatnot are not exactly finger-friendly, but I managed not to bleed. I'm amazed at the difference between a Communist military weapon and the slick, well-designed civiian stuff I'm used to. My Glocks disassemble in less than five seconds, for example. I had to fight with the PSL at every turn, and when I tried to put it back together, it was as if it had turned into a different gun.

Is this generally how military hardware works? If so, I suddenly understand the need for making people take their guns apart and reassemble them over and over. It was a royal bitch.

It occurs to me that it must be really fun to have to wrestle with balky weapons while someone is shooting at you and yelling in Arabic. There must be a special place in hell for manufacturers who design crappy stuff for our troops.

I'm now somewhat concerned that I may have done it wrong, and that when I fire the first shot, the bolt may come back and enter my forehead.

I'm now working on the scope manual. I always figured it worked like this: "Shoot. Turn screw to make bullet go where it should have gone. Shoot again." But it's apparently somewhat more complicated.

I wonder if prettying up the wood and the finish on the metal would ruin the value of the gun. I'll bet anything someone out there makes nicer stocks.

God, give me strength to finish this manual.

And a strong forehead.