Monday, December 29, 2008

An Update AND a Rant, All In One!

These last few weeks have been crazy. Between getting Christmas shopping done, visiting relatives, visiting friends, and planning more visits with relatives, I haven't managed to get anything constructive done around the house that I was planning to do. Which really isn't a big price to pay at all for spending time with loved ones at Christmas.

What I have managed to do is to catch up on laundry, get my Para LTC (that was beginning to rust - more on that later) traded out for a Glock 20, get new tires on my truck (Along with a new tie rod end and a front end alignment), and get traps and poison set out for the uninvited guest I mentioned previously.

Now, what's the deal with Para-Ordnance? I've had two Para pistols, both of which have exhibited a disturbing tendency to rust. The first was a P12-45 that rusted underneath the Hogue grips that I installed. After oiling it to make sure that exact problem wouldn't happen. The LTC began rusting at the hammer, the guide rod plug, and the slide rails. The former two are blued parts, so I'm not really all that surprised given my track record with bluing. But come on! The freaking slide rails?

Now, I realize that Para uses some kind of polymer coating for the OD Green finish. But I also own several CZ firearms and I've never had issues with the pieces that receive the polycoat finish rusting. The safety, slide stop, and hammer, yes (blued parts, see above) but not the polycoated parts. So, I don't have anything against "painted-on" finishes, as some have dubbed them. I think I just have something against the particular finish Para uses. Or maybe used. Both of the pistols I had were older firearms. It's possible Para has switched to something different by now.

On to the new Glock. The 20 will be getting the same treatment as my model 21. I've ordered a 3.5# trigger bar to install, two extended slide stops (one for each pistol), and a set of XS 24/7 Big Dot sights. Those sights on my 21 have sold me on the concept of express sights on a pistol. They are accurate enough for social use and fast to boot. Right now, I'm thinking the 21 will be doing nightstand duty and the 20 will be my main carry piece. This is, of course, assuming that the 20 passes function testing with the new parts I've ordered.

Well, that about does it for me. I'm off to get my hair cut and deposit my paycheck that I thought was a direct deposit receipt when I received it last week.

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