Just Like the ":Night Before Christmas"

Fot my 100th posting, I'd originally thought of coming up ith some clever little story that involved the number "100", likr I did with Curtis Turner's #99 Ford.

Maybe a story on the F-100 Super Sabre, or the best $100.00 car I ever owned, significant things that have happened over this past Century (100 years), etc.

Unstead though--- after yesterday's Boise trip, I'm gonna do a short "sequel" on the old "American Warhorse", the 1911 45 auto.........and in PARTICULAR, this new Ruger SR1911 that I FINALLY got my hands on!

Donna's days off are Wednesdays and Thursdays.....which work very well for ME, because more often than not, at least ONE of those 2 days, involves a shopping trip to Boise-------something I NEVER look forward to------but if it HAS to be, I would MUCH rather fight traffic up there on a Wednesday, than on a Saturday.

Donna has a driver's license of course and we aren't hurting for transportation so she she can easily go up there by herself.......but I like spending time with her......(and I had to pick up a few VW parts anyway, yesterday), so I had to drive up there yesterday whether I wanted to or not.

One of HER stops was to TJ MAXX's over on Franklin by the freeway. Whenever she's shopping in THAT area, I always walk on down to Cabela's to look around at the guns & ammo situaion.

In my "American Warhorse" post, I wrote about this being the 100th anniversary of the "1911" 45 automatic pistol.....and how RUGER is making one now.......how I've ordered one through our gunshop here in town & all.

Well, the bigger sporting outlet stores usually get a new product before the smaller ones do, so just out of curiousity (did I spell that right?-----duzzent mater, it's mY bloog!), I decided to go in there and see if THEY had one of these new Rugers yet.

They'd had SEVEN of them in the last couple of days!

(Good-----they're at least reaching Idaho now)

Five had been "special order" (like mine is), and 2 more just for general display & sale. Both of THOSE got sold within 30 minutes of each other! (apparently, I'm not the only one who's read the articles on this new gun).

But one of the "special order guns" had not been picked up yet, and the counter guy was nice enough to show it to me, if I promised not to drool on it!

Now, to a gun guy like myself, this was like way back in your childhood, when Mom would bake a cake that you could smell from that oven, and if you were lucky, she'd let you lick the icing off the spoon. You couldn't have a piece of the cake until after dinner, but that spoon would give you "promises" of things to come.

KNOWING full well that this pistol was already designated for somebody else (who hadn't come in and paid for it yet), I very carefully lifted it out of the box, to look it over.

The balance is beautiful. Just a "touch" nose-heavy, but with a loaded magazine in it, it'll be PERFECT. It is beautifully crafted, on the right side of the slide is the Ruger "Hawk" logo, and "Made in USA" engraved proudly on the left side.

The special Novak rear sight is crisp and definitive.

Most brand new pistols you'll ever see at a dealer's, will have their actions "zip-tied" closed, so people can't just "rack-'em" back and forth, putting initial "wear marks" into that fresh factory glossy-blued finish. That's gonna happen anyway as you take it out and start firing it, but to the one who BUYS it, it needs to look as factory fresh as possible.

Now, these new Ruger SR1911's are finished in stainless steel, and it would take quite a bit of actuation before you'd start seeing any "surface wear" at all-----but this one was still "zip-tied".

I COULD however, move the slide back far enough to see into that highly polished chamber, and the return spring pressure was as smooth as in any Colt I've ever handled.

Picking out a "target" on the back wall, I lined the sights up on what was either a light switch or a thermostat control. The gun fits my hands like it BELONGS there.

"Belongs there".............

I couldn't take it home. This was the only one they had left, and it was already "spoken for." I have to WAIT for MINE!

I don't WANNA "wait" for mine. That "spoon" tastes REALLY GOOD and I want my OWN piece of cake! Cabela's had 7 of them because.....well....they're a big outfit and the manufacturers always supply THEM before the smaller gunshops. Mountain Sports has ordered at least 3 of them that I know of, and my name is already on one of them.

You know......I almost wish now that I HADN'T got to handle one of these new Rugers. It was "painful" to have to walk out of there yesterday empty-handed!

I didn't want to put that one back in its box yesterday, but I DID promise the man I wouldn't drool on it! If "patience is a virtue" as they say, I guess I'm not too "virtuous!"

I DID notice something UNIQUE to Ruger though.......the pretty wooden grips on these new 1911's are attached ith ALLEN-head screws, not the standard slots that you normally see..........which is ok, because they add to the gun's appearance but I'll have to remember to add the proper-sized allen wrench to my cleaning kit now........

But FIRST I've gotta get the gun! I've been a hobbyist/collector/shooter for decades...........this one should be "just one more."

But it isn't.

"C'MON BIG BROWN TRUCK!"