When Your Friday Acts Like a Monday

You ever have one of those days were literally nothing goes the way you want it to?

Well, that's how today's been going for me.

For starters, I was almost late to work because my mother overslept. For context, we only have one car, and we work literally on the same street -- just different factories -- so we ride together in the mornings. She just bought a new phone last night, but forgot to change the timezone over when she crossed the county line (because that's how the counties around here work for some reason. Same state, different timezones. Indiana logic, go figure). So, her alarms were set to go off an hour after they were needed. Had I not checked the time and noticed, we would've been late.

I had hoped the day would get better while i was at work. In some ways, it kinda was. Our orders are down, so we didn't have as heavy of a workload as usual. Problem today was, our supervisor is currently on vacation. Since his direct underlings don't seem to be able to comprehend the need to communicate with the employees, we had absolutely no idea when we were going to stop working, so the day was spent constantly stressing over it and guessing. We did get out an hour early, but it was really sudden and still a bit too late. They were just like, "Okay, you accidentally worked too far ahead, so go home now."

So, after work came the one thing I was looking forward to today: buying my first handgun (though, technically, my mother purchased the handgun and gifted it to me, as I cannot legally purchase a handgun myself until I am 21. But it was my money, so in that way, I bought it). After weeks of careful consideration, I had narrowed my choice down to two: a Beretta Px4 Storm or a Polish surplus Lucznik P-64. When I got into the store, the clerk allowed me to handle an example of both weapons, and I ended up choosing the P-64 because it was far cheaper, and I preferred its smaller size and overall feel over the full-sized, polymer-framed Beretta.

In short, not a good choice.

This is the one thing I don't expect you guys to relate with, but I kinda feel like detailing this bit. At first, I was pretty excited about finally owning a handgun that didn't first belong to my grandfather. But once I got home, I started playing with it a bit (unloaded, mind you. I'm not a fucking moron). So far, the "feel" of the weapon that pushed me to buy it is the only thing i like about this gun. First off, every moving part on this thing is God awful. It's like it's actively fighting being used. Both the slide and safety are very tough to manipulate. The magazine release is in a very inconvenient place (on the bottom of the handle, behind the magazine. Which normally wouldn't be a problem, I know several guns that do that, but on this thing, it's hidden. Meaning I have to reach into a small crevice on the gun just to drop the magazine, and just like the rest of the weapon, it fights back). The hammer on the gun is near impossible to pull back without using both hands, which makes this a very difficult weapon to use for concealed carry (the safety decocks the gun when activated). For this next thing, keep in mind it is a double-action pistol, meaning I should be able to fire it whether the hammer is down or up; the latter just means a harder trigger pull. The problem? It is physically impossible to fire this thing decocked with my right hand. I pull it to the point of physical pain, and it won't go far back enough. After a bit of testing, it does fire double-action if I use both hands to hold it and use both index fingers to pull, but it still causes physical pain.

Other issues I found weren't even with the gun itself, but the accessories it came with. It came with two magazines and a surplus holster. For testing purposes, I tried loading the spare magazine with ammunition to see how it fared. Basically, the rounds are hard as shit to get into it, and I can't get it fully loaded, either. The max I could get into it was five, and it holds six. Keep in mind, these aren't tiny or overly large bullets. It's 9x18mm Makarov, so just one millimeter shorter than the standard 9x19mm Parabellum that most people associate with the 9mm name. Not a huge round, but not so small it's useless for self defense. As for the holster I mentioned, it's old leather, and very difficult to latch closed when both the pistol and spare magazine are inside. Granted, I don't intend to use the holster, but it still kinda sucks.

So, yeah. First time experiencing buyer's remorse for a firearm, so kinda ticked off. It especially sucks because I really like old guns and military surplus. Hell, my very first weapon purchase was a Swiss K31, and it's an amazing rifle and a fine piece of history. But experiences like the one I had today can seriously turn a person off from collecting those types of weapons. Then again, maybe it was my fault for not doing enough homework before spending $300 on a weaponized paperweight. If you've bothered reading this far, and ever find yourself wanting to buy a gun, learn from my mistake. Research as much as possible, and get several opinions before spending that much money. It will save you a lot of trouble and regret down the road.

So, that's been my day. There are a few other things that also went wrong, but they're pretty minor compared to the above. I know that the meat of this blog is about the gun, but to be honest, that's what this blog was supposed to be in the first place. I was going to simply do a showcase/review of the gun. But when I took a photo with my phone and tried to add it to the blog post, it refused to work no matter what I tried. So, that idea was thrown out the window. Just the icing on top of the shitty cake that was this day.

Hopefully, tomorrow will be better. I plan to take the P-64 out to some family property on the countryside (truth be told, it's the same lot that holds the ashen remains of my grandmother's trailer) and do a shooting test. What little research I did do tells me that it packs a bit of a kick for such a small weapon, so that might be fun. Or painful. We'll see, I suppose.

Tonight, though? I need sleep. Goodnight, all! I hope your day was far better than mine.