Some Christmas present thoughts

Thanksgiving came later this year. Normally, the holiday falls on the third Thursday in November, but this year, it fell on the fourth Thursday. That means you have one week less time to do your Christmas shopping if you tend to wait for the “after Thanksgiving” deals.

My wife and I made a deal several years ago that we would quit buying each other Christmas gifts to put under the tree and, rather, each would get their own gifts whenever something was wanted/needed. Before that, we would exchange gifts on Christmas day, admire them, and then put them on a shelf or in a drawer, never to be seen again. What I thought she would like and use wasn’t necessarily so, and vice versa.

I’ve been around long enough that there is little that I need and even less that I want. That makes buying a gift for me rather difficult. Mix in a shortage of funds this year and things have become even more problematic. We changed insurance companies and had several housing maintenance upgrades and repairs to make (tree removal and heater repairs, for example). Being on a fixed income, you can imagine how that eats into the monthly cash flow.

As a result, I didn’t purchase any high-cost items. I like to read, so when the opportunity to buy some reference books about several different firearms arose, I ordered them. One set of four books was written by a well respected and knowledgeable gun writer who passed away earlier this year. Expert gunsmiths/excellent writers wrote another set of two books. I also subscribed to a magazine/thin book format periodical about traditional archery hunts.

I purchased some small aftermarket parts to improve a couple of handguns I own. I don’t have the right tool to install one part, so I’ll probably end up taking the gun and the part to a gunsmith for the five-minute upgrade. I also have a couple of handguns which haven’t been manufactured in thirty years. They’re both name-brand semi-auto handguns in nearly new condition. A semi-auto becomes a single shot without a functional magazine. Luckily, I found some original factory magazines, either new or nearly new, and purchased them.

I needed carrying cases for both guns to include all the “new” magazines and ordered them. I also bought a couple of shotgun magazine followers to upgrade the shell feeding in two shotguns I have. The shell follower is the gadget in the magazine tube you’ll see when the magazine is empty. I bought red colored ones to more easily see when the magazine, in fact, no longer has any shells in it.

When my father-in-law passed away, I inherited his Remington 12-gauge model 31 pump shotgun. He had a variable choke system installed on it years ago. This was the Weaver brand system, which involved changing choke tubes screwed into the end of the barrel to change choke settings. The shotgun only had one tube included when I got it. Of course, neither Remington nor Weaver make any parts for this setup and haven’t for close to fifty years.

Over the years since I got the gun, I’ve been able to locate and purchase all but two of the six tubes included in the original set. The two choke tubes I was missing were the cylinder and improved cylinder tubes. I recently found the cylinder choke tube in a vintage hunting listing online and ordered it. I just received an email letting me know the tube has arrived and is in my post office box as I write this.

My plan is to use this shotgun for grouse, ptarmigan, and the occasional snowshoe hare. The cylinder constriction choke tube should work just fine for the majority of shots I might take, so I’m not worried about getting the one missing tube unless I stumble on it while browsing the internet. If found, that last tube would give me a complete set.

On the home front, if I can find the specific make and model of a countertop ice making machine I’m looking for, and the price is reasonable, I’ll purchase that for our home use. My wife bought a used one from a friend a few years ago without the owner’s manual, and we both loved it until it died. This was yet another “no longer manufactured” item. I guess I’m at the stage in my life where everything is outdated. It would be nice to have something current and fixable if needed.