A Day of shopping...

Slept until 7:30 AM.  It was very nice.... but I could tell that the humidity was on it's way up and the temps are supposed to reach 90 in the next couple of days, so the windows got closed and the AC is back on.  No sense in waiting until the humidity gets unbearable in the house to turn it on.

I spent some time with Molly and caught up on emails and the like, showered and then headed off to French Creek Outfitters in Phoenixville.  I was curious to see how I was treated.  In many places a woman are not taken seriously.  This has been primarily a man's domain.  I have read many reviews of gun shops and ranges being rude and unfriendly to the ladies.  So I figured I would learn for myself.

After passing the place and having to turn around, I arrived at a very nicely arranged shop.  I headed to the gun displays and began window shopping.  One customer and one salesperson had spread themselves out over the revolver section, but I was still able to look in to see what they had.  I was finally approached by a very nice young man (Xavier) who spent some nice amount of time showing me their available pistols.  They did not have very many Smith & Wesson (USA) firearms, but they had some Rugers (also USA made) and Taurus (Brazilian made) along with one or two Charter Arms (also USA).  I liked the feel of the Rugers, but the instructors from the gun class have told me that I should really look for one with a three inch barrel and the ones they had were two to two and a half.  I decided to walk away and see what other shops had.

Since I was out, I decided to stop at the Village Arms.  This is a small shop in Gap where I actually sold Rudy's handguns and rifle after he died.  (Yes, there was a nice .22 LR caliber handgun in the mix and I have wished that I had kept it!)  They had very few revolvers of any kind.  None were 3 inch barrels and I did not want to look like Wyatt Earp with a long barrel on my gun.  Josh helped me here.  This place has some really bad reviews on how they treat their customers, but Josh could not have been nicer... he just did not have a great many to look at.

I debated about going all the way down to Targetmaster but decided to go home, instead.  I let Molly out and looked up other gun shops locally.  I found one in New Holland and called them.  I asked if they had any firearms using my criteria and was told that they had a Smith and Wesson Model 60.  It was not the Pro Series that I had used in Minneapolis, but it fit my criteria.  So I headed out for New Holland.  I had talked to Sean but Frank was available to assist me.  He was showing me a couple of .357's and Sean pulled out the S&W Model 60.  It was a very nice little gun.  Nice weight, nice balance.  Not the high end of the Pro Series, but a really sweet weapon.  They did not have a big selection of .22LR's, so I decided to pass on that but I did come home with the Model 60.

It is a .357 Magnum but also shoots .38 special and .38 caliber +P cartridges.  The .38s will not have the recoil that the .357 will and being weighted for the .357, I should be able to handle the recoil.  I will continue to shoot the borrowed .22LR at my next class and then switch to my S&W for the rest of the classes.  I will also head to the range for some practice next week.  I will still look for a nice .22LR.

I was once again amazed at how easy it was to walk away with a lethal weapon.  I had to fill out a form saying I was sane enough to own a gun and would not hold the store liable for anything after I left the store.  Then there was the form for the background check.  I gave them very little information.  Frank took the paperwork and put it in the system.  It took me longer to fill out the form than it did for him to get the reply.  I bought a carrying case and some ammunition as well as cleaning supplies.  Sean helped me carry things to the car.

So, my experience in buying a gun was very positive.  I will still look at my treatment as I look for my .22LR, but I am beginning to suspect that all of the bad reviews were fomr people who are just jerks and get treated that way because that is how they treat others.

I have a safe coming so I can lock the guns up at home.  It is my responsibility to make sure the weapons are secured so that children, anyone who knows they are here and try to get to them or anyone who breaks in cannot get them.  I also have some speed loaders (needed for the classes) and a couple of other cleaning items.  These will be here Thursday, from my favorite online seller.... Amazon.com!

Here are a couple of pics of my new protector.