"She's not gonna show up." Kid spoke the words with finality.
"Sure she will. Trust me, I know," I said with the confidence of a god.
I knew if Zona said she would be here, she would be.
"So what are you gonna get her?" Kid inquired with a doubting look on
his face.
"Well, whatever feels right for her. Probably something in 4.6mm or
5.7mm Sub-rifle caliber." I was speaking of the new class of hybred weapons
that evolved in the early part of the century. They were pistol size
cartridges (the brass part), with bullets smaller than rifles (the lead
part), but had terminal ballistics (terminal means when it hits its target)
better than a pistol. They were generally miniature rifle rounds with the
necking, and a high chamber pressure so they had a flatter trajectory.
Flying flatter meant it had more energy and hit harder, but with a smaller
bullet weight, that only translated into penetrating power, not
impact/wounding power.
"I think you should get her this," Kid said whilst displaying the newest
Ruger Auto-Mag. "This thing is great," he said with an appreciative smile.
It was about six pounds of semi-auto handgun, chambered in 37mm Hi-Lo
pressure cartridges.
"Great, Kid. Brilliant! How's she gonna hold it? Each cartridge is
almost bigger than her hand!"
"At least it's a real gun." He smiled his wicked grin, "I saw that
little piece of Tsunami-Arms piece of crap you were looking at."
"Was not!" I retorted.
"Yeah, huh. That thing will break the first time she does a butt strike
with it, or jam the first time her wrist isn't rock solid." Kid knew the
Tsunami Arms 7mm TA-35 had a notoriously heavy action spring. "If you're
gonna get her a toy gun, you might as well go quality and get the Sig 338
7mm Concealed Carry." Firing the same cartridge as the Tsunami, the Sig
represented the top of the line. The controls were generally ergonomic, the
magazines were strong, and it's action didn't suffer from a strong spring,
which made it more reliable. It also used a wholly different action which
had less parts, which made it easier to clean and less prone to breakage.
"I thought of that but the Tsunami might just fit her hand best," I said
akwardly. In reality, you wanted the gun that fit you the best. Any gun
could be souped up. I could change the spring, and the loading problem it's
crappy magazines had would be fixed by a little filing and polishing the
feed ramp. Even though both weapons shot the same bullets, and one was
regarded as better, each had a unique feel to it. The safeties, mag release,
and decocker (in the case of the Sig) were all in different places, and in a
fire fight you didn't want to fumble for one cuz it was too far away for
your stubby fingers.
"What about a revolver?" Kid asked as he picked up the Century Arms
'Dirty-Harry". "This would work."
"Sure it would work, except the barrel is 18" long. That thing should
have a fucking stock," I said getting exasperated with Kid's assanine
suggestions. I was sure he was trying to rile me up.
"True, but I could add that, no prob. The ballistics on it will be great
and the .575 Round has stopping power equal to your Predator at one hundred
yards, at 500 yards." His cruel smile knew he was pushing my buttons.
I drew in the reigns. "Make a good suggestion and I'll listen," I said
in a stone cold expression. "She needs a gun she can control, conceal, and
operate dexterously." I started laying out the ground rules. "It is going to
have no fancy dancy squeeze operated laser pointer, lights, blinking
flashing shit, or widget bob recoil crap. It is just going to be a gun, all
that shit will just get in the way. There will be no smart gun link." Kid
looked like he was going to say something but I cut him off, "She's not into
that shit. So it will just be iron sights, with tritium night sights." I
stopped to catch my breath. "Nothing will run out of batteries on her, or
not be turned on when she needs it. It will be a rudimentary weapon that
will be effective through simplicity. Just point and shoot."
"What about ammmo?" Kid asked.
"That's another ball of wax. Just ball for now," that meant solid copper
ammo, "or hollowpoint. No crazy fancy ninja bullets, she has to hit her
target first."
"Ok, let's see what we can come up with." Kid was back to normal and
would attack the job with professionalism.
We both walked to the far end of the counter, down in the .22 and small
caliber stuff.
