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Post by levi on Jul 22, 2011 2:28:40 GMT
OOC: I'm going to set this thread a couple of days prior to "A Nice, Quiet Pub".
IC: Levi's warehouse was set right on the edge of Jamerson's industrial estate, close enough to the residential and commercial areas of the town that the small storefront received a slow trickle of customers throughout the day. It wasn't much, but it was enough to justify keeping the storefront open and a reasonably wide array of weapons and weapon kits displayed, with Levi's new range of handguns, M1911 clones with double stacked magazines and chambered in 7.62x25mm Tokarev, forming the centerpiece. Demand had started to pick up in recent times after the pistols had received glowing reviews from a few gun magazines and blogs, but business was still slow enough that the shop was turning out a surplus.
Behind the small storefront was a warehouse full of steel, aluminium, CNC lathes, milling machines and rifling machines. Off to one small corner was a sterile, airtight room with two entrances that held a carbon fiber spinning machine that was used to wrap turned down barrels in the composite, improving barrel life and heat dispersion. The process had been perfected by Advanced Barrel Systems Inc, and Levi had managed to obtain a license to use the technology, provided that he pay royalties and lighten some of their work load. It was, in Levi's opinion, worth the effort, and he'd been proven correct. The barrels were the only thing he sold more of than the pistols.
Right at the back of the warehouse was a large workbench surrounded by machines and scrap metal and, sitting at the bend, examining a strange looking bolt, was Levi. He traced over every curve with his finger, and then slipped it into the mechanism of the gun he was building. It fitted almost perfectly, but was a little stiff when Levi tried to working the bolt rapidly. He nodded, removed the bolt and examined it for wear. With his enhanced senses, he could just make out the small patches of wear on the otherwise glossy surface of the bolt. He'd remove a bit more metal and, if everything went right, Parkerize the entire bolt group.
Levi stood to start work, but a small buzzer attached to his throat, much like a throat mic, activated and he stopped. The buzzer was connected to the door buzzer on the shop, and activated whenever someone walked through the door. Since a lot of the walk in customers wanted to talk to him about a custom project, Levi had rigged the buzzer up so that, if he was in the middle of something, he could find a good point to stop in case he was needed up front. Some days, if all was well, he'd even beat Pete, the guy in charge of the shop, to the punch and turn up before Pete could buzz him a second time.
Placing the bolt back down the on the bench, Levi memorised the areas that he had to work on and started to head up to the shop. He liked it when he could outdo Pete, and he wasn't in the middle of anything that couldn't wait, so what the hell?
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Post by 1138tk on Jul 22, 2011 22:05:55 GMT
Kyle had heard about a custom gun shop on the edge of the cities industrial district from some of the guys in the squad room. He had hoped that they also made custom ammunition. The problem was with the wooden bullets the police force was using, there wasn't enough to go around. The companies that had been producing them had been closing down and those still in business were charging an outrageous price. The rumor was vampires were purchasing these companies and shutting them down, or jacking up the price of the bullets. Kyle had taken it upon himself to locate someone locally who could contract with the Jamerson Falls P.D. to help alleviate some of the demand.
The wooden bullets were an interesting development in the war on vampire crime. They were a nine millimeter wooden round with a solid lead core, to give the bullet mass. Each round was encased in an expanding cup sabot to protect the fragile wooden round from the propellant gases of a firing gun. The addition of the sabot required the rounds to be fired from a ten millimeter weapon.
Kyle finally pulled his unmarked department car up out front of the small shop, it appeared to be attached to a warehouse, they probably did the custom work on site he thought. He got out of the car,and headed for the front door. He hoped they were not to busy inside as he entered the storefront.
Kyle looked around for someone, a clerk or someone, he saw him and walked in his direction. "Hey I was wondering if you guys do custom ammunition here, and whether or not you can make shipments in bulk." Kyle noticed that the mans name was embroidered on his shirt, Pete it said. Pete said that if Kyle wanted to he could talk to the owner about large custom orders like that. He decided to browse the shops wears as he waited for the owner, apparently they were known for their M1911 clones. Kyle was partial to the M1911A1 as he owned a few, he didn't use them for work, the department frowned upon its personnel using personal firearms while on the job. Eventually another man approached him, this must be the owner Kyle thought. Kyle offered the newcomer his hand and said, "Hi, I'm Detective Breslin, you are..."
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Post by levi on Jul 23, 2011 0:55:28 GMT
Levi approached the door leading to his shop and was just reaching out for it when he felt the device on his neck vibrate twice. Laughing slightly and smiling ruefully at having his plan foiled, Levi opened the door and entered the shop, pulling out his ear plugs and giving the customer a wave. Pete, doing as he had been told, tapped Levi on the shoulder, whispered "custom ammo, bulk" and then stood behind him, slightly off to the left hand side.
"Hi, I'm Detective Breslin, you are..."
Smiling, Levi shook the outstretched hand firmly and replied,
"Levi Pratten, gunsmith extraordinaire."
Withdrawing his hand, Levi placed his hands out the counter and bent over slightly, very casually, coming eye to eye with the detective. Custom ammunition wasn't exactly something that he was known for, mostly because he very rarely made any, so there had to be some other reason for the detective's appearance. It could very well be a spot check in order to see how compliant Levi was with the New Jersey gun laws, or maybe the detective was new to the force, Levi hadn't heard of him before, and was just sussing everything out.
"Pete tells me that you're looking for some custom ammunition in bulk, so I'll be honest. We're better equipped to build custom rifles, and the only wildcats* we've done are for customers who wanted a high performance round to go with their new rifle. Still, I'm always up for a challenge. What'cha looking for exactly?"
*Wildcat cartridges are custom made cartridges, usually formed by necking a casing up or down to receive another kind of bullet.
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Post by 1138tk on Jul 23, 2011 1:28:48 GMT
Kyle reaches into his pocket and retrieves one of the wooden bullets that the police force is currently using. He offers the round to Mr. Pratten, "Yeah, this is the type of wooden bullet the police department is using right now, for combating vampire crimes, unfortunately the company we contract with charges high prices for them. I was just out looking for a place that could possibly duplicate them in bulk at a cheaper price."
Kyle thought he should also ask, "But since you don't really deal in custom ammo, maybe you could point me to someone who does." Kyle was doing this on his free time, so he hoped he wouldn't have to go all over town.
"Also rumor has it vampires are running out the businesses that produce these, just to give you a heads up." Kyle would hate to be responsible for sicking vampires on a small business, but he was hoping a small business could fly under the vampires radar. Plus he was giving Mr. Pratten a heads up about it.
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Post by levi on Jul 23, 2011 2:36:25 GMT
Levi took the wooden round from the detective and snorted derisively, not even bothering to examine the round. He'd seen a couple of them before, and he'd read a couple of after action reports on the round in action. It was irresponsible, really, the way the round had been designed. The lead was prone to separating from the wood and shooting right through the target, while the wooden exterior would only penetrate a little way or, in some cases, remain on the skin of the target. It was even worse when bone was involved, and Levi was certain that the bullets had killed more cops than they had vampires.
"But since you don't really deal in custom ammo, maybe you could point me to someone who does. Also rumor has it vampires are running out the businesses that produce these, just to give you a heads up.""Levi waved his hand dismissively and smiled. "Don't worry about me, no vampire's going to buy me up. I don't need their money." Picking up the wooden bullet, Levi got back to the detective's main reason for visiting. "If this is what you're currently using," Levi waggled the bullet slightly, "then I'm willing to make you a bullet that will actually work." He reached under the table and pulled out a pen and pad of paper. Quickly scribbling, Levi drew up two diagrams, one of the current bullet and the other of the bullet he had been thinking of making for the last year or so.  "The top bullet is what you've got now. It's expensive to make, fragile and generally kills more cops than it does vampires." Levi was careful not call the vampires leeches, his personal name for them, just in case the detective was a very politically correct man. "The lead core has a habit of separating from the wood and shooting through the target, especially when it hits bone. The wood then gets stressed and splits along those lines, radiating out from the centre. If you're lucky, a fragment penetrate the three or four inches needed to reach the heart, but most of the time it only goes in a couple of inches." Levi shifted his attention to the bottom drawing. "The bottom bullet has been designed so that the wood is held tightly in place by the lead, allowing it to penetrate to the full twelve inches required by the FBI. Deformation, if it occurred, would likely revolve around the outer layer peeling back, exposing the wood. With this design, you might even get reasonable barrier penetration, if your target is hiding behind dry wall or a car door. "What do you think?" |
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Post by 1138tk on Jul 23, 2011 3:42:22 GMT
Kyle watch as Mr. Pratten pulled out a pen and pad of paper, and began sketching diagrams. Kyle listened to him begin to explain the diagrams, wow he really gets into this, Kyle thought. Well at least his explanation made sense, his design did seem better.
"It looks good to me Mr. Pratten, but would you be able to handle the supply for the police department?" He had said they don't really handle custom ammo much, but he really seemed to get into designing the round. Hopefully he wasn't one of those I'll theorize it but can't actually help you type of people Kyle thought.
"Well if you think you could manage this order I could give you the extension to the Chief of Operation for my department", Kyle said as he reached into his jacket's inner pocket for his phone. After retrieving his phone he begins scrolling through his contacts list. He finds the number and extension for the Chief of Operations, "You ready to right down the number, its area code 6-0-9 5-5-5-2-7-3-8 extension 3-1-2"
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Post by levi on Jul 23, 2011 4:22:11 GMT
"It looks good to me Mr. Pratten, but would you be able to handle the supply for the police department?"
Levi smiled pleasantly and chuckled.
"Call me Levi, everyone else does. And, yeah, I reckon that we could handle the supply for the whole police department, so long as you're not using it for target practice." He laughed, and then continued, "We should be able to handle, oh, about..." Levi cocked his head to one side, not unlike a dog, and then scribbled some calculations on the piece of paper, "about two thousand rounds a week. Maybe double that if I get someone working on it full time. Hopefully you won't need that many, though."
The detective seemed to think that two thousand rounds a week was adequate, because he gave Levi the number for the JFPD Chief of Operations. Levi wrote it down, on a separate piece of paper and carefully tucked it away in his pocket. He was actually a little surprised that the issue of pricing hadn't come up yet, but that was probably more the concern of the CoO, as Levi abbreviated the Chief of Operation's title.
"Right, thanks for that. I'll put together a cost estimate today and give 'im a ring. I'm not sure what the price will be but, at a rough guess, I'd say that you're looking at anywhere between one and two dollars per around, so between two to four times the cost of your current ammo."
Levi straightened up and dusted his hands, grinning as he shifted into his sale persona.
"Now, is there anything else that I can do for you detective? Perhaps I might show you our very own handgun, the Taipan?"
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Post by 1138tk on Jul 23, 2011 6:16:56 GMT
"Yeah, cost is not really my department Levi." I guess I could have tried to throw out some costs, but I don't do the budget Kyle thought. "Just call the Operations Chief, he'll take care of the details." Kyle was glad he had decided to stop in, Levi had been very helpful.
"Actually I think I have enough handguns currently." While Kyle appreciated Levi's time, he wasn't interested in the sales pitch right now. He had actually just come off an all-nighter and wanted to unwind a little.
"Hey Levi, I really appreciate the time you've given me I know you're probably really busy, I'll let you get back to whatever you were doing before I arrived. I'll be sure to stop by if I need anything though, do you have a card."
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Post by levi on Jul 24, 2011 1:24:53 GMT
"Actually I think I have enough handguns currently."
Levi smiled at the detective pleasantly, fighting off his wolf's urge to bare his teeth in a savage grin and stare the cop down. The wolf could sense the detective's tiredness and considered him to be weak for showing it. For his part, Levi was excited about the job he had just accepted. It was going to be interesting working out the exact details of the bullet's construction, and that pleased him. These two factors combined to give off an odd sense of hostility and pleasure that, while obvious to a werewolf, was all but invisible to an ordinary human being, and even the more perceptive members of the human race wouldn't be able exactly put their finger on what they were feeling and why they were suddenly feeling a little odd.
"Not a problem. Just remember us if you ever feel the urge to spend some money."
Levi chuckled briefly and gave Josh a friendly wink, pulling out a card from under the front bench in reply to the detective's final question.
"Here, it's got my name, number and email. Let me know if the JFPD need anything else that the vamps are buying up, eh?"
Another chuckle and widening of Levi's smile. He wasn't just putting on an act for the customer, or to hide his wolf. Levi had, for many years before being turned, been a very cheerful and friendly person, which added so much authenticity to his act that only another werewolf could tell that he wasn't being entirely honest in his personality.
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Post by 1138tk on Jul 25, 2011 23:23:15 GMT
Kyle stared at Levi for a little bit, he couldn't shake the feeling that there was something a little off about him. Kyle often got a similar feeling when interrogating guilty suspects, he got the feeling Levi was hiding something... something just under the surface. Kyle shook the feeling, Levi hadn't done anything after all, actually he had been very helpful. Maybe he'll run a background check just to be sure.
Kyle accepted the business card offered to him, "Sure, will do, and be sure to call us if you ever have any trouble", Kyle joked. Who else would you call if you were in trouble, assuming your a law abiding citizen of course. "Maybe I'll see you later", with that Kyle shot a nod at Pete and turned headed for the exit. What to do now Kyle thought, maybe I'll head to Belva for a drink, I'm not really all that tired after all. Yeah, I think I'll go get a drink, then see what happens next.
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