Like the body-shop owner who drives a heavily dented truck. Especially for us one-man-shop types, you're either too busy to work on your own stuff, or, as also happens, you tend to lose interest in your own gear, and would prefer to spend your off-time doing something besides more shopwork.
I've gone through both of those at various times, and to go along with them, there's the simple fact that apart from rare occasions, I really didn't even need my own equipment. With no local fields (there hasn't been an "official" one within 150 miles since mine closed in '98) I hardly needed to spend much time keeping my own kit in top trim.
And since I've pretty much always preferred working on the equipment over actually playing, most of my gear has spent more time disassembled and either being modded or awaiting mods, than out on the field.
Now, as doom-and-despair as my post above may have sounded, it really wasn't that bad. Had I really needed to, I could have simply driven home- only about five or six miles- and picked up my other SCUBA fill station. Or one of the aforementioned Carbines. (Or the A5, or the M98, or the 'Cocker, etc.)
Had I the time to spend more of the day there, I probably would have. I'm kinda jonsin' to shoot the E-Blade again.
Ditto the tools. Just 'cause I didn't bring mine didn't mean there were no tools available. Wouldn't have been anything at all to borrow the small key to take the Etek eye covers off and clean them out. (If that was indeed the problem.) Heck, if the old paint was the problem, the field had cases of fresh on hand.
I just need to get back in the groove with my gear. I've been away for a while.
