You are right the 180 was a stretch it was more like 135 for the gas plus tooling around in San Antonio and lunch. No hookers on this trip and the blow comes from relatives in Colombia (no cost).
I was finally able to purchase said firearms today at Academy Sports in CC. However, this evolution was not easy either. First, I tried with the same orders that were rejected at Bass Pro, and again they were rejected at Academy. These orders were yet again rejected for lack of the phrase "Permanent Duty Station" or "Ultimate Duty Station". So I raced back to Kingsville to see what could be done about these orders. The best the people at Admin were able to do for me was to write a memorandum stating that these are in fact PCS orders to Kingsville, TX and that I will be here for a period of 20 weeks or more. I then raced back to CC to take this new memorandum to the gun counter and try to get my guns. Yet again I was met with the same response of it can not be done because the orders did not have the catch phrase. I told them the memorandum explains the whole situation just read it. Still nothing. Finally after speaking with the store manger and having him call the regional guy I was able to walk out with my guns. I ended up getting the Remington 700BDL in .270 and a Browning 12 gauge. Needless to say I am very pleased and can't wait to go to the range.
Next time I will make sure to just drop by the DMV to get a state ID card and hopefully relieve the ass pain that was the ordeal of trying to get a rifle and shotgun.