One of Kurt Cobain's closest friends said yesterday he helped Cobain buy the shotgun the rock star used to kill himself a week later.

Dylan Carlson, best man at Cobain's wedding, said the two went on March 30 to a small gun shop in North Seattle, where he bought the shotgun at Cobain's request. In a somber interview, Carlson said he is struggling to understand why his friend committed suicide.

``Kurt just wanted to make music, and he didn't want to do the grind,'' said Carlson, 26, a guitarist for the local band Earth.

Carlson said the day they bought the 20-gauge shotgun at Stan's Gun Shop, 10000 Lake City Way N.E., was the last day he saw Cobain.

They had known each other for six years - at least three years before the sudden success of Cobain's grunge band, Nirvana, rocketed him to dizzying fame.

Carlson's account matches the information gathered by Seattle police, who are trying to piece together the events leading up to Cobain's April 5 suicide.

According to Carlson, Cobain came to his Lake City condominium on March 30 and said he wanted a gun.

``We used to go shooting together,'' Carlson said. ``He said he wanted the gun for protection. He had the cash. . . . He insisted on me buying him the gun.''

Carlson said Cobain did not seem suicidal. Cobain gave him the $300, and Carlson bought the shotgun and a box of ammunition.

Police and Carlson believe Cobain left Seattle for a Marina Del Rey, Calif., treatment center later that day, after dropping off the shotgun at his Madrona home.

He stayed at the Exodus Recovery Center only two days before returning home and shooting himself to death April 5, authorities say.

His body, containing Valium and a massive dose of heroin, was found with the shotgun on his chest.

Carlson said Nirvana's management and Cobain's wife, Courtney Love, had pushed the musician to enter drug treatment. He said Cobain was apprehensive, but did not seem despondent.

``Kurt was facing lots of pretty heavy things, but he was actually pretty upbeat,'' Carlson said. ``He was prepared to deal with things facing him.''

Carlson said Cobain wanted him to buy the gun because police had confiscated guns from his home in the past.

``Kurt was concerned if he bought the gun in his name, the police would come and get that gun, too - which is ridiculous,'' said Seattle police Sgt. Don Cameron.

Twice in the previous 10 months, police responding to domestic disturbance reports took guns from Cobain.

Three guns were confiscated in June 1993 and later returned. On March 18, police questioned Cobain at his home after Love reported he was suicidal and had locked himself in a room with several weapons. Police seized four guns, including the three that had been taken in June.

The weapons had not been returned.

According to the state Department of Licensing, one of the weapons seized both times - a Taurus .380-caliber pistol - had been registered to Carlson.

Carlson said yesterday he had bought a total of four guns for Cobain. Carlson said Cobain could have bought a gun any time on his own.

Del Olson found nothing suspicious about the two young men with long hair who came in March 30 when he was working the counter of Stan's Gun Shop.

``They looked like two perfectly ordinary young people,'' Olson said.

Still, the pair did not fit the shop's usual sportsman clientele.

``I remember asking what the hell are these kids going to do with that shotgun?'' owner Stan Baker said. ``It's not hunting season. I just wondered.''

Baker said they looked around his shop for several minutes. The two men talked over the shotgun purchase, then went outside to their car to get the money.

Baker said he has been in the business for 35 years - six at the present location, a ``traditional old gun shop'' that specializes in used shotguns.

He had heard about Cobain's suicide on the radio. Informed yesterday by a reporter that the suicide weapon had come from his shop, Baker said he had not recognized Cobain.

After the purchase, Carlson suggested keeping the weapon at his condo, but Cobain said no.

Cameron said Cobain, after he returned to Seattle, bought more ammunition at another Seattle gun shop.

But police say they have not fully accounted for Cobain's whereabouts while in Seattle and plan to interview at least two people who say they had contact with him during that time. (Cali and who else?)

Carlson, who was questioned hours after the shooting, said he also was in the dark about Cobain's final days. He said he did know his friend had continued to grapple with physical and emotional troubles.

``He was this incredibly insightful and sensitive person, and this world isn't kind to people like that,'' Carlson said.

Cobain was still suffering from years of stomach pain, and the touring was tough on his frail constitution. The rock star also was under tremendous pressure to submit to drug treatment.

``He felt that he had no habit,'' Carlson said. ``That was more like what management wanted him to do.''

Carlson said he had not known of any suicide attempts and had not been told that Cobain's drug-induced coma in Rome, Italy, on March 4 might have been intentional, as has been confirmed recently by Love.

``I just wish that he had contacted me,'' Carlson said about the forces driving Cobain to suicide.

P-I Reporters Gene Stout and Mike Merritt contributed to this report.

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