Sunday, September 03, 2006

Gun show

Had a nice one at the fairgrounds this weekend. Lots of stuff to look at and people to talk to. Picked up some ammo and parts, and courageously walked away from some things I really, really wanted... dammit.

One man had a National Match M1 Garand, that on closer inspection turned out to have a Krieger match barrel. And he wanted $1000 for it. Let's see, the barrel alone costs $400, and a rifle with the match sights, trigger, etc... damn, I need more money.

At least they didn't have one thing. Few days ago I went by H&H range to look around and take another drool at the S&W 1911PD I mentioned before. And Will, the bastard, had to show me something. They make a full-size 1911 with the Scandium frame. Heavier than the compact size but not by much, and that extra weight out front would be real nice when shooting heavy loads, and it only cost a few dollars more than the compact. Will is an evil man, I must warn you: "Who can afford anything? Since when is that an excuse not to buy it?" So I didn't have to look at one of those again, at least until I go shooting at H&H again.

One thing I've noticed is that the shortage of 7.62x39 is well and truly over, and so are the prices that you used to find. Best I saw worked out to about $3/box and a lot of it was higher. Made me glad I bought some when I did. A while back Sportsman's Guide had some listed for a decent price, and I had a $10 off coupon, so I ordered. And at the checkout they had a deal: join the Guide Club and get double the usual discount a member gets AND free shipping. I'd been thinking about joining for a while, so went ahead, and it wound up with the cost of the ammo being about $2.40/box. By the way, one thing I've noticed about their shipping: on a case of 1000 rounds it's listed as a 'heavy/bulky' item they tack an extra shipping charge onto, but ordering two cases of 500 did NOT have that added on. Odd, but handy.

One thing I've noticed at shows is a lot fewer shotguns with pistol grips on the tables. Never really understood why the damn things were popular. I don't mean the pistol grip on a stock, I mean a pistol grip only with no shoulder stock. Recoil on a 12 guage being what it is, I cannot imagine wanting to fire one of them. Chris at Anarchangel has written on them and notes that as big as he is, he can't handle more than one or two rounds with one. I guess a few of the people who bought them told friends how they wound up with their wrist in a brace and word got around.

All in all, a good show.

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