A funny thing happened to me on the way to the Gun Show

[Dale53]

Actually, it happened IN the Gun Show. I have been crowing about my fondness for a Jerry Miculek Special .45 ACP 625-8 that I acquired a few months ago. Two friends of mine also bought them shortly after I did.

So, I got to the show (primarily there to pick up the Amercian Single Shot Association's "Classic Rifle" that will be given away (raffled off) in the months to come. The rifle is here for me to photograph it for the magazine cover.

At any rate, there I was being a good boy when one of my friends, who has a couple of tables at the show with high end Cowboy leather and lots of single actions (and high end 1911's, etc) had his 625-8 on the table. To make a long story short, I couldn't talk him our of selling it and he offered it to me at a price that I couldn't refuse. I DO wish he had kept and shot it, but he is more oriented to autos.

Now, I have TWO JM Specials. The piece came with a Red Dot and proper scope mounts and rings, lots of full moon RIMZ and steel clips. Looks like one of my boys may end up with a nice 625-8. Who knows?

When a feller goes to a gun show you NEVER know what will happen....

Dale53

[jawjaboy]

Every show that I've ever been to, I had intentional items in mind to buy if the price was right. More times than not, nobody there has what I'm looking for, or if they do have it the price is higher than fair.

I do relate to what you are talking about Dale. I love it when I'm walking around with this unspent little $wad in my pocket, somewhat disappointed, and then run up on a treasure that is a genuine bargain. Then jes grin all the way home!

[crowbuster]

jawjaboy, it just happened to me last weekend, looking for certain guns and acc. lots of extra cash on had, guess what, not one single good deal on any of the three, and when i switched to reloading mode same result. seems the only time i find good deals at the gun show it was just bought or cash flow prevents such a purchase sure got a good bag of roasted pecans however. ha ha

[jawjaboy]

jawjaboy, it just happened to me last weekend, looking for certain guns and acc. lots of extra cash on had, guess what, not one single good deal on any of the three, and when i switched to reloading mode same result. seems the only time i find good deals at the gun show it was just bought or cash flow prevents such a purchase sure got a good bag of roasted pecans however. ha ha

Do I know you from somewhere else? Roasted pecan man? :wink:

[NVcurmudgeon]

Yes, it's weird how when you are not looking for a particular gun there will be one on every other table. But when you are looking for something they are as scarce as honest politicians. I go to the Big Reno Gun Show three or four times a year, whichever it is. When I decided I wanted a good period sporterized Krag, they dried up. There were just none to be had, even ratty ones. After looking for a year I found one, but ammohead saw it first. He studied it for a while, then said: "If you don't buy it I will." That one went home with me. I had looked for maybe two years for a good 1891 Argentine Mauser, either issue or nicely sporterized. All I could find was Bubba specials, in bad shape. Finally, I went to the show with Urny. He wandered off for a few minutes, then came back and almost dragged me to another table. There was a perfect issue 1891 long rifle at a good price. The last show Urny found me another gun I couldn't refuse. This time it was an excellent condition K-38, which I had been looking for for a couple of years. It was a double whammy this time. The seller turned out to be a recently retired friend. Now I know the secret. If you are looking for a specific gun, go to gun shows with friends. They will not only find what you are looking for, but goad you into buying it.

[swingpress]

I can't imagine why anyone but a widow would sell a 625.

[crabo]

I have a good friend that is a professional shopper. He builds swimming pools and is always stopping at pawn shops, going to garage sales, and gun shows. I sometimes can talk him out of one of his "finds". I bought a nice 8 3/8 586 for $300 and a like new Kimber Pro Carry II for $600. No tax, no shipping, out the door. He is more of a collector than a shooter and is always handing me a gun and telling me to go shoot it and let him know how it shoots.

Crabo

[The Double D]

Now, I have TWO JM Specials. The piece came with a Red Dot and proper scope mounts and rings, lots of full moon RIMZ and steel clips. Looks like one of my boys may end up with a nice 625-8. Who knows?

When a feller goes to a gun show you NEVER know what will happen....

Dale53


Hi Dad!

[Bent Ramrod]

Gun Shows aren't stores, that's for sure. If you go there expecting to find something, that will for sure be the thing that nobody has. I went one time with only the ambition to get a bottle of Hoppe's #9, which I had run out of the previous weekend and needed to have by the next shooting day. There was not a single bottle for sale over 140 tables or so, even though several of them were semipermanent stores selling shooters' supplies.

For a while there seemed to be a lot of junker Winchester 1895's around, mostly in .30-40 and mostly shot out. I finally found a near-pristine 1895 barrel in .35 WCF and resolved to grab the next one of these clunks I saw and rebarrel it. The supply of 1895 wrecks promptly dried up, never to resume. I finally found a decent condition .35 at a good price and I guess I have an extra barrel for when I shoot out the first one. I'll need about 3 scapula replacements by the time that happens, though. Haven't seen any of those at Gun Shows either.:mrgreen:

Savage 99 parts were similarly ubiquitous until I found a shot-out .30-30 and had it relined to .25-35. I needed a new spring and spool magazine of the proper vintage, as the one in the rifle had broken in two. The supply of Savage parts (and the guy who had most of them, a fixture at every show previously) disappeared into thin air and it was several years before I found (by pure random luck) a spool and spring that worked.

In the meantime, while looking for such stuff, I found dozens of incremental additions to other ongoing projects, and, of course, some new projects in their own right.

But this is the fascination of Gun Shows anyway, for me at least. Besides the petting-zoo aspect, it's like a giant jigsaw puzzle in space and time. Somebody has to fight entropy, and I guess somehow I've been elected.