Gun show report this weekend...

[Truckman]

I had my usual three tables, but since I'm specialized in strictly older S&W revolvers, the outgoing guns were few, just as I suspected...However the incoming were, to say the least, interesting...

First the guy at the table across from me had an old Smith he couldn't identify, so I told him it was one of my personal favorites, a .38-44 HD, but nowhere near pristine...The barrel had been cut to 3.5" and some other sight soldered on...It was original nickel finished, but the barrel finish is horrible...It has plastic stag grips...But the action is good and the timing is right, so I asked him what he was going to do with it...He asked me if I thought he could get $350 for it, to which I said how about $300 right now...He agreed and this will be my new carry gun, replacing the 5 screw, 3.5" .357 Magnum I've been carrying as soon as I transfer the Bigmtnman moose antler grips from one to the other...

Next I found a guy selling a 5 screw blued 8.375" .357 Magnum in its presentation case, a 6" K22 Masterpiece in a correctly labeled gold box and a 1931/32 vintage K22 Outdoorsman with the older rear sight in a correctly labeled red box with a Roy Jinks letter to boot...After some negotiation I owned all three, but only after I got back to my tables did I notice the Masterpiece has a three digit serial number making it a first year production from 1946...This one is getting lettered...

I rounded out the weekend by buying a nice Model 28-2 and a 2" round butt 10-5, both very clean with really nice grips...I also snagged a newly manufactured Marlin Camp .45 built on an original Marlin lower receiver with all newly machined steel parts and a collapsible stock...I've been looking a long time for an original Marlin but most I see are beaters, many with cracked stocks...I got this one for what I see most original beaters priced at...

So after re-homing 4 of my other S&W's, I'm very happy with my new toys...Sorry no photos yet, because I am beat for the day......Ben

 

[mrchick]

Looking forward to the pictures. Sounds like a good show for you.

 

[Univibe]

I was there. I noticed several things:

1. Gun prices continue to drop. NIB G22.5 was $499. NIB G17 and G19 were around $539. Comparable drops on M&Ps, etc.

2. Ammo prices still high; one vendor wanted $1 a round for .45 FMJ. Didn't see as much overpriced ammo moving.

3. One guy was selling new Pmag 30 gen 2 for $10 out the door.

4. Smith Sport AR still sticking at $749. I expected that to be creeping down.

5. Sub 2000 was $550.

6. Where are the G22 gen 5 magazines? Can't find any anywhere, for love or money.



N.B. to Truckman (OP): if your tables are the ones I remember, you had some groovy stuff.

 

[Truckman]

I was there. I noticed several things:

1. Gun prices continue to drop...3. One guy was selling new Pmag 30 gen 2 for $10 out the door...N.B. to Truckman (OP): if your tables are the ones I remember, you had some groovy stuff.

1 and 2: I heard from more than one AR seller that AR-15's are hard to move, and prices are dropping...It only takes one scary demand from the usual suspects in Congress to drive the demand back up though...

It was probably me if it was three tables with navy blue covers and a bunch of glass cases to keep the booger pickers out...Next show in December, stop by and identify yourself...

Additional note: The on duty officers nailed a gun thief in the act today, but his two accomplices escaped...I saw him, and being the typical thug he is, I'm sure he'll roll over on his two buddies in exchange for a lighter sentence......Ben

 

[19leben]

Well I'm looking forward to pics of your new acquisitions! Really excited to see your 3.5" HD!


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[Wiregrassguy]

Jeez, Ben! How about I just send you $10K and you send me what you find? Jes sayin'

 

[Truckman]

Well I'm looking forward to pics of your new acquisitions! Really excited to see your 3.5" HD!

It's a mutt just like the other HD's in my kennel, but I think that's part of the appeal...I have a heavy work load this week but I will attend to photos after the obligatory clean-up and grip change...If I remember I'll do before and after shots......Ben

 

[Truckman]

Jeez, Ben! How about I just send you $10K and you send me what you find? Jes sayin'

You might be amazed at what I was forced to pay...But go ahead and send the $10K, I'll see what I can dig up for you......Ben

 

[Truckman]

I forgot to mention the 8.375" .357 Magnum dates to 1955 by the S/N......Ben

 

[Univibe]

At the Conroe show this spring I saw that same Smith Sport AR change hands for eleven hundred U.S. American dollars. No lie. Glocks and M&P 2.0 were $700. I wanted a new G21.4 and the only one at that show was $719 and the guy wouldn't budge (I found one a week later for $585!). There was the $800 VP9 and the $1500 6920.

So things are getting better.

 

[Ruger 13]

Nice score!

 

[Truckman]

So just to satisfy the picture-hungry public, I snapped off these this morning...Please note this is fresh from the gun show, no cleanup yet, comments and advice welcome...For identity purposes, in the third pic clockwise from top center: the mutt, 5-screw .357 Magnum, 10-5, 28-2, K22 Outdoorsman and K22 Masterpiece...With apologies to the Marlin purists, the last pic is of my new truck gun, the Camp Carbine .45, of which little remains that is original other than the lower receiver...Thanks for looking......Ben

 

[Truckman]

Update: I just now realized that in my barely suppressed excitement at the show, I had failed to completely read the letter from Mr. Jinks concerning the Outdoorsman...You may read for yourself...And yes, all numbers including the stocks match......Ben

 

[cmansguns]

Super great 3 digit K22 Masterpiece

Those early post war II K22 Masterpieces are right up at the top of my 22 interests. I've got 2, one a 3 digit that has been Lettered and I was always of the opinion that it too was a 1946 1st year. I still don't know, even with the Letter.

The serial is K 905 and per the Letter page 3 which is a copy of the actual invoice, the customers order was entered by S&W on July 31, 1947, and the gun shipped August 12, 1947. But the invoice description clearly states K22 Masterpiece 1946, and further the date of the original order from the customer is July 30, 1940!

So was the gun a 1946 manufacture, 7 year old customer order found in 1947, and shipped 2 weeks later?....we'll probably never know, but I'll for sure be watching for whatever you find with your letter after the moratorium is lifted.

I have a 1948 K22 Masterpiece also (from s/n lookup in SCSW 4th) and may or may not Letter it too.

Just simply great guns and congrats again on finding those guns. I have the same problem if attending gun shows with some to sell.....used to come home with more than I sold..hence negative "netting". Don't worry anymore cause I'm tired of being offered 100 lbs of homemade venison jerky for one of my Smiths. Nobody seems to have good stuff for sale around here.

 

[Truckman]

Nobody seems to have good stuff for sale around here.

I sometimes get that feeling here too, but after talking to a visitor from Missouri this weekend, I feel better...He said in shows local to him the only Smiths he sees are beat-up paperweights...He told me my poor little accumulation of about 80 under glass would have been considered a museum event in his locale...Being from out of state he could not have acquired anything from me, but I did expend a little Windex mopping up the drool after he left......Ben

 

[Truckman]

New pics of the mutt...We talked while it was getting a bath, polish and freshly polished Bigmtnman moose antlers...I asked about its scars such as the burn marks on its muzzle...It told me it went in for surgery one day as a 5" barrel, and when it woke up it was suddenly a 3.5" with a different front sight...It said its master at that time was in a hurry to get to work, and it never got the cosmetic surgery to improve its appearance...

I asked if it would like a new finish to befit its position as a senior in my safe...It said no, it earned every scar it bears in life, and didn't want to trade that for being whistled at...It told me it's a working gun, and if I would provide it a snug leather home and buy it some better shoes than the plastic it came in with, it would serve me well from now on...

So the sophisticated 5 screw .357 Magnum which had served in an interim position in my carry rotation agreed to go back to showcase status, and gave up its moose antler grips in favor of its original numbered magnas it was wearing when it came to live with me...

My new little buddy is now in carry rotation with my 15-2 and my Kimber Compact BP...The transfer of power was done when the cylinder was filled with the Buffalo Bore 150 grain wadcutters from its predecessor, and the new mutt enters the kennel with my other five .38-44's......Ben

 

[Truckman]

One more shot of my new little buddy all snugged in to its Azula leather jacket which was another orphan I adopted, a South African I took in as part of a trade......Ben

 

[max503]

Sounds like you guys have good gun shows down there.

I sure do miss my Marlin 45 Camp Carbine.

My brother has the 9mm version but he won't budge.

 

[19leben]

I love the mutt's "story" and especially it's look. Neat gun.
Thanks for the pics!


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[RKmesa]

So just to satisfy the picture-hungry public, I snapped off these this morning..

What a great find!!! I love the 8 3/8" .357 in the Pelson display case. I would love to find one of those Pelson cases for an 8 3/8".357 Magnum.

Thanks for sharing the photos.