rburg
Member
OK, you're not going to get it. Today's show was surprising in how good it was, how many people attended, the great guns I managed to see, and the money that seemed to be flowing even if we do have a recession. Generally worth the drive, the $8 parking fee my son paid, and the long walk inside.
So the worst part was already covered, except for the Christmas flea market next door. The one that used the hall we're normally in for the larger shows. The last couple of years were terrible and one even had the promoter apologize for how few customers attended. Today was different. He didn't manage to draw as many vendors as we'd have liked, but it just means he made the aisles wide enough. Or he thought he did. Even the wide aisles were packed people. We had a lot of folks who have never been out to the big city (as if Louisville qualifies) and don't have a clue how to walk in a crowd. I even had some nasty thoughts about the bulk of weight many were packing in their lower regions (see, I can say that nicely).
We have a thread running about guns on our wish list. My list is now about zero. I took a bunch of money out of my retirement, converted it to cash, and went to the show. I already knew of a seller with a really nice Winchester M21 who had priced it very attractively. When he saw me this morning, he instantly reduced it by another $300, putting it nearly as cheap as I've ever seen one seriously for sale. It was priced to sell, not just for show. Too much for me to take, so I just went over and started counting out $100 bills. He was happy, I was happy, and we parted ways.
It seems there are different classes of sellers. I couldn't believe the prices some folks are asking for things like gun cases. Even beat up old ones the guys seem to want $500 to $1000 for. The seller of the gun, out of the kindness of his heart...loaned me a case to take the gun home in. I did make a good effort to find something that pleased me, but ended up empty handed. I'll find one or at least I'll be looking. This is gun show time of year with one at the end of the month and more in early January.
The M21 is just a standard grade gun, nice wood, beavertail fore end. 26" skeet barrels. Exactly what I've been seeking for about a decade now.
My son found a nice Lyman 4 cavity 358 semi wadcutter mold for $25 and an RCBS luber sizer for $75. He seems to want both, so I think I bought them and he has an early Christmas present. He found me a Colorado Saddlery holster. The seller had a tag on it saying 5 1/2" Colt. Flip it over and you can see plain as day the 38-44 6 1/2" ball point pen indentation. Even if a Colt fits it, I have an idea that a S&W will fit it better. Anyone here a holster expert? It doesn't have the leather block sewn in for an adjustable rear sight to rest on. That might mean its for a 6 1/2" HD. Well, except that my impression is the folks from H H Heiser moved over and formed Colorado Saddlery in the very late 1950s to 1960 time frame. I wonder if they just dropped the nicety of that leather chunk and its really for an Outdoorsman. Doesn't really matter all that much, the quality seems to be sewn in.
Didn't buy much else. I did pick up 2 entree's from MREs. No not the inedible main course, but the Cherry Blueberry desert. I'm old and eat what I want. I don't have to choke down something else before desert. If I'm hungry, I'll eat two deserts!
David Carroll made a short appearance with his grand son. Hunter is getting to be a big boy now.
Maybe the best gun of the show award goes to Blake. He's worried that I'll identify it here and everyone will know what he's got. So I won't. But if you see him, ask him what he had that seemed to impress me (and David) so much.
I guess we didn't buy anything else, but a lot was tempting. The survival food tables were doing a big business. Our tables weren't anywhere in line with the doors from those tables, yet a bunch of folks were carting out the large square tubs of food. The reloading tables were stacked 3 deep out and blocking the aisles. Those boys were selling stuff.
The in show food was awful as expected. But the Christmas show next door had a food court that wasn't stacked too full of waiting people and the prices seemed reasonable. The only disappointing part was the cheeseburger combo wasn't being sold because they were out of cardboard fries. I took my revenge by loading up on dill pickles. Back in the gunshow my grand daughter ate them all. There are just things grandma's don't teach young girls. She had a cheeseburger earlier, but only put 2 pickles on it. That's just foolishness, so she got to munch about a half cup I brought her back. Better than salty old fries.
All considered, it was a really good show. Anytime you get one of your holy grail guns, and at a discount, is a good show. Now I've got to start thinking what I need next, if anything. Maybe its time for another purge of stuff I don't need. Right now I've got to go read the book on M21s. Anybody know when they were making guns in the 12,500 serial number range? The books all say that prior to WWII they stopped at 11,300 or so. I don't think they were making many during WWII, so I'm guessing very early postwar.
So the worst part was already covered, except for the Christmas flea market next door. The one that used the hall we're normally in for the larger shows. The last couple of years were terrible and one even had the promoter apologize for how few customers attended. Today was different. He didn't manage to draw as many vendors as we'd have liked, but it just means he made the aisles wide enough. Or he thought he did. Even the wide aisles were packed people. We had a lot of folks who have never been out to the big city (as if Louisville qualifies) and don't have a clue how to walk in a crowd. I even had some nasty thoughts about the bulk of weight many were packing in their lower regions (see, I can say that nicely).
We have a thread running about guns on our wish list. My list is now about zero. I took a bunch of money out of my retirement, converted it to cash, and went to the show. I already knew of a seller with a really nice Winchester M21 who had priced it very attractively. When he saw me this morning, he instantly reduced it by another $300, putting it nearly as cheap as I've ever seen one seriously for sale. It was priced to sell, not just for show. Too much for me to take, so I just went over and started counting out $100 bills. He was happy, I was happy, and we parted ways.
It seems there are different classes of sellers. I couldn't believe the prices some folks are asking for things like gun cases. Even beat up old ones the guys seem to want $500 to $1000 for. The seller of the gun, out of the kindness of his heart...loaned me a case to take the gun home in. I did make a good effort to find something that pleased me, but ended up empty handed. I'll find one or at least I'll be looking. This is gun show time of year with one at the end of the month and more in early January.
The M21 is just a standard grade gun, nice wood, beavertail fore end. 26" skeet barrels. Exactly what I've been seeking for about a decade now.
My son found a nice Lyman 4 cavity 358 semi wadcutter mold for $25 and an RCBS luber sizer for $75. He seems to want both, so I think I bought them and he has an early Christmas present. He found me a Colorado Saddlery holster. The seller had a tag on it saying 5 1/2" Colt. Flip it over and you can see plain as day the 38-44 6 1/2" ball point pen indentation. Even if a Colt fits it, I have an idea that a S&W will fit it better. Anyone here a holster expert? It doesn't have the leather block sewn in for an adjustable rear sight to rest on. That might mean its for a 6 1/2" HD. Well, except that my impression is the folks from H H Heiser moved over and formed Colorado Saddlery in the very late 1950s to 1960 time frame. I wonder if they just dropped the nicety of that leather chunk and its really for an Outdoorsman. Doesn't really matter all that much, the quality seems to be sewn in.
Didn't buy much else. I did pick up 2 entree's from MREs. No not the inedible main course, but the Cherry Blueberry desert. I'm old and eat what I want. I don't have to choke down something else before desert. If I'm hungry, I'll eat two deserts!
David Carroll made a short appearance with his grand son. Hunter is getting to be a big boy now.
Maybe the best gun of the show award goes to Blake. He's worried that I'll identify it here and everyone will know what he's got. So I won't. But if you see him, ask him what he had that seemed to impress me (and David) so much.
I guess we didn't buy anything else, but a lot was tempting. The survival food tables were doing a big business. Our tables weren't anywhere in line with the doors from those tables, yet a bunch of folks were carting out the large square tubs of food. The reloading tables were stacked 3 deep out and blocking the aisles. Those boys were selling stuff.
The in show food was awful as expected. But the Christmas show next door had a food court that wasn't stacked too full of waiting people and the prices seemed reasonable. The only disappointing part was the cheeseburger combo wasn't being sold because they were out of cardboard fries. I took my revenge by loading up on dill pickles. Back in the gunshow my grand daughter ate them all. There are just things grandma's don't teach young girls. She had a cheeseburger earlier, but only put 2 pickles on it. That's just foolishness, so she got to munch about a half cup I brought her back. Better than salty old fries.
All considered, it was a really good show. Anytime you get one of your holy grail guns, and at a discount, is a good show. Now I've got to start thinking what I need next, if anything. Maybe its time for another purge of stuff I don't need. Right now I've got to go read the book on M21s. Anybody know when they were making guns in the 12,500 serial number range? The books all say that prior to WWII they stopped at 11,300 or so. I don't think they were making many during WWII, so I'm guessing very early postwar.
