rburg
Member
Well, I had a really good time. Didn't sell a darn thing except the gun I'd prearrainged with our table partner. But that went down early and it gave me a handful of green to work with. We had 22 and 9mm ammo for sale, but no one wanted to pay. I sure hope it means Walmart is getting some in stock. Lots of tire kickers but few buyers. One of my pards sold a gun to the other, too. Ben went home with 2 "new to him" guns. He also sold one to some walk in customer. So from that perspective it was a pretty good day. But then I started walking the aisles.
I found a nice poncho liner so I bought it. The kids love them and use them for all sorts of things. I'm going to beg my wife to wash it first. Then let the little ones have fun. A little way along I stopped at Joe Gillenwater's table. He's got a sign that says he's retiring. I thought he already was. But he says all his knives will be gone by the end of the year. Of course while I was talking to him a girl offered him another Randall and he bought it (cheap). So when he came back I asked him about his Randall 6 - 4 1/2. He gave me what I consider a great price of $425 so I bought it. About 10 or 15 years ago I swore if I ever saw another, I was buying it. This one fits in with the other 4 we've got adding to the set. #6 are steak knives and yes, I eat with them. That made the entire day a huge success.
Then a little way along I bought a pack of frog lube and the seller tossed in some little tubes of the stuff, too. Kind of like the tiny tubes of WD40. Good to toss in the console or glove compartment. My pard Joe gave me a bottle of Makers White Dog. Its basically taxed moonshine. It goes in the collection. I also found a case of pretty new MREs. Not expensive so I bought it. Grandkids love army food. Go figure. My job will be to harvest out the things that sound edible, then hide them.
I didn't buy the 38/44 Outdoorsman, primarily because he wouldn't price it but also because he was thinking $2000. Its a good gun, but what I would call a 90% gun. My guess is its a $1200 gun, so I'm not paying a premium. The survival guys are making another big display. 5 gallon buckets and then foil packs. Prices seem high to me when you consider the MREs a couple of aisles away. Better still, if you want to pay high prices, visit REI or any other camping store and put your own together with things that taste good. I still can't figure out what you're supposed to eat for breakfast. Maybe dried bacon, freeze dried eggs, and the bread out of otherwise inedible MREs. Add in the jelly, too.
AR guys are again doing a brisk business. For months now they've been out of everything. Suddenly they've got and are selling small parts kits, etc. The reloading guy had a booth that was half the size of the last show, but he had stuff people wanted. Like 9mm bullets, even 147 gr. He and some other tables had primers. Lots of the foreign stuff, but a selection of Winchester (small and large pistol) for $39.95. Brass seems to be offered a lot more than in the past. Who knows how many times its been fired, but its available. Even 8mm Mauser brass. One guy had a linked belt of it that spanned what looked like almost 2 8' tables. I didn't ask the price.
The asking price for .30-06 and .308 is up to about $1 a round. If in Garand clips they were at $1.25. To me that's way too high. But its available. I was shocked at the price of .45-70 commercial ammo. The boxes I saw were right at $2 a round, or $39.99 for a box of 20. Thats outrageous. At the same building about 22 or 23 years ago I scored a bunch of it. I'd just bought a Browning B78 and the next table was a gunshop selling his ammo down. He wanted $4 a box, but came down to about $3 a box if I bought it all. I did, and it was more than I could carry. But my gunshowing buddy offered to lug my new gun so I could carry the ammo. It wasn't more than an aisle or two over some guy saw what I was toting. He asked if I wanted more. I doubt that I looked like I could carry it. But he asked $2.50 per box, again if I bought him out. He did have a large sturdy box to put it all in so we headed for the car to dump it. I don't remember but I'm sure it was 15 boxes or so, total. Their reasoning for dumping it was no one buys it and it was an obsolete caliber. Go figure. Now its considered a boutique caliber and commands a premium price. Bet the old stuff is as good as the new manufacture. I was temped to buy a flashlight or two, but the hawkers trying to sell them are such a pain I couldn't listen to their spiel. They need to hire some sweet young things to smile a lot and shut up.
Speaking of sweet young things, the Lexington show has a long standing reputation for having real babes at the show. The Louisville show, well, not so much. I was favorably impressed by the one wearing cowgirl boots and a summer sun dress. My table pards always knew where she was walking just by looking where my eyes were trained. Lets just say some of the girls wearing little summer shorts were pleasant to look at, too. Gawd what a pervert I've become. But I'm a happy one.
I found a nice poncho liner so I bought it. The kids love them and use them for all sorts of things. I'm going to beg my wife to wash it first. Then let the little ones have fun. A little way along I stopped at Joe Gillenwater's table. He's got a sign that says he's retiring. I thought he already was. But he says all his knives will be gone by the end of the year. Of course while I was talking to him a girl offered him another Randall and he bought it (cheap). So when he came back I asked him about his Randall 6 - 4 1/2. He gave me what I consider a great price of $425 so I bought it. About 10 or 15 years ago I swore if I ever saw another, I was buying it. This one fits in with the other 4 we've got adding to the set. #6 are steak knives and yes, I eat with them. That made the entire day a huge success.
Then a little way along I bought a pack of frog lube and the seller tossed in some little tubes of the stuff, too. Kind of like the tiny tubes of WD40. Good to toss in the console or glove compartment. My pard Joe gave me a bottle of Makers White Dog. Its basically taxed moonshine. It goes in the collection. I also found a case of pretty new MREs. Not expensive so I bought it. Grandkids love army food. Go figure. My job will be to harvest out the things that sound edible, then hide them.
I didn't buy the 38/44 Outdoorsman, primarily because he wouldn't price it but also because he was thinking $2000. Its a good gun, but what I would call a 90% gun. My guess is its a $1200 gun, so I'm not paying a premium. The survival guys are making another big display. 5 gallon buckets and then foil packs. Prices seem high to me when you consider the MREs a couple of aisles away. Better still, if you want to pay high prices, visit REI or any other camping store and put your own together with things that taste good. I still can't figure out what you're supposed to eat for breakfast. Maybe dried bacon, freeze dried eggs, and the bread out of otherwise inedible MREs. Add in the jelly, too.
AR guys are again doing a brisk business. For months now they've been out of everything. Suddenly they've got and are selling small parts kits, etc. The reloading guy had a booth that was half the size of the last show, but he had stuff people wanted. Like 9mm bullets, even 147 gr. He and some other tables had primers. Lots of the foreign stuff, but a selection of Winchester (small and large pistol) for $39.95. Brass seems to be offered a lot more than in the past. Who knows how many times its been fired, but its available. Even 8mm Mauser brass. One guy had a linked belt of it that spanned what looked like almost 2 8' tables. I didn't ask the price.
The asking price for .30-06 and .308 is up to about $1 a round. If in Garand clips they were at $1.25. To me that's way too high. But its available. I was shocked at the price of .45-70 commercial ammo. The boxes I saw were right at $2 a round, or $39.99 for a box of 20. Thats outrageous. At the same building about 22 or 23 years ago I scored a bunch of it. I'd just bought a Browning B78 and the next table was a gunshop selling his ammo down. He wanted $4 a box, but came down to about $3 a box if I bought it all. I did, and it was more than I could carry. But my gunshowing buddy offered to lug my new gun so I could carry the ammo. It wasn't more than an aisle or two over some guy saw what I was toting. He asked if I wanted more. I doubt that I looked like I could carry it. But he asked $2.50 per box, again if I bought him out. He did have a large sturdy box to put it all in so we headed for the car to dump it. I don't remember but I'm sure it was 15 boxes or so, total. Their reasoning for dumping it was no one buys it and it was an obsolete caliber. Go figure. Now its considered a boutique caliber and commands a premium price. Bet the old stuff is as good as the new manufacture. I was temped to buy a flashlight or two, but the hawkers trying to sell them are such a pain I couldn't listen to their spiel. They need to hire some sweet young things to smile a lot and shut up.
Speaking of sweet young things, the Lexington show has a long standing reputation for having real babes at the show. The Louisville show, well, not so much. I was favorably impressed by the one wearing cowgirl boots and a summer sun dress. My table pards always knew where she was walking just by looking where my eyes were trained. Lets just say some of the girls wearing little summer shorts were pleasant to look at, too. Gawd what a pervert I've become. But I'm a happy one.
