A lot of gun folks I know have given up on going to shows, or only go to one or two niche ones each year, citing all the hucksters selling unrelated thrift store junk as well as the 'collector-dealers' who have stickers for guns twice what any sane mind will pay on the big sites for the same thing.
I still enjoy shows for both the camaraderie amongst fellow sportsmen, who out here at least still make up the majority of the crowds, as well as the occasional unexpected find.
Yesterday I had popped out to a local show one county over just to look around and get out of the house for a while. Did see some beauties, including a special order engraved Colt D.S. from the 30s still new in its original box, as well was a pre-29 LNIB lettered long ago. But of course, the prices were those high show prices one expects these days.
Fast forward to me heading to lunch and I literally bumped into an elderly gentleman walking with two women of a similar age, all carrying pistol cases; a sign indicated they were selling multiple revolvers. Turned out they were liquidating some estate leavings, and trying to get fair prices from the dealers at the show was proving to be a challenge. Naturally this prompted me to ask : "Well, what are you trying to sell? Maybe I can help..." Which has led me, of course, to once more break my 'no new guns for a while' promise to myself and come home with this 28-2 4" Highway Patrolman, SN N32XXX, a model and size I'd been keeping an eye out for, for some time now.
Has a bit of bluing wear, mostly on the cylinder (I suspect it was used as a glovebox gun once), and someone decided to varnish the grips at one point, but they number to the gun and the action is as tight as the day it was made. At a shade over 4 bills for a pinned and recessed N-frame in excellent mechanical shape (and still pretty good looking, to boot), how can you go wrong?
After a good cleaning I'm taking her to the range with the new 640-1 from Centerfire and seeing what they can do.
I still enjoy shows for both the camaraderie amongst fellow sportsmen, who out here at least still make up the majority of the crowds, as well as the occasional unexpected find.
Yesterday I had popped out to a local show one county over just to look around and get out of the house for a while. Did see some beauties, including a special order engraved Colt D.S. from the 30s still new in its original box, as well was a pre-29 LNIB lettered long ago. But of course, the prices were those high show prices one expects these days.
Fast forward to me heading to lunch and I literally bumped into an elderly gentleman walking with two women of a similar age, all carrying pistol cases; a sign indicated they were selling multiple revolvers. Turned out they were liquidating some estate leavings, and trying to get fair prices from the dealers at the show was proving to be a challenge. Naturally this prompted me to ask : "Well, what are you trying to sell? Maybe I can help..." Which has led me, of course, to once more break my 'no new guns for a while' promise to myself and come home with this 28-2 4" Highway Patrolman, SN N32XXX, a model and size I'd been keeping an eye out for, for some time now.
Has a bit of bluing wear, mostly on the cylinder (I suspect it was used as a glovebox gun once), and someone decided to varnish the grips at one point, but they number to the gun and the action is as tight as the day it was made. At a shade over 4 bills for a pinned and recessed N-frame in excellent mechanical shape (and still pretty good looking, to boot), how can you go wrong?
After a good cleaning I'm taking her to the range with the new 640-1 from Centerfire and seeing what they can do.
