De Gun Show

[skeet]

Well the Wyoming Weapons Collectors gun show is over. Went..got snowed on..rained on.. Sun and(70 degrees) on Friday Rain Sat and Snow Sunday. Oy Vey!! Had a good time and acquired quite a bit of stuff. Couple of Bullet Moulds1 Hensley & Gibbs 4 hole and another H&G 2 hole... both on handles Got another Marlin 1895 45-70 but it was a pre safety gun. Really nice..also got a really nice Marlin 444 with a bunch of extras An all but new Ruger Single Six Convwertible in Blue..another Blackhawk in 41 mag..Got an early Ruger 77 in 257 Robts with older Redfield 3x9 Rangefinder..Gun is like new too. Best buy(I think) is an older Ruger 77 in 7x57 with a Leupold 2x7. Both are in perfect shape and I just couldn't resist..and the price was right at 450. Got lots of littles but not like most shows I actually sold the most stuff in the last two years at the show. People still are a bit short on money and I am trying to keep the items I sell at reasonable prices. I sold a bunch of ammo bullets etc. Picked up a couple of reloading presses such as a Rockchucker in Exc condition and an older Lyman turret. All in all had a good time got to smooze with shootin folk and actually came home with more money than I spent..Must be losin my touch. Seems I always buy more'n I sell. I did talk with a guy who has lots of reloading items..mostly older stuff. He had it all spread out in 2 big buildings. Going back next week and buy it all. What I saw was good stuff but he said he has lots more. I would have taken it home Sunday but I had no more room inside the truck...and it was rainin and snowing.. He also has an older 5 screw S&W (pre)K-22 that I am buying. In pretty good condition especially for a 5 screw gun. Original grips etc etc. I don't NEED it..but I do want it. He has another in nicer condition for more money..but 700 bucks is too much for me. You do remember I am a BIT cheap...er thrifty:rolleyes:

[GoodOlBoy]

Nuthin wrong with bein cheap. I took two truck loads of salvage to the yard on Friday. One of bail salvage (IE mixed lot old appliances etc) and one of bagged aluminum cans. Brought more than $100 and was about an hour and a half worth of work at most if you count drive time.

GoodOlBoy

[Catfish]

Sounds like you found some real deals on some nice guns. I found a deal on some not so nice guns, a local dealer had some Romain m-1969 training rifles for $ 60 ea with no clip. I offered him $ 250 out the door for all of them and got them. I have now mounted a 24 X Leupold scope that I gave $ 400 for on 1 of them,:rolleyes:, but I want to see how well they will shoot. I would reather have acouple of the guns you found.

[skeet]

Well I think you did ok on those 22s. I think Triple K makes mags for them. Do some checking. Also check J&G rifle ranch(or J&G sales now i guess). They quite often have odd stuff. I made another buy today Got a Kimber M-8400 in 300 Winchester Short Mag..with a Leupold VX-L scope..Gun has been shot 30 times..with box papers etc same for the scope. Paid 1150.but the scope is SPENSIVE. Almost as much as the rifle. Ya know..Leupold is really pricing themselves out of every man's pocket book. I've been buying a few Kimber rifles because the price is not all that much higher than a Remington or Browning and they are a semi custom rifle.. And if you get 'em used but not abused..they are pretty close to the standard fare that you find for sale. A guy at the gun show had a new NRA Kimber in 338 Federal(blick) new in box and he wanted 900 for it. He actually tried to trade it to me for a Rem 722 I have..Had 700 on the Remington and told him I wouldn't trade even up.. I think I PO'd him. I kinda feel that the 338 Federal and the 300 Rugers are gonna be obsolete in really short order

[GoodOlBoy]

I think you made the right call on that proposed trade Skeet. I think because of the economy we are going to go through the pairing down cycles again, you will see alot of calibers drop off of the shelves and market, and go to the back of the shelf while old standbys (243, 270, 308, 30-06, 222, 223, 30-30, etc.) will be back in the limelight. You might see a FEW of the other survivable calibers still survive the mainstream (25-06, 7mm mag, 22-250, 257 roberts, 7mm-08, etc) but they will be rarer and rarer. People will scream and yell I don't know what I am talking about, but you know what? I remember when I was 14 years old the stores paired down, and you could shoot any shotgun you wanted so long as it was a 12 gauge, and any rifle you wanted so long as it was one of "the five" (243, 270, 308, 30-06, 30-30) but anything else and you were reloading or buying specialty ammo from expensive gunshops, and fringe reloading companies. Heck you could shoot an old military gun (303 brit, 30 carbine, 7.62x54r etc) IF you could find a military surplus store with ammo. And of course the 22 short, long, and long rifle were everywhere, and a few 22 magnums could be found. Forget finding ammo if you had a 32-20, 44-40, 38-40, a 45 colt, etc etc. And you could have any pistol round you wanted so long as it was a 38 special, a 357 mag, a 44 mag, a 45 acp, or a 9mm.

I'm not saying it's right, I am saying when times get tough folks who live on them trade in the fancy dancy one use guns, and go for calibers with as much coverage as you can get to feed a family. Oh there will always be places here and there where you can pay premium prices for calibers that are dropping off of the shelves and out of the stores. Nonstock prices always make a gunshop giggle. 45 long colt is averaging $47 for 50 rounds now in my area for example. Two places have it. One has one box, the other has two boxes. I will keep reloading for it because it is an easy caliber to load for.

Who knows. Maybe the economy will heat up again, new calibers will continue to bust the doors open, and the gottahaves will get their new WSSMUDLRIO#$!@% calibers from this months article and be happy until they read the next months article that declares it a dead caliber, but the new and improved WSSSSSSSSSMUDDLRIOPP2 will be around forever! Or until a new one comes out two months later......

I don't play the new(or newer) caliber game, I fell for that trap once and once only, never again. And I understand that just because a caliber is old doesn't mean it's a classic. But there are calibers that stand the test of time, and calibers that are the one hit wonders of the shooting world.

my 2 cents.

GoodOlBoy

[skeet]

Well GOB..I don't think you said 2 cents worth. It was at least a buck 2 98..Neugene Scott told me oncet that that was a LOT of money. I think you are right. When things get tough the old standbys turn out to be the ones every body keeps. And as far as anything goes I keep certain once fired or new brass. I have a couple hundred 44 mag..a couple hundred 30-06 same or more in 243 and I can use it to make 260. Got lots of 257 brass and a lot of factory 30-30 ammo. 223 brass is ok to have as it can be made into others like the 222. Wish I could send ya some 45 Colt ammo as most of mine is loaded. Local UPS don't know the rules on ORM-D

[GoodOlBoy]

Yeah it happens brother, not a problem. One of the only reasons I list the 25-06 as possible for hanging around is it is just toooooo easy to make 'em out of 30-06 brass. There are some I didn't list that I think will hang on simply because fanatics will keep it alive (6mm ppc for example) but there are just a whole WHOLE lot not gonna be around anymore. Heck I remember when even mom and pop shops in east Texas had 303 savage on the shelves, of course it was one box here and there but it COULD be found, right next to the 30-30s.

There are alot of good old calibers out there, and quite a few good younger calibers around. But in the end people will hold onto what they can actually get, or the stubborn ones like me and you will hold onto whatever we can make.

GoodOlBoy