The Kalispell gun show I went to yesterday was an utter waste of time and gasoline. If there were more than fifty tables, I’d be surprised. Gun shows in this state just are not what they used to be. I think part of the problem is that there are so many more of them than there used to be that it has watered down the quality of them.

To try and get something out of the trip, I swung through various gun and pawn shops on my way back. Did stop in at a little pawn shop in Kalispell that, while unremarkable, had a really nice guy behind the counter who was quite pleasant to talk to about guns. He had a Mini-14 with the old-style factory folding stock up on the shelf. That was tempting. Also had the first used KelTec RFB i’ve ever seen. And, sitting on the counter, was a ‘misc box’ full of assorted magazines. Hmmm.

Wound up finding five factory Ruger mags for the P95s. Ten bucks each, offered him eight, he said “Nah, make it seven.” So I got five mags for thirty five bucks. A mix of regular capacity and ten rounders. Coincidentally, I picked up a dozen used mags off GunBroker last week so unless some sort of insane deal comes down the pike, I’m pretty much done buying Ruger 9mm mags.

After leaving Kalispell, I stopped in Ronan at a gun shop where I’ve know the guy behind the counter for twenty years. They deal in mostly new guns, but he had a pair of Winchester Model 100’s in .308 to show me. Kinda cute, but not my thing. I did get to handle Rugers new .44 Special GP100 and the new 8-shot .357 on the Redhawk frame. That .357 would be a stunning beast if they’d drop a 5″ or 6″ barrel on it instead of that snubby barrel.

So the trip wasn’t a total waste since I got some mags out of it, but I think I’m definitely going to rethink these gun shows that require traveling quite some distance to attend. For example, I’d like to go to the Billings gun show but for a five hour drive each way there had better be an abundance of tables and opportunity.

But..extra mags, so, yay.

So..you’re remodeling your house, pull the roof apart, and find a gun-shaped object wrapped in cloth. Hmm. Grab some video of the grand unveiling and…it’s an StG44.

I would guess the story is either someone during the war decided to keep it to play partisan, or someone came into it at the end of the war and decided to keep it for a future rainy day, or, less likely, some German soldier hid it with the hope of returning for it. My money is on the second scenario.

Finding old guns in odd places isn’t limited to Europe. Here in Montana ‘relics’ are a genuine category of gun at gun shows. Someone plows a field and a rusted, barely-recognizable Sharps is unearthed…or someone finds an old shotgun stuffed in a corner of a barn…or when Grampa kicks the bucket at 97 the family finds an old .41 Remington in his dresser. Been there, done that.

The more notable cases are things like the guy who found a Thomspon gun hidden the wall of his Chicago home. Or the small-town library that finds a WW1 bring-back Maxim in their attic that used to be used for Veterans Day parades.

So..if you were going to stuff something in between the joists for some future date, what would it be?

I think that, like many folks, I’d probably breakdown an AR, wrap it up with a handful of magazines, and tuck it away with a similarly packaged Glock.

Tell you what, though…I find an StG in my attic, ain’t nobody finding out about it.

You guys familiar with ‘box meal’ services like Blue Apron and similar outfits? You ‘subscribe’ and every week they send you a box in the mail with a recipe and all the ingredients you need to create that recipe. I think it’s a tad silly and expensive, but some people enjoy it.

I’m amused that the folks at Thrive storage food have used the ‘Blue Apron’ model to create a make-it-yourself meal service using, unsurprisingly, their freeze dried foods.

I have to admit, it’s a pretty clever way to tap into an entirely new market. However, even top of the line freeze-drieds are still a bit lacking compared to fresh vegetables and fruits that you get at the grocery store. But, one interesting aspect is that by checking out their menus you can come up with ideas on how best to utilize their selection of freeze dried foods.

Anyway, I thought it was rather amusing. Personally, while I have a really good stock of freeze drieds in storage, I think I’d rather eat the wet-pack canned stuff. Given my druthers between canned pineapple or freezedried pineapple, I’ll use the canned stuff every time…my pina coladas deserve no less.

I first mentioned this guy when his standoff was ten years old.

GUN BARREL CITY, Texas — The past decade has taken a toll on John Joe Gray, holed up on his rural East Texas land while waiting for a siege that’s never happened.

He’s been living on 47 acres behind a fence without running water and electricity but with plenty of guns, daring authorities to arrest him for a 10-year-old, third-degree felony warrant. He says he hasn’t left his property since 2000, all the while allowing his distrust of a government he views as evil to fester.

Apparently, last year the prosecutors figured his self-imposed house arrest was 150% of the maximum penalty he would have received, and dropped the charges.

The longest and possibly most bizarre stand-off in American history has come to an end.

John Joe Gray, from Trinidad, near Dallas, Texas, was arrested in 1999 for biting a police officer after the cop found he was carrying high-powered rifles without a license during a traffic stop.

Gray paid his bond and has since refused to go to court, hiding inside his 47-acre property for 16 years and vowing to shoot any officer of the law who tries to make him leave.

The bearded grandfather, his children, grandchildren and friends have armed themselves with pistols and rifles and patrolled their grounds ever since – with the county sheriff choosing not to send cops in for fear of them being killed.

But the unusual stalemate has finally come to an end after the authorities decided they just could not be bothered to wait for Gray to emerge any longer.

I am fascinated by this. It is very seldom that someone outlasts a police interest in them. I’m not sure what’s more impressive….this guy’s determination to spend 15 years in self-imposed house arrest or the local law enforcement picking up their ball and going home.

And both sides can call it a win. They hermit gets to say he outlasted the cops and the cops get to say he spent 150% of the maximum penalty locked awa47-acre cell.

But…it’s Texas, so there is that.

Despite the fact that he never had much of a record either way on gun control, people seemed confident that Trump was/is pro-gun. Certainly, with Clinton, there was plenty of evidence to show that she was most definitely not our friend but with Trump there wasn’t really much either way. I guess now we’ll find out.

Be interesting to see the buying spikes today.

Tam, over at View From The Porch, has a nice and succinct post about lighting up your target before you light up your target.

“Know your target and what is beyond it” (in one form of this expression or another) is one of the cardinal rules of gun safety. It isn’t even ‘Gun Safety 101’, no, it’s one of the things they drill into your head before they even let you touch a gun at any gun school. If someone ever says they shot someone they didn’t mean to, it’s because they broke this rule. Accidentally shot your kid who was sneaking back into the house late at night? Not an accident. You either knew it was the kid and shot him on purpose or you shot a person before you knew who they were. Thats it…no other explanations. And if you didn’t know if the person was a friendly or not, why did you shoot them?

I have three guns I keep around the house for bumps-in-the-night. The pistol has an old Streamlight mounted on its accessory rail, the other two have SureFire lights mounted on their forends. The notion of shooting at a target whose identity you are unsure of is borderline sociopathic, in my opinion. Having mounted weaponlights gives an excellent tool for dealing with nighttime issues and keeping your hands free. Sure, you can do the old Harries flashlight technique but wouldn’t you rather have both hands on the gun?

In addition, being sorta old school, I also have a big ‘ol MagLight I keep handy.

I am always offended..yes, offended…when people mention they worry about coming by my house unanounced because they worry theyre going to get shot as an intruder. It offends me because they are, basically, implying that I’ll shoot someone without knowing who they are. They are implying that I have crappy target acquisition abilities and lack a grasp of the fundamentals of gun safety.

Anyway, go read Tam’s post. As always, it’s tight, clear writing with good content. Always worth a read.

Kinda amusing, and, of course, quite useless. It’s certainly no legal waiver, and no group of doorkickers is going to stand there long enough to read it, but I like the attitude.

Interestingly, Googling ‘self defense police wrong house’ turns up a few cases where the homeowner wound up shooting a cop or two and was eventually cleared of wrongdoing. However, fully expect to spend time in jail awaiting trial and spending everything you have.

Anyway….

Entertaining image and I thought I would share.