Monthly Archives: March 2016

Gun show this weekend

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It’s a gun show weekend. Interestingly, I don’t see john Trochman at any of the gun shows anymore. I wonder if he’s given up the show circuit or what. He was definitely out where the buses don’t run, but he was always pleasant to talk to and usually had very useful stuff for sale.

This trip I’ll be curious to see how the market is doing on ARs, AKs, and especially magazines. Election day is but a scant seven months away, and a determined individual can put a lot of goodies away between now and then.

Personally, I’m not really looking for anything. Oh, there’s plenty I want…just cant really come up with the coin. I expect that between now and November the gun shows will be much more crowded, and that crowd will definitely have an agenda.

With the advent of wireless internet in just about every major event center, it’s blissful to be able to hit Gunbroker and compare prices when you see something on the table and you just arent sure if its a good price or not. Yay for technology.

FA(i)L

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Grrr….I hate when good gun deals come my way and I’m not in position to take advantage. I’ve an opportunity to pick up a couple FALs built by a well-regarded gunsmith, and a parts kit, for a stupidly low price. And, of course, I don’t have the resources to do it.

FALs are great guns. To me , their weak spot are the marginal sights. Otherwise, I like them for their ergo and reliability. I think the gas-piston AR10 is probably the pinnacle of .308 MBR…AR ergonomics and FAL reliability. If, that is, the design can handle it…. need to see more endurance testing. But, a guy I knew had a SIG AR10 and it seemed like the perfect .308.

Tell you what, though…whether youre a fan of the FAL, AR10, G3, or even the M1A, get them and their mags now because it’s a certainty they ain’t gonna get cheaper between now and the end of the year.

Smokin’ deal on wirecutters

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Let’s get this part out of the way: cutting fences/wire that ain’t yours is bad. Don’t do it.

Now, being reasonable men, we can safely assume that in a situation where life and death may come down to removing obstacles in your path, a pair of wire cutters that will cut chain link and barbed wire can be very handy. Most notably if you’ve had the misfortune to get stuck in traffic and the only way out of that situation is to cut a hole through the fences that line the road.

Anyway…

Colemans Surplus has a deal ( a VERY good deal) on surplus British military wirecutters. Dated from when Churchill was doing his thing, these wirecutters fold up into a very small package and, yes, they will cut chain link and they will cut barbed wire. Tried ’em myself. At the stupidly low price of less than four bucks each get a bunch. One for each BOV, a couple for around the farm, one per team, etc, etc. True, they probably won’t cut padlocks…and a boltcutter that will cut padlocks will easily deal with chain link and barbed wire…but not in as compact a package and not for a lousy $3.25 each.

17WARRINGTON-013881_2Seriously…go get a half dozen for $20. Zero approved.

ETA: Hmm…price went back to its normal $19. Either the sale ended yesterday or they use the Cheaper Than Dirt pricing algorithm that increases price as demand rises.

Crunch time on MH

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Ok guys, everyone who asked me for pricing info…you need to get your list of what you want in to me TODAY so I can see if we have enough interest to make this happen. Send my your list and be sure the subject line is “Group buy” or else it’ll get caught in the spam filters.

Need to hear from you soonest so I can do the math and see if this is gonna happen.

zero@commanderzero dot com

Friday is the deadline for MH wants

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The 25th of this month (Friday) will be the cutoff date for determining how we’re doing on the Mountain House group buy. If you want in, you need to send me the list of what you want by the 25th. Once everyone has that info in, I’ll add it up and if we hit the magic numer then the call will go out for payment. Payment is to be in the form of cashiers check or US postal money order. Why? Because if you send a personal check then we can’t do anything until it clears and thats usually a week or two. But…no one sends anything until we’ve determined that we have enough orders to meet the minimum.

Recap: I need your list of what you want by Friday. Whatever you want must be divisible by six. Six cans, twelve cans, eighteen cans, twentyfour cans…you get the idea. Four cans? No. Eleven cans? No. Divisible by six.

How do I meet….

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Every now and then you get that “How do I meet Like-Minded Individuals” question. My standard answer, which is quite true, is that it happens organically – you don’t search them out and find them, you just naturally come across them. Today’s encounter is a good example.

I was chatting up my mailman about guns and he says he has a .338 Lapua in a Savage.

“Nice. I’ve always wanted one of those”, I say. “Did you get it for hunting?”
Him: <pause> Uhm. Kinda.
Me: Ah, I get it. Say no more.
Him: Yeah, it’s to keep people away from my place.
Me: Hey, I hear ya. I’m on the same page.
(And then, with the ice broken, the flow begins…)
Him: My family has a place out in [town about 100 miles away]. I was in the military and I just don’t like the direction things are going. Have you seen this Supreme Court nominee? And there’s……

And just like that, there’s another survivalist in the mix. Thats the second letter carrier on my route who is Of Similar Mind. Go figure.

lsekvlspnj9rcrixeataThey’re going to come in on the Mountain House group buy.

 

Buying time

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Reminder: another week and a half until this MH group buy thing hit’s the finish line.
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Cheapest AR from a manufacturer whose name you’d actually recognize: CDNN has a S&W no-frills AR for $600. If you can live with an AR from someone you never may have heard of, you can find them as low as $500 for a complete gun. Novemeber 5th you won’t be able to find it at twice the price.

And before folks chime in with the “Yeah, but those are dealer prices”…so what? Most FFL’s charge around $20-30 to do a transfer, so have them order one up for you and youre still way ahead of the game.

If your tastes run to .308, get a PTR-91 for $850. Well made .308 battle rifle at a giveaway price.

Now is the time to buy if you plan on making some profit from the coming Dark Times.

Group buy, election, CostCo Scepter cans

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The end of the month approacheth. If you want in on the MH group buy, let me know. If you already have the info, start making a list of what you want and get it to me at your convenience so I can figure if we have enough participants to make this happen.
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Hmm…with Sanders effectively out of the running, it looks like it’ll be Trump vs. Tramp or Cruz vs. Cooze. I’m confident that Trump won’t get the nomination, and that it’ll go to Cruz instead. (These aren’t necessarily endorsements….I’m just saying this is what I think will happen.) In a Cruz/Clinton race..well…get those magazines and AR lowers now. Like, today.

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CostCO had Scepter manufactured gas cans the other day. Sadly, these cans use the outrageous CARB-compliant nozzles so they are fairly useless. However, there are plenty of places to buy replacement nozzles that actually work. I don’t like plastic gas cans, but these are at least a little better, IMHO, than the old Blitz plastic cans. (The Blitz seemed a little thin in the plastic department.)

20160308_145950This is about ten bucks cheaper than what Amazon has them for, so…not a bad deal. Assuming youre okay with plastic gas cans. I prefer metal NATo/’Euro’ cans, but for feeding the lawnmower and snowblower these would be okay.

MH Update

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Just a reminder that the Mountain House Cans group buy is still in it’s formative stage. If you’re interested, details are here. If you’ve already gotten the info and you know what you want, you should send me a list so I can add it to the ones I already have and we can see if the threshold for minimum order ($3500~) has been met. If you don’t know whatyou want yet, thats fine too, but try to have a list ready by the end of the month…which is when this thing either launches or gets scrubbed.

Article – ‘Scarface’: Whatever Happened to Tony Montana’s “Little Friend”?

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Reminder about Mountain House group buy possibility.

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With the possible exception of “Dirty” Harry Callahan’s .44 Magnum, Tony Montana’s “Little Friend” might be the most famous firearm in movie history.

As you might expect, it wasnt a real M203 for federal reasons. But..since it shot shotgun shells, there may have been other issues since that barrel looks less than 18″.

Nonetheless…interesting article to read for those of us who have seen the movies mentioned.

While an M203 might be nice, I think I’d rather have a Milkor.