It’s my birthday this week (you did send a gift, right?) and, to my surprise, I got a gift in the mail yesterday:

Its a Randall Made boot knife sort of blade. I have no idea what it cost (ok, thats not true..I looked it up) but in addition to being expensive, they are usually accompanied with a pretty lengthy waiting list to get one. So…cool birthday gift.

Today is the Missoula Gun Show, I am looking for exactly two items: a great scope for my .338 Lapua Ruger precision rifle, and a .50 BMG of some flavor…first choice is a Serbue semi-auto, second choice is a Barrett of some flavor. I’m not holding out high hopes for either.

I have noticed that gun prices are starting to drop like Kamala Harris’ poll numbers. PSA is selling Magpul’d complete lowers for $150, which is a hundred bucks less than this time last year. In fact, PSA had some blems on sale that let  my assemble complete carbines for about $450. And, one of my vendors had a sale on Ruger MPR Ar’s, so I grabbed two of those as well.  I have hit Peak AR. Really, the only way I’m buying more AR’s at this point is if they are at post-2016 election giveaway prices.

Off to the gun show! See you there!

The big Missoula Gun Show starts tomorrow. I’ll be stopping in there all three days to see whats going on, visit with folks, and see what the markets will bear. There isnt really anything I need to get, but I wouldnt say no to a little Barret lovin’.

It’s been a busy week so posting was thin this week. Sorry about that… between relatives visiting, new job, and the usual constraints on my time it was difficult to get time for blogging. But, relatives leave Tuesday, so we should be back to an even keel by then.

As I expected, ammo was priced in the stratosphere. There was Federal XM193 at the bargain price of…$1.25 per round. Yeah, $25 per 20 round box. 9mm was at least fifty cents per. AR mags, notably Pmags, were around $18 which was mildly surprising. I suspect the guys at Magpul have been hedging their bets for the last few months and have a lot of product sitting around ready to meet demand. Guns themselves were no bargains. Cheapest Glocks were $550 for used and I didnt see any new.  AR’s of various flavors were all in the $800+ range. The closest thing to a bargain I could find were complete PSA AR lowers with telestocks for $250.

All in all, about what I expected (except for Pmags remaining pretty flat). Did I buy anything? Nope, not a thing. Saw some ammo cans I wanted but that was about it. Still, it was nice to see familiar faces and being among ‘my own kind’. And nobody was wearing a mask.

Hit all the gun stores on the way back and they were pretty well picked over. So, really, no surprises. I have a sense of vindication for my purchasing habits of the last several years.

Hamilton gun show today! Man I miss gun shows. I’ll be there this afternoon taking stock of how little stock I expect to find. My guess? No centerfire ammo of any kind for less than $0.50/@, no Glocks for less than $550, and every AR and AK is at least $800.

We shall see.

I would be ashamed..I mean unwilling-to-show-my-face level of ashamed….to have a table where I’m selling CCI pistol primers at $95/brick.

Yet there they were.

AR’s were reasonable. Nothing else was.

I feel so, so, so validated for the things I have purchased in the past.

Of course, a year from now things may be ‘normal’-ish and primers are back to $25-30 a brick and used police trade-in Glocks are $350. But, somehow, I doubt it. Look how long it took for .22 ammo to become available again (not that it ever came back to earth in terms of pricing).

I’m all for capitalism, and the price of a thing is whatever the market will bear, but, wow, I would still feel pretty dickish asking a guy for a c-note for some primers. Not my place (or yours) to tell someone what to charge for an item…but talk about chutzpah.

First gun show, for me, since March and it was such a welcome experience…………

Five bucks to get in the door, masks optional (yay!), and they were temperature scanning everyone who came in the door.

Lotsa tables, big crowd, zero bargains. People see where the money is at and the usual assortment of plinkers and hunting guns was severely outnumbered by the ‘assualt weapons’. Apparently, Black Rifles Matter. Saw a lot of stuff that I don’t normally see at shows including Uzi, Valmet, DSA Fal, HK, PTR, Arsenal, Sig, and pretty much every other outfit that ever made something that took a 30-round mag. Come to think of it, the only thing I didn’t see were Mini-14’s. Although I did find a Mini trigger assembly that mysteriously seemed to have had its disconnect sear ground off. Funny that.

Ammo was plentiful if you had the money. A lot of money. Same for mags.

And, for the first time in several years, I ran into Johnny Trochman..he of Militia Of Montana fame. I think I spoke to him for about ten seconds before he started in with New World Order plans that were being leaked. Whatever. We both wear tinfoil hats, it’s just a matter of whose got the shiny side in and who has the shiny side out. But, he thinks of me as a like-minded soul so he gave me a double handful of parachute flares to tkae with me after I bought some smoke cannisters and other goodies from him.

Things I almost bought? Blued 4″ GP100 for $500, looked hard at the Valmet in .223 but figured logistics would be easier with a 7.62×39, another Ruger PC Charger came close to coming back with me but I managed to keep my resolve. I discovered MagPul is making polymer replacement lowers for the Hk-series ‘Navy’ (plastic) lowers and came close to getting one but, again, managed to keep a cool head.

Also ran into a few people I knew, which is always fun.

All in all, a really good show….a lot of tables, good turnout.

Hamilton gun show this weekend.

Came >this< close to picking up an Arsenal SLR-95 for……$650. In fact, I’m kinda tempted to go back and get it. But, no, instead I consoled myself with picking some magnificent Hensley & Gibbs bullet moulds (four- and six-cavity) for the .38, .44, and .45 Keith bullets. Oy, the quality….oy, the craftsmanship….oy, the wieght! But, seriously, wonderful moulds.

Went looking for a holster for the Ruger 5058 and brought it with so I could try on holsters. I had at least three people ask me what the gun was, marvel at how it was ‘perfect’ with it’s round butt and full underlug, and did I want to sell it. Uhm..no…finding it was kind of a bigfoot-riding-a-unicorn event to begin with, so I’m not terribly likely to sell it.

Also picked up some reloading dies and that was about it. AR’s were well represented at the show, but the AK selection was a little thin. Found an M1 Garand for $750 which is the cheapest I’ve seen one in probably ten years but while they are a fun gun to shoot I think they are stupidly impractical for my needs when there are 20-rd detachable mag .308 rifles all over the place. “But..but…walnut! Steel! Iwo Jima!” Yeah, so what? You dont think every one of those guys in WW2 would have pitched their 8-shot, ten pound Garands into the ocean to get a gun that was about a pound lighter, held 2.5x the ammo, had better ergonomics, and could mount an optic?

Most interesting thing at the gun show? I ran into the folks from Blue Line Coatings and said hello. They were talking to some people and mentioned “Oh, this is the guy who had that HiPower we told you about”. I had the Watergun with me so I let them hold onto it to show people while I walked the floor. Again, if youre in the region and want some coatings on your gun, give ’em a holler.

Only other gun I saw that tempted me was a Ruger Scout rifle that had been coated to ‘coyote’ and had its Scout rail replaced with a full length rail from XS. Was really tempted to pick that thing up. But….I’ll instead just order the rail for my current Scout.

And that was about it. Gun show, fun show.

I’m a cheap bastard. But, I’m also a dude who likes certain things a particular way. And, once in a while, I’m a dude who will pay the extra coin for something that is literally no better than a similar item at half price simply because of the brand (‘goodwill’). I was walking through the gun show today and found this:

What is it, you may reasonably ask? Why, it is a tanker holster that is made to fit a 9/40-frame Glock. A regular GI tanker holster ain’t gonna fit a bulky gun like the Glock. Who made it? Thats the nice part….

The fine folks at one of my favorite I-wish-I-could-afford-it leathergear makers. This was virtually new and cost me sixty bucks. I am pleased.

The other deal I found was the classic “My buddy died and Im selling off this stuff for his wife” deal. Federal and CCI large pistol and large pistol mag primers…$13.33 per brick. Or, put another way, $160 for twelve thousand pistol primers. And I didn’t even buy them all…there were still about 20k left. And recent-production 1# cans of Bullseye for $15. So much stockable reloading supplies, so little cash.

But…I’m feeling pretty smug on the holster.

Oh…and I ran into the guncoating people from when I had the Watergun done. They didn’t remember me but they sure remembered the gun. They apparently talk it up to customers. I need to send them some really good images for their advertising.

Oh, it’s bloody hot.

This weekend is the Missoula Gun Show which is, as I understand it, the oldest and largest gun show int he state. And it happens darn near in my backyard. Or, at least, it used to. This year, for the first time since I’ve been attending it (30 years), they have changed the venue. Why? Mmmm. Not sure. I’ve heard two competing rumours and both probably have some merit. The first is that our illustrious alcoholic, obese, philandering, statist mayor’s (“The Biggest Boozer”) pet project – a “no private gun sales w/o background check” law – would make the gun show impossible and the University, who hosts the show, didn’t want to get caught up in that potentially legal morass. The other rumour I heard was something about the University charging exorbitant fees for air conditioning. The reality? Who knows? Maybe both. Eithe way, it’s going to be at the Hilton Garden Inn up on Reserve St.

I keep saying Im going to try not to spend money at these things and every bloody time I wind up ….spending money.

And, of course, the gun show is an opportunity to catch up and visit with people I almost never see except at these sorts of things…so thats pretty cool.

Speaking of cool, when the end of the world gets here I a going to have a heck of a time putting up with summer heat without an air conditioner.