SO, just got back from the Missoula Gun Show.

It’s always a good show with lotsa interesting stuff. First thing I want to say is, if I were selling a brick of small pistol primers for $110 I would be ashamed of myself. Yes, I want to make as much money as possible, and I won’t tell you that you’re wrong for doing it…but I couldn’t do it.

For the first time in a couple years I ran into Johnny Trochmann, the in-your-face ‘leader’ of the Militia of Montana back when stuff like that was all over the news. He’s a nice guy, friendly, polite, and waaaaaaay out where the buses don’t run. Conspiracy du jour was blue helmeted UN types being hired for law enforcement roles here in the US. Ok, John….whatever.

However, Johnny T. has always treated me right since we both wear the same brand of tinfoil. (Mine is shiny side out, though.) He had several hundred rounds of once-fired commercial .50 BMG for sale and I got it at a little discount of $0.90 each. Good guy, that Trochmann.

And, by the way, even empty that .50 BMG stuff is heavy. My hands were cramping trying to carry two 100-rd bags of the stuff to the truck.

As for .50 BMG primers….well….I guess $0.80 each is a bargain in some circles these days but my brain could not reconcile paying that kinda money. No doubt I’ll regret this down the line when they either $1.50 each or completely unavailable. A good case for the .338 Lapua whcih does a decent job of being a ballistic Pareto’s Law example compared to the .50.

All in all a good show. Saw some familiar faces, got a deal or two, saw some nice stuff, and didn’t go too overboard on spending. (Although I might go back and pick up a Ruger M77 in 7×57 that looked pretty sweet.)

Still gotta drop the money and get the BMG presd and dies. That Barrett is an expensive mistress.

The big Missoula gun show is this weekend. I…can’t think of much I need. Really, about the only thing I need is some BMG optics and BMG reloading gear. Thats about it.

On the other hand, sometimes you never know what you need until you see it.

Regardless, it’ll be fun to wander around and see familiar faces. If you’re in Missoula this weekend, I highly recommend swinging by the show. It’s at the Hilton Garden Inn on Reserve St, across the bridge from CostCo.

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.