Tag Archives: wow thats expensive

Heavy metal

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So here’s the thing about gold. If youre in the gold buying and selling gold business, one of the things you try to avoid is buying a large amount of gold and holding onto it. The reason is obvious – if you buy 100 ounces of gold from a customer and the price drops $20 overnight, you’ve just lost two grand. Now, yes, the market could go up $20 overnight and you’d be ahead two grand… but thats not a chance you really want to take in the metals business. I asked my buddy about this and asked why he wouldn’t simply refuse the offer and take a pass on the deal. His answer, which made perfect sense, was that in the buying/selling business (of any product) you don’t last long or get a good reputation if you turn away people who want to sell you stuff.

So, what does this lead up to? Well, my buddy at the coin shop texts me and tells me that a rare opportunity to get a supremely good deal on gold and silver is available.

Apparently, he bought out an estate and wound up with several thousand one gram Valcombi bars, and a whole mountain of 100-gram divisible Valcombi silver bars. How good a deal? Well, I was told not to say, but it was an exceptionally good deal. Good enough to the point that I moved a good chunk of cash into them. He did not want to get caught holding the bag if the market shifted, so he almost immediately turned around and sold the whole thing to a wholesaler. BUT….he knows that Im always willing to buy gold if I can get a good deal on it.

So, I beefed up my gold and silver holdings. I usually prefer 1 oz. bars for my silver, but the Valcombi bars are always interesting and the price was too good to pass up, so I got a big stack of them as well.

Expensive day.

Steyr calling

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Well, the year is approximately 0.8219% over and I haven’t bought a gun yet, so that’s progress.

However…..

My final gun of 2024 showed up today. The conversation at work went like this:

Me: Ok, I’m outta here for lunch. I need to go hunt down FedEx.

Boss: Picking up a gun?

Me: Yup. Want me to bring it by and show it off to you?

Boss: Absolutely!

And that how this monster wound up sitting on the table in the conference room.

It’s a Steyr HS50M1. A five-shot .50 BMG bolt action.

I suppose you’re asking “Hey Zed, don’t you already have a .50?” Yes I do. The Barrett is a long-recoil action, much like a Browning A5 shotgun or Rem Model 8/81 rifle…the whole barrel recoils back and forth with each shot. This is not a recipe for accuracy. But, for what the Barrett was designed for, anti-materiel, it’s just fine. You don’t need a huge degree of accuracy to hit a parked plane, a fuel bladder, a microwave dish, or pipeline manifold…the sort of targets anti-materiel guns are designed for. But if you do want precision in a .50, you’re probably going to have to lean towards a bolt action. My first choice was a Barrett M95 since I already had the 82A1, but finding one was a stretch. Plenty of M99’s out there for about $3500-4000, but I wanted a repeater.

I almost bought the first version of the HS50 when it was still a single-shot gun. Was about $3000 at the time and I just couldn’t swing the deal. Different story nowadays.

This is yet another five-foot gun thats gonna be expensive to top off with glass. But, if I can keep myself from buying any more guns for a while, maybe I can afford the glass something like this deserves…thats gonna be a research project all on its own.

And…I still have to buy the reloading gear.

Another smart question would be why get a .50 ‘long range’ rifle when the .338 Lapua will have similar range and be logistically easier to feed? Well, three reasons. The first is that I just like the idea of having something that .gov doesn’t like people having. Or, in other words, “Because I Can!”.  Second, it’s just dang cool. And third, the .50 has something that the .338 does not – comparatively better availability of AP, API, APIT, Tracer, and Raufoss ammo. And while I will happily go to my grave without ever needing AP, API, APIT, Tracer, and Raufoss ammo, they are all a hoot to shoot at the range at steel. And you never know what the future will bring. When Skynet starts cranking out T-800’s, a little API could be handy.

I have gone __3__ days without buying a gun this year.

The Ruger P-series fetish continues

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Been a good boy and not bought any guns in a couple weeks. But….gun accessories, on the other hand…

I was doing well until an email landed in my box asking if I was interested in some factory mags for the Ruger 9mm P-series….you know…P95DC mags.

Me: How many do you have?

Them: *sigh*

Interesting thing is, this works out to about three mags per gun.

Unbridled lack of discipline

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In my defense, I was left unsupervised with an internet connection, an FFL/SOT, and a browser tab opened to Reddit /gundeals.

First off, I didn’t need some Beretta APX’s, but hear me out….at auction back in June I bought scads of magazines for various guns at bargain prices…about $4-$6 per mag. Well, since I have a stack of Beretta-made 21-round APX 9mm mags it wouldn’t be the worst thing if I picked up a few guns at discount, right?

[Handgun] Unissued LEO Trade-In Brazilian Police Beretta APX 17+1rd Black w/ 2 Magazines $299.95

Oh look…the Brazillians are selling a bunch of NIB APX’s they ordered. Brand new, but the manuals are in Portuguese. I can work with that:

I’ll keep one gun for myself and sell the other two off. Hmmm…what esle is out there looking for a home? Well, I’ve got the SOT so something being NFA restricted isn’t really a problem these days. Hmmm….14″ 870’s with receiver peeps and front sights. Better price if I order two or more….

[NFA] Remington 870 Police Magnum 12 Gauge Police Trade-In Pump Action Shotguns with Ghost Sights and 14 Inch Barrel $404.99 each when you buy two or more Plus Free Ship & Tax

Well, everyone wants to save money, right? In for two.

Holidays are coming up and I need gift ideas. This is the cheapest price I’ve ever seen Rugers MPR at.

[RIFLE] RUGER AR-556 MPR 5.56 AR-15 RIFLE 18″, BLACK 8535 -$599.99

The price was actually $50 cheaper when I ordered than what is listed now. The MPR is a good choice for an out-of-the-box gun with features that you’d normally pay extra for. I guess my Christmas gift shopping is done.

And….one more little jewel that is strictly for me. All these other guns are for resale or gifts, but there’s been something on my list for a while now and the vendor finally has them back in stock. Soooo…..

And that’s how I wound up buying eight guns in the space of a week. It also how I eventually wind up having to move into a storage unit because my house is full of guns.

Hobbies, man.

 

Scope arrival

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Well, I guess I’m out of excuses for not getting this .338 Lapua project done.

The 16×56 optic (w. rings) arrived today. While I was tinkering, I swapped out the questionable Ruger factory stock for a Magpul PRS which seems like a good idea.

I picked a heck of a time to start shooting magnum rifle…my plans were never predicated around it, so while I have plenty of large rifle primers, my supply of large rifle magnum primers is only a brick or two. Then again, that would be 2000 rounds of .338 and I’m not sure anyone wants to subject themselves to that much fun.

I was tempted to drop this scope on the Barrett instead, but realistically the Barret is a potentially less accurate platform…long recoil and all. The Barret has a very particular purpose…it’s an anti-materiel gun that can, under certain circumstances, do double duty in another role. But it’s primarily for busting up stuff. The .338 Lapua is a bit easier to feed, slightly more portable, and is probably more accurate at range.

Anyway…that happened.

Scoping it out

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Twenty years ago, I picked up a CZ .308 for my ‘long range’ gun. It’s been a wonderful rifle and my best day was a .512″ group at 200 yards. I put an IOR fixed 10x scope on it and have not regretted that choice. Why a fixed power? Honestly, because its just one less thing to go wrong. I figured 10x was about right for the distances I imagined I might need to shoot at.

A few years back, I wanted to bridge the gap between .308 ranges and .50 BMG ranges and decided to get a .338 Lapua. After some thought, I went with the Ruger Precision Rifle in .338 Lapua. And….its been sitting on my gun cabinet for the last several years. Why? Because putting a piece of appropriate glass on the thing was gonna cost as much as the bloody gun…and the gun wasn’t cheap to start with.

Eventually, I had to just bite the bullet and spend the moolah. Theyre a bit of an ‘off the beaten path’ brand, but I’ve been very pleased with my IOR fixed 10x and my IOR M2 4x. So, I decided that for my needs I wanted a fixed power scope again, but with a bit more magnification to go with the .338 Lapua’s extended range over the .308.

Do you know how hard it is to source decent fixed power scopes these days? Everything was either too much magnification (25x and up) or too little (4x, 6x, 10x). And, really, anything below 20x in a fixed power was a toughie. So…back to IOR. They had a 16×56 with the reticle (MP8) that I used on my .308. The 56mm objective is enormous but lets in plenty of light. I figure 16x is about the right magnification to cover the range of distances I’d be shooting the .338 at, so let’s get that puppy ordered. It’s a 35mm tube (light transmission, baby!) so rings aren’t just going to grow on trees…better order up a set of those too.

When it’s all said and done, it cost slightly more than the bloody rifle itself. But, at least I’ll be able to shoot the thing now. Pics when its all put together.

For All Lawful Purposes

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A while back I posted that ATFE had made it so that a person could, if so inclined, do some paperwork online rather than through the mail. I hate the ATFE with a passion and I see no reason to change that. But, I hate the idea of being in jail even more. So, I filled out the forms, paid the $200 tax each, and waited. I just got the approvals on both in email today:Yep…..I took this guy:
And did the paperwork (and engraving) to add a Choate side-folder (sent to me by the fine like-minded guys at Choate). The results? Here you go:

The one on the left is surprisingly handy…I mean it is really handy. It’s a comfortable length, carries well, has enough barrel length to give the 9mm a little added oomph, and is just a remarkably handy size, weight, and length for any situation I can envision needing it. It just feels…perfect. The one on the right? Less utility but oodles of ‘cool factor’.

A very valid question to ask would be why not just go with the now-legal-again ‘wrist brace’ and save myself $200 and some headache? Well, a couple reasons…first, I’m already on ‘the list’ so..in for a penny, in for a pound. Second, the SBR status lets me throw a VFG on the front of the thing. And finally, I just figured that in this case I may as well skip the half-measures and just go full retard on this.

How long did the paperwork take? Let me check….49 days. I get Form 3’s back in less than a week but the Form 1’s take seven weeks, it seems. Unfortunately this isnt the end of my having to deal with the goons at ATFE. I still need to give my Uzis the same treatment. But, for now, I’m gonna enjoy taking these to the range and getting the envious looks.

 

When it rains it pours

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As if I hadnt already hemorrhaged enough money with the auction from last week, it appears that there’s more to be had. A coworker asked me if I’d be interested in ‘some reloading stuff’ from the estate of his recently deceased grandfather. Ok fine, I’ll look. Digital scales, Redding powder measures, carbide RCBS pistol sets, lots of powder, plenty of bullets, bullet molds, and, of course, the big-ticket item in todays market: primers.

To add insult to injury, my buddy at the coin shop asked if I had any interest in a S&W Shield EZ. Well, no…not really. Until the numbers starting getting tossed around and it became a case of “at that price it makes no sense to NOT get it.”

When it rains it pours.

I have to take the entire lot of reloading stuff, can’t cherry pick it. I very much want the primers, and the assortment of bullets and gas checks are certainly worth picking up…if I can get it cheap enough.

Hayes Otoupalik told me that when you’ve been in this business long enough, you don’t have to go looking for good deals…the good deals come looking for you. Truth.

In addition to the reloading gear, there might be some guns as well. Judging by the collection of reloading gear, there might be a 9mm, .380., a couple Smith K-frames, a 1911, and some varmint rifles.

I am seriously running out of room for this stuff.