GUNKWAZY
July 12, 2006, 11:01 AM
Another day of standing in line going to the local gun show.
You finally get in and look around. Same old thing you think to yourself as you see the same dealers with the same over priced guns. Over and over you've been coming to this show and many times you go home without an item in hand at the end of the day, thinking to yourself you'll never find that one gun for your collection you've looked for time & time again.
You give the standard nod & smile to the guys you've seen and chatted with in the past.
You cruise the isles back & forth so much that your eyes physically get tired. You start to think to yourself that it's just another wasted day, when you stumble upon a new gentleman sitting there at a table you have not seen before.
Hmmm.. wonder if this guys stuff is overpriced junk like a lot of the others. You're happy to see he's not selling cheap knives made in Taiwan, T-shirts or Beef Jerky treats. He actually has guns in front of him.
Nobody is even giving him the time of day.
Your eyes scan through his firearms and what's this ? No way... you can't be sure until you ask if you can pick it up to look at it. You notice that your heart is starting to beat a little faster. He says "Sure help yourself ." You reach down to pick it up, and as you do, you notice the palms of your hands are starting to sweat.
You pick it up and it's the one. It's as beautiful an example as you've always hoped to find. You try to remain so calm you look bored. Now you realize you haven't taken a breath since you've picked it up and now have to take in a gasp of air. You think to yourself, how can I look calm if my palms are sweating, my heart rate is irregular and I've just gasped for air.
You ask the gentleman the next question "How much you want on this one ?" as you pretend to look at the others he has on his table.
He says "Well that's a pretty nice one." You respond with "Yeah she looks like she's in pretty nice shape."
You now realize during all this a dealer has walked up behind you and you can just about feel his breath on the back of your neck. You feel his eyes peering over your shoulder looking at the gun you have in your hand. You can just barely see him in your peripheral vision, but can't tell who it is.
The seller finally says a price that is way lower than you would have ever imagined. You've now noticed that your heart rate has now gone up another notch in the RPM range. You tell the seller that that sounds like a fair deal as you can't pull your money fast enough out of your pocket.
You now notice the person behind you is walking away.
You hand the seller the cash knowing you've just made the score of a lifetime.
As he starts to hand you the gun, he stops and says briskly "Wait a minute."
Your brain automatically starts thinking at High speed.... No, it can't go wrong now, he already has the money. Just hand me the gun. Don't stop now.
Time feels like it has almost stopped. Every second seems like a minute, every minute seems like an hour.
Please don't tell me you quoted the wrong price, just give me the gun you're thinking. C-mon man, the deals done, hand me the gun.
The gentleman reaches under the table and says "I'm sorry....."
No, not the I'm sorry, you don't want to hear I'm sorry.
I'm sorry, he says. I almost forgot to give you the box.
You're brain comes to a screeching halt.
He hands you the pristine box and as you look inside it has the original manual , paperwork and receipt. The gentleman looks at you and says "I remember buying that one brand new, and you know what, I've never even shot it after all these years."
You stand there in disbelief. This is not really happening. You just made my day, better yet my year you think to yourself.
A feeling of happiness and satisfaction comes over you as you walk from the table knowing that this is the entire reason you do this. Purely for the love of the hunt and sometimes getting lucky enough to find the deal of a lifetime.
I hope this little story wasn't boring and I hope it hit home for some of you.
Good luck to all of you, and never stop loving the thrill of the hunt.
Jeff (GUNKWAZY)
You finally get in and look around. Same old thing you think to yourself as you see the same dealers with the same over priced guns. Over and over you've been coming to this show and many times you go home without an item in hand at the end of the day, thinking to yourself you'll never find that one gun for your collection you've looked for time & time again.
You give the standard nod & smile to the guys you've seen and chatted with in the past.
You cruise the isles back & forth so much that your eyes physically get tired. You start to think to yourself that it's just another wasted day, when you stumble upon a new gentleman sitting there at a table you have not seen before.
Hmmm.. wonder if this guys stuff is overpriced junk like a lot of the others. You're happy to see he's not selling cheap knives made in Taiwan, T-shirts or Beef Jerky treats. He actually has guns in front of him.
Nobody is even giving him the time of day.
Your eyes scan through his firearms and what's this ? No way... you can't be sure until you ask if you can pick it up to look at it. You notice that your heart is starting to beat a little faster. He says "Sure help yourself ." You reach down to pick it up, and as you do, you notice the palms of your hands are starting to sweat.
You pick it up and it's the one. It's as beautiful an example as you've always hoped to find. You try to remain so calm you look bored. Now you realize you haven't taken a breath since you've picked it up and now have to take in a gasp of air. You think to yourself, how can I look calm if my palms are sweating, my heart rate is irregular and I've just gasped for air.
You ask the gentleman the next question "How much you want on this one ?" as you pretend to look at the others he has on his table.
He says "Well that's a pretty nice one." You respond with "Yeah she looks like she's in pretty nice shape."
You now realize during all this a dealer has walked up behind you and you can just about feel his breath on the back of your neck. You feel his eyes peering over your shoulder looking at the gun you have in your hand. You can just barely see him in your peripheral vision, but can't tell who it is.
The seller finally says a price that is way lower than you would have ever imagined. You've now noticed that your heart rate has now gone up another notch in the RPM range. You tell the seller that that sounds like a fair deal as you can't pull your money fast enough out of your pocket.
You now notice the person behind you is walking away.
You hand the seller the cash knowing you've just made the score of a lifetime.
As he starts to hand you the gun, he stops and says briskly "Wait a minute."
Your brain automatically starts thinking at High speed.... No, it can't go wrong now, he already has the money. Just hand me the gun. Don't stop now.
Time feels like it has almost stopped. Every second seems like a minute, every minute seems like an hour.
Please don't tell me you quoted the wrong price, just give me the gun you're thinking. C-mon man, the deals done, hand me the gun.
The gentleman reaches under the table and says "I'm sorry....."
No, not the I'm sorry, you don't want to hear I'm sorry.
I'm sorry, he says. I almost forgot to give you the box.
You're brain comes to a screeching halt.
He hands you the pristine box and as you look inside it has the original manual , paperwork and receipt. The gentleman looks at you and says "I remember buying that one brand new, and you know what, I've never even shot it after all these years."
You stand there in disbelief. This is not really happening. You just made my day, better yet my year you think to yourself.
A feeling of happiness and satisfaction comes over you as you walk from the table knowing that this is the entire reason you do this. Purely for the love of the hunt and sometimes getting lucky enough to find the deal of a lifetime.
I hope this little story wasn't boring and I hope it hit home for some of you.
Good luck to all of you, and never stop loving the thrill of the hunt.
Jeff (GUNKWAZY)