HankB
Member
Well, after missing a few, I hit the monthly Austin show today. Here are a few of the more noteworthy points . . .
1. The guy from Arsenal USA had, in addition to his usual selection of AK-clone rifles and parts, a couple of BHPs. To my eye, they appeared re-Parkerized. But I mention this only because the one with "Fabrique Nationale Belgique" visible through the park on the slide also was labeled with a hand-lettered sign stating it was an "Original Browning - Not An Import." ("Belgique" is a small town in Utah, right?)
2. The guy with the non-complaint Izzy FAL (I've seen this rifle at the show for at least the past two years) apparently tried to make it compliant by taking off the Izzy flash hider and substituting a more conventional FAL flash hider.
3. The guys with smoked sausage and jerky had exceptionally, uh, let's say aromatic - product. (Note: Here in Central Texas, it gets HOT in summer. And if you leave edible inventory in the vehicles . . . .)
4. A guy was selling a Robinson Arms .223 carbine with a top-feeding magazine like the old Bren guns. Front and rear sights were offset to the left. IIRC he was asking about $1700.
5. The people with all the magazines had their usual specials. (Example: 2nd generation 17-rd mag for a Glock 17, only $129.95.) I suppose after Sept. 14 they'll have to drop the "1" on the price.
6. S&W 500 mag for about $800. S&W 329 for $665 "after $25 rebate." (Couldn't remember if this was the version recalled for blowing off the barrels.)
7. Port .308 ammo in 200 round battle packs for under $40. Vintage looked like mid-70's, so it was a bit older than the usual. Win .44 mag ammo for $17.25/50, tax included.
8. Beretta CX4 Storm with 2 factory 15's, 2 factory 10s, and a coupon for two more factory 15s (for AFTER the AWB expires) for $560.
9. Guy selling fantasy elven edged weapons and Klingon (?) daggers . . . he had almost as much hardware poked through his face as he had on the table.
10. "Cold Steel" brand knife demonstration DVDs for $5 . . . local gun shop was giving them away free. Also old (1980s) vintage catalogs for Remington, Winchester, etc. for $3 each. When I think of the money I threw away in years gone by . . .
11. Table with a whole row of Garands and a couple of M1A's. No price tags. Guy had wandered away - I guess they were there just to be looked at.
12. Usual jewelry, "tactical" slings, "tactical" holsters, "tactical" this and "tactical" that.
13. An S&W that had been custom made for Charlie Sheen. Charlie had apparently been quite a gun collector, until he made the acquaintance of Mr. Cocain, at which point Uncle Sam told him to stop hanging around with his gun collection.
14. A FAL lower with a 9mm upper, set up to take a 70+ round Suomi drum magazine. Kind of interesting, actually . . . but not $735 interesting, at least to me.
15. Broomhandle Mauser for over $2000. S&W 49 (?) snub with some aftermarket engraving - not particularly well done - for, IIRC, about $1700. Used S&W M17 6" for $475. Beat up 4" M686 for $430.
Well, that's it. I'm not going into all the beater junk, P22s with fake silencers, grungy old military rifles, and so forth. Overall, the show was almost - but not quite - worth the price of admission.
Gun shows were a lot better even 5 years ago.
1. The guy from Arsenal USA had, in addition to his usual selection of AK-clone rifles and parts, a couple of BHPs. To my eye, they appeared re-Parkerized. But I mention this only because the one with "Fabrique Nationale Belgique" visible through the park on the slide also was labeled with a hand-lettered sign stating it was an "Original Browning - Not An Import." ("Belgique" is a small town in Utah, right?)
2. The guy with the non-complaint Izzy FAL (I've seen this rifle at the show for at least the past two years) apparently tried to make it compliant by taking off the Izzy flash hider and substituting a more conventional FAL flash hider.
3. The guys with smoked sausage and jerky had exceptionally, uh, let's say aromatic - product. (Note: Here in Central Texas, it gets HOT in summer. And if you leave edible inventory in the vehicles . . . .)
4. A guy was selling a Robinson Arms .223 carbine with a top-feeding magazine like the old Bren guns. Front and rear sights were offset to the left. IIRC he was asking about $1700.
5. The people with all the magazines had their usual specials. (Example: 2nd generation 17-rd mag for a Glock 17, only $129.95.) I suppose after Sept. 14 they'll have to drop the "1" on the price.
6. S&W 500 mag for about $800. S&W 329 for $665 "after $25 rebate." (Couldn't remember if this was the version recalled for blowing off the barrels.)
7. Port .308 ammo in 200 round battle packs for under $40. Vintage looked like mid-70's, so it was a bit older than the usual. Win .44 mag ammo for $17.25/50, tax included.
8. Beretta CX4 Storm with 2 factory 15's, 2 factory 10s, and a coupon for two more factory 15s (for AFTER the AWB expires) for $560.
9. Guy selling fantasy elven edged weapons and Klingon (?) daggers . . . he had almost as much hardware poked through his face as he had on the table.
10. "Cold Steel" brand knife demonstration DVDs for $5 . . . local gun shop was giving them away free. Also old (1980s) vintage catalogs for Remington, Winchester, etc. for $3 each. When I think of the money I threw away in years gone by . . .
11. Table with a whole row of Garands and a couple of M1A's. No price tags. Guy had wandered away - I guess they were there just to be looked at.
12. Usual jewelry, "tactical" slings, "tactical" holsters, "tactical" this and "tactical" that.
13. An S&W that had been custom made for Charlie Sheen. Charlie had apparently been quite a gun collector, until he made the acquaintance of Mr. Cocain, at which point Uncle Sam told him to stop hanging around with his gun collection.
14. A FAL lower with a 9mm upper, set up to take a 70+ round Suomi drum magazine. Kind of interesting, actually . . . but not $735 interesting, at least to me.
15. Broomhandle Mauser for over $2000. S&W 49 (?) snub with some aftermarket engraving - not particularly well done - for, IIRC, about $1700. Used S&W M17 6" for $475. Beat up 4" M686 for $430.
Well, that's it. I'm not going into all the beater junk, P22s with fake silencers, grungy old military rifles, and so forth. Overall, the show was almost - but not quite - worth the price of admission.
Gun shows were a lot better even 5 years ago.
