Miami Gun Show Re-Cap/Purchase

[edman79]

For those of you who saw my other thread, "Handgun or Garand", I went with handgun. Through I didn't spend as much as I was planning on spending on the gun, so the Garand shouldn't be too far behind. I took my CCW course and joined the NRA. And the best part was that I also got a peice of beef jerky! Heart burn for hours. LOL

As for the gun, I got a nickel plated S&W model 19 4" barrel for $300+tax. The cylinder locked up pretty tight. The finish wasn't perfect but I want a shooter anyway. As far as mechanical working condition, who knows. I was so lucky to find a model that I wanted that I barely checked the gun out. So I hope it's in good shape. I'll post pics when I get the gun next Monday because of the 5 day waiting period. Maybe someone her can check it out for me. It had pachymar grips so I went ahead and bought some S&W wooden grips from another vendor

As far as the Garand, I saw 3 at the show. I saw one that I fell in love with. It was an old cuban guy who had a bunch of old WWII stuff. He let me play around with it a bit. It looked BEAUTIFUL! Wood was in good shape, looked as if it had a refinish. $1300. Was it worth that much, I have no idea. The other two garands had the top front peice of wood in plastic! YUCK! One of them was chambered in .308 and I asked the guy if it was re-barreled for .308, he said no, all Garands came in .308. I was about to argue with him when I followed LionKings example and just walked away. Overall I had a good time today at my first gunshow where I actually purchased something.

Thanks

Eddie Ed

 

[ScottsGT]

Plastic foregrip, .308 and all come that way? Sounds like you had your hands on an M1A/M14, not a Garand. Easy mistake for a noob. The M1A is the civilian version of the military M-14. It was basically a modified version of the Garand that accepted detachable magazines. It was an early vietman era rifle that was phased out with the M-16. Now the M-14 is making a comeback with the military over in afghanistan due to the long range firing.
IF it was the $1300 rifle, that is about the going price for an M1A, but get a little more firearms knowledge under your belt before you make a purchase like that. Too many dealers out there wanting to rip a guy like you off. The M1a comes in many flavors. Check out this site:
http://www.springfield-armory.com/prod-rifles-m1a.shtml
Run down the list on the right side and you can pick and choose your favorite.
Now here's their Garand:
http://www.springfield-armory.com/prod-rifles-m1-garand.shtml
Personally, I own a Springfield Inc. M1a, and a Springfield Armory M-1 Garand. DON'T CONFUSE THE TWO NAMES! Springfield Inc. is a modern gun company that makes and sells guns for you and me to buy. Springfield Armory was the govt. owned gun mfgr. that made arms for WWI, WWII and into Korea. Now it is a Museum.
Avoid the Springfield Inc. Garand. Why? I'm glad you asked!
You can get the real deal M-1 just the way it was intended to be, with a forged receiver, for about half the cost from the CMP. Now that you have taken a CWP class, your range shooting qualifies you to purchase from them after you join a required organization. Go with the Garand Collectors Association. It's only $25 per year. These two qualifications are the only hard ones to jump thru, and once you qualify, you can also purchase mil-surp .30/06 ammo to feed your next toy! I think you were given ODPCMP links in your other post I responded to.

 

[Mr White]

You been had!

Uh, Edman, Hate to be the one to break it to you, but judging from the pictures you posted, It looks like you fell for the old 'invisible gun' scam.

The guy probably told you that he didn't have enough invisijuice to do the grips, didn't he? I'll tell you what... I would never fall for that trick... again.

As for the Garand, $1300 could be reasonable or outrageous, depending on the gun. Unless it was the CMP or a dealer I knew and trusted, I'd be wary about buying a Garand at a show. They generally seem to be priced too high and every seller there will swear up and down that its 'All correct WWII as issued."

I had a guy tell me once that a high 5M Springfield with a milled trigger guard was an authentic WWII gun and that was how they came from the factory. I couldn't just walk away, so I called him an idiot and walked away.

 

[edman79]

LOL, the gun will be invisible till Monday when I go pick it up. That's what the guy said.

 

[Mannlicher]

remember edman, when you have your CCW card, no more waiting to take home that new toy from the gun show.