The 'Dog goes gunshow crawling . . .

[Big Dog]

Bought no guns . . . the prices were outrageous!
I literally can't remember the last time I went to a gunshow, and didn't walk out with at least one gun.
K98 German (Russian Capture) - $319
K98 Another RC, nice wood but no handguard - $250!
No.4 Mk1 Smelly, grungy - $200 Tempting, as it would clean up nicely, but funds were limited.
Several unissued Mosin M38 Carbines - $140 ea. Pretty guns!
Norinco SKS (one at $200, one at $250)
Several dirty Yugo SKS - didn't even look closely. Mine put them to shame.
A single Albie SKS - soaking in Cosmo! $250! Robbery.
Swiss K31 - $140 Not too bad, I paid $120 two years ago.
Remington Model 41 and model 33 .22 rifles - $150 each Nice, but I already have a Model 41.
I didn't even look at handguns - don't need one right now.
The new KelTec SU16 .223 - $550 to $600
Garands starting at $750, up to $1000 for the new SA.
Two .50 BMG bolt rifles! Didn't ask about price. Too much!
A couple M1 Carbines, one a Universal for $400! Sheesh.
The new Auto Ordnance M1 Carbine - nearly $700! Urrrkkk!
Bunches of Hi-Point Carbines - averaging about $190.
Loads of AR15's - didn't look closely.
Some nice older shotguns. A nice Stevens SXS double for $450.
A neat one with a deer carved into the PG, looked like an older European type. Couldn't see a price or name on it.
A Remington 591 in 5MM RemMagnum for $225. Yeah, try finding the ammo . . .

The military surplus is getting ridiculous. A Vietnam era M16 ammo pouch with two dummy pineapple grenades - $50!
Bayonets from $15 to $150.
A bunch of musty trash mostly.

Not much leather goods or beef jerky this time, but lots of knives.
Mostly decorator junk (Chinese/Pakistani pot metal trash), some of okay quality - light field use, maybe. Two BudK combat knives caught my eye - pretty, but mighty thin blades compared to my Kabar. I passed.

I ended up getting four hundred rounds of 7.62X51 - turns out to be the Indian stuff - I'll inspect them carefully before shooting, but they don't look too bad for surplus. No "NATO" stamp - of course these were labeled as ".308 NATO". Probably should have paid more and got the Spanish stuff. Tomorrow I'll go back - another vendor has the SA and Port. 7.62X51 battle packs for $45 each. Ran low on funds today.
Picked up a brick of Super Colibri - here, kitty . . .
Also picked up two 10-round Hi-Point Carbine mags. Gotta have more than just one.

Got two 1 pound cans of Lil' Gun - it'll cover my .22 Hornet, .38 Special, .410 shotgun, and the .30 Nagant using the .32-20 brass.
My buddy has been loading our Nagant loads with Red Dot, but accuracy hasn't improved with velocity increase. I want to try Lil' Gun and some better bullets. I think his home cast 95 grain .308s are a bit too loose in the bore - I'll try the .312's. The nice lady behind the reloading table gave me load data pamphlets from three different powder makers. Cool! Something other than the conservative Lee manual.

Finally picked up two hundred cast 122 grain SWC in .358 size, and 100 of the copper-plated 158 grain in .358 size. I've been needing some more decently accurate loads for my Security Six. The UMC 125gr. FMJ conicals from Wally World leave something to be desired. I'll do a few with the Red Dot (proven pretty accurate a few years back), and a few in Lil' Gun and compare them.

All in all, a disappointing show. This was the Victor Bean Show - not generally as good as The Southern Classic Gun&Knife Show.
Three of my favorite vendors didn't even set up at this one.
Bummer.

[BattleRifleG3]

I saw quite a few deals. A Hi cap Russian Mak with a thick grip (perfect for my lanky hands) for $210, a Saiga 410 for $170, CZ-52s for $115, a Universal M1 Carbine in a Choate P-grip stock for $325 (it would be a project to improve it), and a 30-06 HK SLB-2000 in the 6 range. I also saw the new Busmaster AR-10 type rifles, with an ambidextrous push button mag release and ACE stocks (I'd prefer A2 myself, but I suppose I could maybe switch with my AR-15 if they were compatible.) The price of $1500 was actually not bad, considering they use unmodified FAL mags instead of extremely expensive Modified M14 or Stoner 25 mags.

[Big Dog]

Yep, those AR10 mags are insane! $50 for the kit to modify the $50 M14 mags, or $95 for the AR10 mag already modified. Sheesh!
And some folks gripe about $5.00 HK G3 mags . . .

Some more over priced treasures:
A CIA Stamped Black Widow CETME (no MBE) - $400!
A wood stocked Chopo (stamped, with Century MBE) - $500. The wood was nice - the tag said "Exotic wood" - right . . . Probably the Tapco stockset.

I was able to verify one thing - the Black Widow did have the muzzle crowned - a nice job actually. It still looked funny without the MBE.

Man, scads of AR15 stuff! You'd think the Mattel Rifle people were putting the show on.

Got hungry, but passed on the $1.50 Belly Burner Hotdogs. I always save a few bucks for a Burger King run.

At least we only pay $5 to get into the show. No parking fee, though we have to run the gauntlet of the car dealers taking up most of the parking area.

[Rave]

Well,sadly,gun shows aren't what they used to be,you find a googy at a deceat price once in a while,but for the most part it is like going to the movies,cost a lot for a bit of intertainment,then it's over and you have the feeling that you were ripped of,oh well,you never know.

[Big Dog]

Went back today (Sunday), and picked up another 400 rounds of 7.62X39 Russian FMJ, a set of .38 Special dies (can't find my old set since I moved - dang!), a bottle of H4227 powder, and some 158 jacketed soft hollow point bullets. Been wanting to make some defense loads for the Security Six.
Found one neat item - Lee's boxed set of powder measures - 15 calibrated dippers and a big slide-rule that has the loading data for the powder and caliber ya want. Cool.
I like things simple - using a .5 dipper with Red Dot gets me a nice accurate .38 Spcl load.
The H4227 will need the .7 dipper. Simple is good.
This system works well with my .45ACP also. My dippered loads with the Nosler 185 grain JHP is the best load I've used - puts all the factory stuff to shame.

Another neat thing I found today - wish I'd had the bucks, but . . .
A nice old Austrian Steyr-Mannlicher M95 rifle in 8X56R. Normally, we see the short carbines and Stutzen rifles, this is the first long rifle M95 I've seen. And only $99! Best milsurp deal of the show.

Looked at another knife that caught my eye - a Spanish bolo-style field knife.
But dang it - another too thin blade! I guess my Kabar and Commando Tanto have spoiled me. I like a knife that can split small trees, dig up rocks and kill the odd Grizzly bear or 'Possum . . .
Somebody's gotta teach the Chinese and Pakistanis how to make a good knife.

[Rufus Rhastus J]

I'm greatly disappointed in the shows as of the last couple of years. The same faces, guns, and outragous prices. I remember when you went to the show,yaked with folks and were able to trade your toy for another toy at a reasonable price. But, too many FFL dealers and the place becomes a huge retail store. i don't know about you guys, but, I don't pay retail. I find private sales to be the answer. Most people don't refuse cash. I don't mind the folks makeing a few bucks, hey, that's fun isn't it? But, to retire off one gun sale....screw them.

[Shaun]

I prefer wholesale so I stay away from the shows.