Notes from the gun shop...

I know it has been some time since I posted any notes from the gun shop but today was somewhat unique. I don't know if there was a connection to the Memorial Day weekend but today seemed to be a day for military type firearms.

First was a byf 41 Luger that came in on consignment. The owner is convinced that she should get $5000.00 for the gun which is about a $2500.00 gun. However, this gun was mentioned to a good customer who got excited and brought in 4 guns as trading material to see what he could get for them. They were a P90, a Steyr AUG, a Colt 1991A1 and a Colt 100th Anniversary 1911, all unfired and NIB, genuinely NIB. During negotiations another good customer was called in search of a lower priced Luger and brought in a 1917 dated DWM (which I personally think is more desirable than the byf 41) which he promptly sold to us. At about the same time we had a retired soldier come in with a US Postal Meter M1 carbine, a 1911A1 (I think it was a Colt but I didn't get to see it) and ANOTHER Luger (which I also had no opportunity to see). Coming into the shop as a transfer was a Valmet M76 with the folding stock. I hadn't seen one of these in a long time and although I have long wanted one of these "AKs with the aperture sight" I was reminded of why I'd never bothered to spend the money on one many years ago.

PS - got to look at the guns I didn't get to see yesterday. The 1911A1 is a nearly mint condition Remington Rand and I was told it was made in 1942. It was issued to the seller's father and then the seller carried it through HIS army career. BEAUTIFUL. In addition, he sold a 1903A3 which is in "darn good" condition, truly. I don't think it was carried or shot much and while the wood is kinda rough as that is the way it was issued the stamps are clear and sharp. NICE gun.

Notes from the gun shop...

Well, I don't have a lot of news about the gun shop except that we seem to be getting more .22 LR ammo and that we had some really exceptional Shiloh Sharps rifles come in on consignment, and we have some really top notch shotguns (one is a Winchester 21) for sale, and we have been busier than all get out since the move and it doesn't seem to stop.

I did help a customer put together a Barnett crossbow and installed the cranking bow cocker. That was interesting. We don't sell Barnett, we sell Parker crossbows. But, I figured it out. We can help with anything, given time!

Notes from the gun shop...

Yesterday was the first business day in the new shop. Very busy even with 5 people working the floor and register. Lots of visitors/shoppers.

Notes from the gun shop...

I think that people are really going to like the new store.  I spent much of the day moving ammo and other items to the store.  Jay S_____ showed me how to turn on all the lights, we pretty much got the gunsmith moved over but not quite set up.  There's lots of work to do still, but we're looking good.

The big quality gun influx has some real treats that continue to show up.  We have a list but it often understates the items.  For example, there is a 3d generation .44 Special Colt SAA in nickel with a 4-3/4" barrel and ivory stocks, several S&W J-frames including a Model 40 Centennial, a 649 and a 60. Looking at them all together in the case is almost overwhelming.

Another fellow brought in an interesting rifle for "appraisal" yesterday.  A Remington Model 30A, Express in .25 Remington with Noske scope.  A neat rifle but he's going to play hell finding loaded ammunition from the major makers.  Custom loaded ammo can be found of course, and he could load it himself.  That is a lot of rifle for the .25 Remington but recoil should be about nil...

Notes from the gun shop...

Busy day moving.  It will be a very nice store.  We had lots more ammo than we thought and most of it will be on the shelves "out front" now.

Saw a first for me, a "flat-band" Winchester 1894 in .25-35.  I've got a flat-band .30 WCF but I've never seen a .25-35.  I had thought that post WWII Winchester didn't produce any .25-35s but there it is.  We also have a fine condition Colt Banker's Special with what appeared to me in my cursory inspection to be factory Colt ivory stocks.  There were also two new in box Colt National Match 1911s of differing vintages. 

Notes from the gun shop...

Moving continues but stuff is coming in. Saw my first Remington R51 today. Underwhelmed maybe even disappointed. Trigger pull was pretty good. Size was pretty good. Feel in the hand was pretty good. Still, not enthusiastic. I would like to shoot one but I can't see spending my own money on it. Glocks are great guns but I still haven't bought one of them either!

Handled a bunch of great guns today as the big collection transits the store.

Notes from the gun shop...

Well, there's some big news.  The shop will be moving to 1301 Barterbrook Road and will open in the new location on 1 April.  Moving and stocking the new store location has already begun.  Hours will be the same.  There will be a gunsmith on site on Saturdays and Mondays. Phone number and fax number will be the same as well.  That's 540-886-3061 and 5640-886-3614 respectively. 

In the meantime, the shop has walked into a deal of almost 400 guns from the collection of a gun show promoter from Tennessee.  Really high grade guns ranging from shotguns to rifles to all sorts of handguns. 

Notes from the gun shop...

Handled a S&W 69 yesterday and in my view it is a 4" 696 with matte finish and better grips AND, of course, the Magnum chambering. I showed it to a friend who stopped by the shop and he allowed that it would be perfect with .44 Special level loads, which is true. Not to stir the pot but he didn't like the lock or MIM parts (trigger really) nor did he like the matte finish. People commented on the black screw heads with the stainless gun. I think the cash price would be around $775. I don't know if I can get excited about it at that price.

Glock is doing a good job of getting the G42 out to the public. We had another bunch come in and about half have gone out already. More coming. I've been told that Glock has devoted ALL U.S. production capacity to the G42 until the intial spate of buyers are sated.

I went to the new doctor today. Need a physical and will get one from this guy. He had to interview me before taking me on as a new patient. Dang. Is everyone going through this?

Notes from the gun shop...

Yes, we've been to the shop.  No, there hasn't been much to report.  The ammo shortage continues.  Sales of what we have continue.  Nothing much of special interest is coming in, in fact, NOTHING of special interest is coming in.  The gunsmith quit.  We will do scope mounting and boresighting while you wait IF we have the mounts.  That's probably the biggest news.  Apparently there aren't any Weaver type rings for 1" scopes available.  Odd, isn't it?  I haven't figured that one out.  Today I'm at the other shop.  Nothing going on there either!  Some of this is rooted in the real economy which has 92 million Americans out of work and out of the work force, permanently.  The real unemployment rate is over 13%.  No money=no sales except for necessities.

Notes from the gun shop...

I put in another day at the shop to cover for Wayne F_________ so that he could care for his mother. It seemed like a fairly busy day and I actually sold a Thompson Center Impact muzzleloader.

This seems to be a good gun and I imagine that this is produced for about as low a price point as a quality gun can be made. Not my cup of tea but if you need a tool to take advantage of the muzzleloading season then this will do. No, I don't own one.

We had some .22 LR today and still had 3 boxes of CCI .22 WRM. Got some .30-30 in as well as some Unique, Red Dot, and other Alliant powders. Maybe 25 pounds of powder all together. That's not much.

Notes from the gun shop...

We had a pretty interesting day today. In some ways it was surprising because with blackpowder season around the corner you'd expect that we'd be selling more muzzle-loading guns and supplies. We did do 8 transfers. Also, because Vic didn't work I had to do a couple of repairs.

One was removing a case from a Remington 700 bolt. Not difficult, just levered it right out from under the extractor. The problem was excessive pressure. The case was a Remington (.270 Winchester) and the primer pocket was expanded to almost twice its normal diameter. The owner claimed it was all old ammo from the same box and no reloads. The primers were not consistent with factory ammo, some cases were Federal and the owner looked a bit squirrely. Whatever.

The next case was a messed up Star 9mm pistol in which a cartridge had been jammed backwards into the chamber. The man had gotten the slide assembly off the pistol but was lost after that. I got the case out and then had to re-assemble the gun and show him how it is done. Oh, yeah, I've gone big time.

Still short of powder, .22 rimfire, FMJ ammo for 9mm, .40S&W and .45 ACP or any sort of practice ammo for the .38 Special.

Notes from the gun shop...

Lots of neat guns have come in to the shop during the past 2 weeks. Smith and Wessons, Colts, some good quality rifles and some really good glass as well. We were very busy. Hunting season is here and the firearms season for deer is just around the corner.

Notes from the gun shop...

Walked in to discover a number of neat pistols had come into the shop from an estate.  Many Smith and Wessons, a Kimber and a couple of Ruger single-actions.  It was a pretty busy day.  However, not much of an improvement in the availability of ammunition.  We did have some .30-30 which is apparently very difficult to find in Augusta county.  VERY little .22 LR.  We only had 7 boxes when I left the shop.  Other than that there wasn't much of note.

Notes from the gun shop...

Worked an extra day at the shop yesterday to fill in for a friend who's mother is in the hospital. We had a pretty good day. Bought a Weaver K1 in pretty good condition. The ammo shortage continues. We apparently had the last 5 boxes of .30-30 in the county. .243 Winchester is apparently hard to get as well. We sold out of our .22 LR but we still have some .22 Short HPs. Lots of traffic, not so sure we had that much in sales due to the shortage of things to sell. This is pretty bad when we are about to start the main hunting seasons.

Notes from the gun shop...

We had a lot of people through the gun shop today. I think that the smell of fall is in the air and people have started moving forward with hunting season. Ammo might be a problem though. We have the last 6 boxes of .30-30 in Staunton, there is no .22 WRFM, we haven't had a new box of CoreLokt anything come in in months, and .22 LR continues to be in short supply. Sadly, even pricing standard velocity RN at $7.99 now meets with a happy grin at the "good price". $.16 a round .22 LR is apparently the new normal. We do have VARGET and W748 powder. Nobody mentioned the UN arms treaty today, political conversation being dominated by the "fools of both parties" "dragging this country down".

Chris has a REALLY nice S&W Model 19 4" with box, papers and tools. It might not have been fired outside of the factory. He also has a nice Model 98 Krag.

We had a problem reassembling a rear sight for an M1 Rifle (Garand). I took mine apart this evening and put it back together without a problem but we can't get this one to work. Every time we put it together the windage knob will change the elevation and both knobs will turn together regardless of which one is being operated. I think it is because the trunion is bent and bearing against the windage knob.

This week I'll be spending tomorrow at the shop as well. Wayne F_________'s mother is in the hospital and he's with her so won't be at work.

Notes from the gun shop...

Late to post because I had to run up to Alexandria to carry Aunt Deanna's furniture to her new condo.  Anyway, we were pretty busy from the get go at the shop because #1 it is hunting season and #2 they just had the Ruffed Grouse Society Dinner.  Had a lot of people come in to pick up the guns they won.

Have to brag on Chris a bit.  One of our customers and fellow members at Stonewall, Roger M_______ lost his 13-year old Brittany this past February.  That's pretty tough.  The RGS was auctioning off a Brittany pup again this year.  Chris bought it and GAVE her to Roger.   I do believe Roger is in love.  Katie Ann is her name.

There is more ammo available.  Prices aren't coming down right now though.  We also got some powder in sometime last week.  This time I didn't leave the 8-lb jug of IMR 4895 for a customer, I bought it.  I use it in the .35 Remington and M1 rifle .30-06 ammo.  Cost about $20 more than the jug we had back at the beginning of the year.

Those are the highlights from this past week.  Not exciting to read about but it was fun to be there.

Notes from the gun shop...

Boy, the day flew by. Customers of one sort or another took up most of the day with barely enough time to chat or take a toilet break. We ate "lunch" on the go. Of note is that we had a S&W Victory model .38 come in the door. Looks to be all correct with original finish about 80-90% (I didn't get to look at it for very long). Might be gone by now, that was a whole 24 hours ago.

I got my Rock Island Auction catalogs today. Wish we had stuff that nice pass through our shop! WOW!

Notes from the gun shop...

What to say about today. Interestingly we have several classic, quality firearms on hand, a couple of neat other guns and we had some ammo. No, we have no .22 LR except for some match ammo. We sold out of the 9mm and .45 ACP ball but we do have .38 Special and .40 S&W. We also have some .17 HMR for the first time in several weeks.

Those neat firearms? There is a Smith and Wesson 17-4, a 15-3 and a 10-5 all in very good or better condition. We also have a couple of Savage 24s, a Browning Sweet 16 and a Ruger 94-44.

We also received a supply of 209 primers for blackpowder season and some TC Impact rifles.

One other thing. There was recently the abduction of a young woman in Nelson County. Today, two female residents of the area near the supposed site of her abduction bought a pistol for self-defense. It was obvious to them that the police could not be with them at the time of an abduction and that they would have to fend for themselves. That there was a man who had been arrested gave them no comfort...

Notes from the gun shop...

Boy, have things slowed down. We're still doing some business, lots of customer service, i.e. answering questions, but not firearms sales. Most people still want 9mm ball and .22LR. Other than that, no change.

Notes from the gun shop...

Things have really slowed down in the last week.  Still no .22 LR, .22 WRFM, .17 HMR, and so forth.  No powder, no bullets. We are starting to run out of certain primers.  Availability for hunting ammo for this fall seems to be tightening.

Big sellers?  Handguns suitable for concealed carry.  Ammo most requested (that we don't have) .22 LR, .380 ACP, 9x19mm, .22 WRFM.  Powders most in demand?  Red Dot, IMR or H4350, Varget.

I am constantly asked, after the usual, "Do you have ______ ammo?", "WHY?"  Why indeed.  The answer is simple.  People are scared, perhaps even panicked.  They have no faith in the trustworthiness of their elected representatives.  They have no faith in the broader government (as run by the bureaucrats).  They have no faith that was once normal will be that way again.  These people often say something along the lines of, "the world is upside down."  For them, what was right is wrong what was wrong is right, what was moral is now immoral and what was immoral is now moral.  This scares them.  These frightened people aren't all old, white, country people either.  Those who hold these views are of all demographics but one, they are not communists/socialists.  They ARE, white, black, Asian, young, middle-aged, old, male, female (and some who have crossed THOSE boundaries in their lives), rich, middle-class and poor.