The show itself is good if somewhat small for the size of the community, just beginning to shake its reputation as a flea market and craft fair with shooting stuff on every third or fourth table.
I've mentioned before that I tend to like small shows if I'm in a buying frame of mind, and I left St. Cloud with a small sack of goodies and a couple of mongrels, each converted to .308 from their original weird Yurpeen calibers.
The MAS 1936 (never fired, dropped once, or other Frog joke of your choice) is not an ugly rifle to my eye. I don't mind the squared receiver , and somehow the forward-bent bolt just looks right to me. This one appears (arsenal refurbished) new and probably unfired since the .308 conversion back in the 50s 0r 60s. The conversion is supposed by some to be marginally sloppy, and I'll take the usual advice to start with very light loads.
The Mauser FR7, is kind of cute, looking like an assault rifle from the muzzle back about six inches. The rest is your basic obsolete Mauser cock-on-close as interpreted by the fusil grandees of Royal Spain.
It was $250 for the pair from a hobby dealer who was delighted to engage in the kind of old-fashioned bargaining that used to pervade the shows. He finally agreed to my "best" offer even though I was depriving him of the money necessary to buy his granddaughter a Christmas doll. Then, a few minutes later, he chased me down with two gun cases, no charge, just in case I got stopped by an officious cop on the way home. We shook hands again.
Why doesn't someone tell that Mathews guy that gun folks are among the nicest people you'll ever meet?
----
Also found a cheap 10-round .45 magazine for my 1911s. And, wonder of wonders, four decks of small pistol primers at $2 per.
---
It occurs to me that the Frenchy and the Spanyard contribute to the diversity of my veritable arsenal. Tell HuffPo.
5 comments:
Insert obligatory nanny comment re: beware shooting zingy .308 in a small-ring FR-7.
I have an FR-8 myself; I used it to dispose of lots of that awful Venezuelan CAVIM 7.62x51 that cacked up the chamber flutes on my HK.
My MAS is still in its original flavor; thankfully, 7.5 MAS is a lot easier to find now than it was just a decade ago.
Noted, with agreement. You're a +cool+ obligatory nanny. :)
You mean you brought home "two" red-headed stepchildren? JAGSC
Yep. As I mentioned to Tam, my consciousness is risen and I embrace diversity of arms, be they Kraut or be they Frog.
'course, the secondary reason is that it can't hurt to have a couple of extra 30-calibers around, especially when (a) they're cheap and (b) the money would otherwise be drawing a Bernanke/Obama-mandated half-per cent at my local bank.
You buying anything?
I have been severely remiss in my show attendance, so, no, nada. The only transactional activity I have been casually engaged in is ongoing trade talks with a friend who dearly wants my Colt 1903. He has offered a PPK, and I may just take him up on it. JAGSC
Post a Comment