Shooting: Pre-Weaver

Two large hands encasing one svelte Huntsman is just wrong. The urge is...

...to turn 90 degrees to the target, slip your left hand in your pocket, convert the shooting arm into oaken bough, inhale, let it half out, and squeeeeezzze.

Don't laugh. It's vintage. A shooting style with a patina.

St. Cloud AAR

The St. Cloud gun show is a winner, especially if you're able to stay at the MSM-owned and operated bed and (superlative) breakfast where you also get your second irresistible belt-stretcher of the Thanksgiving holiday. Thanks kids.

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?

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Also found a cheap 10-round .45 magazine for my 1911s. And, wonder of wonders, four decks of small pistol primers at $2 per.

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It occurs to me that the Frenchy and the Spanyard contribute to the diversity of my veritable arsenal. Tell HuffPo.

In Progress

<-- That old three-dollar Kabar/Navy blade en route to a new life as a knockabout hunter. Some pits remain, and the "blood groove" shows residual grinding marks. I decided to let well enough alone after already reducing the blade thickness by at least 1/16th.

I decided I didn't like the koa wood and subbed the walnut . Everything is done through the 100-grit level. I'll probably stop at 180 and may just spray some leftover fake parkerizing on the blade. The grip -- shaped to be comfortable in my hand -- gets a few of coats of highly thinned linseed oil. The finished product will represent about four bucks and something like three hours of pleasant tinkering.

Gun Show Report

Windom was the gun show of diggable boxes. Seems everyone in Minnesota decided to tidy up the gun room and peddle the detritus to gullible outtastaters. TeeHee. I am please to enjoy a few castoffs of Lutefiskia

An excellent 1981 air crew sheath knife, $3 including a light patina, now removed to reveal Camillus 1981. I had assumed the makers spoke Oriental. It was part of a package deal with a Kabar USN Mk 2, same price, The K has PTS as bad as you'll ever care to see, evilly pitted with marks barely readable and about half the leather rings missing. This will become the base steel for a custom.

How 'bout .452 -- 230 grainers FMJ, 100 for three bucks, loose in a baggie from a seller who said he sorta thought they were for a .45 but wasn't sure. Also two factory .257 Roberts at $10 per box. This caliber is getting a little hard to find.

The Queen of the Hop is Miss High Standard, a pumper in perfectly fine shape save for the remnants of a Bubba varnish job. At $75 I'll always find room for a spare 12 gauge.

Couple other goodies, but this is probably already more than you want to know.

I can't offer you an interesting Windom history fact because there isn't one.

EDIT: The prices in general were unremarkable, about the same as we've become used to, but I think everyone selling has become much more willing to negotiate.

Haggling

A retiring insurance guy wants to sell me "Dad's"  guns:

--870 Wingmaster

--"old Marlin 12 gauge pump  shotgun"

--  Remington 12c (probably, description sketchy)  in .22 WRF

-- Police Positive also  in .22WRF.  

 I see them tomorrow and meanwhile  rely on,  "Oh yeah, its real nice. Really great for its age. I shot it and it works great. But it hasn't been shot much.  I been checking around and the guys tell me the Colt is worth about $900 by itself and the ...".

I could keep the 870 as a spare birder. The others would be traders, though  it's always nice to have another Colt kicking around the collection.  Probably nothing will come of this. I see about $750 worth of value, and I think he figures  about twice that. What can you expect from a guy who spent his life telling people 20-pay life was a good deal?

Drive a Couple More Nails in the Wall

I can't believe that crowd let me have the minty Ruger 10-22 for $165. It has a black unwood stock, so  I can't believe how tactical I feel. 

The Marlin-Ballard in average-minus shape  brought $775, and buddy and I both passed. He was in at $750 and welcomed the overbid.

That Mossy was a nice  46 bolt, tube-feeder. Good Mossbergs are edging up;  this one brought about  $200.

Best for last:  A girl I know  caught me sleeping and snuck a 10-inch cast iron mermaid into her tucker bag for $16. It took a good deal of flattering banter, reminders of past favors, and a $20 bill, but I recouped the situation, and Miss M now sits coyly on a prominent shelf, right next to the Walker Cherub pit log. 

Redneck Esthete

I intended to leave the auction as a more lethal man, but the Lee-Enfield went too high. So did the c. 1895 hammer-double wall hanger. Then the crowd went to sleep and I tucker-bagged "Nine Travelers -- Canada Geese," a 1977 Maynard Reese production, for $40.  I'll take deals like that any day.