Holy Loophole, Batman...

This one is close enough and typically good enough to move me to become an actual vendor. It helped that a bait shop which once tried to get big in the gun business turned over its entire remaining inventory to me. The deal offered was too good to pass up: "I just want to get rid of the (sterling merchandise). I'll split whatever you can get." (I won't actually take that much; the guy's a buddy.)

There will be bargains. My impulse is to announce the price as one-half of the lowest marked sale price, and those numbers were pasted on while we were still anticipating TEOTWAWKI  due to Y2K.

No guns occupy these particular swag boxes, but a half-dozen so-so quality scopes, a couple dozen Burris mounting kits,  many pounds of sling hardware, and miscellaneous RCBS loading accessories. Why, there's even a cassette of crow-call recordings. And some cute orange caps with built-in LEDs.

To this I add my own three bushels of miscellaneous ("I'm tired of looking at  it,") crap, and my 16 feet of hired table space will be jammed, barely leaving room for the three or four bait guns priced at something over 200 per cent of value. If I may say so myself, I'm pretty good at inventing stories about why my Stevens .410 single is priceless. 


("Waaahhll, y'see I got this here four-ten from a guy down Looziana way whose grandpa was wunna the deputies when they shot up Bonnie and Clyde. Now I can't actually prove this little rust spot is from Bonnie's own blood, but the fella told me...".)


No one believes it, of course, but some of them enjoy it enough to loosen up and take some of the other junk off my hands.

But then, knowing myself, I'll probably take the money around the hall and come back to my own table with a bag of other interesting but near-useless stuff, that is, stuff I am not tired of looking at. Yet.

I'm glad His Ineptness has not yet issued an executive order banning pointless hobbies.

And maybe I'll even find something shootable to loophole. I still want need something American to shoot up the big stash of .38 Special, and I don't give a diddly about which way the cylinder turns.

Over the river and through the loophole to...

I await arrival of the house-sitter and her irritable German shepherd.

The pile of shootie stuff is stowed in the camper. It will be my first gun show presence as a "vendor" in quite a while.

The quotation marks around "vendor" are used advisedly. More  accurately  stated it is an enthusiast who let things get out of hand  and desires to clear out a few more-or-less "parts" rifles,  trade one dandy Winchester 88 in .284 for more militant types of iron, and, most importantly, shed about three cubic feet of goodies. Things like vintage taxidermy supplies, a Flaubert lock, A Winchester '06 bolt, dies for calibers I've permanently abandoned, an old Herter's press.  

If you're a pack-rat gunny, you'll understand.  You acquire and acquire when prices are right.  Or when you've taken temporary leave of your senses. Every few years you reach a decision point. You either put up a Morton building or peddle stuff.

Of course, there's always the danger of  further acquisition at any loophole, regardless of what side of the table you're on. A man of strong resolve and sterling character can resist. I'll let you know how I do.

---

Note to self: Don't forget the black Sharpie.

Weekend Blog Bleg (4) - Shooty Stuff

This feature is late this week, so,   by way of apology, a twofer is on the block.

You can use the XP 100 barrel to make a pistol -- or a rifle that will incite the BATF to tax you and Nancy Pelosi to denounce you.  It is hand-stamped  ".223."  I suppose we're talking about a  .223 Remington rechambering job, but I  actually know nothing, not even why or where I picked this thing up.

The other vintage gun iron is  a well-patina-ed old Flaubert action which actually still does everything it was designed to do. You can make a parlor rifle. Or a  super-sneaky pest gun. (Most of these things were designed for .22  caps only.) Or hang it on your wall until you're as tired of looking at it as I am.

Swaps only,  No money.  See the rules here and previous offerings by clicking on the "Swap Me"  label  below.

---
It would be nice to have a set of Lyman mold handles (small)  around here, not to mention some Lee double-cavity molds for .38/.357.

Weekend Blog Bleg (3)

Another offering from the Camp J box of  gun-freak treasures  for which I have no use.

What have you for the grand old American sport of swapping?

This  gizmo is a new Lee Ram Primer. It lets you seat primers on the upstroke of your press. The good folks at Lee make all sorts of promises for  it,  stopping, however, somewhat shy of a pledge that it will take you to victory at Camp Perry.  For Lee presses only.

The rules  (simple as Hell) and earlier offerings are  here and here.
.

Weekend Blog Bleg -- Direct Barter (2 )... Remington 742 mags

More personal superfluity, two .30-06  factory magazines for Remingon 740/742. They look  pretty good and should work.

See the rules.

(We're a little early this week, but the herd soon begins arriving and  the  weekend is likely to  have distractions.)

EDIT: Turns out I have three of these damned things, not two.

.

Weekend Blog Bleg; Direct Barter

There must be other pack rats around here -- people who periodically look at a pile of their gun stuff and wonder, "What the Hell am I doing with this?" It a symptom of the acquisitive disease that manifests itself in too many gun shows, too many auctions and garage sales, too many moments when we lose control in gun shops.

Does the gunny corner of the internet offer hope? Maybe, and I want to try an experiment.  Every weekend or thereabouts I will post a  picture and short spiel on a sporty something that  someone else might want because I sure as Hell don't. The object is direct barter for anything that  might be less superfluous  to me.

Rules: Nothing that shoots. No money changes hands. Entertainment trumps the profit motive.  No sniveling.

This week, fanfare:

The  Carlson  Extended Turkey Choke in 12 gauge for Beretta and Benelli shotguns.  NIB(ubble),  it comes with a free choke wrench and my personal guarantee that it will make your shotgun longer. It's supposed to be a $30 item, but who cares? Offer to swap knives, M1 Carbine dies,  deer skins, rawhide,  USN relics valued at 50 cents to fifty bucks.  Whatever.


This could develop into good  fun if other writers would follow suit. In a short time it could become like everyone pawing around in everyone else's goodie box.

EDIT: I am ashamed of neglecting to add that the Clinton/Bush/Obama regimes have made it very worthwhile to polish our direct barter skills.