Otherwise at the loophole...

A buddy got a fine deal on a Marlin Model 92 offered as a "parts" gun. It was missing only the butt plate, and you make a mistake to underestimate this man's stock-making and general restoration skills.

I was less lucky and settled for a good Lyman 358495 mold (147 -grain wadcutters), a GI . 1911 magazine, and a funky old .22 gun belt,  solid, but  missing its buscadero style holster. It  looks keen hanging next to the spurs.

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If I ever decide  to reload 9mm Eurowimp,  the  Lyman bullets will let me enter the caliber wars about whether 9mm Parabellum  using 147 grainers is a "good defense load." I will undoubtedly  straddle the fence and prove it is OK in Europe, but not here. Then I'll get to quote Colonel Cooper again. "If you shoot a European he will sit down on the curb and cry. If you shoot an American he will shoot back."

Adrenalin Rush

A guy I know fondly  went to a loophole today where a serious collector of arms of the American Revolution inspected an oddball  $130 flintlock pistol  my pal  had sloppily hung on a wall for five or six years.  Just another neat-looking old gun.

Gee, he never noticed that Schuylkill Arsenal mark on the wood and had forgotten that arsenal  got out of the small arms business in 1812  after assembling and staging the possibles that  Captain Lewis and Captain Clark requisitioned for their march on behalf of early U.S.imperialism. 

A direct L and C connection all but certainly doesn't exist. For one thing, it is a sea service design.  On the other hand,  a connection to the  era and place is all but a lock, and the Schuylkill mark, if validated, would also prove U.S. martial/naval connection. 

Just before swooning he confided to me that the old .69 smooth bore beater goes directly to the vault while he makes enquiries of  those auction houses where the auctioneer wears a dinner jacket.  

Last thing he said before hitting the fainting couch was, "Hey Jim, Go over there and ask them girls what color cars they want."

Even the remote possibility is fun.

He said.

Roseholme Cottage

I swear,  the stuff coming out of that place qualifies it for a place on the National Registry of Historic Sites, Freedom and Good Sense section.

Always good for us libertarian pests, but Roberata scores 100/10x  on this one.

Show Time

We'll be in Sioux Falls tomorrow for one of the better loopholes in the country -- the Dakota Territory Gun Collectors Association Loophole. This is not  their biggest show of the year, but it's always an interesting one with hundreds of classic levers and SAAs along with more modern shootery. I have no plans to loophole anything, though I really should  because my recent efforts to annoy Senators Harkin and Schumer haven't been effective,, i.e., no subpoenas whatsoever in the mail lately.

Maybe I'll find a a beat up 12 gauge double  I can bubba up like the single that came out of the shop last week. That should be twice as provocative, raving dangerous,anti-gummint  gun fanatic-wise.

It is just so hard these days  to be recognized as a leader in the counter-revolution.