It will pass, but for about 16 hours I've had the feeling that I am too smart for this world and should spend the day knocking off a few IQ points by watching television.
The hubris results from a huge gun auction in thriving Burt yesterday. When typical opening bids are at retail and escalate from there, you feel pretty damned brilliant for the simple act of keeping your hands in your pockets.
For instance: Kimber .45 Pro Carry, MSRP $888 NIB, hammers down at $1,050. This happened early, letting us know we were in the wrong place.
The feeling was confirmed. A rattle-trap Winchester 1897, haphazardly polished and reblued, stock varnished, generic butt plate, brought $625. Other sells followed suit.
But, well, you don't drive 175 miles and come home empty handed. That would be against nature. So I laid in 12 new magazines for a Mini-14 -- $73.42 with the tax, or about six bucks per. The details, just in case Congresswoman Pelosi is keeping track: Four 20s from Ruger, still bubbled, and eight after-markets, including three more 20s, three 30s and, yum-yum, two 40s. Vive la revolucion!
'course, my pardner Jeff the gunsmith had to go and ruin even that by grinning, "What's it going to cost you to fill those up?" The answer, if you go by the price of .223 sold at the same time and place, is about 65 cents a bang.
Ahh, the gun game. Maybe all of us who play it are the real dummies.
... (pause to ponder) ... No, come to think of it. Ths kind of thing may actually reflect the popular view that the Federal Reserve Cartoons we trade for shootin' arn would be worth more if they were soft enough to wipe with.
2 comments:
Am I correct in assuming a 15% buyer's premium is tacked on to the hammer price? If so, Ouch! JAGSC
No, the hammer price is the price, but I think "ouch" is still a good descriptor of yesterday's action.
The buyer's premium hustle hasn't worked very well up here. I've head of only two or three tries and been told they didn't work very well.
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