Are any of you guys headed for the show at the Expo center this weekend? I figure that with everybody getting tax money back, this one could actually be worth going to.

Zardoz, no I won't be able to make it.  I'm working from 8PM tonight until 4PM tomorrow (grrr) and again on Sunday.  My great nephew will be there at about 11:00 AM Saturday.  It's his first gun show.  He's taking a couple of of his friend's AK receivers to sell.  He has been reading a lot of my copies of Shotgun News and flyers from AIM for the past few months.  He's going to be shocked to find the 50-100% mark-up on most of the guns as compared to the prices he has been seeing.  He is gung-ho to buy a $200 Walther like his brother bought from SOG(?), a $60 CZ-70 like I tried to talk him into ordering from AIM, a $240 SAR-2 his father bought, or a NIW Mosin Nagant for $70 like his uncle bought from AIM.  He's going to be disappointed to see the huge mark-ups from those prices.  I still hope he finds something he likes.z

I have to admit that I'm going more for the comedic value than anything else. I will be looking for M1 Carbine stuff, as I'll be getting one of the IAI carbines next week (yep, finally getting off my *ss and getting one). I like just listening in on the pearls of wisdom given out by the "experts" who are always there.

Zardoz, I told my great-nephew to look for anyone that looks like a Zardoz and to say hello for me.  BTW, did you see him?  He's in his late 20's, drove a Ford pickup, didn't shave this morning, has short hair, and wore blue jeans with a flannel shirt.  See anyone that looked like that?  [:)]

He called me half a dozen times from the show to ask me about prices or about a gun he was looking at.  All of the ones he asked about weren't a good deal, at all.  The last time he called me, he was considering paying $180 for a rough CZ70 from Melvin's Guns that AIM recently sold for over $100 less that that (grrr) or a Walther PP that was $350, that AIM has for sale now for about $200.  He didn't buy either, and he was on his way out the door when a guy asked him if he wanted to buy a couple of rifles.  The guy had just bought them, but he found something he wanted more.  He paid $250 for a Yugo SKS and a Japanese Arisaka Rifle.  The SKS has a grenade lancher, grenade sight, gas cut-off, and bayonet, but he said the bore looked horrible.  It is dark and fuzzy, but I'm hoping for the best when I clean it up for him tonight.  The guy selling said it was not the more desirable M59/66, that have recently been imported, but I don't know of another model that includes the grenade launcher.  I'll find-out what it really is later tonight.  He said the guy selling the Japanese rifle didn't know if it was either a Type 38 or 99, but he said the bore looked very good and it included a bayonet.  From his description of the sale, it sounded like the blind leading the blind.  I'll find-out later tonight if he did ok after I get to see the rifles.z

To tell the truth, I usually only pay attention to the women-folk walking around, so I may have seen him, I dunno(but there WAS this one woman with 4 WELL-behaved kids in tow, who made me almost forget what I was in there for). Anyway, the Yugo SKSs I've seen are still heavily coated in cosmoline, so the bore of that one is probably just got a build-up of dust & crap in it. I have to agree that most of the prices were way on up there, too. There's always one dealer who specializes in USGI rifles and parts, and they never disappoint me with the pride they have in their stuff ("M4" stock-$180.....exactly). I ended up getting 4 still in the wrap 15 rd mags for the IAI carbine, an M2 mag catch, and 2 mag pouches. There was some kid there with what appeared to be an HK 91 or 93(I was some distance away, so couldn't tell which), and it looked like he was having trouble just carrying the thing, LOL, ya shoulda seen it! Does the Arisaka still have the "flower" (can't spell "chrysanthemum"-[;)])? Believe it or not, it looked like .22s were the getting most of the sales. Most of the good prices seemed to be on accessories & parts. There's one guy who has just about any part for any gun ever made, it seems. Don't get on him too bad for passing up good opportunities, man; hell, if I'd been smart, I could have had an M1 rifle AND carbine, but I just "had" to have the M1A. and man, let's go shootin' sometime.........

Unfortunately, it wasn't that dirty or greasy.  The bore was simply that bad.  I ran about about 20 patches soaked in Hoppes #9 through it, and they still came-out blue.  There was that much copper build-up.  Also, the rifling is worn almost smooth.  The bore looks like it fired many, many thousands of rounds, but strangely the rest of the rifle looks good.  My great-nephew wasn't upset, because he's only going to use it to shoot at paper at less than 50 yards.  Lack of usable rifling should hurt him too bad.

On a funny note, I found the invoice, in the compartment in the stock, where a buyer in Rock Hill bought this SKS from Interordinance.  Shot-out barrel from I/O?  Coincidence?


It's spelled chrysanthemum.  I've noticed that a lot of guys simply refer to it as a mum.[:)]  There isn't a mum on his rifle, and it doesn't look like there ever was one.  The rifle was made between 1939-1945, and it's a Type 99 production series #3 from Nagoya Arsenal.  The bayonet has a hooked quillon.  About 90% of the blueing is deep and perfect.  The other 10% is not worn through, and is simply not as shiny.  The entire bolt, trigger, and mag plate are chrome plated.  The chrome is in perfect condition.  Either someone went to a lot of trouble and cost to refinish this rifle, or it's a very nice example.  I don't know enough (ok, so I know nothing) about these rifles to know for sure, but I think someone did a very good job refinishing it.

Funny note about the guy selling the rifle, when my great-nephew was negotiating, he thought he saw that the stock had a crack all of the way through it.  The seller knocked a good bit off of the price, because of it.  Well, the stocks were just made that way, two pieces glued together.  I should repeat my blind comment...


I wasn't.  It was the other way around.  I got on him about wanting to buy something even though he knew, if he was patient, he could buy a better example for much less.


M1A, wow.  Going shooting?  I think I can remember what that's like.  It's been around six months.z

Sadly, the M1A is gone(taxes). Ah, but the M1 Carbine.....it won't be going anywhere, except into my coffin with me. I have always loved the M1 Carbine; why I haven't gotten one before now is anybody's guess, but stupidity is running even odds.