RIFLEMAN'S JOURNAL - DECEMBER 2002

Phone bill in mail, due 15 December, should not be a problem, though I still have Christmas shopping to do - fortunately all I have left can be done cash, in person, on short notice: gift certificates. Oh - that's what I have to do this weekend instead of going to the range! One of the places is in Vancouver.

Meanwhile - woe! EMF is advertising in SGN a clearance sale of Hollywood-surplus firearms, including percussion revolvers. "Too many to list." "Call. Ask for Mike." It's a toll number and I don't have long distance. I could get a prepaid calling card from a vending machine or rack at most supermarkets... maybe after New Year's, if the sale is still on.

89 - Wednesday, 4 December 2002: Ahh, the gift I ordered for one of my engineer friends has arrived! Don't want to give away the surprise, if there is any, but... I'm reluctant to give it to him! :) Maybe I'll order another for myself later. Quality is adequate, though the leather may leave something to be desired - well, it's the cheaper grade of the thing, and it's on sale. I'll get a fresh tube of Metal-Glo somewhere and polish it up nice where applicable.

Hmm... Payday Friday; near half the rent already in cash, no trouble expected with the rest - I should contact the place for the gift for the other engineer and make any arrangements necessary to get the thing. Tri-Met seems to go within a couple blocks of the place - I might be able to squeeze in the gift trip and a trip to English Pit all on the same bus fare.

Only the sixty rounds for the Mosin, plus the 20 of soft-point that won't extract and has a different point of impact - not bothering with that for now. If I go I'll also take the .357 and some quantity for it. I can bike back, so I can take my time once I get there - might take the blackpowder handguns too, I seem to have set the flintlock's flint for a good spark, until it wears again (I'm resisting the urge to play with it, therefore). Maybe I should look for a replacement frizzen, flintlocks should be more reliable than that, I should be able to get good ignition for more than three hammer-falls in a row!

Or maybe I should just talk with the blacksmith/engineer about (re-?)heat treating the existing part.

My next order from DGW - likely well after Christmas - will include some replacement parts for my percussion revolver - a complete set of screws, and a set of six nipples, which I hope will solve the ignition problems I'm having with that piece. (I'm pretty sure I've figured out what size and thread pitch mine is (6mm x.75).) Maybe it will even use common #11 caps, instead of the smaller and harder-to-find #10s. As long as I'm ordering parts I'll likely also get yet more spares for the two that most commonly break in this design, the trigger & stop spring and the hand & spring assembly. I already have one of the latter and two of the former, of which one of each is tucked into recesses I've Dremeled out of the one-piece wood grip under the backstrap, so if it breaks in the field or at a match or re-enactment, all I would need is the same screwdriver I'd already need to take it apart and remove the broken piece(s).

90 - Friday, 6 December 2002: Sigh - got paid, set my paycheck aside... and left it there. In the warehouse. Which is locked until Monday. Forget English Pit, I'm sleeping in. No trouble anticipated getting through the weekend, anyway, and gift certificates aren't going anywhere.

91 - Sunday, 8 December 2002: Still no VZs at Big 5, but they say they've ten due tomorrow. I'll stop after work - actually I'll stop after I'm done at the bank. Put $20 more on the third VZ, now $9, plus $9 Oregon gun tax, remaining.

Hm - could I get all three rifles, the one still on layaway and the two I've reserved, on the same background check, therefore paying the tax only once and saving $18? I certainly should be able to. I'll ask Cruffler. ...Er, maybe not; he's familiar with Washington laws, and this is an Oregon tax. Eh, I'll ask anyway.

Well, crap. My plan for next weekend is to bus/bike up to Vancouver to get the particular gift certificate, then go back across the I-5 bridge to the big Expo gun show (which I probably can't afford to go to, but since when has that stopped me?). I want more ammunition, as usual - some Mosin, maybe some .357/110, and then parts: that spring clip for the spare VZ stock, so it will be complete, and maybe some others if the parts geezers are there. Also, Cruffler may let me get in on a large ammo order with him later; Century Arms has a 1,400-round crate of Turkish 7.92x57mm for $59, on chargers in bandoliers - at that price even 60-year-old Turkish crap is a good deal. There's also a good deal on my preferred Mosin load (Albanian, it seems), I don't recall the details at the moment, something like a 440-round tin for about $40.

Unfortunately the weather forecast is for several systems to move through all week. The Saturday graphic shows a little rain cloud between two big rain clouds (with the rain going sideways). Not being able to bike (I don't, in such weather) would limit my options - I could still do the Vancouver thing easy enough with C-Tran, the map looks like the place is only a couple blocks from their main transit center, but until the Green Line light rail is finished, Tri-Met does not go to the Expo Center on Saturdays (when most of the shows are, there). What is Tri-Met thinking? As I recall, they've never run a bus to the Expo on Saturdays, in all the years I've lived in Portland! The closest they get is maybe half a mile. I'll keep an eye on the forecast, duh.

Hm - discovered that Track of the Wolf, maybe the only place that even tries to compete with Dixie Gun Works, will ship blackpowder - minimum order 25 pounds, maximum 50 (by Federal law, 50 is also the maximum for unlicensed possession). 25 pounds would last a long, long time, but even their cheap stuff is $10 a pound, so a powder order would be maybe $300 - probably more, with special-handling fees. Definitely a cooperative proposition, as far as I'm concerned at this point, going in with others on a large order, getting only a couple-few pounds each. Besides, I've only got one thing, the flintlock pistol, that needs real blackpowder; the percussion revolver works fine with Pyrodex or other substitutes, which are available retail, many places.

Ah - that reminds me; there are a few chemical sellers on the net, where I could order a small, hobbyist quantity (like, a pound) of potassium nitrate (saltpeter), with which to make a solution, with which to make nitrated papers for paper cartridges (cigarette papers aren't, actually; untreated, they leave much gunk in a percussion arm's chamber), or matchcord. Must look into that, one of these days. Um - maybe there's a place locally. Yes, several listed in the yellow pages. Even in small quantities I'd much rather make that kind of purchase with cash.

92 - Monday, 9 December 2002: Got my paycheck cashed, got some groceries. Went back to the apartment first rather than carrying the frozen dinners back and forth, figured I'd store the groceries, make sure I had my cleaning rod and headspace gauge, and see if the VZs are actually at Big 5 yet.

Sigh - not yet. No message waiting, so I called them. "First thing in the morning." At least I don't have to run all the way back out there tonight, with the weather worsening.

Rent paid. Phone bill within budget. Truck fund rebuilding, again. Co-worker (from Vancouver) says a neighbor has a Subaru with a good body and a bad engine (head gasket, clutch) that they're trying to get rid of, maybe $150, I could save that much pretty quick. I'll e-mail my blacksmith friend, his household has experience with Subarus. A head gasket shouldn't be that big a problem, if the head and block themselves are all right - the woodworking friend has a torque wrench, and he and his mate are both mechanics. The clutch, though... also, for a first vehicle I'd prefer an automatic, though I have driven manuals before.

Ahh, the sword sling from Dixie Gun Works arrived, and another catalog so I can give the first copy to my blacksmith friend. Brown leather - fine, that fits a Confederate persona, the South used brown where the Union used black. "Made in India." Eh - there are worse countries. That's delivery times of eight, eleven, and ten days, quite acceptable I think.

Hm... needs some adjustment. It's obviously designed for a scabbard with the rings way apart, not close together like my M1840, but I can make it work - I'll have to shorten the longer, rear, strap, and maybe the other too, maybe a lot. If I screw up I have enough leatherworking skill to replace that much at least, and the whole thing was only $8 - they sell the brass belt hook part separately for something like $4. Now where did I put that belt...? Oh yeah, under that pile. There's that holster I made for my 1861 revolver! And the issue-style flap holster I found at a surplus store, for butt-forward right-side carry. Well, I'll be fiddling with all that for a while.

Okay, that works, mostly, but of course it whacks into things as I walk around - well, that's part of the experience. ...Great - now I'll have to assemble a Confederate uniform. I'll need a stronger belt....

Meanwhile, new issue of Shotgun News - SARCO offers an Israeli-made Mauser 98 barrel, ".308 military", $56.50. "New original." J&G Sales wants $99.95. Hmm... the military-contour barrel should fit the original stock, so I could keep the original bayonet lug. Hmm.... Tools and such to do the job right would be at least another $100. Wonder how long they'll last at that price? Other questions - how long is the chamber? Will I have to set the barrel back another turn and ream the chamber to get good headspace? Does it come with military sights? Well, those sights I can do without, it's pretty easy to mount a front sight with the proper tools, and I was planning on a receiver-mount rear sight anyway. If it doesn't come with sights, or if they're easily removable, I can just screw the barrel into the receiver until headspace is good and put my own sights on.

Weather forecast: now the rain is going sideways on Saturday, too. Financially, I really should just skip the Expo show. Need new shoes again, already.

This ‘blog was supposed to be about me becoming a rifleman, right? First, I gotta eat. A roof continuously overhead would be useful too. Sigh.

93 - Tuesday, 10 December 2002: Got two more VZs on layaway! Both passed headspace, and have salvageable bores. One has not been refinished. They consolidated all three onto one layaway, $97 remaining, due 11 February. And, the counter guy said that yes, I can get them together and pay only the one $9 gun-tax, for a total of $106. Will probably get them in January, making payments until then.

Forecast for Saturday still dreadful. Tri-Met's #5 line should indeed go within spitting distance of the place in Vancouver where I want to get the one gift certificate. Oh, the new light rail line is the Yellow Line, not Green. Scheduled to open 2004 - hmph. I might be a Martyr of the Revolution by then. On the way back, though, the #5 is the only line that gets close to the Expo Center on Saturday, at least with any regularity, and it only gets within - ugh! Three-quarters of a mile! In Oregon winter!

94 - Thursday, 12 December 2002: Made arrangements for the gift certificate in Vancouver, no problem. New shoes again, $13 with coupon at Big 5. Weather getting worse almost hourly. If I go to the Expo show, how much money can I spare for it? Good question.

Got a comment on my website, from a home-hobbyist machinist, who suggested I look at a machinist's course at a local community college. Hadn't thought of that!

Decided to go ahead on the co-op ammo order, if it happens; told Cruffler to put me down for a 1,400-round crate of the Turkish 7.92, and a 440-round tin of the Albanian 7.62 Mosin. That would be about $100, but it would last a while, and would be even cheaper per round than what I've been paying at shows.

Sigh - probably $100 of Christmas shopping left to do. At least I know what to get - bookstore gift certificates. I'm supposed to get a raise in January, but legend has it this place is notorious for not coming through. Well, I'll probably stick it out through the winter at least (no time to be without an income), but if the one friend offers me some production work in his cabinet shop I might very well jump that way.

95 - Friday, 13 December 2002: Withdrew wad of cash from checking account - not truck fund - for Expo show tomorrow.

Hurrah! Columbia University's Bancroft Prize for American History, awarded in ‘01 for Michael Bellesiles' fraudulent work, Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture, has been rescinded! Using Columbia's press release - and a piece of correspondence received and posted by a fellow activist, from a New York library director who agreed to remove the book - to go ahead and ask Multnomah County's library director to get the thing off local shelves, as I considered doing a while back (November, entry #79). Now all I need is a stamp.

96 - Saturday, 14 December 2002: Eew - the show was hurting! Measure 5 has really had an adverse effect. Empty tables - empty floorspace. No parts geezers, where'd they go? They're at least half the reason I went to this one.

Had a headache, more or less, all day, and unwisely left the bottle of acetominophen I usually carry, out of my fanny pack, so I only went through the hall once, instead of going all the way back through to see if I missed anything like I usually do. This likely also accounts for my remarkable "restraint" in spending. Anyway, first I went to Vancouver to get the gift certificate, which was no problem, then I marched that three-quarters of a mile to the Expo Center (and probably another mile threading my way through the aisles). $7 admission.

All I bought was four more 1¼" M16 slings, from the table that had them for $3 this time. My preferred type of Mosin ammo is still $3.50 per 20 like last show, while I used to pay only $3.00. Turk 7.92 Mauser bandoliers were $6-$8 each. In both cases I passed, as I have the co-op thing going with the Cruffler for great quantities.

Other prices: Portuguese 7.62 NATO, $35 for a 200-round battlepack - I imagine I can do better than that mail-order. Rough Rider .22LR single-action revolvers, $149. FEG Hi-Power clone, $229. CZ-75, $329. Used Harrington & Richardson Sportsman .22LR revolver, 6" barrel, top-break 9-shot, $149. Did not see that Romanian .22 rifle with four magazines for $65, someone probably got it at the last show.

Chinese Simonovs as low as $175; Romanian, $190; Yugoslav, Very Good or better condition, $189 at one table with a whole rack full, flanked by similar racks of Romanian Kalashnikovs, all 7.62x39mm, as low as $299. Did not see any Russian Simonovs. Did not bother checking prices on models without bayonets or at least bayonet lugs.

Olympic Arms Pre-Ban AR-15 clone, 20" A2 configuration, $999. If I had a mousegun that's the setup I'd want, none of that stubby, velocity-robbing short-barrel stuff, and none of that battery- dependent electronic Land Warrior crap. No Pre-Ban M1As caught my attention, but with the headache I wasn't looking too close.

Heh - VZ24s, $89-$99. I don't think so. Thought about getting a couple more VZ bayonets but that can wait.

Having yielded to temptation and bought the M1840 saber, I have more of an eye for swords than I used to - and apparently Cold Steel, known for their highly functional products, is now offering some, particularly a European medieval-style hand-and-a-half, and a monster two-hander with parrying protrusions on the ricasso, looks a lot like other offerings I've seen described as a Landsknecht (medieval German mercenary - a persona I briefly considered when I was more interested in the SCA than I am now) sword. Will have to request a new catalog from them.

Reproduction percussion revolvers, in which I also have an interest, were all still beat - often by a bunch - by Cabela's for the popular models (1847, ‘51, & ‘60 Colts, 1858 Remington), and were not present in others (Dragoons, pocket models from Colt & Remington, Starr, etc.) except for one 2nd Model Dragoon, apparently from Colt Blackpowder (made in Italy like all the others) for $400. Even Dixie Gun Works can beat that. Actually I'd go for the 3rd Model, it's original production reached five figures, so it would be a lot easier to justify for re-enactment. The 1847 Walker only reached 1,100, almost exclusively for the Texas Rangers; the 1st Model Dragoon was under 7,000 and the 2nd Model about 2,500.

Also, I think all the 1851 Colt repros I saw were inauthentic .44 caliber - of the 215,000- something made originally, all were .36, except, reportedly, for a handful of .40 prototypes which probably never left the Colt factory. Most brass-frame models are inauthentic too; apparently the Confederate brass-frame copies and derivatives of the 1851 were also .36, except for the Dance Brothers .44, which was more like a Dragoon anyway and had other marked differences. To my knowledge there were no brass-frame Confederate copies of any other models, unless you count the Spiller & Burr - again, .36 - which was somewhat similar to the Remington but was not a straight copy. Authentic repros of the S&B are now available.

My next repro percussion revolver will be a nice, plain, authentic 1851 Colt .36, 1860 Colt .44, or 1858 Remington (fixed sights!) .44, all steel frame, all available from Cabela's for $115, $140 and $140 last I checked (not counting shipping). One of these days I'll get about $200 spare saved up and buy the Remington from Cabela's, with two spare cylinders at the same time so there's a reasonable expectation they're from the same manufacturer and therefore require less fitting and timing.

Some muzzleloading rifles under $200 - one CVA .45 percussion for $95, as I recall - but I didn't have even that much, and it was only in Good condition; surface rust along much of the barrel, more rust around the nipple and drum and the surrounding area of the lockplate. Passed.

Return trip uneventful. Scattered Bill of Rights copies on Tri-Met going both ways, had the pleasure of seeing some folded up and stuck in pockets or purses. Left a stack with the vendor selling the BofR/VOID t-shirt I bought a couple-three shows ago.

97 - Sunday, 15 December 2002: (By the way, the Confederate Dance & Brothers revolver turns out to be a steel frame after all.)

Bill of Rights Day! Left a big stack, and several copies in Spanish, transcribed from JPFO's site, at the local laundromat. Left more on bus seats while going to Big 5 for their weekly flyer, and to the library for items I had on hold.

Hah! Went up to the information desk, asked for and got permission to leave a stack on the library's free literature shelves! Was out of Spanish copies by then, but the only ones I have retain references to JPFO, to which some leftist busybody might object. Might make an unattributed version - no, I think the Spanish translation that I'm using is in fact copyrighted by JPFO. Eh - at least I got the English version into the library, I'll make more Spanish copies as-is for next year. Should work on a Cyrillic version for distribution, lots of former-Soviet immigrants around. May need some software adjustments. JPFO has it in other languages too, some in .PDF so all I have to do is print them, no fussing with fonts. Maybe they'll convert the Cyrillic one to .PDF, that would simplify things.

Hm - should update my English version to include the preamble. It should still fit on one page.

Big 5 has Romanian Mosin M44s for $59.99, and VZs for $79.99, through Christmas. If the M44 were ten bucks less - which it has been, recently - I'd have put another on layaway. Tough little carbine, plenty powerful and surprisingly accurate. Maybe next time, if/when. Will have to invest in a gun cabinet, Bi-Mart and other outlets often have some for under $100. More Christmas shopping done, the rest should be done next weekend, payday on the 20th.

98 - Monday, 16 December 2002: Sigh - caught another bug: sore throat, sinus discomfort, headaches, slight nausea. Cough drops, nasal decongestant, and ibuprofen. Also I think the electric baseboard heater in my (affordable!) hovel has failed. Have a space heater and more blankets, getting by.

99 - Tuesday, 17 December 2002: Yup, baseboard heater is dead. Space heater's high amperage has killed my old power strip. Fortunately a really good hardware store is only six blocks away, with useful hours, and they have regular sales - an even better space heater for $14.99, and a pair of better power strips for $3.77. That hurt the truck fund but not too bad. Gonna be a cold winter.

Hmph. New pictures, anyway. Wouldn't these look great on a t-shirt? These are too low-resolution to transfer well, of course, and the iron-on paper for inkjets does not work as well as I'd hoped, but maybe you can take it to one of those custom t-shirt places to get it properly silkscreened. Hm - that's another thing I've thought of from time to time, getting my own silkscreening rig to make activism t-shirts to sell at gun shows.

Also made a new poster.

100 - Wednesday, 18 December 2002: Hm - half the baseboard heater may still be functional. Haven't told the landlord yet, would have to move way too much clutter to get at the thing.

Hooray! My large, neurotic cat Fujiyama has rediscovered his indoor litter box. Oh, he's still housebroken - he just wants to always go outside. But now, with Evidence that he's figured it out once again, I don't have to wrassle with him in the morning to chuck him out in the dreadful weather while I'm away at work.

101 - Saturday, 21 December 2002: Christmas shopping done, except perhaps for contingencies. Have to wrap the one thing, can just recycle the box it came in. Got gift wrap & stick-on ribbon bows.

While getting bookstore gift certificates, picked up mail-in voter registration card. Now, do I really want to officially switch to Libertarian, or should I stay a Republican for strategic purposes like voting in primaries? Um.

Got a couple stamps too, the letter to the Director of Libraries will go out Monday. Renewal of GOA membership went out today.

Ugh. Cityfolk. Horrid swarms of them. (The bookstore is downtown.)

The bookstore did carry Bellesiles' Arming America, hardcover for $10 as I recall. No comments in evidence about it being thoroughly discredited. It was in the Firearms section with, I guess, enough space given to the opposition. Actually most of the section was gunfolk reference material. Hm- perhaps I should suggest they carry JPFO's books...? Fair and balanced, right? They're not bigots, right?

(I was in that store - Powell's, quite famous - shortly after Arming America came out, and it was on Prominent Display with a Favorable Review. Hm. Well, they also carry Lott's More Guns, Less Crime, or did; I didn't notice it this visit. I don't recall a Prominent Display for that, though. The store is increasingly lefty - I suspect most of the employees and customers would prefer a curiously abridged Bill of Rights to the whole thing. Consider themselves intellectuals, do they? Not grasping the all-or-nothing-or-else concept.)

102 - Sunday, 22 December 2002: Current bug - cold flu, something - disturbingly persistent. Symptoms shifting back and forth, sometimes sore throat, sometimes cough, sometimes stuffy nose, sometimes headaches, and combinations of course. Muddling through. Trying to keep medications at a minimum on general principle.

Fortunately the weather let up enough to bike to the laundromat, and fortunately someone had left a Sunday newspaper there, including Big 5's latest flyer, so I don't have to make another, longer trip to fetch a copy. Also, the flyer did not contain enough new stuff to bother updating that page on my site or sending out another e-mail. No pressing business at the library, and books can be renewed online. Groceries adequate until after-work tomorrow.

I have Big 5 coupons, which expire today, for another of those cute brass telescopes for $19 and a 10x rubber-armored monocular for $9, but I should save the money anyway, especially after Christmas shopping. They'll likely have them on sale again in a month or three.

103 - Monday, 23 December 2002: Well, I've done it now - sent off the voter registration card changing my party to Libertarian.

Also sent the library thing. Now there's a website about the guy that started it.

Bug finally receding, some. That... took longer than it should have. Hm.

Aw, poor Fuji! He's kibble-dependent, and he ran out yesterday. I have a bunch of canned food in reserve for such occasions but apparently it's not entirely to his taste. Anyway I came back with a 16-pound bag of the usual and he was all over me. I finally got his gravity feeder filled without stepping on him (though he stepped on me a couple times) and he dived in so fast he actually choked a little. Later he spent a couple hours in my lap as I was doing e-mail and newsgroups, with the space heater blowing right up his fuzzy butt.

Hm- now he's curled up on my coat, changing its color. I could have named him Sir Shedsalot, the White Knight.

104 - Friday, 27 December 2002: Christmas was good. Had a fine dinner with friends. The one friend's gift, a reproduction US M1860 naval cutlass, to go with the Infamous Willamette Riverboat Pirate shtick, was well received, as was the other friend's, a gift certificate for two hours' time at a glassblowing studio where he's been practicing with his artist daughter. Further, no one I know is disappointed in a bookstore gift certificate.

Well! Now that Christmas shopping is over, maybe I can save up for a motor! But first, there's a gun show tomorrow, a small one. If the weather is decent I'll bike there, and if not, I'll skip it, which I probably $hould do anyway. The only bus that goes there is not convenient.

Did some after-work grocery shopping, withdrew small wad for possible show. Otherwise it can go in the truck fund. ...Or, perhaps, I could visit the flea market I've learned of in my area, to sniff over the used-computer possibilities. I have got to get a faster machine!

Huh - for the last several weeks, it seems the bank thinks I have $8.20 more than I do. I've gone through all the records back to the last time the balance statement matched my reckoning, even fired up an ancient version of MicroSoft Money that came with my decrepit Pentium 133MHz too many years ago, but I can't figure it. Shrug. At least the imbalance isn't the other way.

E-mail from Cruffler, he's hitting the Armory show Sunday so if it's not raining that's when I'll go too. (No word on ammo yet, may be weeks depending on the vendor - he ordered it nearly two weeks ago, anyway.) Therefore, blissfully sleeping in tomorrow! May look at flea market, again depending on weather.

105 - Saturday, 28 December 2002: Raining, but took bus to flea market. Free admission.

Not as many computers as I'd expected/hoped, but one of the vendors was overheard saying it was the slow part of the season. Lots of flea-markety stuff of course, but some firearm-related items - even some ammunition, but only the occasional single box, no large quantities. Almost bought some - 50 rounds of Winchester .38 Special +P, 125gr JHP for $10, 50 rounds of military specification (WCC headstamp!) 130gr FMJ for $7, but passed.

But what really made it worth the trip was the t-shirt vendor. She would not reveal the source of her materials, of course, but I now know that there exists a vastly superior kind of transfer paper for printing out and heat-transferring to t-shirts! Gotta hunt it down on the web, the stuff from the office supply store is pretty crappy by comparison. The vendor had a whole setup, computer, printer (which looked ordinary enough), and a specialized transfer press. Wonder how much those cost? Maybe the same supplier offers both those and the paper. Looking at their setup I may only need the paper and some software, I could do the transfers by hand with a conventional iron but that's asking for quality-control problems. If it's not too much of a capital investment, I might be on my way to supplementing my income!

Yipe! $700-$900 for a heat press! Okay, try eBay - first item in the search, $450. A little better but I'd have to sell a lot of t-shirts to make that pay for itself. Ah, further in there's some for $360 brand new, also many listings for paper. A few used ones, a couple under $200 - that's more like it. Tracked some back to the original site, also found blank bulk t-shirts, even plastic shopping bags to put the product in for customer convenience. I think I've found what I'm looking for, now I just have to shop around for the best deal and contemplate whether it's worth it. -Oh yeah, there's one! A hat press, for heat transfers to baseball-style caps, usually goes for the same price as a larger t-shirt press, but there's one used on eBay with a current bid under $40. Nah, gotta do more research before diving into something like this.

Argh! Cruffler says the parts geezers's storage facility's roof leaked and their inventory turned into lumps of rust! ARGH! He goes on to say that something may be salvaged.

Woo-hoo! Later e-mail from Cruffler says the ammo has arrived! Blowing out truck fund, taking bus to show tomorrow, he says he'll give me a ride back.

New Year's coming - I have actual blanks for the Ishapore, and blackpowder arms are utterly easy to load with blanks. :) Maybe I'll find some blanks for other arms at the show but I kinda doubt it. But that reminds me - once I get the other three VZs, I think I'll want a quantity of 7.92x57mm blanks for riverboat shtick. :) :)

106 - Sunday, 29 December 2002: Woo-hoo! I now have a whopping 1,050 rounds of Turk 7.92x57mm, in 70-round bandoliers, on 5-round chargers - which would be three full bandoliers, 210 rounds, for each of the soon-to-be five VZ24s! Headstamped 1944. Further, a generous 440 rounds of brass-case 7.62x54mmR for the M44 Mosin, headstamped "3 68", or possibly "89" and some Cyrillic letter depending which way you hold it. Looks like the exact same stuff I've had such good results with. Albanian, by the way, in this instance from Century Arms.

Weather rather nice. Took bus to the armory show, arrived just after opening at 9am, left about 10:30. Cruffler gave me a ride back, which was just as well because I doubt I could have biked all the way back with maybe forty kilograms of ammunition draped all over the bike and me. Probably would have blown out a tire, or collapsed the well-past-its-life-expectancy front rim. Biking to the regular Sunday errands - Big 5, library, groceries, laundromat - after eating something.

The show itself was rather disappointing. This is the same show where, a couple years ago, I scored my 1861 Colt reproduction for half what Dixie Gun Works wants. Damn Measure 5, and damn the entire Democratic Party, and damn the Republicans who let them do it and DAMN the NRA for actually supporting "background checks"! Anyway I did see some Charles Daly .45 1911s, $330, including the new "enhanced" model with sights like a Kimber (dovetailed front and rear, too!). Now that's something to save up for, if they're still around, at about that price, by the time I can save up that much. One Argentine 1927 (1911A1 clone), I think it was about $400. Also saw one FEG Hi-Power, somewhere under $250 as I recall; one Romanian .22 bolt-action, $80. Picked up another box of .357/110 JHP for the GP-100, $12.

Among other things, I also saw a bin full of new-looking 9x18mm Makarov barrels, $13.50 each. Volkspistole, anyone? I want a milling machine.

Flyer at the show, advertising an Antique Arms Expo at Washington County fairgrounds in Hillsboro, February 8-9. I've gone to a few shows there in the past but it's a long way, and, well, the last time I was there it did not have a good "vibe." But that was a few years ago and this is being hyped as "The New Northwest Premier Collector Event." Apparently light-rail gets within spitting distance. I might go look. -Hm; as long as I'm out on that end of the urban sprawl I might stop by The Powder Horn, a friendly geezer-run shop that does mainly blackpowder stuff and some consignments. Otherwise, next "convenient" show is at the Expo, 24-26 January; then at the Clark County fairgrounds north of Vancouver, 1-2 March. Also, of course, Barberton on the second Saturday and OAC on the last Sunday of each month.

Nothing spectacular at Big 5. After buying all that ammo, both from Cruffler and at the show, I can't responsibly make a payment on the three VZs until next payday, the 3rd. Truck fund not completely wiped out.

Return to the weblog

Return to Jeffersonian's Page