6/9/09

Ok, so we’re caught up to Sunday morning, right? Larry Shuttlebus calls at about 1030 h or so to say he's about to head to the convention center to go to the gun show. I say I'll throw on some clothes and head that way. This I do. As I was dressing, I thought about unloading one magazine from each gun and taking it along with me so I could buy at least one mag pouch for one or the other. This I didn’t do. I hopped in Lil' Wiggly and fired her up. She burped to life on the first attempt. Of course she died soon after and had to be re-started, but she did fire on the first try. With just a wee bit ‘o warmth, she settled into a smooth idle and I headed out. I really like old Datsuns. It isn't fast. It doesn’t even really handle that great, yet. It is hot. The seats suck. But I really like driving it. I get to the gun show and look for a place to park. Yeah, there aren’t any. I wind up two blocks away. I park and lock up then head for the door. Just as I'm approaching said door, Larry calls to say he had to go back home and get his insurance card for the truck. He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to meet me after all. I say I'll go on in and we agree that he’ll call if he’s headed my way. I go in and start “shopping.” I'm looking for .45 ACP & Colt ammo, a magazine pouch (or two) for the handguns, another speed loader for the Judge, another speed loader pouch, and .45 ACP “snap caps.” I decided to start to the opposite end from usual for some reason. I found a few folks selling .45 ACP ammo, $30.00 for fifty rounds. One guy had a box of 250 rounds for $175.00 as well as the fifty for thirty. Yeah, that’s right, buy in bulk and pay more! Woo hoo, what a deal! I kept walking. I saw a few guns I'd like to have, but not enough to finger out a way to buy them. At one table I saw a familiar face. It was one of the admins from the railroad. I stopped and talked to her for a bit then moved on. Every place selling ammo, just about, had the same Monarch brand fifty round boxes of .45 ACP ammo for thirty bucks. Upon closer examination, I read that the stuff was made for Academy Sports in Serbia or someplace. Apparently, these were the guys who came in and bought up all the ammo as soon as it hit the shelves. I wonder what Academy’s price was. Hmm. At one dude’s table, I was looking at the same stuff for $25.00 for a box of fifty. I told him he was five bucks cheaper than the others and he asked if I was willing to shoot Blazer Brass. I said I was and he plopped three, fifty-round boxes on the counter and said, “If you’ll buy all three, I'll let you have them for twenty each.” I walked across the aisle to the ATM and got out $100.00 right quick. I paid my sixty bucks and he bagged up my ammo. I took off walking again. A few spots later I saw the “snap caps” and stopped to ask a price. I bought a five pack of .45 ACP dummy rounds. Dummy rounds, snap caps, they are all the same thing. Pretty soon Larry called again to say he was on his way. I kept walking. A few aisles later I called to check his status. He was exiting Montgomery. I told him where to park, the same lot I was in, and said I'd meet him there since I wanted to drop off my purchases. As I was headed to the door, I realized that was stupid and called him back. “Come get me at the front door,” I said, “and then you can park.” This he did. I dropped my bag in Lil' Wiggly and we walked back to the show. We started on the usual side of the event. Before long I found it. The gun I really wish I could have bought. It was a .45 ACP Marlin Camp Carbine. I really REALLY want one of those. When I saw it, I thought it was a .22 caliber Marlin 10/22, they look the same. It wasn’t until I looked closer that I realized what it really was. Ok, I have to stop thinking about it or I'm going to cry. Have I mentioned I really want one of those? Well, we walked on. I didn’t see anything else that really struck my fancy for a while after that. When I found a guy selling more fifty round boxes of Monarch for $25.00, I made some comment about him having the best price yet. He said if I was willing to buy at least three boxes, he’d let me have them for $20.00 each. I whipped out sixty bucks and bagged up three more boxes. Eventually I found some mag pouches I liked but only had enough cash left to buy one. We finished walking the thing and began to discuss leaving, lunch, going back to look at a CZ he wanted (that would be Larry of course), and other options. We, mainly me (that should probably be “I” but it sounds way too stilted), decided that we’d get our hands stamped, go to Dairy Queen to eat, and then come back. I, of course, had no intention of actually coming back into the show after lunch, and think Larry knew it. The reason I think he knew it was the fact that I said something along the lines of, “I, of course, have no intention of coming back into the show after lunch.” We ate and then I headed home. I assume Larry went back in but have no concrete evidence to say one way or the other. Well, this day’s story is really getting long winded. I think I'll save the rest for tomo… no, I'll tell y'all about it Thursday since we’re supposed to go to the shop tomorrow evening. Fingers crossed!