My Guns & Ammo Monkey Is A Strong Beast

I ordered the below listed ammo yesterday from the Target Sports USA Ammo Day sale which supposedly was a one day sale but continued today until 12 noon EST today. I would have sworn we were in daylight savings time right now.

 

There was a lot of hoopla made by TSUSA in advertising emails prior to the sale. I have to say that I think what calibers they had in stock, and what of those were actually on sale, and how they did it by offering different sale ammo at three different sales time slots over the course of yesterday was ludicrous and a pain in the arse at best. 

 

Sure it was nice to get an extra 8% off over & above the usual Ammo+ Club savings but I think they really ran the sale poorly and in my estimation a lemonade stand run by a 6 year old would be run better. Let's face it, a kid would offer a lot of ice-cold lemonade in the summer season and if a little experienced from the year or two before might also expand to offer some other cold drinks like bottled water, iced tea and so on. So, you'd think, or at least I thought, that TSUSA being an experienced ammo retailer would have offered a lot of hunting ammo being hunting season is just about here. While there was some of it, I think there was not much choice, at least that I could find, that was included in said sale. Anyway, this is what I ordered:

A 200 round case of Federal Power-Shok 30-06 Springfield 180 Grain Soft Point Ammo. My son asked me to pick him up a couple boxes of 30-06 ammo; I will give him at least half the case - maybe all of it. I think he will be pleased but if he reads this I guess the surprise will be ruined.

Two 1,000 round cases of New Republic Training and Range 9mm Luger 115 Grain FMJ Ammo. One case is for me and one for my daughter who just passed her probation officer training and was issued a Glock 19; she wants to go to the range ASAP. This had a great price at $201.43; of course tax made it higher but such is life. Regardless of tax, I have not seen 9mm ammo that low in price for a long time. That's almost as low as the lowest prices right before Covid & Biden a few years back.

A case of 1,000 rounds (in two 500 rd boxes) of Winchester USA 5.56x45mm NATO M193 55 Grain FMJ Ammo; 500 Rounds Value Pack

A spam can of Barnaul 7.62x39mm 123 Grain FMJ Lacquer Coated Steel Case Ammo, 700 Rounds (anyone know how this compares to Wolf ammo, quality-wise)

Five boxes, 100 rounds total, of Federal Power-Shok 308 Winchester 150 Grain Soft Point Ammo.

I cannot recall the last time I purchased 4K rounds in one day when none of it was 22 LR. After buying three guns and a lot of other stuff at an auction this past weekend and now this, I doubt I'll be buying any guns or ammo for a while; yet, I will admit that the the guns & ammo monkey on my back is a strong beast indeed and it has no regard for my finances; so, who can tell when it next will steer me to buy, buy, buy again!!! It's so strong maybe I should call it GAMzilla.

 

All the best,

Glenn B 

I Started Donating Today...

 ...to the campaign to reelect President Donald J. Trump. My donation was meager at only $50 but I plan to donate more, probably a similar amount monthly or at least $25 now and again. I also submitted my info to do volunteer work for his campaign.

 

I recommend others who  plan to vote for him do likewise - donate whatever you can afford and volunteer. We need to get the current tyrant out of office and I would much rather see that done by way of the ballot box as opposed to someone trying to do so by way ofpthe ammo box (which I fear may become the case if Biden is reelected because sooner or later tyranny is overthrown in one way or another).

 

All the best,

Glenn B

My Daughter - The Probation Officer

My daughter officially graduated from her probation officer training last week. She scored 100% on the final exam and did very well in her firearms training. Never expected her to get into armed law enforcement but she needed a higher oaying job than her previous one as an investigator for Child Protective Services and now she has it.

 She is another chip off the old block or so it seems when it comes to shooting. Both she and my son are crack shots. Both of them make me very proud, of course not just for that but necause both are hard workers, both own homes, both are overall excellent citizens and I am pretty sure neither will ever vote for a liberal leftist democrat. Bless their souls!

 All the best,

Glenn B

Well It May Have Been A Good Gun But It Was Not To Be Mine

 Of course, I am referring to the AMT Hardballer with the long slide as I wrote about in my post immediately prior to this one. I bid in a Hessney.com auction today, it was one of their combined Military & Sportsman Auctions and it had a nice variety of weaponry (firearms and blades), sporting rifles, lots and lots of ammo, firearms accessories, militaria, taxidermy items, decoys, generators and two cars. One of the cars was a 1954 Buick Century with a only13K original miles (or so it was claimed & I have no reason to doubt it), it sold for 16K.

As for the guns I started to bid fairly early on 'once they got to some of the handguns after a barrage of rifles & shotguns. I had bid on the hardballer already but had to stop, it just got above what I wanted to pay. It ultimately sold for $1050.00. Another one I bid on was a Colt 1911 commemorative of The Battle of Belleau Wood in WWI France. A battle in which the U.S. Marines kicked German butt and in all likelihood those marines were the only reason that the Kaiser was not soon after sitting in Paris enjoying some Cognac and a nice buttery croissant. I stopped bidding at around $600.00 or so. The Colt 1911 looked nice and all but I wanted something much more than any 1911 - even a fancy one with gold inlay and that came in a display case. What I wanted was another Colt, more about it in a bit.

 

Well, the bids on the Belleau Wood Colt 1911 got up above my spending limit, then over $700 then stalled at $800 after a few more bids in $25 increments. My son gets into these auctions, sometimes I place bids for him, and we were texting each other back and forth and he wrote: 

 

"That world war 1 commemorative colt is at a pretty low price"

 

His next message a moment later said:

 

"There is one on gunbroker with 1500 dollars worth of bids right now."

 

The right now was at 0931 this morning Central Time and as I said its bid was at $800.00. Yes, I knew they could go for nice bucks, much more than only $800.00 but this one while supposedly unfired was only in about 98%+ finish condition as per Joe Hessney the auction house owner. (I almost almost always send them an email before I bid, asking for the condition of the guns in which I have an interest.) So, I told my son forget it because I wanted that other Colt, the one I just said I'd tell you more about; I will tell you more but not yet. After only two minutes though, I sent a message to my son asking if the bid had just gone up and he replied "Yea". Then I sent him another message saying:

 

"Some asshole bid on it!"

 

I also included a photo of my laptop screen - this photo:

 

 As you can see, it showed the new high bid of $825.00. What it also showed was the key word - do you see it. It's a bit off center to your left and closer to the top than the bottom. That word is in green. Yep, that's it - the word "WINNING". That word only shows up on the high bidder's screen. My son & I sent each other a few more message, me mostly hoping I did not maintain my place as the high bidder (because I wanted that other Colt - the one I promise to tell you about). Then at 0938, he sent me another text saying:

"Holy crap u got it!"

My reply was:

"Shit shit shit, I got it".

Oh well, bidding had ended on it, I was soon to become $825.00, plus a 13% buyers premium, shipping charges and an FFL fee (on my end) poorer. This is what I got:

I may keep it, I may sell it, who knows but it will soon be mine to do with as I see fit. I am sure to enjoy owning it at least until I don't. The auction continued.

Not long afterward, at 0953 I found out that I'd also be out another $650.00 plus that 13% buyer's premium, shipping and and FFL fee (on my end). I had the high bid on the other Colt. That other Colt is a model I have owned before but as opposed to this latest one, a big difference was that the first one I owned was the first variety of that particular model and manufactured in the first year, as I recall, of its existence. The one I bid on today (actually yesterday by now since it is after midnight) was the second variation and this one was made many years later in 1955. It is a Colt Detective Special. This one:

 

 

 

 

 

The second and remarkable difference between the two is that the first one had the front sight partially filed down by some knucklehead who had it before I got it, then I was the knucklehead because I never noticed before bidding on it. Luckily a third knucklehead bought it from me at a very small loss to me so it turned out okay and YES I told the buyer about the front sight and she did not give a hoot.

Back to the one I got today, or at least had the high bid on yesterday as I obviously have not received it yet. I have been wanting to get a Detective Special ever since my first year in my duty station in the Border Patrol, that was back in 1980. Me being THE Great Procrastinator, I did not get one until 2018; talk about procrastinating - that was 38 years after me first wanting one. Joe Hessney told me that this current one is all original and is in 98% condition; pretty good for a revolver made in 1955 that being 68 years ago. There are two very special things, for me, about this one over my first one and they are that: It was made in 1955 - the year of my birth and that it is the second variation and I am the second born of my other two siblings. It almost seemed as it was meant for me; so, I was okay to pay almost top dollar for it being it was also in such good condition. I figure top dollar to be $50 to $100 more than I will have to pay in total. That is based on others I have see sell on GunBroker.com; well, maybe even another hundred atop that amount. It made me a happy camper but also made me feel that much poorer. 

After having the high bid on those, I steeled myself to stop bidding on more guns. I had set a limit of $1,200 and was already above it thanks to the urging of my gun and auction loving male heir. The only problem with that was that I had started bidding days ago and had one more bid already made. That was on a Chinsese SKS with a black synthetic folding stock, this one:

 

 

 

I'd rather have one with the original stock but Joe told me this one was 90%+ with an excellent bore and I bid $200.00. What I could not understand was that in the day or three since I had placed that bid on it - no one else bid on it. China SKS rifles with aftermarket stocks like this on regularly sell for $300 on GunBroker if not more. Nobody else bid on it yesterday either and that befuddles me. Regardless of my confusion about why there were no other bids, I was out, or soon will be out, of another $200.00 plus the 13% buyer's premium, shipping charges and the FFL fee (on my end ($200.00). Oh well, life and bidding went on.

 

I had a number of another high bids to include eight 30 round AK mags, a 5 round AK mag, an early Russian AK bayonet with scabbard, and SOG folding knife, several gun related books and some books on the old west, two WWII military field telephones (my son had me bid on them for him), three 22 LR mags for AR style 22 rifles, two 10 round AR mags, a Galco Escort Waistpack which ironically had an AMT Hardballer listed as the first pistol, of several, that it fits; a Galco inside the waistband 1911 holster and finally a Hornady set of reloading dies in 30-06 - new in the unopened box.

To say the least, it has turned out to be an expensive day for me well over my self imposed but not stuck to limit of $1,200.00 of winning bids. It's an addiction a hobby that I enjoy. That's okay, I will sell some stuff sooner or later to help make up for what I spent today. A few lucky folks at the next gun show wherein I have a table or two will get some excellent prices on a gun or two, some ammo and accessories and magazines because I often sell at cost and too often at just below cost so I can recoup some cash for my latest acquisitions. I am not anti-profit but I am not greedy either. If I can sell stuff at a gun show that helps me maintain close to an equilibrium as to funds expended and funds coming in, I am happy even if on the short side so long as by not very much. Of course making a few bucks would also be welcome yet I do gun shows more for the fun of it and as I said to recoup most of the cash I spent in my most recent auction or purchase.

 

 All the best,

Glenn B

 

 

That's A Good Gun

 The video below shows one of my all time favorite scenes from a Schwarzenegger movie. The guy behind the counter had a great but short lived part; I kind of wish I could find some work like that in a few movies but I wonder, would it pay anything worthwhile? Even if not, it would be fun to be remembered in a memorable scene like that; just about everyone who has seen the original Terminator movie probably remembers it well.  

 

 

My son always mentions that AMT long slide 45 when he talks about the Terminator. I have an opportunity to pick one up this weekend if things go right - just no laser sight. Time will tell. 

 All the best,

 Glenn B

This Makes Me Laugh

 

 

This truly is an excellent prank:  

 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cw-82fKpKU3/?igshid=NjIwNzIyMDk2Mg==

 

Of course, if it actually was a prank, one has to wonder as one commenter pointed out, how did she dry off all of a sudden (note her hair is dry in her last youthful scene).

 

All the best,

GB

Never Forrget - Never Forgive

 22 years have passed since 9/11. Take some time today to think about what happened and to memorialize those who lost their lives that day in the attacks and when trying to save others immediately afrerward.

Well, It's China Virus Season

 My son was diagnosed with Covid-19 a couple or few days ago. He was feeling miserable and had a fever. Today, his girlfriend came down with symptoms including a fever. So, I guess she has it too but I don't think has been to see a doc. Hopefully their dog will not get it, he's an old timer and certainly does not need it. Then again, they did not need it either. 

 

At least Brendan is getting a bit better, his fever went down today but my guess is he still feels pretty miserable. I know mine had me sick with pneumonia for 2.5 weeks and then not feeling all that well for another two months.

 

Wishing them both a speedy and full recovery.

All the best,

Glenn B