Sometimes Guns I Buy Are In Near Pristine Condition...

 ...if not actually pristine or even flawless. Take for instance the three I just purchased from the Hessney Auction Company. Two were listed "as new" the other said nothing special in its description. The two shown "as new" were the Norinco Model 54-1 and the Ruger Mark I Target pistol. I have got to hand it to then at Hessney -

 at least this time as they do not always get the descriptions right but they did just fine this time on those two. The Ruger had a tiny bit of finish wear, maybe half a percent. Besides three tiny scratches at the same spot on the frame, it is truly in 'as new' condition, in fact I have seen guns sold new in the box that looked worse. 

 

The Norinco is another matter. In it's dilapidated box was the manual and a receipt. The receipt showed it was purchased in San Bruno, CA on May 11, 1992. Whoever purchased it and owned it since then may not have taken care of the box, maybe even drove a semi over it or let a kid destroy it, but he certainly took excellent care of the pistol. It looks as close to perfect as one can get for a pistol from back then. My guess is that no one ever fired it. While I have not disassembled it yet, the outside is about as pristine as any new gun I have ever seen and the magazines (two were included) look as if they may have been in and out of the gun once before I checked it. It does not appear to have been reblued. All I can say about it other than that is - WOW, it is a nice one.

 

The third gun was a Charter Arms Undercover revolver. While it was not listed "as new" it probably should have been so. It looks barely used and I remind you that "as new" does not mean it appears brand new. It means it looks as good as new more or less, as I understand it. In other words, it appears very close to looking like new. While there is a cylinder ring is is barely noticeable; meaning by my guess that it was fired very few times. The only possible thing wrong with its description that I have noticed so far is that it said it has walnut grips. I think they may be plastic but I'll have to take them off to be sure and give them the hot pin test on an inner surface if they look like plastic on the inside. If they are wood, that should be obvious when looking at their inner side. Maybe, if they are wood, that fact is not so obvious on the outside - possibly due to the finish used. 

 

I am patting myself on the back for bidding on these and having the high bids. It is not always the case that I wind up with guns listed "as new" that are in as good a condition as any of these three. If my phone's camera was working properly, I'd post pictures but for sometime now it has been taking foggy photos since the lens cover broke. I have had a new phone for over a month but have not set it up yet (as I have said before, I am THE Great Procrastinator). Once I get it set up, I hope to  take pics and post them here.

 

All the best,

Glenn B 

Another Gun, Another Caliber...

 ...of ammo that I need to pick up. You may recall that in my last post, I mentioned having the high bid on a Norinco Model 54-1 in 7.62 Tokarev. I am not going to say that I have never owned any of that ammo but to the best of my recollection, the five rounds of it that I gave away at a gun show this past weekend was all of it for me. Those few rounds were in a bag of maybe 150 other rounds of mixed calibers that I found loose in range boxes & bags, partially filled ammo boxes, ammo cans and other places. Those were all of the unspent rounds that I had accumulated over the years for whatever reason. Many were at least 10 to 20 years old but all evidently in good enough condition to shoot. Those that I found which were corroded, were kept by me. They will be disposed of properly at a later date. All of the ones I gave away looked to be in good shootable condition.

 

 Now, back to the 7.62 Tokarev ammo (aka: 7.62X25mm). It is a bottle necked pistol round which I guess makes it somewhat unusual among pistol ammo. There are other such pistol rounds out there but the are in the great minority. 

 

The pistol, for said ammo, arrived at my local FFL yesterday and I picked it up promptly. That is one of the few things I never procrastinate on getting done. It looked excellent on first glance at the store but I need to give it a much better inspection today. 

 

After looking it over better, I want to shoot it. So along that line, I ordered some 7.62 Tokarev ammo for it yesterday. Three boxes of Sellier & Bellot FMJ and two of PPU JHP set me back almost $160.00 at Saint Barb's Bullets. That included shipping and tax. My go to online ammo store, Target Sports USA, did not have any in stock, that was disappointing. 

 

Anyway, that is the thing about buying a new gun in a caliber different than that of your other guns. It means, tracking down and acquiring a new caliber for yourself. It may also mean paying more for it than other ammo if it is sort of an odd ball caliber.

 

 Then today, I woke up and I thought, I would like to shoot the new pistol as soon as possible, procrastination be damned. So, I called a few local ammo dealers to find that not only do they not have it in stock but most of them apparently had never heard of it before. Obviously not one of the most common types of ammo, which by the way is probably what makes it rather expensive for a small pistol round. It sells for about $25.00 per box of 50 rounds. Not cost prohibitive, yet way above the price of a much more popular pistol round like 9mm Luger (aka: 9mm Parabellum).

 

So, as it turns out. it seems I will have to await delivery of my ammo order before I can take my new pistol to the range for some shooting goodness.

 

A range report to follow, sooner or later.

 

 All the best,

Glenn B