C&R Firearms Availability Blues

It certainly sucks to see how the available stock of C&R guns is declining and not being replaced with other types of C&R guns. Several months to maybe even a year ago I recall having read something at one of the C&R dealer's sites about how the Bush Administration had made deals with foreign governments not to offer up surplus arms in exchange for favorable status as to joining NATO. It was hard to swallow then because I still held out hope that Bush was truly a Republican; however now that he has pulled all of the other socialist crap he has rained down on us, I can look back with hindsight and see it fit his agenda well.

As for the C&R guns, it is virtually to find new conditions SKS rifles, Mosin Nagants are becoming quite scarce, with M-44s virtually gone from dealer's shelves and only other and usually less desirable models are left over, and they are not in that great a condition. Many of the Mausers still are available, but also seem to be in shorter supply. Same thing with most of the C&R surplus pistols. As far as prices go, well the inability for dealers to replenish stock, already had prices going up. Then to add insult to injury prices skyrocketed after election of George W. Bush's socialist first cousin Barack H. Obama. This also badly effected C&R firearms availability.

What really sucked for me is that I ordered a new Yugo SKS from SAMCO and they sent me some piece of junk gun with stock repairs and gouges and dings, scratches on the metal and at least one bent part. I sent it back for an exchange, but only after waiting well over a month for them to send me a return mailing label. I finally got it sent in at the end of last week, and was expecting an exchange from them - but then came the bomb. I had contacted American Express about the charge asking a hold to be place don it until they made the exchange since it was taking so long to get any reply out of SAMCO in the beginning. They said okay. After a month they called me to ask what was up, or I called them, and I told them SAMCO said they would do the exchange so please don't take any further action unless they heard more from me. So what does American Express do - they get me a refund from SAMCO - the ineptness in that riles me badly. Since I ordered mine on the night of election day, the price has gone up substantially, and I suppose if SAMCO even offers and exchange now they will want to charge more for it because AMEX got me a refund. Maybe it was just not in the cards for me to have another one, but it would have been nice to have father and son Yugos.

Of course, I may get very lucky and SAMCO may still send an exchange that is in as advertised condition - which was NEW, and they will charge the same price. Time will tell. If they do not offer an exchange at the same price I can assure you I am done dealing with SAMCO. Their customer service was terrible until I spoke to a supervisor and even then it was not great. Over a month to get a return label is pretty poor service at that. In addition I ordered a Spanish Mauser from them about 6 months ago. I still have not seen that one. Oh well, there are always other C&R dealers, I can only hope there will be a continuing supply of C&R firearms available to us.

All the best,
Glenn B

A Day Of Renewal...

...is what today wound up being at least for my soon to expire annual membership at the Westside Rifle & Pistol Range located in midtown Manhattan, and for my Collectors of Curios and Relics FFL license for another three years. As I look at it both of these are two worthwhile investments.

I have only used the FFL C&R license about 3 or 4 times to purchase firearms that were shipped directly to me instead of through a dealer. Still that made it well worth it, and well worth it to renew for a second renewal, at only $30 for three years. The renewal cost is about what it would cost me, at the low end, to have an FFL holder around where I live accept and transfer a rifle for me. I have had my eye on another Yugo SKS, and hope to buy one as soon as they become available once again at surplus dealers like Classic Arms, or Inter Ordnance.

As far as my range membership goes, I paid $100 for an annual membership renewal. I have heard from some people that they think said price is a ripoff. I actually think it a great deal for anything of that nature in the middle of New York City. I easily used said range at least once per month over the last year, and it was probably more like 15-20 times. Yes it works out to quite the bargain. Of course, the regular price is quite a bit higher, this is a discount price for LEOs, and one that I could not turn down.

While I was at the range earlier this afternoon to renew my membership, I also decided to get in some shooting. I didn't have all that long to shoot since I got there at about 2:15PM and had to work a 4x12 shift; but that little bit of shooting I did was also another thing that was well worth my ammo expenditure, the range membership fee, and my time. I only shot up about 300 rounds of 9MM thorough one of my Beretta 92Fs pistols, but I had a blast (pardon the pun). Besides just having fun, I shot about as good as I have in years, and all in all I wound off relieving a lot of stress. I almost always find my time at the range shooting to be very relaxing - something about the concentration, the complete focus on something I enjoy, that just seems to wipe away any stresses.

So no ranting about politics, world events, or other things for now, I am just too relaxed to bother with that stuff right now. I'll probably get back to the regular grind tomorrow, or later tonight if I have the time. Right now my break is just about over, back to work for me.

All the best,
Glenn B