Tulsa show report

[Brad]

Got home today from the Tulsa show today. We are pooped.
We had a nice dinner with Ben, his wife, and son Friday evening.
Wife and I met Ben in line Sat AM just before 8. Walked for about 3.5 hours with Ben. Interesting to notice the differences between what caught his eye and what caught mine! Ben got a call from longhunter and we met up with him at the show. Got a chance to talk about his interests for a bit. Wife and I decided it was time to rest and get some food. Ben and longhunter kept going!
I passed on a Marlin in 375 Win at 650. They would deal but I decided to spend my money on a new mould from Tom for the Win 94 I have. He suggested a specific mould, I'm gonna listen.
I did purchase a copy of John Lott's book from him. Got it signed too. Very polite, friendly guy.
I should have bought a Marlin in 35 Rem, lots to chose from For 4-600. Most looked to be in really good shape.
I passed on a NIB Marlin in 25-20 and 218 Bee, too rich at 1200-1500. Not THAT interested in one.
Ben looked hard at a Ruger #1 in 44 mag with a lovely stock. Price was 1200, I think? Ben said it was about 600 bucks worth of stock blank, he knows his wood.
Could have bought any one of 4 Johnson 1942 rifles. Price on one was 6800. Pass.
Winchester rifles and Colt single actions all over. Want a Win 64 in 32 special? They had a bunch. Lots of Win 71s too.
Want a really nice shotgun? Yep, fiver would have been in heaven. My wife liked the boxed sets with 4 sets of tubes for a single action.
Saw a few honest to goodness BR rifles for sale. One was 1500. Nice stock, good paint job too. 825 round count, Stolle Panda action. Wife had never set eyes on a true BR rifle before.
Powder and primers were in good supply. Win SR primers fro 130/5K. Lots of 8 pounders of powder, even Unique and 2400. Most 8 pounders were 130-160 per. I am in good supply so I didn't buy any.
There was even a booth with girls who do some of the firearms calendars. My wife comments on the engineering involved.
Need steel targets? Lots to be found. You name it, there was something there for you to shoot at.
My best laugh was towards the end of our time there. There was a booth selling less than PC T shirts. The lady at the booth was wearing a well engineered tank top that said " Concealed Weapons" across the chest. I told my wife she was bordering on open carry.

If you ever have a chance to go I suggest you go. The Expo center boasts 354,000 sq ft under one roof and it is pretty well all used. That works out to just over 8 acres of guns and related merchandise. Be sure to wear good walking shoes.

 

[Ian]

DuPont has engineered materials for quite a few calendars.

 

[Brad]

DuPont has engineered materials for quite a few calendars.

I'm sure they have.
Rick chastised me for not seeing "everything". I told him it wasn't for a lack of effort.

 

[RBHarter]

Calendar engineering ....... Interesting turn of phrase .

 

[Ian]

And where was Rick this weekend? Not in Tulsa I take it. Sounds like you had a good time and good company.

 

[JWFilips]

The lady at the booth was wearing a well engineered tank top that said " Concealed Weapons" across the chest. I told my wife she was bordering on open carry.

!

 

[fiver]

650 is a fair price on the Marlin [especially anything above 80%] if it was in boat paddle shape it'd be right at the going rate around here.

if I could have come that far I would have.

Littlegirl already threatened me with bodily harm if I adjusted the stock on the Remington STS any further.
the wife backed her up on it.

Back to the Winchester.
it looks like I'm gonna have to dig out the SKB combo set or the 3200 and start working on one of them if I'm gonna get to keep a target shotgun for very long.
I was gonna set the STS up for skeet shooting, the SKB O/U barrels up for 5 stand and the single Barrel up for Trap, and then use the Super-X2 for sporting clays.

 

[Brad]

The Marlin was easily in 90% or better shape. It had a little copper fouling showing but I don't mind, it means it wasn't cleaned. That means someone's didn't screw up the bore with a crappy cleaning routine.

Bring Littlegirl with you, she could easily pick out a nice new shotgun for you to buy her!

 

[fiver]

oh no,,, she apparently just got one.

I had to twist the SKB's recoil pad and put a shim with too much positive pitch under it so neither her nor the wife can hit anything with it already.
I'm gonna get one gun built the way I like it come hell or high water.
we went through this with the AR rifles fiasco.

I mentioned the SKB at the club Sunday to one of the guy's I know and a couple of the Perazzi and Kreighoff boy's started making jokes about it.
so I went and jumped in on their 27 yd handicap squad.
I asked about 10 questions on the way out to the field, like how far ahead of the targets I should shoot, and maybe I should use the top barrel since the choke was a little tighter, and wondered if my loads were gonna have enough shot in them.
I even asked one of them if he had a piece of duct tape so I could fix my cheek pad a little better.
we were shooting 50 rounds, and I missed 1. [was not happy about that]
which was 5 or 6 less than the next best score.

their walk back was a little quieter, but I kept up the chatty Kathy routine about how much easier that was than I thought it would be, and pointed out how the wind had blown the one bird down right as I was going to squeeze the trigger.
then mentioned I better go look in the truck for that duct tape so I could fix that cheek pad.

when I got back [with my can of soda] they had all packed up their stuff and left.
Matt was sitting there when they come back and he said it was the quietest that bunch had ever been and wanted to know what happened.

 

[Ian]

I love it when someone gives brand snobs what's coming to them. Best I ever did at sporting clays was with a borrowed Mossberg 500 riot gun, and Walmart shells.

I still wanna know what Ben and LH bought at the show, long way to drive just to 'coon-finger stuff!

 

[Pistolero]

I haven't been in years, but that is a really neat gun show. You will walk your feet off! I got a few deals
there, too, over the years.

Bill

 

[Tony]

The main reason for buying a snob gun is durability which is not a real world factor for the overwhelming majority of shooters. In an interview, Kim Rhode once said that she shot 40,000 rounds a year in practice. To her, durability matters. About a decade ago I bought a Perazzi MX 12 sporting clays gun. I bought the gun from Pacific Sporting Arms. The owner, John Herkowitz, assisted me in my purchase. John has won the California state skeet championship multiple times. At the time I bought my MX 12 John was shooting a Perazzi MX 8. His gun had been fired well over one million times and was still going strong. Along the way he had replaced a few minor parts, including one broken firing pin. Pooh happens. As things turned out I have not shot as much sporting clays as I had planned on and did not really need to spend as much as I did. However, my MX 12 today would fetch several thousand dollars more than I paid for it. Dan Carlysle, a national sporting clays champion has shot Perazzi, Krieghoff, Kholer and about everything else one can think of. The last time I spoke with Dan he was shooting a Beretta and wearing Beretta label clothing as they were his sponsor. He liked his Beretta, won with it and recommended them. However, I'll bet you $10 to a donut hole that the Beretta will not last one million plus rounds and that does not make it a bad gun. I once had a 687 and liked it a lot, however, it's bores were a bit tight and it went down the road. You pick your poison and pay your money. Under certain circumstances, the purchase of a snob gun can be justified.

 

[Ian]

Difference is, Kim Rhode is not a snob. I'll bet Mr. Hekcowitz isn't, either. Professional shooters are in a different class altogether. They need the tools that will work the best for them, sometimes best being paid for and repaired by someone else, aka Willing Sponsor. I'm quite a snob about the tools of my profession, mostly. Reality is the $50 OTC ball joint press I bought nearly 20 years ago and pounded mercilessly on a daily basis with a hot impact gun made me literally hundreds of thousands of dollars, and is still in perfect condition, but there is absolutely no suitable substitute for a Matco 1/2" drive cruciform impact wobble socket, at $275 a pop. Or a Snap-On 3/8" drive deep chrome six point socket, or a Matco 196-tooth long-handled, slim-head, angle-adjustable ratchet wrench. Over the years the stuff that turns out to not be good enough gets broken with use, tossed, and replaced with better stuff. Cost has something to do with quality, but not everything. The one tool that I have found most handy above all else is a good pocket screwdriver, and they're free.

Some people are gear junkies and like to geek-out with other like-minded gear junkies over the latest greatest gadget, and that's just fine with me. Some people just like to have the best, and usually those types have spent a lifetime learning just what that is and have no need to brag to anyone about it. But the people who think their expensive equipment will automatically make them better human beings and like to rub that odd way of thinking in everyone's faces that drive me nuts.

 

[Brad]

The gun isn't the snob, the owner is.

 

[fiver]

that's true.^^^

I have had 'several' shotguns over the years.
the price to me isn't the issue.
long term use is awesome but means nothing if the gun doesn't place it's pattern where my eyes are focused.
I would love to have a perazzi well actually I'm more a kreighoff or Ljutic guy.
but I can pick up an off the store shelf Winchester and break targets with it no matter which direction they are flying.
my current 1300 is on it's third butt stock [it's been shot that much] zero down time other than ordering a new stock for [49.99]
until I find another more expensive gun that will do that I see no need to spend the money.
hell my 3200 has been in continual use since the 80's and the only thing I have replaced on that is the recoil pad.
I know it's well past the 500-K mark which is why I have been working on a replacement for it.
the skb's are probably hard on the springs and firing pins but they are a phone call away, cost like 13$ American money and I can change them myself.
the same can be said for the Browning's too but after shooting a BT-99 to the point of it rattling/twisting when it was closed I'd still get another one if the price point was right.

 

[Ben]

Be sure to wear good walking shoes.

Boy I'd say so ! !

When I got to the end of it, I was pretty beat up.

Ben

 

[Pistolero]

Yes, I can verify that and I last went to Tulsa around 7-8 years back. Might not have
gotten better at walking all day in that time.

Bill