My poor excuse for not much blogging lately

As my daddy used to say, a poor excuse is better than none at all. And I offer one to my blog readers. My job at the gun shop has kicked up a notch as I am now doing gun sales on two websites, gunbroker and gunsamerica, and quite frankly it's working my ancient ass off. I've got some 800 guns listed on each site and adding more three days a week when I work at home. Keeping up with sales as well as new guns listed is keeping me busier than a one-armed paper hanger. So I just haven't had time lately to do much blog posting.

I've got my monthly concealed-carry class tomorrow so maybe I can get some photos and do a post on that.

The Infallible pistol that's isn't; and other adventures on Gunbroker

Forgive the lack of posting. I plead vacation and too much work to catch up after I got home. So here's what I been doing on gunbroker since I got back to work.

How insane would it be to name a pistol "Infallible"? Pretty dumb and guess what, the company went out of business back in ought-something of the early 1900s because their pistol was not infallible. This particular one is broke but we're selling it on gunbroker as a curiosity or for a serious collector of oddities. It can be yours a mere $375. Infallible Type II .32 ACP Pistol-Nonfunctional

Now here's a real serious pistol, a Walther OSP International Target 22Short Semi-Auto Pistol.
You're not supposed to dry-fire any rimfire pistol as it can break the firing pin, but I fired this one quite accidentally. I touched the trigger very lightly with a magnet to determine if it is steel - it is - and with that extra-light touch she went "Snap!" That trigger is definitely in the low ounces, much less than a pound. And it can be yours for a mere $1400. (I'm praying the firing pin didn't break when I snapped it accidentally.)

And I need another .22 rifle like I need two more holes in my head. I've got three already, two Winchesters and a Marlin. But this J.C. Higgins 30 .22LR Semi-Auto Rifle w/Weaver C4 Scope caught my eye and tempted me. It was made for Sears by High Standard, same as their Model 30, and features a take-down stock of nicely grained and checkered wood with a wide beavertail forearm. And it has a feature that caught my eye, a left-hand bolt handle. The bolt ejection is right-hand but that usually doesn't bother this lefty with .22 semi-autos as I've seen very few that will spit powder in my face. It can be yours for only $300.

And last but certainly not least is this Magnum Research Desert Eagle Mk.XIX Gold .44Magnum, sporting chrome-plated steel construction throughout with 24K gold-plated accents on the controls and everywhere.  Totally impractical as Magnum Research includes a warning in the box that use, such as in firing this monster, is very likely to wear off the gold-plating. Or more likely just blast it off. It can be yours for a mere $1500.

Gun shop sales and gunbroker sales slowing back to "normal"

The gun boom is officially over. Business has slowed to "normal" at the gun shop where I work and gunbroker is also slowed to a walk or even a crawl instead of a steady run.

We currently have 750 auctions running on gunbroker and for the past while we're getting few sales and tons of offers to trade old wore-out junk for our new or top-quality used guns. Thanks for the offer, but we'll pass.

Like the gentleman today who wants to trade his Winchester 70 .300 H&H Magnum for our Colt Cobra.

Now with all due respect, Winchester 70s are fine guns, but we've already got at least two or three used ones selling for less than $500. And the folks in our area don't do a lot of elephant hunting so there ain't much call for .300 H&H Magnum rifles.

And anything with the Colt pony on it is always a good seller, particular a fine double-action revolver like the Cobra. So let's think about this. Should be trade for a rifle we'll probably die with before we sell it for our Colt Cobra?

Don't think so.

I know Obama's busy with the gulf oil spill at the moment, but I wish he'd find time to say something mean about grabbing our guns. The gun business needs a shot in the arm or a kick in the pants right about now.

Government employee can't spell but can send emails

Actual exchange of emails between the gun shop where I work and a customer who purchased a handgun from us on gunbroker:

Customer: Hi Folks, I need some re-pour it helps on my smaller purchases.
Personal checks you know.

My response: "Re-pour"?

Customer: Aw re-pour! That’s where you comment weather I was a good customer or poor.

Want to hear the most amazing part of this conversation? The customer has a .gov email address from one of the federal guvmint agencies. But as was said about former Pittsburgh quarterback Terry Bradshaw when he got into broadcasting, "He couldn't spell cat if you spotted him the c and the a."

But even though he can't spell for beans and was a pain in the patootie with his prolific email requests, I will be posting positive feedback on gunbroker when I "re-pour" on "weather" he was a good customer. He did pay and therefore the customer is always right.

WWII Ithaca M1911A1 customized into beauty in deep blue and pearl

I need another 1911A1 .45 like I need two more holes in my head.

I've got two full-size 1911 .45s, both wide-frame 15-shot models, one a Para-Ordnance P14-45 heavily customized and the other a customized Llama IX-C.

Plus I've got a compact 1911 Para-Ord P12-45, also customized, which is a 12-shot model.

So I need a single-stack 7-shot 1911, as I said, like I need more holes in my head. I've always believed more is better, particularly when it comes to pistol capacity and 12 or 15 rounds beats seven or eight rounds all day.

But if I had unlimited funds, a 1911A1 I shot photos of and listed on gunbroker would have never made it to the counter at the gun shop where I work.

It's a match customized Ithaca M1911A1 and it is just plain beautiful.

This Ithaca M1911A1 U.S. Army .45 ACP has been refinished a deep, dark blue and customized for match shooting with new front and rear target sights, adjustable trigger and National Match barrel bushing. The bluing has one tiny nick on the front-right slide, two small nicks on the left slide and slight wear at the front of the slide. The bore is unblemished, bright and shiny.

If in original condition this Ithaca M1911A1 would be worth considerably more than we've priced it, but it's a beautiful pistol to be proud of and should be a great match shooter, too.

And if you don't think this Ithaca .45 is beautiful, from its deep blue finish to the pearl grips, you have my sympathy 'cause you just ain't got no soul.

And it can be yours for a mere $950.

500th Gunbroker listing a personal milestone for my gun shop

I observed my first-year anniversary of doing gunbroker auctions for the gun shop where I work back before Christmas.

I started out part-time during the Christmas holiday 2008 and went full-time in late January 2009 the next day after I got laid off from an industry job as a technical writer/photographer.

Since then, I've added on average about 25 guns per week to the shop's gunbroker auction listings, both new and used. Of course when a used gun is sold, that auction ends. But when a new gun is sold, we relist that auction if we have anymore samples of that same model and make.

So even though 25 time 52 adds up to 1300 auctions, our total on gunbroker at any one time is way less. The shop had about a dozen when I started and finally on Friday, we went above 500. It stands at 501 right now and will probably go below 500 before I can list some more next week.

But until then, I'm celebrating a milestone of more than 500 guns on gunbroker listed for Village Pawn & Gun Shop of Wadesboro, NC.

Number 500 was a Winchester 94 Theodore Roosevelt Commemoriative Rifle in .30-30 Win. from 1969, unfired and as new in the box.

And since it's my blog and I can show off if I wanta, here's another semi-interesting firearm, a Llama Chrome-Plated Engraved Micro-Max .380 ACP Semi-Auto Pistol.

When a WWII combat correspondent mistakenly described Gen. George S. Patton's Colt Single-Action-Army .45 Colt Revolver with ivory grips as a "pearl-handled pistol," ol' Blood & Guts supposedly sniffed "Only a pimp would carry a pearl-handled pistol."

Believe it or else, here's two firearms I really have no interest in owning because both are too pretty to shoot.

Finally, here's a third from the batch I just listed that's pretty, but not too pretty to shoot. It's a genuine buffalo rifle, a modern replica of the famous 1874 Sharps .45/70 Gov. Cal. Rifle, almost identical to the one Tom Selleck made famous in Quigley Down Under.

It is pretty, but it's also very deadly. A big old hunk of .45/70 lead will blow a hole in about anything that's alive on the planet today.

Two smokin' hot "Big Gun" sales days on gunbroker

You may have heard the big "gun boom" business is over. Don't believe it.

It has slowed down some from the frantic frenzy since shortly before Obama got elected.

But the past two days have been absolutely insane with the 400+ guns listed on gunbroker for the gun shop where I work.

Sales have been steady of a few guns a day with an occasional big purchase sprinkled in among a lot of lesser ones.

But suddenly starting Saturday night, the "big guns," those for $1K and higher, are selling like hotcakes. Very expensive hotcakes.

On Sunday morning, I was amazed to see we sold a matched pair of Ruger Talo Vaquero John Wayne Stainless .45 Colt revolvers that are engraved as John Wayne Commemorative issues.

It's a fairly big deal to sell one of those engraved beauties, but a matched pair? For $2100 smackeroos!

The insanity continued today with the sale of not one but two World War II German P08 Lugers.

First this morning we sold a Luger P08 1938 S/42 Mauser 9mm Matching Serial Nos for a mere $1450.

Then later today, we sold a 1937 Mauser for $2000 after having not just one, but two potential buyers showing interest. One pulled the plug before the other one could get it.

Then as I was calling it a day this evening and checked gunbroker one last time, some fellow gun nut shelled out $1K for a very nice Colt Mustang Plus II Mk. IV Series 80 .380 ACP SA.

Toss in a few sales for other guns of lesser value, like a $400 Walther P22 Nickel/Pink .22LR DA Semi-Auto Pistol and it all adds up to perhaps the biggest day my shop has had yet on gunbroker.

And this follows a pretty good week last week with two $1,000 sales, a Winchester Super X2 12 Ga 3.5" DU, Made in Belgium and a SIG P226R Elite Stainless .40S&W Nite Sights, SRT plus a Weatherby Mark V Sporter 7mm Rem Magnum Bolt-Rifle for $900 and a Armalite AR-10 A4F 308/7.62mm 20" Bl OD Green Stk for $1350.

I don't think the boom's over just yet.