Greatest Gun Show/Garage Sale/Flea Market Finds

 I recently attended a rather large gun show and picked up a couple of items that I was very happy to have found. It got me to thinking of all the great buys I have found over the years. There are of course the guns that I have bought, but this is the other stuff.

I found this VG condition, vintage Ruger 10/22 Finger Groove Sporter Stock (1966-71) for $55

One of my more recent finds was this brass grip frame for an old model Ruger Super Blackhawk, it appeared to have been painted black, but I was pretty sure it was brass.

I took a knife and scratched the surface, and it was solid brass.

I don't currently own an old model SBH, but now I am looking for one. The price? $40

a few years ago I found a black Glaco Miami Classic should holster for a Glock 17/19-22/23 for just $25.

I once found this threaded ER Shaw bull barrel for a 10/22 for just  $40, he had two others, but another guy bought those before I had a chance to.

Another recent find was some NOS brass in 25-20 Winchester. I purchased one of the last boxes of Winchester ammo shortly after getting my Model of 1892 rifle, but now you cannot find the ammo. So I bought the dies and had been hoping to find the brass. At the last gun show a guy had 300 pieces of Remington and Winchester new brass, I bought all 300. (not the real picture, but you get the idea). The price was 50 cents each ($50 per 100 pieces), but considering what others were charging, this was a bargain.

Another excellent 10/22 find was this SR-22 chassis (no rifle, just the stock components), for those that don't know these were brand labeled for Ruger by Nordic Components. Ruger introduced the model in 2009 and it only lasted a couple of years. Anyway I bought this set-up including the chassis, butt stock and Ruger monogramed Hogue grip for just $60

While not from a gun show, it was a pretty incredible find, My mother was at a thrift store and found a bin with some gun grips in them, they were marked $1.50 each, she bought them all (3 pairs). One of them was a 1950's vintage S&W N frame "coke bottle" grips in very good condition. The picture below is not the actual grips, but a representation.

Another flea market find was a plastic ammo can with three .22 LR bolts from bolt action rifles, a set of night vision google helmet mounts and a trigger assembly for an SKS rifle. I offered $40 for the entire contents (including the ammo can), he accepted. I sold two of the bolts (kept one for a rifle I was working on) and sold the rest of the parts on ebay for $200+/-

Gun Works of Art: John Olin's Winchester model 21

 John Olin started his career working as a chemical engineer for his Father's company: Western Cartridge Company.

In 1935 Western purchased Winchester Repeating Arms Co and in 1944 John Olin was named as the President.

The 20-gauge Winchester model 21 is a hammerless double barrel shotgun and is considered to be the best Winchester ever made. Produced as a catalog item from 1931 to 1959, but was still available as a custom ordered gun until 1991.

This particular gun was made for John Olin by the Winchester employees and could be the best quality gun ever produced by Winchester.

The engraving was done by Nick Kusmit a master engraved who had worked for Winchester and this was the last one he did for the company.

The gun is named for King Buck, Olin's favorite hunting dog, a black lab. King Buck also holds the distinction as being the first dog portrayed on Federal Duck Stamps beginning in 1959.

This fine gun resides at the NRA's National Firearm Museum in Fairfax Virginia, link provided below.

NRA Museums:

Interesting Firearm Photos #81

 

Best of Theme Guns: Nintendo Zapper #1

 I'll be willing to bet that there are a lot of adults out there whose first "gun" was a Nintendo Zapper.

For those that don't know, this was the only accessory outside of the standard game controller for the original Nintendo Game System. It was designed for the Duck Hunt game, but used later on some others.