It is the Grail!
Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2016 3:49 pm
Okay, A grail, not THE Grail. The Grail is currently an FG42 that shoot 7.62 NATO. (no pics, no cell phone).
I went to the gun show today with a cool grand in cash telling myself I would get a .22 pistol with a threaded barrel, or an AR, or just maybe there would be a Colt Python around (there never is one around). That or the money would just go back in the bank if nothing simply demanded to be bought.
Things didn't look good from the start, it isn't a large show and I could see that there wasn't near as many firearms as usual. I Guess everyone is buying them or so I've heard. And I could see not one wooden rack of old military bolt actions. I have 3 K31s,and 3 Mosin, and a Swiss 1911, but I could have another just fine. But not to be this time. Most of the long arms were either a shotgun, or one of many, many ARs. Though there was a Sig Saur AR looking rifle that shoots 7.62 NATO, but I had a thousand dollars not 2100 dollars.
So I'm looking at an AR, half the rifles here are ARs, and thinking I'm finally going to own one if I find a nice one that is, what do you call it, piston impingment? The one that uses a rod instead of gas to send back the bolt and thus can be fired a lot more without melting it.
I'd only worked my way halfway across the room at the time, and then I heard.... "Comrade! Why do you want silly American Barbie Gun?" Why, when you can have stout Soviet weapon! Weapon that saved Leningrad! Shoots Russian bullet, shoots holes in kevlar helmets! Why would you want a plastic gun comrade?"
I looked around... no, that wasn't the $1200 dollar Remington Nylon saying that. The poor Nylon was just sobbing and lonely because no one was going to touch it. No, that was coming from over in the corner, next to the hot dog sellers. That was no shotgun, not with a Russian accent, so skip the three dozen shotguns for the ducks I don't hunt.
...And there it was! a PPsh 43 shooting the tokarov round, what I've wanted for years, but didn't buy back when Military Gun Supply was doing them because of not enough fun money at the time. 4 35 round mags, and the mag release isn't stiff as hell like on an AK. The bolt lockback is a bit tricky, but I can figure that out. The folding stock is locked in the open position and doesn't fold up, but I don't care. And most of a surplus spam can of ammo, maybe a thousand rounds. $525 private sale. Back when they were online they sold for 7-800 with 1 mag as I recall.
It was a little embarrassed, being a Soviet weapon caught up in a capitalist exchange of evil American dollars. But now that is in stored in the middle of a number of other Soviet weapons, it is feeling better about things.
A matched pair with the CZ52 pistol I bought last year.
And lucky me, the guy at the next table had himself 2 spam cans of Russian 7.62x39 for $150 each. 23 cents a round, both mine now. My last spam can is no longer alone.
And I still have about 200 bucks even.
Oh yes, does anyone out there have a VZ58? Cause that guy with the spam cans has a whole cardboard box full of VZ58 mags, $25 each. The show is today and tomorrow, I can go back and give him someone's phone number if need be.
I went to the gun show today with a cool grand in cash telling myself I would get a .22 pistol with a threaded barrel, or an AR, or just maybe there would be a Colt Python around (there never is one around). That or the money would just go back in the bank if nothing simply demanded to be bought.
Things didn't look good from the start, it isn't a large show and I could see that there wasn't near as many firearms as usual. I Guess everyone is buying them or so I've heard. And I could see not one wooden rack of old military bolt actions. I have 3 K31s,and 3 Mosin, and a Swiss 1911, but I could have another just fine. But not to be this time. Most of the long arms were either a shotgun, or one of many, many ARs. Though there was a Sig Saur AR looking rifle that shoots 7.62 NATO, but I had a thousand dollars not 2100 dollars.
So I'm looking at an AR, half the rifles here are ARs, and thinking I'm finally going to own one if I find a nice one that is, what do you call it, piston impingment? The one that uses a rod instead of gas to send back the bolt and thus can be fired a lot more without melting it.
I'd only worked my way halfway across the room at the time, and then I heard.... "Comrade! Why do you want silly American Barbie Gun?" Why, when you can have stout Soviet weapon! Weapon that saved Leningrad! Shoots Russian bullet, shoots holes in kevlar helmets! Why would you want a plastic gun comrade?"
I looked around... no, that wasn't the $1200 dollar Remington Nylon saying that. The poor Nylon was just sobbing and lonely because no one was going to touch it. No, that was coming from over in the corner, next to the hot dog sellers. That was no shotgun, not with a Russian accent, so skip the three dozen shotguns for the ducks I don't hunt.
...And there it was! a PPsh 43 shooting the tokarov round, what I've wanted for years, but didn't buy back when Military Gun Supply was doing them because of not enough fun money at the time. 4 35 round mags, and the mag release isn't stiff as hell like on an AK. The bolt lockback is a bit tricky, but I can figure that out. The folding stock is locked in the open position and doesn't fold up, but I don't care. And most of a surplus spam can of ammo, maybe a thousand rounds. $525 private sale. Back when they were online they sold for 7-800 with 1 mag as I recall.
It was a little embarrassed, being a Soviet weapon caught up in a capitalist exchange of evil American dollars. But now that is in stored in the middle of a number of other Soviet weapons, it is feeling better about things.
A matched pair with the CZ52 pistol I bought last year.
And lucky me, the guy at the next table had himself 2 spam cans of Russian 7.62x39 for $150 each. 23 cents a round, both mine now. My last spam can is no longer alone.
And I still have about 200 bucks even.
Oh yes, does anyone out there have a VZ58? Cause that guy with the spam cans has a whole cardboard box full of VZ58 mags, $25 each. The show is today and tomorrow, I can go back and give him someone's phone number if need be.
