I went to "the big" gun show this weekend in PHX. Crossroads of the West at the State Fair Grounds, with the Small Arms Review.
I haven't been to a show in a while. I tend not to even go, unless I have a particular goal.
My goals today?
-Offload my Taurus model 94 .22 revolver for a decent price
-Replace that Taurus .22 with a Browning Buckmark
Possible alternate goals were to get a 12ga pump shotgun suitable to threegunnery, and/or a .22LR evil assault carbine like an AR-22 or Sig 522.
I wound up getting a good offer on my Taurus, inside of an hour in the show.
Armed with that cash (and some extra allotted to today's goals), I examined what the show had to offer. There were well over a thousand tables today. I think there were 8 total buildings, each larger than a high school gym, overflowing with private vendors and FFL's.
In the entire show, consisting of possibly over 100,000 guns assembled in one place...
...there were 3 Browning Buckmarks that I could find.
Sheesh.
Two didn't even meet my standards. One had a 4" barrel (too short), and one had this funky orange-splotchy paint all over it trying to look unique and cool. It was teh fail.
The third was a gem. Five and a half inch barrel, bull profile but tapered to an inverted triangle not unlike a Desert Eagle towards the front, for weight savings. Green fiber optic front sight. My carry guns are all equipped with green fiber optic front sights.
Price was fair. It was an FFL rather than private transfer, but it was new so it was acceptable. I got it home for $350 after tax.
That was on par with the asking price for various Ruger MkIII and 22/45 pistols I'd seen, and from what I've researched I've seen Buckmarks go for a bit more than comparable Rugers. I was dead-set against a Ruger since they are reportedly a PITA to disassemble/reassemble for cleaning.
I also brought home primers at $17/1k. I got 1k small pistol and 1k large pistol. Well equipped for rifle needs already. These were Wolf primers, which I've used before with satisfactory results for steel match use. No misfires, no weird results. But, I am not benchresting or anything. Winchesters were $21/1k.
Once I got home I fleshed out all my gear needs for this pistol. Ordered a Bianchi 7000 series holster, model 17701 for lefties that carry 5.5" Buckmarks OWB. I also ordered 4 more Browning-made magazines.
One of my goals for this pistol is to shoot in the .22 mock "tactical" courses they have at Rio Salado. They do a pistol .22 steel match monthly, and there's a .22 tactical carbine match they hold also. That was why I was looking for a Sig 522, though I'm also open to Browning's Buckmark rifle configuration. Anything that has more positive magazine ejection than a Marlin 795 or Ruger 10/22.
So, I sunk about $475 into a full rig for a .22 pistol consisting of gun, magazines, and holster. I don't think I've ever fully "equipped" a gun on the same day that I bought it.
I held off on the 12ga and .22 carbine aspirations for the day in light of that, and the fact that those other pieces of gear also needed extra investment to make them functional for my goals.
All in all I'm happy with the day, but disappointed in the gun show. Looking for a quality current production gun in a place with over 1000 vendors, and I find 3 examples.
Frankly, I saw more Phoenix Arms, Hi-Point and Jennings/Jiminez crap than quality guns. And surplus guns that frankly weren't well cared for... including a Genuine German Luger that was so well cared for that someone had the decency to have it reblued.
I probably colored my experience by not finding very many buckmarks to compare price against and used that to superimpose the value of other offerings. But, I noticed a lot more ring-of-fire saturday night special crap than usual, and not nearly as much fun/unique stuff. No 10/22 dual gatling kits. Stuff like that.
But, I sold a gun I didn't like and bought a gun I did like, so mission accomplished. It'll probably be a week before I get to shoot it, though.
