Gunshow (sadly, no blogmeet)

Hit the streets early to make the Nappanee gunshow Sat AM ('cause they don't do one on Sunday, this being serious Amish country and all that). Midwest Chick , a friend and I began our journey.  Since Nappanee is like in another country and time zone, we left early enough for our trip so we could get there before too late local time....

After arriving in Nappanee after about an hour (and successfully dodging apparently psychotic horse and buggy drivers intent on causing mayhem with the traffic flow) we arrived at our destination. Seeing as how everyone else had the same idea as we did, we first followed the crowd to the local eatery for a hearty breakfast of bacon (mmmm-bacon!), sausage, biscuits-n gravy, pancakes, eggs, potatoes and egg and ham casserole. The buffet was $7.95 (US) for "all you can eat" (I really did eat all I could eat!). And enough coffee to float a battleship.

When we finally levered ourselves up off the benches and staggered towards the door, we were thinking about the chairs in the sun on the porch of the restaurant rather than gushow, but at Midwest Chick's urging we walked the hundred yards or so to the gunshow entrance.

Going through the standard rigmarole of having a plastic tie placed through the chamber of my carry pistol, and paying for our entrance fee, we began the gun show experience:

 This show is a different mix of people. More private sellers, fewer dealers. Lots of collectible stuff, lots more shotguns and "real" hunting rifles, levers, bolts and pumps, and fewer EBRs. Likely less than 10% of the firearms available for sale were new. Pistols were there in abundance, mostly used, some worth a fortune as collectibles, most just functional firearms. It was too bad that Og wasn't able to make it, as he would have had a field day with all of the military firearms and bayonets. Tam might have gone nuts at all the old Colt auto pocket pistols.

I took advantage of the lax Indiana gun laws and stepped through the "Gun Show Loophole" and bought a Machine Gun and several Grenades  privately owned pistol. One of the dealers I knew called my attention over to his table. Knowing my liking for 1911 pattern pistols , he introduced me to a guy who was selling a Llama .380 single stack. A bit of bargaining, and soon we had a transaction (and, no doubt, brought another tear to the eye of Sarah Brady).

The pistol came with 150 rounds of assorted .380 ammo and I found 200 rounds of WWB .380 for $40 to add to that. So far, a screaming deal.

Then Midwest Chick bought a bag of gemstones from a guy who buys old jewelery/scrap gold for $5. I am not sure how much is real and how much is glass, but a random sampling has shown real amethysts, topaz, and opals as well as several real Linde stars. .

Then it was time for the trek home.

All in all, a good day.