Going to a Gun show is fun. Going to a gun show and using someone else's money is real fun. Giving those items to the person who gave you the money sucks.
My brother and I went AK shopping at the last Nashville Gun show. He fell in love with my MAK90 the second he finished off his first 30 round magazine. With love in his eyes, he asked me to help get him one.
The first AK we came across was a unknown Rumanian rebuild. Unknown because I don't think anyone would want to claim it. Ever! It looked like it had been rebuild while drugged(dragged?) behind a semi driven by a drunken Rumanian through the streets of Europe. The action worked(mostly), but the paint that looked like it has been applied by a roller brush did not hide problems. $399 was nice, but everything that would be needed would screw that price.
"Just back away slowly" I said and we kept walking.
The next AK we saw was "SEXY!". No other word works. A Yugo AK in the correct calibre. Folding stock, clean, bayonet, and an action that just said "Let's go hunting liberals" when I worked it. It even had a nice after market paint job in a slightly metallic grey. No camo paint pattern, just a clean look. The problem was the $800 price tag. My brother was looking for a "starter" AK, not a loaded floor model. His budget for the day was $750.
So we sadly walked away from the Yugo beauty queen. That hurt people.
We had hoped to run across a
SAR 1, but no luck. I noticed that we were about to run out of booths when I saw a whole pile of AK's at the last both on our route through the show. Yes! All folding stocks, all clean, and if rebuilt parts were used, they did good work hiding it. Attempting badly to control the drool factor I went and checked them out. Giving them a brief once over I felt they would work. Only problem is that they were asking $650 for them. That was likely a good price, but near the top of my brothers and I comfort scale.
It was at this point that I declared the gun show a bust. I knew the Bob Pope gun show would be here in town in
December and we could get a good one then. My brother was disappointed, but level headed enough to know that hasty purchases normally screwed you.
I then headed back to one table for some ammo. I picked up 40 12 gauge 00 shotgun shells, and 60 rounds of 6.5 Swede for personal usage. All Sellier and Bellot. My wife scurried off and bought me a small bag to carry stuff around in. A bag that she is damned and determined to call a "Man purse".
On the way out I saw a man looking at an AK that I had missed the first time through. There, like an upperclassman debutante laying among the gutter trash, was an AK. This booth had only older bolt action rifles, and some shotguns, yet had one AK set in the center.
I scooted myself over there and gave it a once over. A standard AK from Egypt(mostly). A
MAADI. Clean, neat, and seemingly not a rebuild, as the parts looked unused. The price was good at $450. After a bit of talking with my brother he decided that it was "THE ONE", and laid his money down.
Then it gets better in a "screw the government" way. The seller said that he was not a dealer, so no paper work would be required. Just money, and a handshake. Paper work gives me the damn hives.
The rifle included one 30 round magazine, so more was needed. We were heading back to the AK parts table, when I noticed on another "unrelated to AK" table, an item of interest. Two 30 round AK magazines hooked together with a metallic "
connecter" device. I had seen them elsewhere at the show, but passed them by. No need for them right now. The thing is this seller wanted $35 for the whole thing. 2X30 round magazines and the connector, individually would have cost $45 or so. With that in hand, and a hundred rounds of JHP wolf ammo from another table, we left.
My brother is now an enemy of the Brady's, and I've never been more proud. Now if I can infect my baby brother with the gun bug, then my work here is done.