Sunday: Gun show, BlogMeet

Tam zippy-zapped us out to the Tri-State show at the National Guard Armory -- a nice show as ever, with plenty of collector items. I picked up an oddball knife with a scraper blade and a "knife roll" to civilize the penknives I've been keeping in a plastic bin (you just end up with them -- well, I do, probably because my fingernails break easily). Plus some CCI .22 and .38s for my Colts.

Tamara found herself another Savage 1907 in .32, this one in near-sparkling shape. If it has had one entire magazine though it, I'll be surprised. Price was right, too.

Saw: a Colt Service Ace (1911 .22) in excellent shape (and priced like it) and a very nice Ballester-Molina "Ace" .22 factory (or Argentine Army?) conversion which sorely tempted me. Priced 'way over what I had to spend, but there's very little wrong with the basic Ballester-Molina and the .22 version would be a stable, cheap-to-shoot 1911-style platform. If you've never heard of 'em, the original is a .45 ACP service sidearm, lockwork very similar to the Star Model P, but designed around the Colt 1911 barrel and magazine (and recoil spring, barrel bushing -- I think that's all.) Not a bad dodge for a military on a budget. Argentina went to them after the Sistema Colt-licensed 1911A1 clone as a lower-cost alternative, and kept both in service side-by side for a considerable time. (I have one in .45 but it has been much-traumatized and dinged-up by ill-use and there's not a speck of blueing left; local 1911 gunsmith Jesus Quintana put it into good shape but it still really only trusts one magazine, the one it came with.)

And we ran into many of the usual folks we see at shows, too. Time well spent!


After, off to the BlogMeet, a small-but-good gathering itself, at 10-01. Old Grouch, Kerry, Don, The Jack, Tam and Yr. Crspndt. in attendance. Kerry handed out pens with thumbdrives inside, promotional leftovers and a good example of Moore's Law in action. (Thanks, Kerry!) Who doesn't want a thumbdrive? --Other than Iranian nuclear-weapons workers, that is, and they had to find out the hard way.

Conversation tended mostly to pets and critters (perhaps started out by Tam's dove-shoot posting. Hey, lookit, don't shoot the P-TA-clone drones, kids, shoot the pigeons! They're rats with wings and North America's got a surplus. Conversely, if you won't shoot 'em if a camera is watching, stay home -- why'd you even bother to come out?), with sidetrips into food (Kerry and family have been dehydrating garden vegetables for later use and says they're great in soups and stews), home/semi-pro lighting controls (CFLs have made for all manner of difficulties) and other topics. I broke my no-gluten resolve to sample the Waygu Beef Oxtail Stroganoff: wonderful! But probably the cause of my coming home, falling asleep at the computer and going to bed about 5:00 p.m. Hey, I needed the rest.