Gunshow report: Hampton, VA, 11/27

[Bob Womack]

I made the trek to the SGK gunshow at Hampton, VA, today, and thought you'd enjoy a report. First off, it was the largest show I've ever attended. There were plenty of Milsurps and modern weapons available, from Moisin Nagants to all sorts of others. I wasn't in the market but if I had I'd would have been in pig heaven. I looked through a case of probably twelve P-38 pistols and as many Lugers of all types, probably the best collection I've seen.

In all there were probably forty M1 Garand rifles at six or seven dealers, everything from six-digit correct-looking rifles with no price marked to reparked, late-50s rifles with sanded stocks. There seemed to be lots of CMP service-grade rifles. I saw prices from $2999 down to $900 with the majority in the lower end of that range. What here weren't were m1905, M1, and M7 bayonets. There were also probably ten to fifteen carbines. There were also lots of service 1911s ranging from WWII to Vietnam.

Gus's Garands (Gus Fisher, Marine gunsmith) was there and I got to visit with Gus and ask the question that has been bugging me: My Garand does everything perfectly except feed a magazine that is stacked left high. Is that abnormal? The answer: Garands won't feed left-high and the government always stacked them right-high.
That's what I get for being a lefty, huh?

Having recently inherited my father's century-old lever gun my eye was especially attuned to the old lever guns. There were plenty of those as well.

Prices seemed to have relaxed after the recent election, all the way down to ammunition, which has of late been unnaturally high.

My son picked up a magazine and holster for his most recent carry weapon and I picked up (and later installed) an ambidextrous safety for my AR at a great price. After all these years I decided to treat myself to one, since I am a lefty.

The other thing we noticed was that the atmosphere was decidedly more relaxed than it was when we last attended a gun show, just before the election. Both attendees and dealers seemed much more chipper.

Bob

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