For various reasons, I went to a local gun show yesterday. First time in years. I was somewhat stunned by the quality of the guns there. No, it wasn't spectacular by any means, but that there was even one interesting gun or guns just there to show and not sell, was a first in decades for me. There were cased Parker repros, some other CSMC guns, a Merkel or two, and the usual rabble of lower grade American doubles. There was a guy who specialized in Ohio muzzleloaders. He had a table full of them just to show and chat about. A few were pretty rough in spots, but he would point out some still well-preserved features that were unusual and showed excellent craftsmanship.

Overall, the ratio of black walnut to black guns was far above what I expected, even if they weren't all collectors guns. I bought only a few reloading handtools, but it was still worth my time to see these and some old lever guns.

There was one gun, however, that stood out above the rest, and the seller/owner was more than happy to let me snap a pic and then gave me a link to some more pictures on line. I thought a few of you here might appreciate it.

This is a 20 gauge singleshot. The weight I disremember, but it was well under 5 lbs. The gun has double set triggers and the barrel's serial number is 1 more than the action serial number, which lead the seller to speculate that there is a second barrel out there, almost certainly a rifle barrel. Sounded reasonable to me. In any event, a beautiful gun with wonderful metal to wood fit, spectacular engraving with silver wire inlay, and fabulous condition (minus the underlever).

I held the gun to inspect and thought hard about what I could do with it. Hunt turkeys? I don't know if would be up to that. But what a great piece of work.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.



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Thanks for posting this.

What is under the forend? Is that how you break the action?

- NDG

That is the underlever that swings to the side and opens the action. It is not quite right. It's the one imperfection on the gun but it looks like it would be very easy to repair. The action locks up snug as a bug in a rug, but the lever stands away from the action and there is a crack in the horn. In looking it over, it appeared that a new piece of horn needs to be carved and that would be very simple.

Horn bends very easily. You might try putting the lever in some near boiling water for a minute or so then slowly bending to fit. Might take a few tries but even easier than making a new lever.

No doubt, but it's not my gun, and there is a significant crack in the horn. I think replacement is warranted. In this case, the lever is pretty simple and not ornately carved, so replacement would be an easier option than on some other guns that I have seen.

The National Gun Day gun show in Louisville, Kentucky will be on February 24th and 25th. It is just not quite as big as it used to be. And the amount of the quality of guns have gone downhill in the past several years. It's hard to find a gun show anymore that isn't full of t-shirts, coins and other non- gun related items. Glad you enjoyed yourself, BrentD.

The gun is well Engraved in the continental style. Though must it come with the trigger guard re alignment tool that is also capable of bruising the stock on the side nearest the table, though the tool is a more bespoke appetence than you normally see.

Recently attended the gun show in Raleigh. There was more cheap jewelry, gutter guards, beef jerky, "custom" mail boxes, over priced ammo, women's purses and other assorted junk than quality guns. Very disappointing. A true waste of time. Makes me really look forward to the Southern SxS.

We used to have a pretty decent local gun show. We hadn't had one in over a year and I checked to see why. The last one had a couple of surprises. The deputy checking to be sure guns brought in by the guests were unloaded screwed up and fired a bullet into the table he was sitting at. Then an exhibitor somehow accidentally fired his personal carry gun into the crowded room. Even though nobody was hurt, the City decided no more gun show for a while...Geo

The one gun club I belong to doesn't permit bullets in the building at their shows. Even for carry concealed. You have to be a member to attend their shows. You automatically lose your membership if you bring ammo inside. Even in the lobby. No t-shirts, coins or anything other than guns or gun paraphernalia either. One show I went to years ago had Buffalo Jerky cooking. Geez, did that stuff ever stink. Smelled liked they were cooking the fur. I went to a show up in Dayton, Ohio years ago and a gun went off during the show. The bullet went zinging across the room and into the wall about three feet above some exhibitor's head while he was leaning back against the wall. A woman was showing someone her loaded .25 automatic pistol and pulled the trigger. That was before they started checking guns. That exhibitor told me that was the second time a bullet had gone into the wall near him at a gun show.

Durn Geo, not a good streak at your local show. I steer wide of any "experts" who look a little casual, waving guns around at shows. Maybe, I'll continue to just keep my whits about, at least as best I can.

Unfortunately, we do hear of these accidental discharges from time to time. They are quite rare, and always the result of carelessness and/or unsafe gun handling practices. All of the gun shows I have attended in recent years have a security guy checking all guns brought onto the premises, and securing them with a Ty-Wrap. That does make it a problem when a potential buyer wishes to open a gun to check the bores, etc.

I used to try to go to at least one gun show every weekend from Fall to Spring, if I wasn't working. If I went to a show during hunting season, it would be on a Sunday. I still go to them, and still find some great deals that make the cost of Admission very worthwhile. But I don't go nearly as often because of the trend toward more and more non-gun related vendors. A few weeks ago, I got some screaming deals on ammo, reloading components, percussion caps, new Conetrol rings and bases, a new 98 Mauser Timney trigger, a snatch block, and a nice 42" long .36 cal. octagon barrel. I also had a Gun Show vendor there ask me if I would like to see his Gutter Guard system. I said, "No, you got any guns for sale?"

One thing I have never seen or heard of happening inside a Gun Show is having some lunatic choose that as a target for a mass shooting, or an armed robbery. As crazy as some of these perpetrators may be, they know better than to choose a venue where their crime would come to a sudden unpleasant end in a matter of seconds. So to me, the extremely remote risk of getting struck by an accidental discharge at a gun show is probably even less than the same thing happening while hunting. And both the gun show and hunting activities are much safer than merely walking the streets in many crime ridden Democrat run cities. Over 100,000 people per year are dying from drug overdoses, most due to Biden and the Democrats leaving our borders wide open. And Democrats say and do nothing to stop those deaths. So there's that bit of evidence that guns in the hands of law abiding citizens are not nearly as dangerous as anti-gun Democrats claim. I'm still trying to figure out why any gun owner would ever vote for anti-gun Democrats. The only answer I can come up with is "You can't fix stupid."

We use to have a great show in houston many years ago, 2000 tables. Guys like James Wayne, hershall chaddick, Jack piglisi Thad Scott, etc would show up. Now it’s gone to nothing and not in houston anymore.

Maybe 600-700 tables. Just like you guys are saying, defensive guns, and other junk

From a friend of mine who was doing shows all over he says shows are pretty much dead for nice guns. He has cut back

John
Quality Arms

At one time I had 5 tables, set up with Richard Freer and Brian Radcliff. We had the whole section.

John
Quality Arms

i kept a table at the houston gun collector's shows for 10+ years, from the late 70's until about 1990....they were excellent shows and well organized. one of the useful rules was that all tables were allowed no more than 16 square inches (might have been 18sq") of non-gun related items - i actually saw an official with a plexiglass template, who would "measure" a tables content. nowadays, the average "gun show" may not be 30% gun related...i.e. the black rifle coffee company....

like most old folks, i suppose we're taking our turn at observing that...things are going to hell in a handbasket.

best regards,

tom