A trip to a gun show (our heritage, history, and inheritance)

My wife and I went to the Alexandria gun show Saturday morning and we're sure glad we did.

This was the first show put on by Central Indiana Gunshows that we've ever attended, even though we've been running their Web site for over six years! (I know, shame on us!)

It was nice for us both to finally meet Daniel and Tami in person. They urged us to try to also make the Crown Point show, which is a much bigger show with lots of sellers from the tri-State area.

I traded the wife's little Taurus PT-25 (see P.S. below) in the original box, 50 rounds of FMJ ammo for it, and 680 rounds of surplus Argentine Mauser 7.65x54mm ammo in two US ammo boxes in exchange for an SKS carbine.

It’s a Norinco with a Combat Exchange (now A.T.I.) black plastic folding stock and hand guard plus three high-capacity magazines.

I had to do some work on the SKS, but that doesn't really bother me. I enjoy it, and it's a great excuse to tinker.

It came with a 4x20 scope mount tack welded on an aftermarket receiver cover whose mounting hole was just too small. It was pure hell to field strip that way, but I drilled it out and now it works like charm.

Also, the gas tube that came as part of the hand guard was too long, with a loose retaining pin and ferrule. When I first got it, I had to literally pry the gas tube out with a big screwdriver. (Yes, it was that tight!)

I crimped the rear ferrule a bit and replaced the loose pin with a fatter but softer one, which I dimpled into place. This will do until I get a proper pin.

Then I lightly ground and burnished the end of the ferrule's mount and the gas piston so now they drop right in just like they were made for it.

I plan to sell the ATI folding stock and replace it with either an original type military wood stock or an ATI Monte Carlo stock. I can’t decide which...

We also bought her a really nice MAK-90 for a decent price, and it came with three magazines. As of now, she only wants me to slot the safety / selector lever so it will lock the bolt open, but she may also have me add an ambidextrous magazine latch / release lever extension, too.

(I consider both of these essential modifications for any AK variant.)

All of this from a private seller - with no sales tax, no fuss, and no waiting period. Just the way it should be!

When in doubt, we should err on the side of liberty.

Capitalism is not dead, friends... it's only rearming...

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P.S. The Taurus PT-25 was really too small for her, and she had put it on the shelf several years ago in favor of a Walther P-38 (matching numbers, AC-41) that used to belong to my late father.

This was the excellent wartime pistol I had found for Dad in 1984 on my lunch break at a pawnshop near 38th & Pennsylvania in downtown Indianapolis for a mere $270.

As a finder's fee (as he called it), he gave me my first gun, a Harrington & Richardson model 732 .32S&W long caliber revolver.

I carried that little wheelgun daily for the next 18 years until he "pre-bequeathed" me his .38 special F.I.E. Titan Tiger, which has since been my daily companion.

My mushroom hunting buddy died three years later.

Only a gun owner can understand how a firearm can be so much more than the plastic and steel it's made of: It is a part of our heritage, history and inheritance…

No wonder we fight so hard when they try to take them away.

As well we should…

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