As part of my website, I thought it would be kinda nice to write articles about my personal experiences, both good and bad, concerning the gun business and collecting in general.
I hope you enjoy them!
Collecting U.S. Government M1 Carbines
The collecting of M1 carbines is getting to be a serious
highly collectable field today. You have to keep in mind
that there was ten prime contractors who produced around six
million carbines. That seems to be quite a lot of carbines
to deal with so why collect them? Well, first off, you must
understand the statistics with these guns. The first
carbines to be produced came out in April of 1942 by Inland
Division of General Motors. These early carbines had a
terrible survival rate due to our war effort, combat losses,
shipping losses due to sinkings and arsenal repairs and
upgrades to name a few things that contribute to a early
carbine's poor survival. As the war progressed the survival
rate of carbines got better. More were produced per month to
replace losses. Less ships were being sunk. Also by this
time all the prime contractors were in full production.
After the war many of the carbines in government inventory
were overhauled and upgraded. The arsenals made no effort to
reassemble the carbines using the correct codes for the
reciever's maker. These rebuilt carbines then saw service in
Korea, Viet Nam and many other hot spots in the decades
after World War Two. With this in mind, you can see, there
are not so many original condition M1 carbines left today.more...
The Pro's and Con's of Auctions and Consignments
I have been asked by many clients, what is the best way to
"go" when they wish to sell off their collection. Should
they sell their collection by Auction or Consign their
collection with a dealer? After careful thought, I have come
up with these guidelines to help the seller to make a
informed decision as to what may be the best way to "go"
with their collection.more...
How To Work With and Deal with A Dealer
I have been a gun dealer for a long time. When I go to gun
shows, gun shops, auction houses, pawn shops and so on, I
see so many do's and don'ts that customers do when talking
to dealers that I decided to write this article on that
subject.more...
On Starting A Collection
I have been asked many times, what beginning
collectors should look for in creating a firearms
collection. That is really a complicated question to answer.
There are several things to think about and consider when
starting a collection. First off, what do you want your
collection to do for you? Do you want a investment
collection, a theme collection, or a brand or makers
collection, or a combination of those mentioned, or
something else entirely. The next thing is to consider how
you will fund this collection. These are important things to
consider in planning your collection.more...
Getting your firearm ready to sell
I have been dealing and selling firearms for quite some time
now. One of my pet peeves is going to a gun shop, gun show
or a private seller, and handling a dirty firearm! Many
times I cannot even see what the bore looks like. I have had
guns that were full of grease and oil, full of cobwebs even
bird droppings! The owners cannot understand it when I
refuse to even look at their "fine" firearms, let alone
handle them. As I have gotten older I find myself less
inclined or willing to accept the excuses for that gun's
condition.more...
On Selecting Good Reference Books
There is so much printed material to sort through today on
firearms it is really quite overwhelming. Seems like there
a new book out every couple of months on a gun or related
subject. So how do you pick a book or books you need for
your research? The one thing you do not want to do is have
books or articles repeat themselves,with others you now
have. A little cross reference is a good thing,but to have a
entire book pretty much cover the subject on a book you
already have without adding anything new to offer on
important new findings or discoveries is in my opinion not a
good buy.more...
A Veteran's Luger
When I was still doing horseshoeing, I used to pick up
really neat stuff from my clients. I have been known to come
home with boats,antiques, fresh meats and poultry,guns,and
pretty much anything else that caught my fancy.more...
Winchester's Finest Pump Shotgun! The Model 12
This year of 2012 marks the one hundredth anniversary of the
Winchester Model 1912 Shotgun,as this gun was known at that
time. We know this gun today by it's more common name,the
Model 12. This model would turn out to be one of
Winchester's biggest sellers with almost two million sold by
1964. This shotgun even served in our armed forces in our
various wars and peace keeping operations. This gun would
prove to be one of the most versatile shotguns ever designed
by Winchester.more...
On collecting World War I guns
It just makes me realize that the Great War of 1914-1918 was
almost a hundred years ago. I remembered reading recently
that the last American soldier of that war died last year.
My dad was also a veteran of that conflict. As a kid growing
up, dad would tell me stories of his experiences of that
long ago time. I was also lucky enough to have met veterans
of both the Austria Hungarian and German Empires.more...
My Colt Model 1901 Double Action Army
A couple of years ago a friend of mine asked me if I would
be interested in buying his Colt Model 1901 army revolver.
He told me it was in nice condition. Well, I gotta tell ya,
I was interested!more...
What I Learned From My Dad
I’ve been seriously collecting since I was around 12 or 13
years old. My dad must have seen something in my methods or
in how I was collecting. Dad was always encouraging me with
my budding knowledge of firearms and my ‘eye’ for
finding neat stuff. One of the ways dad would go about this
was to insist that before I could buy or make a trade for a
new firearm I had to do a full research on that particular
gun.more...