Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Today's Local Gun Show Story

All;
Greetings to you all, whenever you read this I hope the day has been behaving and this finds you well.

Today was the annual Penticton Gun Show, which means that firearm folks from a few hour drive north and south gather and bump into each other once more.

A long time friend, hunting and shooting partner came down from the north and his brother and his son came up from the south, along with a dozen other people that I know, but that's not the odd part of the tale.

I've mentioned that a couple now passed on shooting and reloading mentors had quite a marked effect on my life and one of them - Willy - was also a good friend of my friend and his brother.

When his brother's son was born or shortly after, Willy started to put together a special rifle for him.

At that point in our lives we were getting deep chambered barrel blanks up from IT&D in Ohio, this being pre 9/11 nobody cared and many came up to go onto Remington and Mauser 98 actions mostly.

The rifle Willy started for the son was a Mauser action with likely a Douglas barrel because that's what we bought, this one chambered in 6-06.

I want to say the stock was a blank from Richards Microfit in California, but that's a guess.

By this point in his life, Willy's health had began to fail and while the barreled action was fitted into the stock and I want to say I shot it for him a couple times too if I'm remembering the right project, the stock wasn't ever finished before his health didn't allow it.

When Willy passed, all the firearms including that project 6-06 went to his son who kept some and dispersed the rest.

Low and behold today at the gun show, as they were going through the various tables, there's an unmistakable Mauser action with the stock sort of finished, but not entirely fitted, which everyone remembers it was.

The chap selling it said he'd bought it years ago from a fellow in a city north of us - and then named Willy's son as the seller. He further stated that he'd had it out on the table at a couple dozen gun shows and nobody had showed much interest, so it went for much less than the price of the parts.

Of course it went home with the young fellow who was nigh onto speechless over finding his long lost rifle from a special person in his life when he was very young.

Therein ends the tale of today's most interesting gun show finds.

Thanks for reading and all the best.

Dwayne

That's a very interesting tale. I'm glad that rifle found it's way home. Thanks for sharing sir!

Awesome….
Great story!

Thanks for sharing that Dwayne. Its a snall world sometimes

Sounds like the rifle made its way back home, or at least where it belongs! Thanks for the story Dwayne..

Great story!!

Great story, Dwayne, and glad to hear you found a special (to you) rifle. I'm sure the project will be finished in a manner befitting your friend Willy.

I'm sure, if finished, the rifle (and the spirit of Willy) will accompany you on a trip or two.

Great story and thanks for sharing - I’m sure Willy would be very happy the rifle ended up where it belongs!

Hoping years of hunting for the young man with that one!!

PennDog

👍

PennDog;
Good morning to you sir, I hope the day looks as promising out east as it is here and you're all well.

Thanks to you and the rest who've offered comments, they're much appreciated.

Reading back through my story, which I see is somewhat tough to follow due to lack of names, hopefully it's clear that the rifle is back with my good friend's nephew.

That nephew was with my friend, along with me and another childhood buddy when my buddy shot a very nice California Bighorn two seasons back. It's a super tough to get tag so whenever anyone draws it, all their local sheep hunting friends come along as its the only way we'll get to hunt the locals.

Anyways it was then that I got to know this young man better and he's a serious hunter so for sure that rifle will be getting some time up on the mountain.

Myself, I thought it was a bit of a coincidence in that mathman had made a post on a thread just the other day that had reminded me of a rifle Willy offered to us but I didn't buy.

Of course too there's lots of firearm related gear still here which came via Willy, some rifles as well and that was just a bit of an uncanny reminder to me of Willy, just prior to this.

Strange how life works that way sometimes is all.

Thanks again and all the best.

Dwayne

Great that the gun ended where it did.

That's awesome ! Stories like that are far a few between.

Proof that Angels Indeed find their way into gun shows.

Probably as annoyed as the rest of us by the beef jerky & magnetic health enhancing bracelets.

Anteloper;
Good morning to you sir, I trust all is as well as the weather permits and circumstances allow down in Wyoming thus far today.

Thanks for the chuckle on the beef jerky and bracelets comment.

While it's been years, well pre 9/11 for sure since I've attended a gun show stateside, I recall a slightly different "flavor" to them as there were edible products there for sure.

We surely can debate exactly how edible they were.

Ours are typically "Gun and Antique" shows and some of what people classify as antiques is both interesting and obviously subjective.

Nonetheless they're always very, very well attended which no doubt the government types monitoring them find disconcerting to say the least.

Many of us go to see old friends as it's that sort of event that brings hunters and shooters together in one place.

This year the cash supply I brought was not depleted too, too terribly as the parts I was looking for weren't there.

The highlight of my purchases was a mid '80's production 6x42 Leupold which although I was looking for a 3x9 Leupold for one of our eldest daughter's rifles, turned into a bit of a horse trade with the good friend from north of us mentioned in the initial post.

As we were a couple tables down from the 6x42, which was very reasonably priced, my friend looks down at me - he's tall and I am emphatically not tall - and says, "Hey I've got a Leupold 3x9 that has no home and I'd like to try a 6x42 like you've got. Buy that one for me and the 3x9 is your daughters."

Once more he has proven that good friends are indeed more precious than gold.

All the best to you all.

Dwayne

I'm floored that there are even gun shows in Kanukistan

MuskegMan;
Good morning, though edging rapidly towards afternoon, I hope that you're all getting a decent spring in your part of SE Alaska.

For sure if one would listen to our legacy media, there are only 6 firearms owners left in Canada, of which 2 are near death and the others on trial awaiting jail time for some heinous crime against humanity.

That said, according to the data I can dig up, somewhere around 4 million Canadians hold a PAL - Possession & Acquisition License. We have about 40 million in total population so roughly 10% of the population.

Best estimates in the US show between 35% and 45% of the population own firearms.

They, that is to say the feds and polling companies all like to make what they believe are "educated guesses" as to just how many firearms are up here, but the true fact is nobody has a foggy clue because up until the early '80's it was easier to obtain a long gun - rifle or shotgun, not legal handgun - up here than stateside.

As we all know firearms, if maintained properly, have a very long shelf life, which compounds the problem "they" have in attempting to quantify what's out there.

The folks who are partially or mostly First Nations, so Inuit, Metis included in that, still have constitutional rights to hunt and fish and it is my opinion they are among the highest percentile of firearms owners here. For sure though my experience with those groups is mostly western Canada and I need to clarify that.

While the gun shows typically have a fair number of my fellow boomers present, there are a whole lot of folks there who are the age of our children and frankly could theoretically be our grandchildren's age.

Here in BC, we've seen a huge rise in the number of female shooters and hunters. I base that on teaching the BC Hunter Safety course and observations at the local shoots and gun show.

Then too, it does my heart good to see a lot of the younger set getting into shooting and firearm ownership for their own reasons.

For instance when I heard that one of our neighbors here in the group of small acreages we live in had taken the PAL course along with his wife, I asked if he was going to get into hunting or thought they'd focus on sport shooting.

His reply, "Well Dwayne, it seemed to me more and more like the government in Ottawa didn't want me to have a firearm, so I thought, I better get some!"

Of course I chuckled, tapped him on the arm like us old guys do and said, "Welcome to the family man!"..

Anyways sir, for sure "they" would like us firearm owners to dry up and blow away in a stiff wind and many of us wish the same outcome for the folks who wish that upon us.

Lastly, it goes without saying that whenever a government makes laws, it must by necessity have the ability to enforce them.

As well, there is an implied social contract between the government and the governed that they'll both act in good faith towards each other.

If either party acts in such a manner that if found too offensive, historically there has been a trend for the governed to begin to ignore the law.

Having contacts in active and retired LEO up here, I'd make an educated guess that if the number of smuggled in firearms was known, it'd make a few of "them" suffer a case of the vapors to say the least.

None of that should be taken for my endorsement in any way of people knowingly breaking the law, that'd be a crazy stance to take in the format where statements live longer than a finely made Mauser 71/84 - which sold in untold numbers for $5 Canadian back when.

Anyways if you stuck with me this far in, thanks for doing so.

As always that's just one semi-old Canuck's views on the matter and nothing more.

All the best.

Dwayne