Tickets To The Gun Show

Posted in Survivalist by Osborne, March 25, 2010 at 4:09 pm | 354 views, 8 comments

Choose your weapon

In one week, our city’s armament will increase dramatically. Weaponry from across the prairies will pour into our receptive belly of a convention hall and every manly guy and sportsman from around will funnel in to admire the cavalcade of polished machinery.

It’s a gun show. And you can bet your ass Wild Gunmen is going to be there.

Run by the Alberta Arms and Cartridge Collectors Association the Calgary gun show is huge. There was over 700 separate tables and vendors last year, and that is forecast to increase this year. It’ll be at the Roundup Center on the Stampede grounds, and open April 2nd and 3rd from 9:30 am to 4:00 pm. Ten bucks to get in, but really you bring more so you can buy that ammo case, bayonet, sling, arm-patch or vest you never knew existed but desperately wanted the moment you laid eyes on it.

For the past two years I’ve waited in line to oogle the kinds of things I had only seen in video games and blockbusters before. These guys have Thompson sub-machine guns, M4 carbines, German-made G36s, Single-action revolvers and Flintlock rifles centuries old. Its a collectors show, but there’s something for everyone. As a personal bonus to a war nerd like me most vendors are happy to let you pick up and play with whatever you see, as long as you’re gentle and courteous.

But this year, I go as a buyer. With my range membership, and my restricted firearms possession and acquisition license, I won’t just dance with these beauties. I’m taking one home.

The plan is simple. Have a list, wade through the quivering mass of firearms and firearm-focused men. Find the targeted guns my childhood self lusts over, and lay down some cold hard cash to stake my claim on them.

You’re invited. I’m going to need some help to search the massive hall, and judge what is the better deal. Plus its always fun to come down and immerse yourself in a culture that may not be your own.

Last year I saw a kolibri on display; the smallest bullet ever made. It looks like a length of pencil lead.

Hendrik Vrey came all the way from Nambia last year to show his art of pyrography. Art through fire.

There was a unit of re-creationists with a working 12 pounder cannon and its horse carriage. These guys literally ride out into the prairie with a goddamn cannon and powder and shot. A four man team loads this thing aims and fires as though they were Napoleonic soldiers.

Now thats a special kind of geek. The kinda geek who carries a powder horn and a saber.

No doubt about it. These guys are kinda dorky, but they were in the right place.

Me: I’m looking for antiques, but I’ll trade the flashy uniforms for olive drab and a steel helmet. This gunshow I’ve got my sights on a particular set of soviet gear. This event is really like a Spring Christmas for me, and its only appropriate that I have a list to go with it.

1. A Nagant 1895 Revolver: Issued to the Tsarist officers in the First World War, this revolver is a heavy brute and comes with a lanyard.

2. A Tokarev TT33: The WWII replacement for the revolver, this gun is described in The Naked Lunch as a “commie piece of trash.” It’s manufactured, it’s rough, but it’s well designed. Plus it’s cheap.

3. A Russian Moisin Nagant bolt action rifle: You might be sensing a theme here. The ruskies had some damn cool gear back in the day. Still do. But that kind of weaponry falls outside my price range.

4. A good old fashioned Colt 1911: I’ll probably end up buying one of the many different modified makes and knockoffs rather than a legitimate Colt model. But this gun has been in use for ages, and is still being tweaked and manufactured. Personally I dream of a long-slide stainless steel version. The gamers out there might recognize this model.

5. A side-by-side shotgun: Sure, I already own one shotgun but really, I need an old fashioned double-barrel to make me happy. Tactical is grand, but there’s something about a wood stock and hammers that appeals to the prairie boy in me.

I’m going to be there all day both days. Seeing the sights, chatting with folk. If you want to come . . . well, you should!

To contact the author of this post: edward.osborne@wildgunmen.com