Better than how i could explain it!!!Brownells Gunsmith Kinks® - Review of the Tulsa Gun Show
By Pat Loynd, Austin, Texas
Just got back from the Tulsa Show-
Supremely cool show, mighty big, everybody was real nice. There were people from all over the country there showing or shopping. There is no way to really do the whole show in one day. Will, another gunsmithing student at the Murray State College gunsmithing degree program, and I got there at about 9:30 AM, and lasted until 4:30Pm; we saw about one quarter of it thoroughly, and then about a further half mostly in the drive by mode. The proper way to do it would be at least 2 days just looking and talking with everyone. The vendors that we talked to were nice folks and knowledgeable, we certainly didn't meet any bone heads.
There were a lot of early collector pieces 16th century up to 1830’s, real Revolutionary War flintlocks, Kentucky rifles, an incredible assortment of the weirdest flint lock and a few match lock pistols. Some documented pieces priced more than my house is worth. If you are into OLD iron, this you have to see. Then the percussion cap stuff; a goodly number of Civil War veterans, a couple Harper's Ferry muskets that looked brand new ($$$$$), Colt revolving rifles and shotguns in various conditions and contracts, European fancy rifles. It was almost like being in a museum in which you could handle all of the exhibits (!) if only you ask politely. Zillions of cap and ball pistols from more manufacturers than I ever heard of and a bunch that I had only seen pictures of in my books. I got to handle an elegant Whitney Navy .36 that was all original and perfectly functional and in about 80% condition. Incredible. I offered him two ex-wives in trade, but he wouldn't go for it.
Kinks Books
During the Civil War the Yanks and the Rebs basically bought up all the surplus European iron they could get their hands on and most of it was well represented throughout. A lot of it was obsolete then, and borderline junk even in its day, but it is a huge field for collectors. There were Burnside carbines and Sharps, a large number of limited production rifles and carbines that were made for that war- this is the stuff you see in museums and big glossy coffee table books, the legends.
In the early cartridge era things really heated up. I have never seen so many nice to excruciatingly beautiful Henrys- brass frame and steel. 1866’s by the hundreds. 1873 and 76 Winchesters piled nearly to the rafters. Marlins and Ballards, a Pollard, a least one Colt Burgess, and some Volcanics for Pete's sake. More lever guns than can be found in the state of New York. Browning manufactured 1878’s made in Utah in 1880, and then the Winchester 1885 High Walls, Low Walls, and tons of genuine Schutzen rifles on any number of domestic frames, and a few European single shots that I didn't recognize from the 1880's and 1890's but didn't have time to ask about. One Bullard in 25-25 Stevens- a little piddly cartridge that can be very accurate out to 100 yards, and used in a lot of early 200 yard matches. This rifle must have weighed right close to 14 pounds, fancy double set triggers, tang sight, spirit level front sight, figured walnut to die for. Slightly used. Less than 20,000 rounds through it. But with a legendary Pope barrel. Priced at 14K. A bargain and it was definitely well worn. I would guess it was actually worn out several decades ago, but now it is a rarity. I guess everybody really needs a second mortgage...
WW I era stuff.... Mannlichers, although they made all the guys with SMLE’s severely discount in order to get on the floor. I have never seen so many Japanese Arisakas, Muratas, M38s, and M99’s. I found a nice M38 short rifle in 6.5mm with the mum still on it and a number of 7.7 M99’s all for less than $250- of course there were a good number of vendors who had some stuff that was way over priced, some very mundane looking Mausers priced over $600, but most of the Mausers were reasonable. Will picked up a WW II veteran Brno '98- complete, a tad rough, with junk wood, but solid metal for $135. This will be turned into a sporter for one of our school projects. Lots of exquisite 1903 Springfields, a nice selection of 1917 Remintons in unmolested condition, some French iron, Swiss, Belgian, Russian Mosin Nagants by the ton, Chinese Mausers. P38s, Lugers, Broomhandles, and every possible European and Balkan produced hand gun from 1900 up to the WW II. Too much to list.
WW II stuff- all the US stuff was well covered- even a pristine Johnson rifle. Not much real class three stuff to talk about, but a lot of collectible veterans. German K98k's all over, various other production Mausers. I only saw a small few of the South American models in 7mm, though, too bad. Semi-automatic versions of the Browning 1919 and the Ma Duce, the real Big Fifty. Hood ornament stuff, guys. I saw one non-NFA MG42 and one demilled MG34. Semi versions of the various submachine guns, all nicely done.
FN49s- again none of the Venezuelan 7mms, FALs, AKs, ARs, Daewoo, SKSs, Hakims, Galils, several A and B Uzis, one AR180, and all the rest. All kinds of tactical dressups for the AKs and the ARs. Some very pretty custom bolt guns, some butt-ugly jobs. All the post war pistols you can name. Some parts. Not many parts at all.
Then we could talk about shotguns... for several pages. Every configuration imaginable for the last 250 years.
What an absolute gas. Makes me wish I was even moderately wealthy. In the limited time we had I could only touch on some of the wonderful displays, and I am sure that I missed some of the really fine pieces for that reason. If the show was four days I could spend the whole time there and still miss some things, but would be able to see so much more.
I need to figure out how to make it a two day trip for the spring show and really take some notes.
By Pat Loynd, Austin, Texas
Just got back from the Tulsa Show-
Supremely cool show, mighty big, everybody was real nice. There were people from all over the country there showing or shopping. There is no way to really do the whole show in one day. Will, another gunsmithing student at the Murray State College gunsmithing degree program, and I got there at about 9:30 AM, and lasted until 4:30Pm; we saw about one quarter of it thoroughly, and then about a further half mostly in the drive by mode. The proper way to do it would be at least 2 days just looking and talking with everyone. The vendors that we talked to were nice folks and knowledgeable, we certainly didn't meet any bone heads.
There were a lot of early collector pieces 16th century up to 1830’s, real Revolutionary War flintlocks, Kentucky rifles, an incredible assortment of the weirdest flint lock and a few match lock pistols. Some documented pieces priced more than my house is worth. If you are into OLD iron, this you have to see. Then the percussion cap stuff; a goodly number of Civil War veterans, a couple Harper's Ferry muskets that looked brand new ($$$$$), Colt revolving rifles and shotguns in various conditions and contracts, European fancy rifles. It was almost like being in a museum in which you could handle all of the exhibits (!) if only you ask politely. Zillions of cap and ball pistols from more manufacturers than I ever heard of and a bunch that I had only seen pictures of in my books. I got to handle an elegant Whitney Navy .36 that was all original and perfectly functional and in about 80% condition. Incredible. I offered him two ex-wives in trade, but he wouldn't go for it.
Kinks Books
During the Civil War the Yanks and the Rebs basically bought up all the surplus European iron they could get their hands on and most of it was well represented throughout. A lot of it was obsolete then, and borderline junk even in its day, but it is a huge field for collectors. There were Burnside carbines and Sharps, a large number of limited production rifles and carbines that were made for that war- this is the stuff you see in museums and big glossy coffee table books, the legends.
In the early cartridge era things really heated up. I have never seen so many nice to excruciatingly beautiful Henrys- brass frame and steel. 1866’s by the hundreds. 1873 and 76 Winchesters piled nearly to the rafters. Marlins and Ballards, a Pollard, a least one Colt Burgess, and some Volcanics for Pete's sake. More lever guns than can be found in the state of New York. Browning manufactured 1878’s made in Utah in 1880, and then the Winchester 1885 High Walls, Low Walls, and tons of genuine Schutzen rifles on any number of domestic frames, and a few European single shots that I didn't recognize from the 1880's and 1890's but didn't have time to ask about. One Bullard in 25-25 Stevens- a little piddly cartridge that can be very accurate out to 100 yards, and used in a lot of early 200 yard matches. This rifle must have weighed right close to 14 pounds, fancy double set triggers, tang sight, spirit level front sight, figured walnut to die for. Slightly used. Less than 20,000 rounds through it. But with a legendary Pope barrel. Priced at 14K. A bargain and it was definitely well worn. I would guess it was actually worn out several decades ago, but now it is a rarity. I guess everybody really needs a second mortgage...
WW I era stuff.... Mannlichers, although they made all the guys with SMLE’s severely discount in order to get on the floor. I have never seen so many Japanese Arisakas, Muratas, M38s, and M99’s. I found a nice M38 short rifle in 6.5mm with the mum still on it and a number of 7.7 M99’s all for less than $250- of course there were a good number of vendors who had some stuff that was way over priced, some very mundane looking Mausers priced over $600, but most of the Mausers were reasonable. Will picked up a WW II veteran Brno '98- complete, a tad rough, with junk wood, but solid metal for $135. This will be turned into a sporter for one of our school projects. Lots of exquisite 1903 Springfields, a nice selection of 1917 Remintons in unmolested condition, some French iron, Swiss, Belgian, Russian Mosin Nagants by the ton, Chinese Mausers. P38s, Lugers, Broomhandles, and every possible European and Balkan produced hand gun from 1900 up to the WW II. Too much to list.
WW II stuff- all the US stuff was well covered- even a pristine Johnson rifle. Not much real class three stuff to talk about, but a lot of collectible veterans. German K98k's all over, various other production Mausers. I only saw a small few of the South American models in 7mm, though, too bad. Semi-automatic versions of the Browning 1919 and the Ma Duce, the real Big Fifty. Hood ornament stuff, guys. I saw one non-NFA MG42 and one demilled MG34. Semi versions of the various submachine guns, all nicely done.
FN49s- again none of the Venezuelan 7mms, FALs, AKs, ARs, Daewoo, SKSs, Hakims, Galils, several A and B Uzis, one AR180, and all the rest. All kinds of tactical dressups for the AKs and the ARs. Some very pretty custom bolt guns, some butt-ugly jobs. All the post war pistols you can name. Some parts. Not many parts at all.
Then we could talk about shotguns... for several pages. Every configuration imaginable for the last 250 years.
What an absolute gas. Makes me wish I was even moderately wealthy. In the limited time we had I could only touch on some of the wonderful displays, and I am sure that I missed some of the really fine pieces for that reason. If the show was four days I could spend the whole time there and still miss some things, but would be able to see so much more.
I need to figure out how to make it a two day trip for the spring show and really take some notes.
, anybody who travels to that show should allow a full day before it, to visit the Davis Museum in Claremore (almost an eastern suburb of Tulsa).