Well I wound up buying a 1909 Waffenbrik Mauser that had been nicely sporterized and rebarreled to .308 in perfect shape, scope, and rings, for under $300. That was unexpected, and in fact this is the first "brown" rifle that I have bought ever.
All of my other rifles are either black rifles or mil-surp. Sure its a Mauser but it is a pure sporter, I'm excited to take it out and shoot it this Saturday at the gathering.
On the way out Jay stopped and talked to the guy with the mint Garands and wound up buying a Winchester M1 Korean war rebuild for $600. It was probably one of the ones that you saw there Karsten.
This was my wife's first gunshow and she had a good time. She was glad to meet you guys. She was surprised by the beanie babies, cheap knives, chiropractors, computer salesmen, and the everpresent cell-phone dealers all across the aisle from a rack of AR15s and a big .50. Kind of odd I suppose, but I guess those guys are everywhere.
Oh and a tidbit of info that you guys should love, I talked with the guy from Robarm on my way out (friendly bunch). They are sick and tired of local stores never carrying their M96, or not even knowing what they are. So they are opening their own store. It will be on Redwood up by the airport. They said that they are going to be the "tactical" type dealer for the SLC area, especially since Impact is all the way in Ogden, and Elite got taken out by the ATF. Good, I need more gunstores to hang out at at.
Look forward to seeing you guys next weekend.