Report JoeOllum's Profile

Whew. The Vz 52/57 sold for over $1700. I was expecting $1200. Will have to be patient in order to get one of those.

One thing I'd like to do is work with someone who can build something from a kit, not unlike I would have to do with the SG 510. I may commission a more simple build in order to gain experience as to how the process should go.

Absolutely, I'll make sure to send pictures your way!

It would be awesome if you got a hunting license and bought a K31! Keep me updated on how that process goes.

The Vz 58 is nice too. If I could find a beech furniture set, I'd get one of the modern productions and swap out the polymer. Unfortunately most of the original ones in the US were imported (mangled) by a company called Century International Arms which swapped a bunch of parts and made them unreliable. They've done some horrid things to the firearms they import (refinishing Vz. 52 rifles with truck bedliner, for example), and their work is widespread because they are one of the nation's largest arms importers.

Not very far. I did find a FAL to suit my semi auto .308 solution. The next thing on my list is either a FN 49, a MAS-49, or a SIG SG 510 parts kit. There isn't too much ground to cover for historical semi-auto with wood on it. I'm not sure I'll ever get an SKS, just not interested by the design. The detachable magazine models from Norinco are novel, but not really remarkable otherwise. Russian SKS rifles often have beautiful finishes, but I would rather look for a lesser known and more interesting rifle.

So far the trench gun conversion includes finishing and installation of a heat shield, installation of a sling swivel, purchase of a M1907 sling, and purchase of a M1917 bayonet.
Haven't bought the sling swivel yet, but the heat shield is currently in fabrication and I should have it in two weeks. I know someone who can do hot bluing, so that's where I'll have it finished. After that I have to do some filing on the barrel and fit it properly. Cutting out the notch for the sling swivel will be taken care of at the same time. Everything else is either in the mail or in my possession. Same action. The Polytech is nice because it comes with an internal screw-in choke which is standard and can be freely swapped. It also has a chromed bore and bolt face, none of which would be on the (100 year old) originals. From what I can tell, the stock on the Polytech is different than the originals, but I don't care. My goal is a functional copy, not necessarily a cosmetic one.

There's a myth that the K31 can be fired when out of battery, but it's mechanically impossible. Another thing that people tend to bring up as a downside is that ammo is expensive, but anyone who shoots uncommon cartridges should reload (which I do). Reloading costs me about 65 cents per round, and surplus is generally in the mid 70's. Surplus ammo does come up now and then, but it's not easily reloadable brass because it is berdan primed (as opposed to boxer primed). The stock on mine shows mild wear, but I appreciate the patina because it adds character. You get the impression that it has a lot of stories to tell. It is easily my most precise rifle, and a pleasure to shoot. By far my favorite memories with a bolt action are with it.

Thanks for asking! Has been a while since I've heard from you.

I've passed on quite a few Krags by now. They're still on the list, but not top priority. Right now my object of desire is a Vz 52/57.

Something I have going on in the background is a Winchester 1897 trench gun conversion. Found a Polytech 1897 and I'm waiting on some parts.

The next bolt action I get will either be a Type 44, a WWI Gewehr 98, or a US Krag. Right now I'm focusing on historical semi-auto because I already have an example of most every major bolt action (as in the design of the action).

P.S. I did find a K31. It's my favorite bolt action of all time for sure.

Every now and then I think about you, so thought it'd be a good time to write.

There was an influx of K31 imports recently, and I was very close to nabbing one, but my contact fell through. The importer I was using did not deal with non-FFL holders online, but accepted walk-ins and individual sales at their warehouse location. I have a close family member in the same town as them, but unfortunately they were hospitalized just before purchasing the rifle, and the importer has since sold out.

Still keeping an eye on the K31 rifles, specifically one with a walnut stock. Just yesterday though, I've been looking into Browning Auto-5s and Ithaca 37s; one of those will be my fallback if this doesn't work out again. The US Krags are still high on my list, but haven't seen many as of late (especially with a full stock). If one pops up, it'll take priority.

Den har levert varene så langt hvert fall. :)

Picked up a desert camo M65 jacket circa Desert Storm. $30 used, but in great condition. Also picked up a liner, but probably won't get any use out of that anytime soon.

There was also some gaming loot on that trip, mostly for projects that I'm working on:
-Sega Saturn controller($8)
-Official Dreamcast 4-bank memory card ($2)
-Excitebike for NES with a famicom converter inside ($6)

Despite the amount of time I spent out, this was all I picked up.

There are a bunch of other things I have in the mail for electronics projects, so I wasn't planning on spending much.

After almost buying that Krag I revisited my attitude in visiting gun stores so that I might not regret buying something later. From now on I'm also going to be more open to other models in an attempt to not be so surprised by an uncommon find, especially something like a Swiss K31 (haha), and I'll focus on something practical to take to the range. In that vein I'm going to try on a few Ruger Mini-14s to see if I could go with one of those instead of a Mini-30. What I'm (still) really looking for in terms of modern rifles though is a semi-auto in .308.

Came so close to buying a Krag today. Visited half a dozen gun shops, about 8 pawn stores, and a few electronic stores on a day trip.

It was a .30-40 American Krag, and the action, barrel, and receiver were all pristine. It could have been under a bed for 40 years; that's how good it looked.

Unfortunately (yeah, you guessed it) it was sporterized. Whoever did it was careful, but not very sensitive to detail, as you could clearly see marks where the foregrip had been chiseled down. The stock was otherwise in good shape, and I would have jumped on the possibility of buying it, but they were asking about $150 too much for its condition (~$417).

Having only seen three Krags for sale in the last 8 months, I think I need to step it up. They're less popular now due to the existence of cheap and mechanically superior modern bolt-action rifles (that use common cartridges), but they have got to be somewhere. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of them are being intentionally removed from the market to inflate prices.

Oh well, I'll keep looking.

Well on youtube nutnfancy is pretty much the authority on all firearm news and reviews. I don't really follow any blogs or news sites as such. Just by googling, i found thegunwire, which is an awesome compilation site with links to pretty much every gun-toting youtuber I follow or ever have followed.

There is an almost an endless amount of forums for guns as well, broken down by categories of weapons, manufacturers, and models. (Really anything you can imagine.) I have been on glocktalk, among others, and a handful I can't remember at the moment, but I'm not sure which is particularly more useful or which has a better community.

Yeah, definitely. I love looking for relics so I'll keep you updated.

I neglected to mention that I found an Arisaka with the imperial seal untouched, all original parts. Unfortunately it was a late-war model (produced more cheaply) and didn't have the nicer sights on it.

I'll keep sending you stuff like this, as I've sort of been on a gun store binge in spite of the recent talk on tighter gun control.

I found video taken in the store by local news, but otherwise no.

The comments refer to the owner being a prick, and although I didn't meet him, I heard from the other employees how mad he would be if he found out that I had handled the gun. Consequently I had to just bend over the counter and take a picture, but it turned out horrible. I'm still trying to ID both guns specifically, but from what I can tell so far there are two sporterized Krags. It's really unfortunate that they were sporterized though. One of the employees mentioned that one of the rifles was chambered in .30-40, which I'm guessing is the center one. I just emailed the pic to myself, here it is:

I found a Krag on a recent trip! It was at an old gun store that specializes in relics, and I asked about Krags and it turns out they had one! It was the boss' gun though and it wasn't for sale. I did manage to take a picture, but I shook the camera a bit before the shutter closed, so it's hardly in the frame. I'll post it later when I settle down and get everything unpacked.

I also went to a gun show today, and I saw quite a few more relics. The only relic that really stood out was an arisaka with the imperial logo untouched (they were mostly destroyed when exported), but it was a late war model with a cheaper build. There were a handful of Mauser C96s, but I was surprised to not find any vintage H&Ks except for one VP70.

Yeah, the SCAR is sort of a gun that I mentally blocked the existence of in my head to save my wallet. It's a beautiful rifle, no doubt.

I'll definitely send pics if I come by a Krag, you can count on that!

Yes, very good for target practice and very affordable. The next long rifle I'm going to get is either going to be a Ruger Mini-30, a FN FNAR, or (most likely) a surplus WWI or WWII rifle.

I'm keeping my eye out for a nice Kar 98k or a Mosin because they're so reliable and the ammo is affordable (and still widely available due to the massive surplus stock from past wars). If I can find a Swiss K31, I'll definitely pick that up over the other two even though the ammo is much more hard to find.

I've wanted a Ruger 10/22 for some time and I picked up a beautiful one since we last talked. That's really it though. I picked up a NCStar 3-9x40 scope for it and a few Ruger BX-25 mags.

It's only been to the range three times I think, I've just been really busy and out of spending money.

Any updates on your end?

Da slipper du å sløse bort tid på den, ja : P

Ja, men trodde jeg hadde lagt den til før da. Har hatt lyst til å lese mangaen lenge nå, men har aldri kommet så langt at jeg har fått startet. Crazy liker man, så nå gleder jeg meg litt ekstra til animeen :D