Gun Shows and Private Sales

 Where've you been Jack?

I've been away. No, not that kind of away Glen Filthie, and I'll thank you in advance for not making obscene noises during this impromptu apologue. I went to Sylvania, Ohio to visit my brother California Dave, who is staying at his dear old mother's condominium while she's someplace in Pennsylvania. I arrived on Wednesday, October 8^th, 2025. Although many pointless and annoying deeds were done during my visit, the main event was the gun show on Saturday.

Keep reading as it amuses you to do so, but I must warn you that if you're a freedom hating liberal of any stripe, go read the fiction on CNN. You'll be happier and you won't find me or anyone like me on CNN - I don't read CNN for the same reasons I don't drink water from the toilet.

The show was held at the Toledo Glass City Center (401 Jefferson Avenue, Toledo, OH), which, given the crime map below, is appropriate enough. Parking was available in a three story parking garage next door to the Center, giving the social congregations of unsupervised diverse youth a chance to minimize travel time between opportunities to interact with the general public or their property, or both. We didn't encounter any such groups, but there you have it. It cost us a sawbuck each to get in, and wasn't really worth the price.

Crime Map in Toledo, OH

The show was small, maybe fourteen to twenty tables in a room that could have accommodated half again that number. Half the tables had no firearms on them. Attendance was sparse. We saw the whole show in about an hour, and the only pistol I saw worth looking at was a display of CZ automatics in .32 that hadn't had the cosmoline fully removed from them. They looked to be in rough shape, and the seller wanted $250. I think I could have got him to drop about ten percent, but I really didn't want anything that rough.

On the way out we rode in the elevator with a family of three - man, redheaded red-hot wife and one polite redhead teenage daughter. He was carrying two handgun cases, and I casually asked him if he found anything good. He responded that he was selling, not buying. Huh.

"What have you got?" I enquired politely.

"Nine by eighteen Glock and a model nineteen eleven twenty-two. I'm practically giving them away, and I couldn't sell them." 

"Yeah? How much?"

"I'm asking two-fifty each."

Now, I don't need another .22 target pistol. I just don't, and I've got an S&W Model 59 in 9mm with hi-cap mags... but I don't own a Glock. The elevator door opens and we pile out.

"Want to take a look?" the seller offers.

"Sure!" I say, because it never hurts to look.

He's got a Glock model 48 in 9mm with two ten shot magazines and a loading tool. Even an idiot like me knows that a 9mm Glock is worth more than two and a half bills. The other pistol is a nice Browning model 1911 in .22 with two ten round magazines. Again, it's a Browning so I don't have to look it up to know that two and a half is a bargain.

I didn't bring any cash. I brought my check book. California Dave, however, has cash. I look over at Dave, and he looks nervous.

Dave really is from California, and at any gun show in California there will be cops working undercover to try and nail gun law violations, particularly those involving the so-called gun show loop hole. For those who aren't familiar with this, back in 1968 a freedom hating US President, namely Lydon B. Johnson, signed the Gun Control Act into law. The act was crafted by an equally freedom hating Congress in response to several political assassinations and the demands from moonbats everywhere that someone do something. So - gun control. We now have a mandatory background check before purchasing a handgun. We have the Federal Firearm License (FFL) system, and handgun sales are restricted to intrastate transactions. However, and this drives the no good commie liberals bat-shit crazy, should two adult individuals wish to buy and sell a handgun or any other item anywhere in the U.S., no background check is needed. None. I should mention that the act also created the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (BATF) which is another waste of money.

Assholes.

Anyway, I'm from Ohio, so I asked Dave for a short term interest free loan which he immediately provided. The seller told me that if I was going to buy both, he'd drop the price to $200 each. I didn't argue. Money and firearms changed hands, we shook and wished each other well, and walked away. California Dave is still a bit paranoid, but that's what life in California will do to you.

New Pistols

I took the Glock and Dave took the Browning. After we got home, we checked out our purchases and decided it was time to go to the range. Dave has ammo, which is nice, and he passes me a box of 9mm Bull's Eye, in a pretty green box.

The local range features heavy rock music blasting through the overhead speakers, which tends to disorient me. The form you have to fill out is on a tablet that doesn't work right, the ammunition is overpriced, and neither of us can hear the man on the other side of the counter over the music and shouted conversations around us. The safety related video you're forced to watch is mainly commercials, none of which you can hear over the din. Nice, huh? We finally make it to the range, but I'm thinking we should have gone somewhere else.

I get set up with the Glock, put one up the pipe and carefully squeeze the trigger. The thing kicks like a mule, but I hit the target. Not bad, so I try again - and the gun blows up.

I've got powder related scorch marks on my right hand and a few bruises to go along with the powder. The Glock stove pipes. I drop the mag and clear the chamber, then take a hard look at the spent brass. It's split around the circumference of the base. I've never seen this happen before, but everything else seems to be jake, so I return the mag to its happy place and try again. About eight shots later it happens again. I get Dave involved and he assures me that he got the ammo at a gun range in California. I alert the range officer, and after examining the ammo and the pistol, she believes that some of the ammo is overcharged and shouldn't be shot. Dave gives her the box to dispose of and we switch to ammo bought from this range. The Glock still kicks like a mule, but there are no more incidents.

First Try With the Glock

 

I may take the Glock to a gunsmith, tell him what happened and ask him to check the pistol out. If it passes inspection, I'll try different kinds of ammo in it and see what happens.

Thanks for reading.