I travel a good bit, and I like to stop at small gun shops along the way. Most people can buy long arms in most of the U.S. without a problem, and if a handgun is worth the effort, it can be transferred to a dealer in most home states.
You never know what you will find, and often, there are interesting items.
I recently visited RCH Firearms in Hayward, Wisconsin, a good ways from the beaten track.
I must have driven by this shop a dozen times before the sign in the window proved of enough interest me to induce a stop.
The shop is located on a short frontage road on the right side of Highway 77, just past the WalMart as you head South from Hayward. There is only one entrance to the frontage road, and no sign at the entrance. If you have a GPS, the address is 15535w St Rd 77, Hayward, Wisconsin. As the sign indicates, it is the home of RCH Firearms. I did not expect much, but I was pleasantly surprised.
The first thing I noticed as I walked in the door, was a Feather Inc. SAR-180. These unique rifles are scarce. They were mostly sold to police and prisons, and were generally well made. I do not think I have seen a half a dozen in the last 30 years. This one had the desirable steel magazine and had never been fired. An early laser sight (the size of a half gallon milk carton) and dual and quad mounts were made for them.
That was only the beginning. Take a look at the rifles in the rack:
At the very top is an original 1895 Winchester in .405 Winchester. Under that, to the right is an original saddle ring carbine, chambered in 30-30, I believe, and to the left a half magazine rifle in .25-20. None are common guns. The 1895 has been refinished with a recoil pad added. To top out the less than common rifles I noticed this sporterised Krag. Krags are certainly harder to come by these days, but I have seen quite a few over the years. This one was custom stocked for a very big man. Notice the built-up pistol grip to accommodate a very large hand. The owner of the shop said that when he received the rifle, it had a pull of 15 inches.
There were also a couple of unusual handguns.
This is the Cimarron/Uberti version of the "Buntline Special" made in Italy. You do not see many.
Here is a stainless Ruger .44 magnum. Common as Fords, you say?
It is a Talo Special. There have been very few Super Blackhawks made with this short of a barrel. It is not what I want, but it is legal in California and Massachusetts.
This is the sort of thing that I find fascinating when visiting these shops. In addition, the proprietor, Robert Hornak, was friendly. He was happy to show me the guns, and we spent half an hour talking about old times and current events. When he was young, the gun laws in Connecticut were reasonable. He talked about how college students could buy surplus ammo and rent a surplus military rifle for a weekend of shooting.
It seems that crime was lower then, and schools were not shot up...
Unfortunately, still no .22 ammunition to speak of.
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©2013 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included. Link to Gun Watch |
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