Webster's Auction Palace in Houston had another gun auction yesterday, Sunday. Pictures of the goods can be found here.
I'll split this into two or three posts since I don't want to hit the word limit and the subject just naturally needs to be divvied up into basic categories.
First a general observation. Webster's is just as sleazy as always. The auctioneer talks up lots in ways that make anyone knowledgeable shake their head in amazement or irritation. This time he even got called out from the audience for citing a manufacturer's price off the web but not correctly identifying the product; he just ignored it. He also combined lots that could not be combined (would require splitting cases between bidders) unless he got lucky (which he did on this day). There's more but the place hasn't changed its basic hustle in the 30 or so years I've known of its existence. The lack of professionalism, lack of subject matter knowledge, and overall oily used car salesman vibe is baked into the culture. Just be forewarned if you go there in the future. You can get bargains but you've got to be on your toes.
Second, I want to acknowledge the cooperation of my sister. She's scared of the wu-flu and doesn't want me to bring it into the house. Given her health, that's reasonable and I generally acquiesce to her on these matters. But I wanted to go to this and asked her if she was OK with it. We agreed that if the place was packed, I'd skip the auction. Well, it wasn't packed. I estimate there were about 75 people in the building, including the workers. 90% were wearing masks. Social distancing was easy if you wanted to do it but no one from the auction was enforcing any rules. I'd feel more at risk at the grocery store if I went on a Friday afternoon.
This auction was an estate sale. There have already been two gun auctions out of this estate and there will be at least one more.
I'll start with the items that were not in lots. They were just randomly thrown into the action during the day. The prices I quote are the hammer prices as I heard them. There may be errors (I'll put a question mark next to any price I'm unsure of) and I zoned out and simply didn't get some of them. To know the out-the-door price, add the 15% buyer's premium and tax. (At least I think there's tax. I didn't buy anything so I'm not sure.) Where I don't mention the quantity on an item, there were dozens; ask me if you're interested in specifics.
My next post will be the gun prices. I'll follow that with the ammo prices.
I'll split this into two or three posts since I don't want to hit the word limit and the subject just naturally needs to be divvied up into basic categories.
First a general observation. Webster's is just as sleazy as always. The auctioneer talks up lots in ways that make anyone knowledgeable shake their head in amazement or irritation. This time he even got called out from the audience for citing a manufacturer's price off the web but not correctly identifying the product; he just ignored it. He also combined lots that could not be combined (would require splitting cases between bidders) unless he got lucky (which he did on this day). There's more but the place hasn't changed its basic hustle in the 30 or so years I've known of its existence. The lack of professionalism, lack of subject matter knowledge, and overall oily used car salesman vibe is baked into the culture. Just be forewarned if you go there in the future. You can get bargains but you've got to be on your toes.
Second, I want to acknowledge the cooperation of my sister. She's scared of the wu-flu and doesn't want me to bring it into the house. Given her health, that's reasonable and I generally acquiesce to her on these matters. But I wanted to go to this and asked her if she was OK with it. We agreed that if the place was packed, I'd skip the auction. Well, it wasn't packed. I estimate there were about 75 people in the building, including the workers. 90% were wearing masks. Social distancing was easy if you wanted to do it but no one from the auction was enforcing any rules. I'd feel more at risk at the grocery store if I went on a Friday afternoon.
This auction was an estate sale. There have already been two gun auctions out of this estate and there will be at least one more.
I'll start with the items that were not in lots. They were just randomly thrown into the action during the day. The prices I quote are the hammer prices as I heard them. There may be errors (I'll put a question mark next to any price I'm unsure of) and I zoned out and simply didn't get some of them. To know the out-the-door price, add the 15% buyer's premium and tax. (At least I think there's tax. I didn't buy anything so I'm not sure.) Where I don't mention the quantity on an item, there were dozens; ask me if you're interested in specifics.
- A random selection of nylon bags ranging from poor excuses for range bags down to tiny belt pouches - $10 each
- Ammo cans, plastic and steel, mostly 7.62 and 5.56 size - $15 each
- .22LR AR mags - $25 each
- Rifle cases, some mfg cases but mostly cheap ones, almost all sized for a disassembled AR - $35 each
- Scopes and red dots, looked to be half Bushnell and half NcStar - $90 each
- The last three piece-o-crap NcStar red dots - $45 each
- Box of misc AR parts, mostly take-off stocks, buffer tubes, and various springs - $50
- *Many* unidentified pistol mags - $20 each
- Remington 1100 parts, including three bbls and almost 3 stocks - $225
- About a dozen Briley chokes in aftermarket boxes plus some misc parts - $140
- 14 5-gallon buckets of 12 ga shotgun shells, per the auctioneer ~550 in each bucket - $5 per bucket
- These sold so cheap because they looked like they'd been in a flood. They were covered with dried slime/silt and whatever accident happened to them apparently destroyed their boxes.
- A motley collection of a dozen pairs of shooting glasses, cleaning supplies, and targets - $60
- Winchester Ranger Deluxe 45 safe, 1-hour fire rating, advertised capacity of 51 long guns - $1000
- American Security floor safe, 2-hour fire rating, advertised capacity of 20 long guns - $900
- A box of 22 Beretta 92 mags - $20 each
- Mag pouches, 6-mag capacity, with various unknown pistol mags mostly filling the available slots - $50 each
My next post will be the gun prices. I'll follow that with the ammo prices.