I’ll get to that in a bit. I’ve been working on developing a load for my 135gr 9mm cast bullets and driving home from the range I passed Poulins auction house. Now if you don’t know about Poulins you really should Google it. It’s in Fairfield, Maine and a few miles from where I live so I pass it frequently. But today on the way to the LGS I saw a sign out front, “Gun auction on the 12th, preview today”. As many times as I wanted to partake of a day to preview their firearms in years past I never did before today.
I walked in and the first thing that greeted me was the Class 3 tables with AR10s, a MG42, a Hotchkiss, and more. Then I walked by, eyes popping out, muzzle loading dueling sets, and target handguns, one with steel but stocked like an old Browning Medalist but in Ivory. Gorgeous! Gold inlay shotguns and handguns. Then rack after rack of rifles and tables of more ordinary firearms, swords, (forgive me if I don’t get the nomenclature correct) war hatchets, battle rifles, just amazing stuff. It was like walking through a museum that anyone reading this might enjoy. It was lunchtime so they had a mess of pizzas and refreshments. I went to the LGS and mentioned where I’d been and the owner mentioned, “Oh yeah, I’ve gone there just for lunch at times.”. Preview days aren’t every day, but they are listed on line. If you’re ever in the area on a preview day it’s worth a stop. Oh, I nearly forgot, outside they had an articulated rubber tracked mil’ vehicle. No idea what it was but it looked like it would be good in snow.
I see their ads sometimes and always wanted to go. But you know how it is, it is just hard to get the time to drive down there, and I know I would spend the day looking at things I can’t get. But it is good to know from someone firsthand that it is worth the trip.
Joe, I saw items I’ve only seen in magazines or books. No artillery, but 2 BP cannon, grapeshot, early exploding cannon balls, the place was just amazing.
BrianK, I know what you mean. I have bid/low on a number of Rock Island Auction (RIA) listings, bought at least one Colt…their buyers premium, etc. charges make it so expensive. But the collectible, antique, modern, machine gun, etc. items are just so incredible. If I ever win a big lottery or power ball, a lot of that stuff is coming home to papa…yeah!
WildBill
We were driving by Poulins again yesterday (11/1/23) and I saw the upcoming auction sign, come check out the firearms; serendipity! No way I will ever pass that and not stop in. We did our business then drove back to check it out. We missed lunch, which I can’t eat anyway, so no big deal for me. But the wife might have liked something. She said, “just for a few minutes”, which turned out to be much longer. Again, I saw things I never saw before… one gas trap M1 Garand valued at $20k-$30k, an MP44, WW2 German “bazooka”, all sorts of stuff, rifles, machine guns, knives, swords, lots of old stuff, lots of newish arms, too much to really take in and remember. As I drove in there was an M113 APC. We saw license plates from NY, OK, NE, and of course plenty from ME. Not a minute was wasted. Even my wife lost track of time and she’s not really a gun person, yet was still interested and wasn’t reminding me that we had to leave. We were talking to a friend today and she told her that, “The place was huge! must have been at least 1000 firearms there!”. Yeah, maybe many more than 1000. I tried not to drool on them too much. Yes, I saw items that I have lusted after for a few years now but are just out of my price range. Maybe I need to do a Go Fund Me.
Anyway, that’s what passes for excitement in Fairfield, Maine.
Oh, and biteme would be sad to hear, that just like any competition I’ve ever attended, not one harsh word was heard. Just good folks in attendance.
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