Spending time with the Mt. McKinley Mountainmen Muzzleloading Club at a local gun show

For the first time since Covid-19 reared its ugly head in Alaska, a gun show is scheduled. The event, which started Saturday, continues Sunday, Oct. 25, a gun show will happen at Raven Hall on the fair grounds in Palmer. I believe things get going at 10 a.m. with an entrance fee of $5 per head. Be sure to bring your facemask and practice social distancing when possible.

The Mt. McKinley Mountainmen Muzzleloading club will have several tables of display items and one sale table. The theme for their display is “Shooting with a Rock.” Several different styles of flintlock firearms will be displayed, including rifles, pistols, and smoothbore long guns. I’ll be bringing my early period full stock Hawken style flintlock rifle in 54-caliber to display. I might add my 62-caliber Northwest Trade Gun smoothbore later if nobody else brings one.

I plan to help at the tables and do some “meet-and-greet” with the public, but I’ll be wearing my mask and not shaking hands. I’ll be staying behind the table. I’m an old guy who needs to be careful considering the resurgence of the Covid-19 virus around the state.

While we’re talking blackpowder, the Mt. McKinley club held their first monthly, winter season, indoor rifle shoot at the Matanuska Valley indoor range this past Saturday. I only shot two of the five scheduled matches because my 36-caliber underhammer rifle was being a little finicky. Oftentimes at these monthly matches, somebody selects one of the matches and somebody else selects the place, like third or seventh, and $25 is awarded to the person holding that position.

One of the two matches I shot happened to be the selected match and first place was the selected position. I had shot a 48X out of a possible 50-5X perfect score. As I was walking out the door to put gear in my truck, the scorer called me and handed me $25 in cash for taking first place in that match. I was pleasantly surprised since I rarely win any of these matches. As they say, “even a blind squirrel finds an acorn once in a while.” There were several good scores shot in that match, so I never gave any consideration that I might win it!

Occasionally, something happens to restore my faith in the kindness of people. A small event of that nature happened to me this past week. The online Facebook website has a marketplace category which I enjoy looking at to see what items are available for sale locally. I had a negative experience a couple of weeks ago where the seller of some tools I was looking for kept “dodging” me as I tried to set up a meeting place to get the tools and give him the money. He ended up selling to somebody else.

I’ve been getting my icefishing gear ready for the upcoming season. I mounted a power auger carrier bracket on my snow machine and organized my terminal gear. I have a power auger, but that seems like overkill when the ice is between 6-inches and a foot thick. I began looking for a used hand auger. A new auger would run from $60 to over $100 depending on size and brand.

I found one that looked to be in good shape on this marketplace site. The lady who had listed it almost five months ago had already cut the price by a third from the original asking price. I contacted her through the website and arranged for a time and place to meet the married couple to pick up and pay for the auger.

I arrived early at the meeting site to be sure the sellers didn’t have to wait on my arrival. They showed up at the exact time and the gentleman got out to unload the auger from the backseat of his truck. I had walked over with money in hand to get the auger. He showed it to me and said he didn’t remember ever using it. The auger had been taking up space in his garage and he wanted it gone.

I offered the money as I was reaching for the auger when he told me to keep the cash. Surprised, I asked him if he was sure. He wished me “Merry Christmas” and told me to enjoy using it and to be safe on the ice. I thanked him again and loaded the auger in my truck. The auger had never been used. People really are inherently good!