anybody catch Pawn Stars last night ?

[Major 2]

I'm watching American Pickers ..CW week episode and see Pawn Stars are going to look at a Gatling Gun...I think OK cool.
I don't often watch the show...don't really care for it...but figure WTH.

Rick the Pawn Star...has made mistaken comments before on his show , I recall one on a Cavalry Saber and another on a Colt 51 Navy that were brought in.
He will often mention he's not and expert and call in one....
Last night he should have  

On national TV he showed he knew "JIP" about Sharps Carbines.....
Go's on to describe a rather nice Carbine he's holding.  " used in the Civil War ..and mentioned Gettysburg and how it was used.
He points out where and how the primer was slid in from the rear and the paper cartridge  
Except did anyone notice it was the Lawrence Pellet Primer system ?  And it was missing the cover, slide & retaining screw and that it would have been charged with pellets not from the rear, but from a vertical stack fed by a spring.
Or did you also notice it was Cartridge carbine not a percussion ? Which is the reason the Lawrence system was removed.

I didn't watch much more...can't say if he said the Gatling Gun shown was Civil War...as it was not,  it was a M1893 I believe.

[St. George]

Remember first that these are scripted shows that bear no relation to reality and each 'pick' or 'pawn' is a part of the hook.

The smartest guy on them is Chumley - who, like Mikey on 'Orange County Choppers' is pretty content to collect a healthy paycheck for being a buffoon.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[joec]

I happen to catch a show yesterday on History Channel that covered the military guns of the world from 1800 to 1900. It was a pretty interesting hours. Being in the storage business with monthly auctions I have really mixed emotions about these shows like Auction Wars and such.

[Advertising]

[Delmonico]

We didn't have cable for several years, my wife decided to get it again last winter, I was dissapointed as to how far the "educational" channels have fell, besides the "reality" shows, some of the more historical shows have gotten so sloppy on facts it is an insault to watch them.  

I was watching one a while back and I learned something I never knew before, the M-40 sniper rifle doesn't use the 7.62X51 Nato round, but the 7.62X39 Commie round, or at least from the picture they showed of the round that is what one was lead to believe.  Come on, who is editing the stuff, also the one on the StG 44 that showed it using a full sized rimmed round, could have been either the 303 or the 7.62X54.  Just plain sloppy work, if they are that wrong on things I know about, why would I believe them if it is something I don't know about.

[Don Nix]

I watch the pawn stars a lot. It used to be entertaining until I saw one of their  "experts" talking about a Mcclellan saddle that he desciibed as a pack saddle. He even mentioned the strap slots as proff that it was a pack saddle.
I wrote to the pawn shop and explained their error and suggested that they find another "expert" preferably one who knew his a55 from a hole in the ground , I never got a reply.
 The show is a joke.

[GunClick Rick]

The main people on the show don't even work there most of the time..Just for the show.

[Deadeye Don]

I watch it for entertainment value only and not to be educated.   

[El Peludo]

I watch it for entertainment value only and not to be educated.   

As should everybody.  I watch the show from time to time, but being local, I realize that these folks are doing this to make money, and are just part of the local "color".  It's a TV show, fer cryin' out loud.

I know a kid who is studying to be a TV Journalist and writer.  Last time I saw her, we were watching something and she came in to schmooze with the "boys", and I asked her why so many things on TV are represented incorrectly, and apparently without care as to the accuracy of the information.  She said that most people either don't care, or don't know the difference, and the writers don't have the time or the care to research their subject to a truly factual degree; they often just ask someone who they know who seems to know something about stuff, and take their word for it; they also embellish things to make a more dramatic, interesting, and salable product. The advertisers and sponsors only care that their product gets the screen time they pay for and care little for the content of the shows they sponsor.  She remarked that if we all believed most of what we saw on TV, we must be the most gullible and lazy people she can imagine.  I could go on and on, but you get the idea.  My Gramps used to say: "Don't believe anything you hear, and only half of what you see."

[Drayton Calhoun]

 It's like Big Brian the Fortune Seller on TRU TV.  Estate sales are his speciality. Had one where he sold a stack of rifles for six grand. Noticed several Trapdoors, one of which he commented was a Civil War veteran. Oh, BTW it was fully sporterized. Go figure.

[Major 2]

I watch the pawn stars a lot. It used to be entertaining until I saw one of their  "experts" talking about a Mcclellan saddle that he desciibed as a pack saddle. He even mentioned the strap slots as proff that it was a pack saddle.
I wrote to the pawn shop and explained their error and suggested that they find another "expert" preferably one who knew his a55 from a hole in the ground , I never got a reply.
 The show is a joke.

I did not see that one...good thing I'd have gone postal.....

I know my saddles ..... I built countless 59's ..goodly number of later Mac's as well
and a fair amount of Grimsley's , Jennifer's and Hopes.

...agreed about Mikey & Chumley

[Delmonico]

I did not see that one...good thing I'd have gone postal.....

I see a chance to make a fortune here, a show about folks going postal from watching total BS on TV. 

Remember, this crap is on what is supposed to be the "good channels."  I'd hate to think of the stuff on the channels I never look at.

[litl rooster]

Remember first that these are scripted shows that bear no relation to reality and each 'pick' or 'pawn' is a part of the hook.

The smartest guy on them is Chumley - who, like Mikey on 'Orange County Choppers' is pretty content to collect a healthy paycheck for being a buffoon.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

Discovery channels are really pushing the Civil War stuff they have more shows than they do real experts. Rick does make mistakes often on there, but not everyone that watches it are gun geeks like the lot of us looking and circling for the kill.

The Harrisons make lots of money so they must be experts in something.

I have to agree Chumley is the brains of the bunch

[Trailrider]

The minute they showed the Sharps it was obvious it was a .50-70 Gov't cartridge conversion.  You could see the firing pin wedged between the hammer nose and the receiver.

The thing that would make me back out of the shop immediately after the expert gave a value is the fact that you would be offered no more than half the value. Now that isn't a condemnation of the shop, just the facts of life if you sell to a dealer.  You will generally be paid about half the retail value, which obeys the law, "Buy low and sell high!"    The way you sell stuff like that is to go to an antique gun show, and BUY YOUR OWN TABLE!  Then you are in the driver's seat!

[GunClick Rick]

If they were really smart they would make a show about us.. Expert trail chef,expert saddle makers,expert gun guys,the there's me expert stuff collector...

[Dog River Dan]

I like to see the items brought in, but the first one that opens his mouth, I tune it out.
Thinking back, I may have made through two complete shows.

[Don Nix]

I did not see that one...good thing I'd have gone postal.....

I know my saddles ..... I built countless 59's ..goodly number of later Mac's as well
and a fair amount of Grimsley's , Jennifer's and Hopes.

...agreed about Mikey & Chumley

You would have stroked out ,I nearly did.
 the expert pointed out the the sheild said 12 inch seat (I believe), He said no grown man could ride a seat that small so it may have been a childs saddle. Also it was rawhide and no one could ride a bare tree. Wilth the slots and rings it was his expert opinion that it was an pack saddle.
 The felow that brought the saddle in, stated that he had bought it at a studio auction and had a letter of authenticity  that stated that it had been used in the movie Dances with wolves. The expert said that DWW was one of the most authentic movies when it came to props and that they had only used period correct black leather fully covered saddles in the movie.
 He told the Pawn shop guys that it was a rip off and had never been in the movie, the sellers lOA not withstanding. He stated it was worth around $250.

[Hill Beachy]

I caught part of that show while eating dinner the othe night.  Thought that the "expert" had made a statement to the effect that the Union Cavalry had used the Sharps carbines to stave off the initial Confederate attack, thus providing initial positional advantage.  I know that there were Sharps used in the Devil's Den, but if he was referring to Buford's Cavalry and its meeting engagement with Heath's outfit, then I should point out that Buford's Cavalry was using the Smith carbine, not the Sharps.

As regards the Gatling Gun, I beleive that it was stated to be of mid-1880s vintage. 

[Major 2]

"the expert pointed out the the shield said 12 inch seat (I believe), He said no grown man could ride a seat that small so it may have been a child's saddle. Also it was rawhide and no one could ride a bare tree. With the slots and rings it was his expert opinion that it was an pack saddle."

  are you kidding me ?  I guess the 11" & 11 1/2" inch trees were for toddlers then....
seems to me , Doug Kidd of Border States leatherworks made saddles for DWW.

..."it was rawhide and no one could ride a bare tree.   "  wonder what that was on the M59 , in his humble opinion !

We (my partner & I ) actually made a bid to do DWW, did not get the show though.

[Don Nix]

 If Doug Kidd made the saddles for DWW then they were pretty close to right. he knows his stuff.
 I sold Doug a Morgan horse years ago. He came down and rode him in the pasture then I delivered him to Ft. Smith.
 I dont think Ive talked with him since. I know he won a Cavalry competition on the horse. The gelding was my Mounted Police Horse. I actually chased  some East Texas bank robbers through the woods on him.

[Major 2]

I'm not sure he did that's a Dougy question but I think he did...

I've know Doug along time, haven't seem him in years though, it might have been the 99 Raymond, Miss. Campaign     wow that long !
I have spoken to him via phone though.

If I remember right Raymond is where he got so sick with blood poisoning, he had jabbed himself with a sewing needle
before he left home for the event.
Untreated, He had high temperature at the event, and when he went home he was real sick....almost deathly sick.