Post by Jim Sorry guys...due to my work commitment I've to delay my recollections until now (I'm still at work now though...
).
After I left Magnum Mugen and the shopkeeper Mr Kobayashi (who speaks English) I went to some department store for some quick lunch before my next destination - Shinbashi Gun Shop.
It wasn't far away from the railway station...but once I got to the short building where it was located I'd to walk 4 levels up "unexpected" - and it is the smallest shop among all (approx. 300 sq. ft) - but there were plenty of 2nd hand treasures such as ABS slide & frame of KSC's Beretta M8000 with authentic Beretta markings.
What interested me the most from this shop were their custom-made pistols & revolvers - I was looking for their HWS-based S&W M19 2" with used but genuine factory wood grips, stainless steel hammer, trigger & cylinder release, blued finish, authentic marking (i.e. changed "Made by Kokusai" to "Made In USA")...I forgot if the chambers were clear as well...
When I saw there was one on display along with other custom pistols such as the M36 and the Browning M1910 I couldn't wait to ask the price...after some detailed calculation the cost of the custom M19 that I mentioned above would be...JPY 120,000!!!
Holy crap...with this price I think I can buy 2 live pre-owned M19s in the US (only if I can...) and since I was fresh from graduation at that time so I just couldn't afford it.
Also there were plenty of attractive pistol grips available - but a used genuine wood S&W K-frame grips asked for JPY10,000...
Here I'll show how beautiful their custom guns are:
More available at:
http://www.interq.or.jp/boss/shinbash/SHOWROOM/SHOWROOM.html (Price changes accordingly).
At first I was looking for a Hudson Tokarev HW as advertised but there was only a ABS chrome version available...then after my dream of buying a custom M19 from them shattered I switched to a HWS M36 2" HW - since nobody in HK imported HWS guns at that time.
When I held it in my hand my another dream shattered - the quality was worse than the Kokusai's so I'd decided to switch to:
Out of the 3 Kokusai M36s that I was offered at that time I'd decided to choose this one because it's the only one with silver hammer & trigger.
Compared with the new M36 with clearer chambers:
It was still a pleasant visiting this shop - and it would be better if it was located on the street instead of level 4, the shopsize's bigger and less smoke (the boss/shopkeeper and his other customer were heavy smokers and I could smell smoke on my gun for sometime after purchase).
Unfortunately the boss downsized his business 3 months ago by closing down the shop and now he sells online.
When I bought the M36 I faced with a dilemma - would it be seizured - not by HK but by Japan Customs? But what the heck...if I bought it I got some chance of bringing it back but if I didn't then I'll be missing something later in my life...so I'd decided to spend BIG afterwards
...
3rd Instalment coming soon.........the New MGC Shop.
Thu Sep 04, 2008 12:36 pm
