Gun Show, Pockets

Everyone else is doing it, so why shouldn't I?

Here's what's in my pockets, all the time:



Wallet, cash, 642 with a speed strip, Leatherman tool, phone of one form or another, Fisher Space Pen, Burt's Bees lip balm, CRKT Point Guard knife, Leatherman S2 light, keys.

If I had JayG's scale, I'd tell you how much it all weighs!

Now that the formalities are done with, on to the gun show report.

In one sentence: What a waste of time.

I got there just before 4pm, and the parking lot was starting to thin out. Went in, lady at the door zip-tied my trade fodder, took my money, stamped my hand, and I started browsing.

I'd gone in without much in the way of hard goals. I was kind of looking for an LCP, and had my Bersa with accessories as trade fodder. If a nice wheelie showed up, I had my 647 along but wasn't real eager to part with that. I did notice the blue S&W briefcase getting more than a few glances, but only one dealer asked what was in it.

Worked my way down the aisles, eying the various milsurp gear, a table of "nazi" stuff, reloaded ammo, some milsurp rifles ($1400 for a Garand? SRSLY?), plenty of hunting rifles in various flavors, a few ARs (prices are back to near-pre-0-days), and a few cases of pistols. Some were sorta-fair priced, some were ... uh ... optimistically so.

For example:
Ruger Speed Six, 90%: $350 (tempting, actually)
Glock 19: $580
Glock 19C: $630
Ruger LCP: $350-360
S&W Model 60, 90%: $600

Now, the 19C was a fair price. The rest of that? GMAFB. I offered a dealer my Bersa with two magazines and two holsters, box and docs, straight across for an LCP. He said he'd need $20 cash on top for "paperwork fees". I told him no thanks - I'm willing to take a hit on the Bersa because it is now a used gun, but I can buy them on the auctions all day long for $280, or get one from my dealer for $290. Straight across for the LCP with no accessories would've been more than fair; the dealer got greedy. His loss.

Other things that caught my eye ... a (BADLY) sporterized Springfield 1903 for $700... a set of Crimson Trace grips for the 642, but no price on them and no one around the table to ask ... some various flavors of Contenders for reasonable prices (the .223 with peep sights intrigued me)...

But nothing to really make the show worth the trip or the money. Dealers ignoring people looking through cases, signs everywhere "DON'T TOUCH" ... meh. Just not the atmosphere I'd hoped for. Bits of conversation indicated the opening hours had been insane, so maybe the attitude was just exhaustion. I dunno. Just re-confirms my feeling that gun shows around here aren't the home of great deals and steals.