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To preface the discussion, I believe the last gun show I attended (Spokane County Fairgrounds) was around 1996, so admittedly it's been a very long time since I attended one.
When I was a (semi-) regular attendee of the local gun shows where I lived, I found that the makeup of the shows tended (roughly) to break down into the following percentages:
25% military and exotic weapons
40% hunting or non-military rifles/pistols
15% "old west" type firearms/goods for display
15% ammunition/book/misc sales
5% knives
Toward the end of my attendance it seemed that more and more of the exotics would poke their heads up with gun show premium markups (what is now known as the Craigslist Phenomenon...where an item in questionable condition automatically increases fivefold in value because the owner, "knows what one sold for on television!") but overall those percentages seemed to be fairly inline with the representation.
Fast forward to this weekend. I took the opportunity to cruise over to Monroe for the WAC show with a buddy as I've never attended one on this side of the state and wanted to see what it was like, plus my buddy was looking to upgrade his hunting rifle status. I've heard that Puyallup is where one really needs to go to experience it, but in the next few weeks my weekends won't allow the time I need to drive down there and putz around.
My percentages are probably off, but below is how I'd swag the numbers above as being different:
55% military and exotic weapons
15% hunting or non-military rifles/pistols
15% "old west" type firearms/goods for display
7.5% ammunition/book/misc sales
7.5% knives
It seemed like EVERY table had a plethora of AR parts and accessories, finding about 1,001 different ways to slice the same tomato. Some very fairly prices, and some ridiculously priced.
Is that generally how shows are nowadays? What do most of you look for when you go to shows today? Do you find yourself going to pick up parts, to looky loo, or are you looking for that next gun to add to the safe?
When I was a (semi-) regular attendee of the local gun shows where I lived, I found that the makeup of the shows tended (roughly) to break down into the following percentages:
25% military and exotic weapons
40% hunting or non-military rifles/pistols
15% "old west" type firearms/goods for display
15% ammunition/book/misc sales
5% knives
Toward the end of my attendance it seemed that more and more of the exotics would poke their heads up with gun show premium markups (what is now known as the Craigslist Phenomenon...where an item in questionable condition automatically increases fivefold in value because the owner, "knows what one sold for on television!") but overall those percentages seemed to be fairly inline with the representation.
Fast forward to this weekend. I took the opportunity to cruise over to Monroe for the WAC show with a buddy as I've never attended one on this side of the state and wanted to see what it was like, plus my buddy was looking to upgrade his hunting rifle status. I've heard that Puyallup is where one really needs to go to experience it, but in the next few weeks my weekends won't allow the time I need to drive down there and putz around.
My percentages are probably off, but below is how I'd swag the numbers above as being different:
55% military and exotic weapons
15% hunting or non-military rifles/pistols
15% "old west" type firearms/goods for display
7.5% ammunition/book/misc sales
7.5% knives
It seemed like EVERY table had a plethora of AR parts and accessories, finding about 1,001 different ways to slice the same tomato. Some very fairly prices, and some ridiculously priced.
Is that generally how shows are nowadays? What do most of you look for when you go to shows today? Do you find yourself going to pick up parts, to looky loo, or are you looking for that next gun to add to the safe?