date: dec 5, 6, 7
location: arizona state fairground at 19th ave & mcdowall
admission fee: 10 dollars (1 off with coupon from newspaper) & parking fee 7 dollars for area closer to gun show, 5 dollars for far away lots.

best feature: cavalry arms showing their new polymer lower receiver at their booth. I finally got to see it with my own eyes and hold it in my hands. am satisfied with its craftmanship and quality. can't wait for mine to be made.

additional info: there were lots of guys walking around with their guns advertising themselves to sell them. mostly overpriced in my opinion.

there also were many colts nib ar15s with very high price... ugh

I saw some new bdus which looks like marpat on them but I couldn't find usmc logo on the pattern. the prices was also rip off too.

I finally found tech manual and ar16 comic for a good price. also bought spare parts and front sight tool.

my major complaints: what's up with frickin' multitudes of chinese-made knives that sells for 2 to 6 dollars? they're all over as if they were breeded by dealers like rabbits!

and no damn o.d. paracords!

what did you guys think of the gun show if you did attend?

-ChaZ

p.s. sorry for using lower cases because I'm using my pager with access to internet and I'm lazy using my thumbs...

I went all 3 days. Never spent a dime.(except food/iced tea) Prices WAY too high. Muzzle dicipline was a joke. Friday was enjoyable, ie. not a huge amount of people. Saturday, packed in like sardines, Sunday the same. The amount of stuff was overwhelming, we must have walked 50 miles in 3 days. Some very cool stuff though. All in all it was a good show, just couldn't seem to part with any cash. We did see a couple of dogs about get into it. That was interesting.
AB

When I go to gunshows, I expect to see new guns on display by the manufacturer, cheap paracord/web gear/stripper clips/P-38s/etc, good priced ammo, reasonably priced magazines, and guns that are actually affordable.  What I usually see is expensive paracord/web gear/etc, ammo that runs $10-$20/k MORE than good deals on the net, magazines that some old coot in some gunshop has been hoarding, and is now selling for $30, a lot of jerky (why at gun show?), and too damn many cheap ass knock-offs of stuff.  For once, I would like to go to a show and pick up 1k of 5.56 ammo, complete LBE, a dozen P-38s, 100' of paracord, and admission and spend less than 2 C-notes.

Ghost

I know WTF over? I scowered that place for a spool of paracord, and there was NOTHING!

I guess I will have to turn to ebay.

I spent Friday aft at the SAR show.  Never got over to the rest of the show.

At the SAR show I was basically disappointed.  I extected this year to be bigger than last year.  And I don't think it was.  I think if you removed the booths in t he SAR section that had nothing to do with military small arms (i.e. NFA) you would have fewer displays than last year.

I was also hoping to see the Ares people and a sample of the Shrike I am waiting for.  They were a no show.

I also thought many of the prices I saw were out of line.  No crime in trying but it got old seeing any Colt M16 listed for $12,000 and up.  In some cases WAY up.  

I ended up buying very little.  Got some 30 round mags from DSA for my FAL and some Colt 32 round 9mm mags.

I really wanted to find a FN-FAL (full auto transferable) and didn't see a single one.  I would also have liked a decent M2 Carbine, but again saw no real ones.

On a bright note by buddy came away with a .50 caliber M2 Ramo machinegun.  Can't wait to shoot that mutha.

I made off with a nice H&K 94 and sold a few pistols. Also stocked up on mags for every gun I own.
This SAR show was a positive one for me. :)


Fenster.

albob

How much was the Izzy HB?  Too late now but always nice to keep an eye on prices.

Thanks

I told the boss to step off on Friday & went to the show. Good show, spent $200 on things I have run out of & replenish reloading supplies. Those Jamokes want WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY to much money for their guns at these shows. But a friend did get a new S&W 44 Mag revolver 8" barrel, full length shrowd all in stainless. And he paid $540 out the door for it. He was looking at the new S&W 500 revolver but they wanted $1K or close to that figure. Ammo is $50.00 a box for 20 rounds. Hell, we'd have to have a lottery to see who could shoot it at those prices. There were no real deals on any guns there.
Then spent the remainder of the weekend at Phoenix International Raceway for an SCCA sports car race. And that was a ton of fun.

Most of these shows are a bust out affair because these guys think their stuff is made of gold. No wonder they haul this crap all over the western US!!

It was, as usual, mostly a bore. Same guys with the same overpriced guns as always. You'd think they'd sell one every now and then. I only spend about 45 minutes there, to pick up .357 ammo ($7.50 50 rnds 158gr JHP) and targets. Was looking for walnut grips for my HiPower, but the-ones-that-Jack-in-Encino-makes are just about as expensive as buying them directly from Browning. Think I'll just call Browning. Really, ammo is the only good thing there, although I did once get a hicap mag for my Beretta from some dude for $10. Shoulda bought a couple more, but I didn't know it was hicap until I took it shooting and it kept taking more rounds than 10, 11,12...

Here's my review. It was ok. I only bought a LULA. I almost bought a ak47 and cetme from jg sales but decided to save my money for another class 3. The worst part of the day was the a booth in the sar tent a guy was trying to buy like 3 or 4 steyr aug mags. He was one dollar short and the guy was telling him toi just go to the ATM. I gave the gave 50 cents and he managed to put together almost a buck and the seller accepted it. It kinda unearved me that someone was that anal over one dollar on a hundred dollar purchase. UGH

[b]Friday:[/b]  Couldn't make it.

[b]Saturday:[/b]  Got to see the SAR show and 50% of the regular show.  The SAR show was unimpressive compared to last year.  Lots of non-C3 junk and even some shitty chinese toys at one table.  Prices seemed to be very high; even higher than internet prices.  

No Shrike-- IT'S CALLED VAPORWARE, PEOPLE.  

Disgusted that Vector UZI's were going for $5,000.00 plus.

Glad to see my friend Eric- he's the one to credit (blame?) for my C3 addiction.  

Sold two G21 highcaps for a lower price than I should have.  Seller's remorse..?

[b]Sunday:[/b]  Returned and saw the other 50% plus the SAR show again.  Today I was tasked with finding a SKS gas tube, standard SKS 10 round mag (original one), one of those flush-fit SKS 5 round mags, and a Mauser 98 triggerguard for a friend.

SKS gas tube:  Found ONE at the ENTIRE SHOW and it had a surface spot of rust.  $10.00.

SKS 5 round flush fit:  Found ONE at the ENTIRE SHOW but it was NIW.  $15.00.

SKS 10 round original:  Found many but they were all $45.00.  WTF??!  Didn't buy any at those prices!

Mauser 98 trigger guard:  Found ONE that was battered but functional.  Medium surface rust; some work required to clean it up.  $15.00.

Picked up some odd items for myself.  Finally found Hoppes copper solvent-- seems like it's impossible to find that here in Mesa!

Feeling sort of odd Sunday night.....

[b]Monday:[/b]  Wake up with the flu.

[b]Tuesday:[/b]  Flu persists.

So I sold two Glock highcaps and got the SKS five round flush fit, the gas tube with rust, the Mauser 98 trigger guard with rust, passed on the overpriced SKS 10 rounders, and the flu.

Mike

What?  No Beanie Babies or beef jerky?

I think it was like, 7-8 grand.
AB

Thanks AB