Went in this morning just after opening. Lots of people, lots of great stuff to buy. Its a nice sunny day and folks seem cheerful, great day to buy a gun. Overall the show seems as big as or bigger than the Raleigh gun show.
Price impressions:
- most everything was about what you'd expect, few good deals, mostly average
- Oly arms stripped lowers for $150
- uppers w/o b,bc+ch from $290 and up
- nice AR 30 rnd mags $20-25, good $15+
- 7.62x39 is back down to ~$80/1000
- lots of SA 5.56 300 rnd battlepacks for ~$40
- Glocks ~$500, Sigs about the same, lots of 1911's + the usual junk
Seemed to me to be more militaria and fun guns than hunting longarms (this could just be my impression because I don't pay much attention to the hunting stuff.)
Big crowds around the handgun dealers tables; there were four or five dealers that seemed to be doing great business.
There were three or four dealers that had sizable tables of black rifle stuff.
I was on the hunt for more AR mags for myself and a friend. I walked by one table where a guy had 4 GI 30 rounders for $10 each. They looked like good shooters, so I snatched them all up. The guy looked a little surprised that I bought them all. Scoured the rest of the floor for good deals. One dealer had a rubbermade tub full of AR 30 rnd mags for $12 each, so I headed back later and picked five good ones. (Doncha love how you can hand folks the cash and there's no messing with sales tax?)
On the way out I went by that first table, and the guy had put four more of the same grade mags out, but this time for $15 each!
I was happy about the show, because I buy guns butt-backwards. I impulsively buy, then go to the gun show to see if I got a good deal. So I went around looking at prices and handling a lot of handguns (my latest purchase) and came to the conclusion that I got a good deal on a gun that feels good in my hand and suits my purpose (I just didn't buy it at the show!)
All in all, well worth $6 admission and $3 parking...
One last note: What could possibly motivate a guy to bring a FEW over-priced guns to a show, rent a table, and sit there for hours with no-one looking at his stuff? I'm thinking of one "dealer" that had about 3 tables, with maybe 3 handguns and four rifles, with lots of empty space between them. He had a Rock River AR on the table for $950! Why do they bother?
{edited for typos}