Dallas Gun Show
A buddy on leave from his job as an armourer for the Army came though town and wanted to go to the gun show on Saturday. I explained that I had to work that evening, and had to be back in town. He said that would be fine-- he just wanted to pick up some AR receivers.
We drove and drove to get to Dallas Market Hall, and were astonished by what we found: a line about 200 yards long to get in!
My friend said, "Maybe they're wanding everyone who's entering." Dad and I kind of looked at him askance, seeing as how almost everyone walking in had a pistol, bayonet, rifle, pistol, lock blade, hatchet, spear, or whatnot.
We found a parking space, and stood in line for about half an hour. Actually, the line was moving pretty quickly-- it was just that the press to get in was enormous. They were taking our money and zip-tying guns as fast as they could, to get us in. The crowd inside made the ginormous Market Center Hall feel cramped and difficult to walk into.
In all my lifetime of going to gun shows, I've never seen it like this. EVER. This is a direct response to Bary O' being elected in November.
My buddy went off in search of AR recievers. He'd bought his last ones a few months ago for $120. He came back with ONE Rock River receiver and parts for it that he found for $225, and counted himself lucky to get the last one on the table.
I priced some Webleys, but found that it was just too busy to browse. I vaccilated on buying some Crimson Trace stocks for my J Frame and my KelTec BUGs, but let that go, too.
From the good folks at Blue Star, I bought 200 unfired .38 S&W cases, and 200 hard-cast 158g LSWC .357 bullets, for my project of getting my friend Bill to come shoot plate matches with his Webley.
I bought a dental tool, some hemostats, and some tweezers for gun-cleaning.
And then we rounded up and headed out. Felt kind of lame, actually. My bag couldn't have weighed 10 pounds heavier than when I entered. Heck, I've seen times that I regretted not bringing a frame pack and a wagon in with me.
posted by Matt G @ 12:01 PM
6 Comments:
I too prefer to browse instead of being herded. The gun shows where I live are much smaller but that's fine because the exhibition hall is smaller too. I've gone with my boss a few times but these days I usually go more for the entertainment value. I tend to buy my guns from a local pawn shop that I really like.
I appreciate not having to pay to park like the shows in Florida often required. It cost about ten bucks just to park and get in the door. That stings when all you leave with are some patch cloths and maybe a magazine.
I also appreciate that gun shows in Texas don't seem to feature the Klan and Nazi memorabilia to the degree that the Florida shows did. The few WW2 artifacts for sale are clearly for collectible purposes and not intended to round out some loser's reichsprotektor re-enactment fantasies.
Did I mention the people are more polite? It's also cool running into the sheriff of a nearby small town as he peruses the tables looking for a good deal.
Oh, the Market Hall show. I remember the one we came up for. That was a great show. I can't remember regretting more that I didn't have something decent to spend.
tweaker
Believe it Matt- Two friends were there with a couple of tables, they didn't get ANY breaks and because it was so packed, no chances to look around. Your friend is lucky he found ANY AR parts... He said at 0800 when they opened, the line was 2 HOURS long!
It was the same way at the Gun Show at Will Rogers in Fort Worth back in November. I don't recall seeing any AR's for less than a Grand. In fact the only bargains I saw were on a few shotguns and a lone Sig P220.
Midway's got a few .357 molds in stock. With the price of a Lee 6 cavity and 20lb bottom pour pot being about the same as a thousand bullets, I could see casting even if only for one caliber.
As it is, I used up all my good lead on 230gr .45 TCs, and won't have any to play with when my 125gr .357 RN mold gets here this week. I guess next payday I'll have to make a run to the scrapyard and stock up.
I have been going regularly to DFW shows the past few years, and specifically I was at this one on that Sunday. There was not a line and was not crowded at all. Maybe because I was there at 1PM on Sunday?
I also went to the FT Worth show in November, which was packed and took about 30 minutes to get in. That was at 11am on Saturday.
At both shows I found plenty of AR parts AND several AR's under $1000. On average the low end for the Colt and Bushmaster was around $900 and I saw a few ORC S&W's for $800.
Sunday after 12pm seems to always be a better time to go, but have not noticed much if any difference in offerings.
But, with our new AG's recent declaration on the 'assault weapon ban', I expect the shows to be quite a bit more busy and likely more pricey.
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