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Guesser
09-25-2010, 08:38 PM
Great Falls Montana, pretty good show; 600 tables or so. Too much jewelry, too many candles, no jerky and almost no used molds. Picked up a copy of Lyman cast bullet handbook I have never seen before, can't find a print date yet, but will look further.
Did get 2 boxes of Western Super X 32 Long Colt ammunition, its getting hard to come by but I'm probably set now. Lots of Colts, S&W, not a lot of new guns, I'd guess more used than new. Lots of Winchesters and older Marlins. I enjoyed myself. free parking and 5$ admission good for the 3 day show.

mtnman31
09-28-2010, 04:28 PM
I haven't been to the Great Falls show for a few years now. But, I think that your observations on art, jewlery, coins, etc are pretty much the norm for most gun shows. I get sick of it and wish vendors of those items were all segregated from what should be considered gun show fare, i.e. guns, ammo, hunting stuff, shooting literature, etc. Problem is that gun show organizers are there to make money and as long as someone is willing to pay for a table they are going to get a spot regardless of what they are selling.

Three-Fifty-Seven
09-28-2010, 08:47 PM
Problem is that gun show organizers are there to make money and as long as someone is willing to pay for a table they are going to get a spot regardless of what they are selling.

That's fine, but corral them all in one area, so if you don't want to waste your time with them . . . you can skip that stuff . . .

Rocky Raab
09-29-2010, 09:28 AM
The only gun show I know of that makes you sign an agreement and state exactly what you will display/sell is The Big Reno Show. It is also - not coincidentally - one of the most successful gun shows extant.

What mtnman describes is true. The situation began when the BATF drastically cut down the numbers of FFL holders and when laws made it extremely difficult to do gun business outside your own state - or even outside your own store. That meant very few true gun dealers could sell at gun shows. If you can't sell, you don't go; these aren't show and tell, they are show and SELL.

Promoters have a choice: run a small show with a few tables or a large show with lots of tables - even if many of those tables carry merchandise not directly "gun." With the very high costs of running a show, small shows are simply not profitable. The answer, for many promoters, is to have a show like the Great Falls one.

As an aside, segregating the merchandise is usually fatal to the success of the show. Vendors MUST have walk-by traffic. If everything is segregated, the part of the public here to see that will never walk past this. No traffic, no sales, and that vendor will not return.