NVcurmudgeon
09-16-2006, 10:40 PM
This will probably be of interest to only those from Northern Nevada and possibly Northern California. We are blessed in having the Big Reno Gun Show three times a year at the Reno Hilton. As the Hilton has recently changed hands and is now called "Sierra Grand Resorts," Rumor has it that SGR plans to convert to vacation condos. I am keeping fingers crossed that we don't lose this biggest and best show. There is the medium sized Crossroads of the West show at the Reno Convention Center, and a couple of tiny and seldom local shows in the area. In the interest of research, I visited the show at Boomtown today. It turned out to be in a large circus-style tent which made it a show about half again the size of the small Gardnerville or Winnemucca shows. Of course there were some tempting firearms offered, and If I had more stash money in my Wranglers, I might have gone home with a Remington M81 semi-auto in .30 Rem. to join my Remington M141 pump in the same caliber. A first edition (1962) Handloader's Digest now rests on my shop's bookshelf, so it was a worthwhile trip. One strange note was seeing a sign at the separate casino building entrance forbidding concealed weapons. Nevada is a gun friendly state with a "shall issue" CCW law. One provision of the law is that a business can forbid CCW on their premises if signs are posted prominently at all entrances. This was the first such ban I have seen, and while Boomtown has the right to run their business as they see fit, I thought the additional cutsey liberal "this is a gun free zone" sign was excessively stomach turning. On the way home I stopped at Sportsman's Warehouse and invested nearly the entire Secret Gun Fund in powder and primers, as I have heard persistent rumors that SW is about to raise their previously friendly prices on these two lines. Watch this space for a report whether the next Big Reno Gun Show, slated for Novenmber, will occur.