C&E gunshow UGHHHHH!

[tommygun]

I attended a C&E gun show here in Pittsburgh today and it was pathetic. More like a flea market. I don't go to a gun show to buy trinkets, beads, jewelry, jerky, fudge or socks. More tables without guns than with. How does this compare in other parts of the country? Not one 3 screw Ruger in the whole place!!!!

 

[gewehrfreund]

Most of the shows around here are OK. The majority of promoters require that most/all tables are somehow gun/hunting related.
I like our smaller shows especially; I can usually find some good deals and old/rare sights/parts/components, etc.

 

[gmartinnc]

The last one I went to at Charlotte NC was like a flea market, and there was enough empty space to have had roller skating under the same roof. I mentioned to the officials on the way out that 1/2 the admission price would be about right for 1/2 of a show but I was charged the full price.
A few weeks later I went to another in Winston Salem, and it was a pretty good show.

 

[Jim Puke]

Most of ours seem to be OK, but they tend to have mostly the pop culture type guns, not much of interest and certainly not worth driving the 85 miles and paying the cover charge...except, I am a gun nut.

 

[chet15]

As far as non-gun stuff, the 4H building show at the fairgrounds in Des Moines doesn't have many tables with that kind of thing...maybe a coin/currency dealer or somebody selling jerky and beef sticks, but 99% of the show is all gun/knife related.
For me, that show has got to be on of the best in the country really as far as there being new Rugers there. Every once in a while a nice old model will show up, but nothing really rare any more. All those seemed to disappear in the late 70's/early '80's but there was some really good stuff that showed up back then.
Today there are probably at least 7 dealers there that have a mostly full line of Ruger handguns so I really get a good feeling of what Ruger is doing, and this is only a 450 table show or so. Even as big as Tulsa is in the Fall at 3600+ tables, I can only think of maybe one or two dealers there that carry a line new Rugers and one of them is collector/RENE member K. D. Wilhite.
Chet15

 

[Highstandardguy]

The C&E shows in Raleigh got so bad a few years ago that they stopped all together. They have made a come back, and for the most part, are pretty good shows now.

 

[SK]

Hey, I was there, and by the way, the jerky is very good.
I did manage to pick up a NIB left hand Remington 788 in 6mm. Been looking for one for years

 

[dreamer]

I agree with chet15 on the 4-H bldg show, more Ruger stuff than I usually find in KC or Columbia MO or in Denver or Longmont in CO.

 

[cubrock]

I didn't know C&E went that far north. I've done okay at their shows, but mostly from walk-ins. They do seem to be more flea market than gun show anymore.

 

[Ale-8(1)]

Man, I recall going to the Des Moines "holiday season" shows at the fairgrounds. Our little club usually made it a "weekend" thing, with the guys going to the show and most of the gals going "shopping" in the big city. Actually staying overnight in a Holiday Inn was a big deal in those days.

Got a few of my favorite Rugers there. Good times.