Woke up at 0 dark 30 as usual, tried to get back to sleep, but got woke up again by the maids at 0730 (on a SATURDAY no less)…
Quick SSS, and stumble down to breakfast- Sunny California my ass, it’s in the 50’s overcast and windy…
Lemme see, golf? Nope- too cold and windy, as bad as I play fuggedaboutit!
Go sailing? Nope- no boat, see above on weather, plus no jacket…
Hmmm, what’s in the paper? Ohhh Shiny!!! Gun SHOW 🙂 Yep, that’ll work!
Take my happy ass down and off I go up to Del Mar- Uh oh… 1 mile backup just to get off at the exit, now ALL these people can’t possible be going to the gun show CAN THEY???
/grumble/ 30 minutes to literally go two miles to the gun show parking lot, AND get charged $9 for parking!!! Yep, welcome to Kalifornia!!!
Now go jump in line, hurry up and wait; but I ‘know’ how to do this 🙂 Some interesting conversations about guns, liberty and ammunition as we move slowly to the entrance, a few folks bringing things to sell, but no where near what I’m used to seeing at Tulsa… NRA at the front, join the NRA get a free entry, they’re doing pretty good too!
Woof… crowded at the front door! Oh, no wonder, first set of tables in the door is ammo seller, and they are packed at least five deep all the way around the tables! Probably 5-600 tables total, whole bunch of jewelry/junk/Shamwow stuff…
Definitely Kalifornia prices!!! Old Colts SAA’s $3-5000, a table full of 03A3, M-1, and M-1 carbines, $1700-$7000, bunch of knife sellers, a couple of safe sellers (they are busy!), two tables of MREs (Why???), cheapo flashlights, more cheapo knives, magazines, oddball ammo, another couple of tables of ammo, $400 for 500 rounds XM193 .223; lots of personal defense pistol ammo at HIGH prices, with box limits… sigh…
Obligatory old uniform sellers, Chinese gun cases, cheapo holsters, empty ammo boxes, 3 for $12, Jerky… yechhh! NASTY jerky… phuti…
BOOKS! Lots of books 🙂
Damn, high priced books too!!! First edition Elmer Keith and Jeff Cooper over $130 each, lots of how to gunsmithing, reloading, bits/pieces/parts tables.
Oh, a table selling AR-15s (don’t know how they are doing that); basic Rock River that was $950 last November is now $1895! Sigh…
Oh yeah, and LOTS of people! Young, old, male, female, at least a couple of three generation groups, which are nice to see; single women shopping for pistols too!
And everybody is very polite too! I see this at every gun show, and I’m impressed at how polite folks can be… Of course, an armed society is a polite society 🙂
Spent a few minutes talking to the Calguns.net folks, good guys working hard for gun rights in an uphill battle out here… Drop by and give them some support if you have time!
What I didn’t see- Tables with long guns, or multiple tables of semi-autos from dealers… Interesting…
Okay, the dogs are barking, nothing that I can’t live without, I’m outta here…
Now back to the regularly scheduled “stuff”…
Caught the no long guns, and no dealer tables, not having broad experience in gun shows I was content with what I saw. I am with you on the MRE, and portions of the MRE sales — WHY?
Was a time I would store my surplus from field training – but then thought of the room I was wasting.
pings wv appropriate?
Gun show in Cali? Didn’t know there was such a thing.
Earl- I have NO idea… anybody that has ever eaten them would only eat them again if there was NOTHING else to eat 🙂 And yeah, pings is good!
CA- More of a show than sales from the prices I was seeing!!!
Interesting to see how the other side lives… even if it is the left side.
The thing I love most about Kali is this…. if it weren’t for that place, those people might be here, and I like here.
We’re going to continue to accumulate whatever we can whenever we can. I don’t trust this administration.
Carteach0 – Point there!
KY- Agreed! Ran into two guys who had ridden their Harleys from Dallas to San Diego to go see USS Midway and, like me, saw the ad in the paper. They were amazed at the prices too!
There’s a show here in KC in a couple of weeks, the 19th I think. Shows around here lately have been just the opposite. A lot of long guns, half rifles, half shotguns, pistols of all makes including a lot of cheapo Jennings selling for $150. A lot of ARs. Last show about a month ago, saw AR uppers running around $650 with complete rifles runnint $1200-1500. A lot of M1As too. Some running of $2k.
Not much ammo, though. I was set to buy a case of .45acp but couldn’t find any.
gun show, i wanna go to a gun show … we don’t have gun shows here 🙁
Crucis- yep, ammo is a ‘bit’ of an issue… Go EARLY and you might have a chance…
Julie- You could always come see one, but the commute would be a bear 🙂
and, Jim, buying anything would be more hassle than it was worth too 🙁
Julie- Probably right on that one too! Much less trying to get it shipped to you! Customs, etc. would be a bear!
I’m afraid Tulsa has ruined me. Good 5.56, 55 grain, is running about $450 per 1,000 here in Indiana. I usually buy internet but all the cyber shelves are bare.
My friends (and they are my friends) at the local range/gunshop have gotten into the habit of saving things of “interest” for me to take a look at.
Last week it was a 4″, nickle, .38 Special, Colt Diamondback in what I’d judge as 95%. Next thing, I was forking over $800 cash.
It was money well spent. Smooth as velvet.
While not my first self defense cartridge, the .38 Special, especially in an old, quality platform, is just so damned much fun to shoot. Maybe that’s why I own over a dozen.
The gunshow just isn’t what it used to be.
Good contacts is the way to go.
I actually deliberately bought some MREs at one point. I ate them during a low period when my first wife left me.
I lost a lot of weight in that month.