This weekend's AFHF class precluded my usual trip to the Indy 1500, which was a bit of a bummer, but... yay, gun school!
However, I figured to sneak in on Friday afternoon, since the show opens at 2PM on that day for a sort of sneak preview of the weekend, and at least walk the aisles some. I can't really afford anything right now, but maybe I'd stumble across some variant or barrel length of a Smith .32 or .38 top-break I didn't already have for stupid cheap, or an un-bubba'ed full-length Carcano or Stey-Mannlicher for a C-note-and-change.
Also, I sorta hoped the guys from Raven Concealment would have their portable holster-makin' gear there so I could get a proper IWB for my M&P9 with the CTC Lightguard mounted.
I arrived at the Fairgrounds at 2:03, and as I was preparing to park, I noticed that the line wrapped clear around the front of the building and halfway down the side. In spitting 46°F rain. In the middle of the day, on a weekday.
Oh-kay.
I whipped the car around, and headed for the nearest drug store to buy an umbrella, since I did not currently own one. I mean, the show had only been open for three minutes, and so it was probably taking some time to get the initial logjam through the gate. By the time I got back, surely they would have processed most of the herd and I shouldn't have more than a five or ten minute wait...
It was 2:26PM when I returned with my umbrella and now the line wrapped around the front of the building and all the way down the side (the length of a city block) and people were still streaming across the parking lot to get on the end of it.
I didn't even pull into the parking lot; I just kept driving. Screw that. There was not a single thing in that building I needed badly enough to stand for an hour in forty-degree rain, by myself with a bunch of strangers, fingers slowly getting numb and feet getting sore, before I even got into the crowded jostle of the show.
"But Tam!" you say, "Suppose there was a screaming deal on a Smith Triple Lock or a Colt 1905 just waiting in there?"
You know, there will be other shows, and the hunting's half the fun of the finding anyway. I know why that crowd was there, and I already have the stuff they were all herdin' up to get, and good luck to 'em all.
Me? I'm going to gun school.
.
It's amusing that whenever gun control advocates open their mouths, gun sales skyrocket. It's like they don't see the connection.
ReplyDeleteHAVE FUN AT GUN SCHOOL ! SIGHT PICTURE
ReplyDeleteSIGHT PICTURE ! SIGHT PICTURE !
GET EM ALL IN THE X RING !
You've described the opening hour of the 1500 for the past four years, how is this a surprise and what difference does temp/rain make?
ReplyDeleteI get there an hour after opening and this time waited 10min to get in. I've avoided the latest IN1500s just because of the crowds, but I was in Indy yesterday and Friday crowds don't compare with Saturday crowds.
Interestingly, I saw the first "booth babe" I've seen at this show at a military wear supplier. She was obviously a hired gun as most female vendors don't go around wearing a molle vest with noting on underneath and haven't enhanced what God gave them. Not that I complained or am complaining, but I just find it noteworthy since I've seen "booth babes" at conventions, but not the IN1500.
Tam:
ReplyDeleteNow you can go to the Nappanee gunshow instead, on the 27th.
Amish Bacon too.
Wow! Man oh man! I scored a S&W Triple for $95 from the Booth Babe! Best deal of my life!
ReplyDelete:)
Focus hard at AFHF and best of luck! Front sight... press!
If there's something that I desperately want or need at a gun show, I can usually hear it calling to me from the parking lot.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a proper tactical retreat!
ReplyDeletegfa
Sure to be some jacked up prices there too...can't blame the sellers, that's just supply/demand capitalism at its purest.
ReplyDeleteBut as you've noted, that crowd and the sense of urgency it conveys goes a long way toward creating the Perception of a shortage, and likely will result in the Reality of one for certain goods.
Bright note is, the jetsam you're after will likely be ignored by the throngs and that just might result in one of those "screaming deals", if you can stomach the sea of humanity to find it.
PB
Everybody sing along! "Oklahoma! Where the rounds go screaming down the Range!"
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the training, and sometimes it's just NOT worth the time/effort to stand in line...
ReplyDeleteKnow the feeling Tam i am suposed to drive up to Bisley 2moro but the cost
ReplyDeleteof the petrol and the cost of getting
in to the Trafalgar Meet arms show is
giving me second thoughts.
Please post an after action report on your training course and have a good time while your there.
ReplyDeleteThis just in- Obama wins "Gun Salesman of the Year" for the 5th year running!
ReplyDeleteSuncoast Gun Show, Home Show, and Reptile Show this weekend in three different exhibition halls at the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa. It is entertaining to see some of the attendees interact in the parking lot.
ReplyDeleteA cold front came through before sunrise so the temperature was in the mid-eighties, the sun was shining, there was a light breeze and the humidity was low. As I write this the temperature has dropped to 67 degrees, something unseen this time of day since last May.
'Market forces distorted by government regulation...'
ReplyDeleteCould that be why I see AR15s listed for $US15,500 here (Australia) and a local bloke has just made 35 M4'geries (25 SA and 10 FA) from the ground up and has sold over half in 2 weeks for $US9,000 each?
Mike from Oz
On the other hand, the show I worked this weekend all-but put Dennis to sleep, and it only got worse the closer we got to kick-off. Wierder still, I did not see much buying, but I saw a whole lot of people bringing a whole lot of wood-and-blued crap, to put it simply, in hoping to sell it for positively ludicrous prices. Strange weekend.
ReplyDelete