One of the shows put on by our own ex sea rat, Navy_Chief. Matt and his wife Pattie put on a nice little show. I would say it was about 70% of tables full when I landed there on Sunday afternoon. He told me a couple of vendors had already left, one because he'd already sold out of everything, I think. Not bad.
A good ammo vendor, prices didn't seem TOO bad, really. He had factory 300AAC at ~$65-68 per 50, subsonic. 6.8 I looked at was $23-28 for most factory, some better stuff was a little higher.
Several holster dealers, one a custom leather tooler, I think, one who seemed to have about a million Uncle Mike's-style nylon ones.
One guy selling steel targets - plates, stands, hangers, flippers, etc., made out of AR-500 steel. Looked like good stuff. If I were in the market (i.e., I had some land to shoot on), I'd definitely buy some of that.
Good ol' Rijas was there, but no big Rijas signs. I saw a piece of paper touting a "lifetime guarantee" but I pretty well ignored it, then saw one of the rifles (a pink-outfitted 6.5 Grendel - go figure) had a Rijas inscription. When I mentioned it, I said, "Oh, so ya'll are Rijas," just kinda nonchalantly. He said yes, kinda-sorta. Said they were now affiliated with one of the other dealers at the show - he pointed him out to me. This kid (maybe 20 years old?) was the only one in their large circle of tables didn't really know prices. I looked at some endplate sling adapters - the Magpul ASAP and a similar QD one from... ProMag? Something like that? The QD one was $35, he said he wasn't sure on the Magpul, but probably about that price... he said, "You know, maybe $5 more or so, for the Magpul name." I didn't have the heart to tell him I'd just bought a pair of Condor single-point Cobra slings with Magpul ASAPs two tables back from him for $60 total. All new in packaging. Smokin' deal, I think.
So, I got a pair of slings, and from the same table got a Diamondhead V-RS "T" 10.25" free float handguard for $50. Yeah. $50. With proprietary barrel nut and tightening screws. I'm not a huge fan of the backward-sloping front end, but it is something different, and it feels nice in the hand. I've got so many rifles to outfit, and I like doing different stuff with them, so I snatched it.
I wore my Springfield 1911 V-10 Champion in my open-carry holster and got a few comments, but no one wanting to pay too much for it. I like it alot, so I wasn't looking to unload it, but if someone had been willing to fork out, I'd have sold it.
I carried my nice condition S&W 909 steel-framed single stack 9mm with 5 steel S&W mags with a sign taped on the case for $400. I paid less than that, got it from a member here for... I wanna say $350? I dunno, it's been several years ago, and it's mostly sat in the closet. It's a decent firearm, but nothing special, and the wife likes her S&W 6904 better, so... I thought I'd see if I could get lucky and someone wanted it, or moreso, wanted to trade for it.
One of the guys had one of those "Shark" guns they were pushing, wanted $450, but it was compensated and I didn't want that. Thought about seeing if they would trade mine for that, just since it's something different, but the 909 never made it back around to their table....
Was talking to the guy who is "umbrella-ing" Rijas. He was selling a YHM complete lower for I think $375 or $395, had Anderson stripped lowers for $79.99, LPKs for $55. Anyways, I asked him if he was interested in trading for my S&W 909 and he asked what I was interested in. I told him my wife would probably like one of those Shields and he said he would trade me straight across. He had the Shields marked $379.95 for 9mm or .40S&W - your choice. So I jumped on it. I didn't really expect much interest in my old 909, although it was in pretty good shape, but to trade it for something new my wife might actually carry instead of sit in the closet, I thought it was a great trade for me. He did the paperwork electronically and it was QUICK! No waiting on the phone. I loved it. You other FFLs need to get into the online 4473 thing, man!
So overall, I came away happy... I figure my two slings and ASAPs were a steal at $60 for both sets, and the handguard was about 60-70% less than it sells for online. And the Shield was a good trade.
Oh, and from that same guy (the one I got the Shield from) I also grabbed a steel 5-round mag for my 6.8SPC for $20 cash. Not horrendous, I don't see those around much.
So I'm very glad I went, it was a nice outing, I got some decent deals, and got to meet Matt (Navy_Chief) and his wife Pattie, and they were great folks.
Thumbs-up to Badshot gunshows!
A good ammo vendor, prices didn't seem TOO bad, really. He had factory 300AAC at ~$65-68 per 50, subsonic. 6.8 I looked at was $23-28 for most factory, some better stuff was a little higher.
Several holster dealers, one a custom leather tooler, I think, one who seemed to have about a million Uncle Mike's-style nylon ones.
One guy selling steel targets - plates, stands, hangers, flippers, etc., made out of AR-500 steel. Looked like good stuff. If I were in the market (i.e., I had some land to shoot on), I'd definitely buy some of that.
Good ol' Rijas was there, but no big Rijas signs. I saw a piece of paper touting a "lifetime guarantee" but I pretty well ignored it, then saw one of the rifles (a pink-outfitted 6.5 Grendel - go figure) had a Rijas inscription. When I mentioned it, I said, "Oh, so ya'll are Rijas," just kinda nonchalantly. He said yes, kinda-sorta. Said they were now affiliated with one of the other dealers at the show - he pointed him out to me. This kid (maybe 20 years old?) was the only one in their large circle of tables didn't really know prices. I looked at some endplate sling adapters - the Magpul ASAP and a similar QD one from... ProMag? Something like that? The QD one was $35, he said he wasn't sure on the Magpul, but probably about that price... he said, "You know, maybe $5 more or so, for the Magpul name." I didn't have the heart to tell him I'd just bought a pair of Condor single-point Cobra slings with Magpul ASAPs two tables back from him for $60 total. All new in packaging. Smokin' deal, I think.
So, I got a pair of slings, and from the same table got a Diamondhead V-RS "T" 10.25" free float handguard for $50. Yeah. $50. With proprietary barrel nut and tightening screws. I'm not a huge fan of the backward-sloping front end, but it is something different, and it feels nice in the hand. I've got so many rifles to outfit, and I like doing different stuff with them, so I snatched it.
I wore my Springfield 1911 V-10 Champion in my open-carry holster and got a few comments, but no one wanting to pay too much for it. I like it alot, so I wasn't looking to unload it, but if someone had been willing to fork out, I'd have sold it.
I carried my nice condition S&W 909 steel-framed single stack 9mm with 5 steel S&W mags with a sign taped on the case for $400. I paid less than that, got it from a member here for... I wanna say $350? I dunno, it's been several years ago, and it's mostly sat in the closet. It's a decent firearm, but nothing special, and the wife likes her S&W 6904 better, so... I thought I'd see if I could get lucky and someone wanted it, or moreso, wanted to trade for it.
One of the guys had one of those "Shark" guns they were pushing, wanted $450, but it was compensated and I didn't want that. Thought about seeing if they would trade mine for that, just since it's something different, but the 909 never made it back around to their table....
Was talking to the guy who is "umbrella-ing" Rijas. He was selling a YHM complete lower for I think $375 or $395, had Anderson stripped lowers for $79.99, LPKs for $55. Anyways, I asked him if he was interested in trading for my S&W 909 and he asked what I was interested in. I told him my wife would probably like one of those Shields and he said he would trade me straight across. He had the Shields marked $379.95 for 9mm or .40S&W - your choice. So I jumped on it. I didn't really expect much interest in my old 909, although it was in pretty good shape, but to trade it for something new my wife might actually carry instead of sit in the closet, I thought it was a great trade for me. He did the paperwork electronically and it was QUICK! No waiting on the phone. I loved it. You other FFLs need to get into the online 4473 thing, man!
So overall, I came away happy... I figure my two slings and ASAPs were a steal at $60 for both sets, and the handguard was about 60-70% less than it sells for online. And the Shield was a good trade.
Oh, and from that same guy (the one I got the Shield from) I also grabbed a steel 5-round mag for my 6.8SPC for $20 cash. Not horrendous, I don't see those around much.
So I'm very glad I went, it was a nice outing, I got some decent deals, and got to meet Matt (Navy_Chief) and his wife Pattie, and they were great folks.
Thumbs-up to Badshot gunshows!
