doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Vegas Gun Show

I was unable to be there this year and I was hoping attendees will share their experiences with us. Attendance? Great finds?? Interesting displays--etc. Please let us know when you return home. Thank you. BD

I found the high end room to be kinda empty.
CSMC had the most inventory.
A lot of dealers seen in the past were conspicuously MIA.

Rust room was full to the brim if you like old lever actions.
Hottest items I saw were .22 pumps, Win model 61�s and such.

There were quite a few vacant tables in the Antique Arms Show, and their certainly weren't any crowds in the aisles. I was there all day Friday and saw no reason to go back today. Perhaps the bad weather in parts of the country and the flu epidemic have something to do with it, or is it our aging demographic? Went to Death Valley National Park instead. Thankfully lodging and dining are handled by civilians, not our shutdown National Park Service!!

Friday and Saturday were both pretty quiet but there were busy moments and I have done pretty well. I doubt today (Sunday) will be much more than marking time until 2pm when we are allowed to start packing up.
Yes, the sporting gun area was pretty thin in comparison to previous years: quite a few have migrated to the Dust & Rust room with apparently very mixed results.
(Knives and engraving were similarly a thinned down attendance)
I considered following their example but after a quick zoom up and down the rows, decided that I would be a mite out of place!
I consider the shows now to be more about showing one's face, pressing the flesh, networking with other dealers and getting my wares into the USA for others to market online.
The rise of the online market and 3 day inspection has changed the market hugely, probably more that the aging demographic IMHO.
However, I would think long and hard before cancelling my attendance next year.

A couple of friends were there with their eyes open for my "holy grail" gun, and report was that not a single 32" one was there. I'm beginning to wonder if they are really a unicorn. Just kidding.

I'd liked to have been there to experience it all, but don't feel quite so badly since the "object of my desires" was not there to be seen anyway. Maybe next year.

Glad it has been a successful show for you, Toby.

SRH

It was my first attendance of that show but I've been to lots of big shows like Wannemacher, etc. I went with a very specific shopping list and bought one gun I was looking for and then a 2nd gun that wasn't on my list. I was a little surprised that there weren't more of what I was looking for...British single shot rifles, rook rifles (Kirby had some), etc. There were a TON of Parkers and lever guns and quite a few high end guns with Drake and other high-end dealers.

I easily walked the entire show on Friday since I wasn't looking at Parkers or lever guns. I had planned to be there Sat also but didn't see the point after Friday and had some other things to do before my Sat flight. My first impression was it wasn't exactly what I expected...a little less than I had hoped for but still an interesting show. I heard a LOT of dealers complaining about attendance and lack of sales. I also saw a lot of overpriced guns that weren't moving. At least there weren't tables full of polymer guns, ARs and beef jerky. I can get that anywhere.

One thing I've been looking for was a clean, original Daly diamond quality double. There were 3 there...one was displayed for auction later...one was over 23k...one was in the ballpark. None of them came home with me so the search continues. There was a W&C Scott damascus 10 gauge that almost came home with me.

I use to go every year to buy. Ihave not been in 10 years.

The show is not like it was before in the old Sahara

Many of you just going to the show in the last couple of years, really missed the good shows.

John Boyd

Might there perhaps be some correlation there?

The weather kept me away tho I have to admit that the motivations to attend were minimal. I'm struggling to work up some sense of disappointment.

I have been to the show each of the last 5 years. The national dealer area has definitely been in decline vender wise. The private seller table area has stayed about the same. A friend with a table sold several guns, so I believe that area is somewhat stable. I think that gun shows have been in a steady decline, as is the gun culture in general.

We are a long way from the days of taking your shotgun to school, so you could hunt in the afternoon.

It is true that most of the national dealers were showing VERY expensive guns, I'm not sure how big that market is. Me thinks not very.

I must compliment Heritage Guns, (Toby), for his presentation of nicely prepared vintage English shotguns at reasonable prices.

Will I go next year?, yes, there are so many interesting things to see, not the least of which is, the display of artifacts and guns from Walter of Alaska.

Stan, unfortunately, no hammer pigeon guns, let alone with 32" barrels. I walked the show for 3 straight days and saw none. Well, with the exception of Terry's 29" barreled Reilly, that had to follow me home.

Thanks so much for keeping me in mind. Another friend reported the same thing to me.

I have certainly learned over the past 6 months just how rare a 32" true pigeon hammergun is. A waterfowler and a pigeon gun are NOT the same animal. I am promised first chance at a Boswell 32" pigeon gun that is in England, when it comes on the market, but I have grave doubts that it will be at a price I am willing to meet. We'll see.

SRH