This weekend there was a gun show at the River Center in St. Paul. It was done by the Minnesota Weapons Collectors Association who generally put on pretty good shows. And it was a pretty good show overall.
I was able to control myself so I didn’t walk away with a new gun but I did walk away with 1,000 pieces of .45 auto brass for a pretty reasonable price. When I go to the range I have no problem finding 9mm and .40 S&W brass but rarely do I find enough .45 auto brass to make much of a difference, hence I still have to buy a supply once in a while.
Handguns are obviously one of the big ticket items yet as I would estimate at least 60% of the guns there were handguns. There were the usual slew of Glocks, XDs, M&Ps, and snubby revolvers. As for rifles there was a ton of AR-15s. You couldn’t throw an anti-gunner without him hitting a rack of evil black rifles. Although I declared the AR-15 drought over before I can now officially say the drought turned into a flood.
Surprisingly there weren’t many AK-47s. There were plenty of M1 carbines but since those appear to be rather popular at the moment the price is high and the ammunition is non-existant. I will get an M1 carbine some day but I think it will wait until after my C&R license shows up and I can just nab one from the CMP.
I actually saw somebody selling primers. You must realize I showed up an hour after opening so seeing any primers remaining was rather shocking. The price tag of $40.00 per 1,000 didn’t surprise me at all but even at that price I know local shops have a hard time keeping stock. It’s nice to see things are starting to lighten up.
There were the usual assortment of space guns going for exorbitantly high prices. It still amazes me that guns made mostly of space plastic cost more than guns made of Earthly materials like metal cost so much more. I guess if you’re part of an elite space marines unit price isn’t an object when fighting off the denizens of alien worlds and parallel dimensions.
Overall it was a good show. It’s nice to finally realize I have a good enough assortment of firearms now that when I go to one of these large shows I don’t find much that trips my trigger. I was seriously considering a CZ 75B that somebody had for a good price but the fact I’d need to get reloading dies allowed my laziness to prevail over my want of a new gun.