imported post
Chantilly gun show sit-rep (Friday night)
The lines were huge.
They now have FIVE money-takers at the front of the building.
The show opened at 3:00.
At 4:45, each line was still easily 100 deep.
There are ZERO 9mm Glock pistols in the building.
Not one.
No G17
No G19
No G26
Zip. Zilch. Nada.
Trader Jerry did have one specimen of the Glock generation 4.
A G22 with the skateboard-tape grip, and swoopy- cocking serrations.
I found the skateboard grip to be every bit as repulsive as I had feared.. They must have had to work hard to RUIN a Glock.
The newfangled swoopy cocking serrations provided a much less secure grasping surface than the design Glock has successfully marketed for twenty years.
Yep. They ruined it.
Dark Sun had a few of the generation 2 police trade-in G22’s.
They appeared to be worn so smooth, that skateboard tape would actually be an improvement.
Meanwhile the various-and-sundry smaller vendors were all heard preaching to the uninitiated the wonders of oddball Glocks in stupid calibers like .357 SIG and .45 GAP.
Any new Glock – even in some stupid caliber or configuration – was running in the mid-500’s
Overall, there was not a lot of AR-15 type rifles – at least not compared to years gone by.
When that type of rifle could be found, the prices were pretty consistently a solid $350 more than the same gun was priced at this time last year.
Same could be said for AK-47 type rifles, except that there were VERY FEW of those.
I think there were three FAL's in the building - all over $1200.
Dark sun had some SAIGA guns at fairly reasonable prices.
The 7.62x39 SAIGA was around $325.
The 12 gauge SAIGA was around $625 – too high in my opinion, but I’m sure the geeks will pay it, as it does seem to be the market price for that monstrosity.
Dark Sun has Ruger 10-22 rifles at GREAT prices.
$170 for blued -- $210 for stainless w/synthetic stock.
Nagants were still under $100.
Ammo was stupid priced.
PER ROUND
62 cents for .223 green-tip
40 – 48 cents for .223 55-grain FMJ
9mm ball for 22 cents
7.62x39 for 33 cents
45 ACP for 33 cents
.308 (7.62 NATO - Radway) for 50 cents (nearly a “bargain” in this market
If ammo prices don’t come down, the shooting game is OVER for most people.
How many gun owners on an hourly wage can shoot even one magazine of 7.62 ammo without feeling a pinch?
NONE.
Even shooters with damn good income are going to have to think twice about burning more than 10 minutes worth of ammo.
Having said that, the ammo vendors had lines 10-deep waiting to hand over their credit card to get scorched.
I predict that the ammo vendors will sell out all case-lots by mid-day Saturday.
One of the ammo vendors had a few cases of MRE’s that looked like they had un-expired orange stickers.
Dunno the price.
Shitloads of knives.
Dumb-ass knife vendors trying to get stupid prices on Chinese knives.
The usual artsy knife guys there too.
A few jewelry vendors.
Bleah.
I saw a Fabrique Nationale SCAR on the table by the wall over in the rear on the right.
They wanted $10,000 for it. I laughed out loud in at the guy behind the table.
Those are the guys who won’t let you pick up the guns even after you ask nicely.
At least I do sort of admire them for being CONSISTENTLY the biggest assholes at the show.
Truly, I think they make “ponytail” at Dark Sun look like Mr. Rogers.
The double-barrel shotgun and Luger guys by the door were keeping the aisles near the front clear – just like they always do. 99.999% of the customers blasted by them as if they didn’t exist. Kind of a shame. Some of those doubles were very nice.
