New Gun Show Woodlands August 17 & 18, 2013

[benenglish]

Good to meet you, too. And thanks for having some powder at a price reasonable enough for me to crack open my wallet.

 

[benenglish]

These lazy rich kids...10 of you said you live 5 mins away and no report yet.

I live two minutes away as the crow flies. Unfortunately, I'm on the wrong side of Spring creek so the drive took 20 minutes.

The venue was reasonable even if parking was insufficient. Lots of trucks were on the grass. If I read the signs outside correctly, there was also a baseball event happening so there's a chance parking will be easier tomorrow.

I saw some interesting stuff. 100 rounds of .22 CCI subsonic for $22. ~500 round box of plain old Remington .22 LR for $80. One of the dealers got very miffed at me when I laughed out loud.

Some things were encouraging. I saw a Wyndham with low-end optics for $780. There was a DPMS for $650. At least some ARs are dropping back to affordable ranges. Unfortunately, there was also a Tavor for over $2K. Then again, there was a Colt set up almost exactly like I want for $980.

I did manage to see a half dozen Double Taps spread over 3 dealers marked at $420 to $460. I'm on the fence about this one. Somebody on TGT needs to test one and post results. I promised to do that months ago but, having had a chance to play with them extensively at the NRA Annual Meeting, I really no longer want the thing. I'll probably succumb to temptation and pick one up tomorrow just for grins.

Much to mull over before I go back tomorrow, including whether I'll go back at all.

 

[ZeR0BuG]

Venue is 5 mins from my house and 2 minutes from work

 

[Texasjack]

The room was pretty nice - lots of air conditioning - and tables were spaced nicely. Parking was a huge problem - there isn't nearly enough at the location and there's nothing close by. Maybe next time they can arrange to park people somewhere and shuttle them. Gun prices, as benenglish pointed out, were pretty good - no great bargains but MUCH better than they've been. Dealers were pretty willing to make reasonable deals.

Ammo prices remain extremely high, but they did have pretty much every caliber you might want and they have come down a bit. Primers were available at several locations, and there was some decent gunpowder (instead of ancient stuff cleaned out of some barn). Even some bullets - I managed to score a box of 500 230g .45 ACP FMJs.

While I was looking at some guns, a guy came up and talked to the salesman - apparently a repeat customer of theirs. He said something interesting: "You know what's missing from this gun show? Thugs. Every time I go to a show in Houston, I see plenty of gang bangers and wannabe thugs."

 

[ShootingTheBull]

I saw one couple trying to do a "felon buy"... you know, "we don't have a driver's license", "no, we actually live in another state", every excuse they could throw at it. Of course, she was doing the talking (and was probably 8 months pregnant) but the dealer wasn't having any of it.

I actually found a box of Hornady Custom .380, something I haven't seen on Ammoseek in months and months, and it wasn't grossly overpriced. Well, it was grossly overpriced, it was $26, but -- it wasn't horrifically overpriced like normal. Last show I was at they wanted $35 for something like this, so $26 was at least worth it.

 

[NTMock]

Going tomorrow, I am literally about half a mile away from that complex. Anyone see any CZ's?

 

[TundraWookiee]

Glad to hear it was decent up there...I guess I should have gone to that one instead. Perhaps next time.

 

[benenglish]

Anyone see any CZ's?

No. And I was specifically looking for CZs, Tanfoglios, EAAs, etc.

 

[Glockster69]

I saw some interesting stuff. 100 rounds of .22 CCI subsonic for $22. ~500 round box of plain old Remington .22 LR for $80. One of the dealers got very miffed at me when I laughed out loud.

It's been a few months since I went to a show but I enjoyed the hell out doing that too. Don't really give a rats what they think either.

I would like a different handguard for my MSR, anyone going today?

 

[Tejano Scott]

Think I'm gonna try and go after church. Should be there around 11. If there's no place to park, then I doubt I'm going to do any hiking. Main goal today is to make it shooters station.

 

[Texasjack]

BTW, I wore my new TGT shirt at the show. Several dealers asked me to say nice things about them on here. (Yeah, like my memory works for that long!)

I did finally come over to the dark side and picked up an AR at the show.

 

[Glockster69]

I did finally come over to the dark side and picked up an AR at the show.

You best go to church with Scott

 

[benenglish]

I decided not to go back today. I call that "overcoming temptation" since if I had gone back I would have been out ~$3K on stuff that was just calling my name - a Double Tap; a round-butt, 3" Ruger Bearcat; a nice, simple Colt AR; one of a couple of Cimmarons; and reloading supplies.

To anybody who's considering going today I forgot to mention one dealer. As soon as you enter, turn left, walk all the way to the wall, turn right, walk almost halfway back, and stop. There's a custom reloader there. All his ammo is in white boxes. I think he has every possible chambering. OK, that's an exaggeration but if you wanted .45 Win Mag, 25-20, or .308 Accelerators, he had 'em. The boxes had the load used printed on the label of the box. Prices were high but if I wanted to feed a .44 Automag I'd happily hand this guy money just to get usable ammo and, later, fired cases. He really had an amazing assortment of loaded ammo for all sorts of odd calibers.

 

[craigntx]

^^^ yeah I asked them if they had any factory ammo.
the wife pointed to the man and said "he IS the factory.
yeah I aint buyin somebodies reloads

 

[benenglish]

yeah I aint buyin somebodies reloads

I've gotten seriously burned by reloads. If someone is selling plastic baggies full of 9mm ball, I walk on by. However, it's important to remember that there are quite a few custom reloaders around who produce wonderful ammo. It's usually stuff that the majors don't catalog and very few people need. They charge high prices but if you need what they've got they're great to know.

Lots of "names" in the business started small. Hodgdon started with a boxcar full of surplus powder, scooped out and packed by hand. Any number of custom bullet makers whose products set world records started out with a set of expensive dies, an adapted reloading press, jackets, cores, and some boxes to ship out their product. Lots of high-end riflesmiths offer custom load development as a sideline. This guy seemed to fall into that category. He's taking the care to actually package the ammo and label it with the load. He's concentrating on oddball rounds. If I needed .45 Win Mag, I'd look for factory ammo first. If I couldn't find any, I'd look for brass and make my own. But if all that failed, I'd take a chance on this guy. Call me crazy; you wouldn't be the first.

 

[Texasjack]

Yeah, I saw that vendor with the boxed reloads. He seemed to be quite a bit more on the ball than most of those "baggies-full-of-9mm" guys. And I was also surprised at the range of calibers.

 

[Tejano Scott]

Didn't make it. Got tied up after church and finally made it over to shooters station to site in my new TSD Glock and re-zero my Acog on my AR.

 

[PhulesAu]

Anyone see a couch bunker?? as seen on ch. 11 news

 

[benenglish]

I'll bite. What's a couch bunker?

 

[matefrio]

I'll bite. What's a couch bunker?