Store / show floor visit — not a purchased T&E or range review. Prices and vibes below are what I saw that day on camera; your local show will vary.
Channel fans and family — new gun owners ask me all the time: are gun shows still worth it, or are you just paying for the privilege of overpaying? I finally walked a local one with a camera to find out.
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Big shows vs this local one
At a lot of the bigger shows I’ve done, you pay $10–$15 just to walk in… and then the tags on the tables feel astronomical. Paying an entry fee to overpay never made sense to me.
This one was different on paper: local show, $5 entry, smaller footprint, marketed by a firehouse company (cheap for dealers, cheap for us). Trump merch was plentiful. Firearms were on the tables. Classic gun-show energy.
Ammo & accessories — honestly reasonable
I did not expect this. Walking the ammo tables, prices looked very reasonable — .380, 9mm, Federal .308 match-grade that looked cheaper than what I’d been seeing at Walmart at the time, and .22 that wasn’t crazy either. Same story on a lot of the accessory tables.
Biggest value call of the day for me: reloading components. Market price or below, and the real win is you’re not eating hazmat / shipping fees like an online order.
Firearms — mixed, not insane
Gun prices were still a little elevated vs best online street, but not “completely crazy,” and not worse than a lot of local shop tags I’ve seen. One table stopper: an SAA 7.62×39 with aftermarket wood furniture that collectors will throw stupid money at. Cool gun. Not something I needed. Right church, wrong pew for my collection.
I didn’t buy anything. Got close on a couple of fence-sits, then walked.
Bottom line
Moral of this visit: a cheap-entry local show can still surprise you — especially on ammo, accessories, and reloading components. I’m still planning a bigger-show follow-up, and I fully expect that one to feel different.
Keep squatting.
Still worth the door fee where you live, or do you shop online / LGS only?
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