Gun show - sitrep
 

I had a chance to pop in to the West Palm Beach gun show on my way smewhere else. First, let me say that this show beats the one in Ft. Lauderdale like it's a rented mule. Better prices. Better stuff. Better crowd.

When I got there, the event next door, some super liquidation sale, had about 50 people in line for tickets. I would have zoomed through the gun-show ticket booth except that there was a group, 7, of Danish sounding tourists(?) who had trouble counting money.

I had expected to see the place mobbed. It was busy but not overly so. I've seen it packed like sardines before. But the gun dealers seemed to have all of their chairs filled with people filling out purchasing paperwork.

It looked like mostly handguns were being sold. From what I looked at, those prices were reasonable. XD 9 & 40's were $480 - $530ish for the basic gun and kit. There was also a good supply of them.

EBR's and the like were a different story. While not scarce, AR's and AK's were not out in their usual abundance. Saw 1 Dragonov for $900 which probably isn't too bad. A Norinco (I think) was $899 and a side folder was $1400. Surprisingly, I did not see any Saiga's except for 1 place that had a few Saiga-12's for $900.

There was an almost complete dearth of AK parts - which is the main thing I was looking for.

Lots of ammo was available. Stacks and stacks actually with all calibers and a wide assortment of brands on display.. It was the most ammo I've seen put out in some time. The case prices seemed comparable to internet pricing. Boxes were very expensive though. Most of the stuff I had prices in my head for were 2x the Wally World price for the same thing.

The real sticker shock came on the mags. 2-3x the prices I remember them being. XD mags - $30-$35. Cheap AR mags going for $20. Magtech stuff being priced like OEM.

Surefire mags for Saiga's were all over the place - the other thing I really went in for. I talked one guy down from $50 to $40 each for .308 Mags which is a bit better than online. I bet if it wasn't for Obama, there's such a glut these would go for $30.

Saw one place selling "Got Gold?" T-shirts.

Wish I had had more time and not forgotten my pen or I would have written down more prices.