Best State for gun shows
 

This is an opinion thing...

What do you believe is the best state to live in for gun shows with regard to frequency and quality of shows?

I live in Utah and the frequency here is painfully low: 7 shows a year.
The quality also leaves a great deal to be desired. Not a lot of tables and if you eliminate all the "junk" (matter of opinion, I know) there are at most a half dozen tables with guns worth seeing at any given show.

A few area statistics; shows per year by State:

Utah - 7 shows per year
New Mexico - 9
Arizona - 15
Nevada - 17
Colorado - 15
Texas - (hold on to your Stetson) - 88 !

42 or so in Oregon, this year, plus another 16 in Washington within a convenient drive from Portland.

The Collectors West ("Gun and Knife") shows are small to moderate, depending on the size of the surrounding community, and Luger content has dropped off to almost nothing. The Portland Expo show is several hundred tables, nine times a year, but is half knives and junk. There are some opinions locally that nine shows a year is too many to have a really high-quality gun show. Luger content is low here as well, but it represents a good opporunitiy to keep up with some gun-collecting friends, and something good pops up every now and again. It's heavy on modern guns, with some big local dealers.

The monthly Oregon Arms Collectors is a very small show--forty tables or so on a Sunday morning--but all guns. Their two-day August show is by far the best show in the state.

--Dwight

I don't know where you found your data on Arizona. It sounded low as I sometimes have 2 or more to choose from on any given weekend; so I counted the shows on the published Arizona Arms calender to find 55 scheduled events.

Of course, they are not all as big as The SAR show in December that brought people from as far away as Taiwan and New Zealand (Our own Murruy), but at least there is a show to see if one desires almost weekly.

At the SAR show, the Taiwanese group was interviewing and photographing for a firearms magazine. Out of all the heavy machinery indigenous to a Small Arms Review show, they came back to photograph one of my Atillery rigs to publish in the mag!

Jack Hiles
Mesa AZ

hqbmw,

Please share that AZ web site address with me.

Here in Melbourne we have one about every three months. Suncoast had 9 scheduled from Feb to May alone. Southern Classic has 13. There are a few others by smaller groups, about seven or so.

http://www.crossroadsgunshows.com/gunsched.htm#phoenix

David,
I'm sure that you already know about the CrossRoads shows, considering that they are based out of both Layton and Phoenix. The SAR Show in December has become the largest show west of Texas with, as Jack said, folks from all over the world attending. If you make out this way in December, both Jack and I will have tables somewhere in one of the 7 buildings and multiple that house the thing and hopefully I will be able to talk Ed Tinker into coming out that weekend too.
Lyn

Lyn,

SEVEN BUILDINGS!!!?

Sounds like all the gun shows in Utah for an entire year!

How large are these buildings and how many tables at this show?

The problem with Arizona shows is that the same sellers whith the same old merchandise show up at most of the shows. I suppose that is true in most states.

Aaron,
You could help the cause, my friend, by bringing some of those treasures from California next time you come to Phoenix so that we would have something fresh to select from. We'll share our table with you.
Lyn

I am sorry, but I was counting shows from a printed calendar. I went to a couple of promoter's websites, but they list only their own shows; not the show dates of competitors. Typical!

Jack Hiles
Mesa AZ

Texas is the BOMB for shows. I moved here about 2 years ago from Louisiana and had similar experiences to above, same ole, same ole, EVERY event. Most shows there had same items show after show, not just same dealers.

Texas has them constantly and both Houston and Dallas are true hubs. The HGCA and DFWAand A shows are WELL worth the trips. Consider them mini Tulsa's, and sometimes not so mini.

Tim