tom h

As a gun show participant myself, I can give you several reasons that you are not seeing as many collectables as in the past: 1) Many serious collectors are now selling these items on the internet to a national audience without the hassle of paying for tables and having to lug the stuff from show to show. 2) I would estimate that at least 90% of the attendees at the gun shows here in the midwest, are only interested in new pistols, hunting rifles or shotguns. The shows have become the poorman's alternative to the traditional gunshop. Many new or part time dealers are using the frequent show schedule, as an alternative to opening a shop, as they would have done years ago. This not only hurts business at the few remaining full line shops, but also has breed a flock to "dealers" that know very little about their products and know even less about servicing them. Here in the St.Louis area we only have 2 full line gunsmiths who know what they are doing and both are backed up for months. Part of this malaise, can be blamed on the chain store operations, that can purchase new weapons in volume directly from the manufacturer, and sell to the public at less the the small store's cost, but offer no follow up service. 3) I personally would like to see less frequent shows that allowed only curio & relic classified guns, but I suspose that this would not be practical for the show promoters, who are now allowing sales of Benie Babys, T-shirts, Beef Jerky, and whatever. I really hate to see most shows becoming Flea markets. 4) I can only suggest that we support our full-line gunshops, that are rapidly disappearing and shows that only allow gun related items, eg. OHIO GUN COLLECTORS, MVACA, CADA, etc.