Used to be, I'd go to the show, and buy powder and primers. I forget the dealer's name, MIAWOL ???
Price was just good enough that if you bought 5000 primers and a few pounds of powder it offset the outrageous fees to get in.
If there is a primer/powder dealer there, I will likely go to the SAR show. If you see anything interesting, I call that a bonus.
phx shows - crossroads any good
- Mini14
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Re: phx shows - crossroads any good
Let’s just hope RJ has his show before sar and give my wallet enough time to recover
- srfnken
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Re: phx shows - crossroads any good
I go to the SAR show every december. It is a good 3 day show.
- That Guy
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Re: phx shows - crossroads any good
If you lower your expectations to the very bottom rung on the ladder most gun shows will be good. In my opinion there are a couple of reasons why gun shows in the Valley are kinda on the “suckish” side of the meter and they have nothing to do with Gubment agents or Covid.
One reason is the internet. Prior to the internet good deals were MUCH easier to encounter because a lotta folks didn’t what they had or what it was worth. Thanx to the digital age dang near everybody knows what they have and what to ask for. Plus back in the day there wasn’t any Gunbroker or other on line auction venues to sell that stuff on. So how did you sell things. At gun shows, gun shops, or an ad in the Arizona Republic. Of the three gun shows were the most viable option.
The other reason in my opinion is The Crossroads of the West operation. Before they became a monopoly in the valley that dominated the market there were a number of gun shows: Ter-Mark, Roadrunner (Glendale Civic Center), Arizona Arms Association (Centennial Hall), and some small VFW shows (like the one at 44th street and Thomas). Everybody knew at the time that Crossroads had a really good show with not much junk and Ter-Mark had an “OK” show WITH a lotta junk. When Crossroads bought out Ter-Mark they became the 10,000 pound gorilla among the gun shows in the valley and it wasn’t long before all the other gun show promoters skedaddled. Once crossroad became that the number one gun show promoter guess what? Their shows began to look just like the junkie old Ter-Mark shows: Turkey jerky/dolls/crystals/women’s purses and all that crap. The one exception being the gun show in early December.
Now people don’t like to remember this or they’ve arrived in Arizona long after it happened so they don’t know. But 40 plus years there was only one gun show in Phoenix. Period. And that didn’t happen but every 4-5 months. It was held in Gerard High School and it only had circa 200 tables (and if’n you don’t know where it was without having to do a Google search you’re just another FNG). Oh yeah, and there was literally only one guy (Tom Loftus), who had one table (occasionally two), that sold anything to do with AR-15’s AR-180s etc. because nobody else back then wanted anything to do with that stuff nor was there any interest . So when people keep bitching and whining about how bad gun shows are now do you wanna go back to the good all days when they weren’t hardly any at all in the valley?