I was at the Crossroads Reno Gun Show today. The show was busy all day with 50 to 100 people waiting in line to get in most of the day. I was across the aisle from one of the transfer dealers, that line was long all day. One guy told me he waited in line 3 hours for his transfer. The wait time on the phone to have back ground checks done was 2 hours. One of the bigger dealers told me he sold 140 guns today.
The crowd was not the typical gun show crowd (a bunch of gray haired dudes). There was an unusually high number of young purple and blue haired people, lots of hippie types, a very diverse mix of racial, social, and age groups. Everyone I spoke to was very laid back and asking a lot of questions you would expect from someone who was new to the "gun culture". I found out later there either had been or was going to be a Bernie rally in town, although I didn't see a single Bernie hat or shirt. I did see one guy wearing an SRA (socialist rifle association) shirt.
The most common question asked was when people would look at the FAL's on my table was, "Are those AK47's?"
A lot of them asked about the Remington 37's. They wanted to know if the Redfield International sights were some kind of sniper scope. I would explain they were .22lr target rifles and used in competition.
A lot of people would look at my guns and ask if any of them were Mosin Nagants. Clearly people that read somewhere about Nagants but had never seen one.
A man and his 12 year old son were looking at the .22lr target pistols in my case. The young man asked if he could look at one of the Colt Match Target Woodsman. He picked one that has really glossy bluing. I told him it was so glossy compared to the others because it had been rusted and reblued by a previous owner. It still shoots excellent but the collector value is ruined. His father said, "Did you hear what the man said to you? He is being honest and up front, not trying to deceive you. That's how you treat people."
I spoke to a Marine that went through MCRD San Diego in 68. He was wearing a shirt that had DIEN CAI DAU on the front. I told him we all are a little bit or we couldn't make it through life.
Noticeably lacking today was people bringing in guns to sell. It was a buying crowd, but not vintage guns like I have. They were buying new handguns and rifles like crazy.
The crowd was not the typical gun show crowd (a bunch of gray haired dudes). There was an unusually high number of young purple and blue haired people, lots of hippie types, a very diverse mix of racial, social, and age groups. Everyone I spoke to was very laid back and asking a lot of questions you would expect from someone who was new to the "gun culture". I found out later there either had been or was going to be a Bernie rally in town, although I didn't see a single Bernie hat or shirt. I did see one guy wearing an SRA (socialist rifle association) shirt.
The most common question asked was when people would look at the FAL's on my table was, "Are those AK47's?"
A lot of them asked about the Remington 37's. They wanted to know if the Redfield International sights were some kind of sniper scope. I would explain they were .22lr target rifles and used in competition.
A lot of people would look at my guns and ask if any of them were Mosin Nagants. Clearly people that read somewhere about Nagants but had never seen one.
A man and his 12 year old son were looking at the .22lr target pistols in my case. The young man asked if he could look at one of the Colt Match Target Woodsman. He picked one that has really glossy bluing. I told him it was so glossy compared to the others because it had been rusted and reblued by a previous owner. It still shoots excellent but the collector value is ruined. His father said, "Did you hear what the man said to you? He is being honest and up front, not trying to deceive you. That's how you treat people."
I spoke to a Marine that went through MCRD San Diego in 68. He was wearing a shirt that had DIEN CAI DAU on the front. I told him we all are a little bit or we couldn't make it through life.
Noticeably lacking today was people bringing in guns to sell. It was a buying crowd, but not vintage guns like I have. They were buying new handguns and rifles like crazy.
