Justin2200 wrote:Actually thought about going to that one myself..but $8 admission and of course fort worth charges out the a** for parking anytime someone is running a trade show near downtown. The parking fee got me. Not going to pay $16 to get into a show to try and buy a set of reloading dies :/ ARs are the big thing right now for sure though. Actually getting my FFL soon as well so I can legally fix the things and build them for people, and sell of course. But I'm seriously considering getting into building up 1911's too. That interests me far more than ARs.
But let me pose an interesting question. What sort of things have you been looking for that you haven't seen at shows? What sort of accessories and what not? Thinking about getting a table at one soon but not going to just lug a bunch of random crap around with me that may or may not sell
Yeah Justin I hear ya! Parking was $10...$8 if you didn't mind parking 4 blocks away. Admission was $8($7 if you had a coupon). BUT if you buy(rent) a table, you get a 'dealer badge' that gets you in for free....no admission fee. You probable still have to pay for parking. No getting around that. And for $10 you can park in their underground parking garage....that's what I used to do when I was setting up. Well worth the cost IMO. Since that's the cost for above ground parking anyway. Sure beats a LOT of walking and getting into a cool car from not being out in the sun.
What accessories am I looking for? Well, I dunno. I'm generally an impulse buyer, unless I'm looking for specifically. Today I was looking for a speed loader for my little Colt Gov't .380, but none were to be found, unless I wanted a EULA speed loader for $34.95, which I wasn't about to pay. There were many magazines, slings, stripper clip, military knives people there today. A LOT of knife dealers...both custom, and mass market manufacturers(Gerber, Boker, S&W, etc) No Benchmade though.
My suggestion is that you need to go to that gun show to see if it's justifiable for you to spend the money for a table, & to see the mix of merchandise that the shows offers. The timing of the show comes into play as well. IE: gun shows right at the start of dove or deer season, draws a better crowd than the off season(summer gun shows). It all depends on what you have to offer.
When I was setting up for that show I only had collectible stuff(U.S. military marked trench & riot shotguns, military knives, military pistols & U.S WWII escape & evasion 'silk maps'). I didn't go for the income. But only to trade/buy what I didn't have, and hopefully to sell enough stuff to have money left over to go buy something else in the future.
But clearly, the best deals you can get at a gun show is if you are sitting BEHIND the table instead of standing in front of it.....Just MHO, and observations.
Note: Those are just my observations from someone who did that for many years as a fun thing to do, and NOT to make a living at it.
