I really hope this isn't the way gun shows of the future are going to be. Rather, I hope that the current conditions are just a blip on the screen.
The Diprete Show in West Lebanon was a joke. No lines, we walked right in. gun pricing, as it has been for years, was at full retard levels. What struck me was the pricing of ammo, magazines, and components. One doofus had a 100 round drum magazine for an AR that had a price tag hanging off it that said $150.00; but the $150.00 had an "X" through it, and written over it was $500.00. AK & AR Mags for $50.00 - $75.00 were the norm. You'd think at least one vendor would have enough sense to walk around and look at the other guy's stuff and get a little creative with his pricing. The ammo prices, even on the tables with the guys that were selling the 30 year old partial boxes of moldy green crusters was twice the price as any sporting goods store. I heard one guy pissing and moaning at his table about how "there were no buyers out today". Not at those prices, pal. Needless to say, we didn't buy a goddamn thing.
So it was off across the river 10 miles to the VT Show, now located at the CT Valley Auto Auction instead of the VFW. There was plenty of parking, and we walked right in, with no lines. Inside there were plenty of vendors, including some new faces that I hadn't seen before. The prices were high on guns, and most of the other items, especially ammo, were high too. I did pick up some brass at reasonable prices; some of these people knew how to deal. One guy had 6 loose dies in mismarked old cardboard boxes, they were covered in dirt & lint. After looking at them, I asked what he wanted for them. He told me to "give him a number". I offered him $20.00, (which was still a gift for these old scabs); he stated that he wanted $75.00 for them; my guess is that he lugged them back home to Fantasyland. All in all, I still have to say that these vendors are going to be dragging alot of shit in and out of buildings if they don't wise up to the real world that their potential customers live in.
Spent the day with my son, which always offsets any type of full retard scenario.