Marlboro: January 26 & 27

It's was fine. Wife and I spent 2.5hrs there. I even showered before I came... Not as much stink and cabin in the woods wackos as you'd think from reading posts here. Vendors were nice and willing to help.. it's not the big E from the early 90's but worth the 2 hour drive for me.
 
I thought the show was good, but it all depends on ones interest, I found a keg of IMR sr4759 for $175 and it has been discontinued for about four years and is impossible to find, also got some Sierra and Speer flat nose bullets for my 30-30 for $10 a box. I also got some old loading manuals for $2 and $3. It all depends what your looking for.
 
I picked up a couple of 30rd magazines for my HK91. Was looking for a compact 1911 but didn't see what i was looking for.. bought jerky, gave to GOAL. killed a couple of hours.
No big whoop though, the show seemed smaller to me this year.
 
It was ok. Really empty down the left side. Saw a couple of buddies there from one of my gun clubs so yeah, not a bad day. Swung by the GOAL table and entered the raffle and bought two knives with the GOAL logo. That was my big purchase of the day.
 
Turnout is still down as well as about 20-25% less dealers. I did ok selling Trump Coins and hats
Attendee turnoff couldn't have been down much from other recent shows. I had to leave and come back. I was getting nowhere in the Saturday mid-morning crowd. Couldn't even get near some tables and I was short on time. But a lot of that was due to the fewer number of gun dealers at the show. Plenty of trinkets and junk dealers... too few actual gun dealers. [thinking]
 
The majority of the crowd was in the center of the hall, we are at the far right and there was never a crowd in our aisle, aisles are also slightly wider on the ends than before, yes people crowd around the gun dealers, those that are there

but it along with Wilmington it is the only game in town
 
Foxboro was (in the older days) the best show (according to some dealers and the promoter) until Clapprood and Husband leased the place and banned the shows. Interesting that she cut it off her schedule after only 3 yrs back there. [FWIW, I suspect that the dealers and Carole were not comparing it to the Big E back in those days because there were truly 500-600 tables back then at the Big E and free parking.]

But since Carole banned ARs and Glocks before Maura did (ARs/AKs) there are a lot of dealers with little to sell at the shows, thus the diminished number of tables/vendors at all the Mass shows, plus no panic buying due to Trump (although one should NEVER trust any politician!).
 
The majority of the crowd was in the center of the hall, we are at the far right and there was never a crowd in our aisle, aisles are also slightly wider on the ends than before, yes people crowd around the gun dealers, those that are there

but it along with Wilmington it is the only game in town
Well, of course, I am only seeing attendance while I am there. It could be tapering off earlier on Saturdays and nonexistent on Sundays for all I know. And yes, it was clear that most of the crowd was tightly packed in the middle. Plenty of room to stretch on both ends.

I'm glad to see Shooting Supply of Westport now showing up at the shows, but I miss many of the top shelf dealers that no longer do the shows, many because they are now out of business thanks to Maura. Very depressing.

Marlboro (this time) wasn't a great show for me, but I'll be at Wilmington just the same. You can't win anything if you don't play. [thumbsup]
 
Can probably do it in a half hour to an hour depending upon how long you browse at stuff and how many tables you stop at. It’s worth the trip IMO. If nothing else but to window shop. I usually end up finding SOMETHING that I was looking for.

I was in there for about an hour and a half, checking out every table, stopping at three to talk and two to buy, so for me it took a little over an hour of browsing time and I walk slow.

Damn. You guys are QUICK! We wander slow. We see a few folks. It takes about 2 hours now. Used to take nearer to 3 hours. There are a few guys you avoid and some stuff you don't stop for anymore. (Like crazy accessories guy, M1 parts guy, target guy, book guy - that's a whole aisle by itself spread out over the place.)

Went this morning. I was underwhelmed. But I was not expecting much to begin with. Guy with the Winchesters that no one can afford was there. Someone was selling "Zombie Bats" (baseball bats with barbed wire wrapped around them). Gun prices were what you would expect with no bargains that I saw. Lots of bags, kydex holsters. Non firearm related items like crystals and jewelry. Next will be soaps and scented candles.
Most interesting was someone selling TSA confiscated items. I picked up a nice Leatherman Wave for $30 with sheath. And the guy had me pick out something free from some others items so I came away with a pair of Stanley Vise-grips. Grabbed some jerky and left.

You TOTALLY wanted the Zombie Bat. Maybe for a The Zooting Dead shoot? ;)

It was great hanging out with'ya, tho. Marlboro was Marlboro. I'm not looking for anything so I won't find it there. I'm there for entertainment and that rare "holy BLEEP" moment of something I never expected. (Like the guy trying to hawk the Colt 2K. ROFL!!! "Oh they're getting popular again. Only polymer-frame that Colt made." "And a POS." "Which is why they are popular. Getting collectible." Next time I wanna buy a gun BECAUSE it's a POS, someone slap me!)
 
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