Howard County Silverado Show Feb 4,5

The show is shockingly dismal. The old couple that have oddball ammo from Chambers(?) was not there. The new/old Top Hat was not there. No powder dealers and only a very token representation of dies. Precision was not there.

SCSG did have quite a few C&R handguns. Saw a couple of other C&R from another dealer. A1 always pleases with his outlay of transferable machine guns.

I got to ignore Fox, cast a scornful eye towards Iota, put $20 in the MSI HQL can, and slightly over-paid for 1000rd TulAmmo Makarov.

Not one vendor had my brand of gun cleaner and NO ONE had Ballistol.

I hate to say it, but Chantilly just keeps getting bigger and better...

I will have to say that by and large, the prices at that show are not that great. Hell - I even had to pay $9 for a cup of sugar coated almonds. They were good - but not $9 good.

dreadpirate said:

I will have to say that by and large, the prices at that show are not that great. Hell - I even had to pay $9 for a cup of sugar coated almonds. They were good - but not $9 good.

Click to expand...

Did you ask the price first?

Doug S said:

I'm probably heading over in about an hour or so, how're the vendors looking? Actually looking for a Sprinfield XD, is it a waste of a trip?

Click to expand...

Nice meeting you at the MSI booth. Good talk about everything. Keep bending that elbow.

dreadpirate said:

I will have to say that by and large, the prices at that show are not that great. Hell - I even had to pay $9 for a cup of sugar coated almonds. They were good - but not $9 good.

Click to expand...

Yeah... I saw those... I spent $1 on a Boy Scout candy bar instead...

My take on this HOCO Show:

Walked in and saw the first table was 30 feet behind where they normally are (first bad sign). Saw MSI off in the front right corner (thought that was strange because the front-center had no one in front of South Carroll). Saw a few vendors (IP here on MDS). Mostly old worn out guns if not being sold by these vendors. I thought ammo was high, Gus had a couple of firearms I almost came home with, but I'm sticking to my plans. Not a lot of accessories to be had at any price. The Asian guy was there selling his knockoff AR parts. They held a raffle with Fox Firearms donating a 10/22. They finally sold all of the raffle tickets (none were bought by me). Safe guy was there and it seemed like he had a few really nice deals. Of course met up with a gaggle of MDS folks at the MSI table.

All in all, I truthfully have to give this a C as a grade. Not the worst show, but there have been better HOCO shows in the past.

Lee, a lot of the used, worn out long guns were over priced. Just as bad as the Bel Air show. Although I did see another NEW Marlin 45/70 rifle selling for $620 compared to the $800 at the Bel Air Show.

I think I may have to start thinking about the Oaks shows as my go to gun shows. March 24-25-26. Over 2000 tables.

Good talks at the MSI table...

Also good meeting ChesapeakeIron, S&WGirl06 (almost), and finally crossing paths with TSmith1499.

I did find stripper clips, and some managed to find me

j_h_smith said:

My take on this HOCO Show:

Walked in and saw the first table was 30 feet behind where they normally are (first bad sign). Saw MSI off in the front right corner (thought that was strange because the front-center had no one in front of South Carroll). Saw a few vendors (IP here on MDS). Mostly old worn out guns if not being sold by these vendors. I thought ammo was high, Gus had a couple of firearms I almost came home with, but I'm sticking to my plans. Not a lot of accessories to be had at any price. The Asian guy was there selling his knockoff AR parts. They held a raffle with Fox Firearms donating a 10/22. They finally sold all of the raffle tickets (none were bought by me). Safe guy was there and it seemed like he had a few really nice deals. Of course met up with a gaggle of MDS folks at the MSI table.

All in all, I truthfully have to give this a C as a grade. Not the worst show, but there have been better HOCO shows in the past.

Lee, a lot of the used, worn out long guns were over priced. Just as bad as the Bel Air show. Although I did see another NEW Marlin 45/70 rifle selling for $620 compared to the $800 at the Bel Air Show.

I think I may have to start thinking about the Oaks shows as my go to gun shows. March 24-25-26. Over 2000 tables.

Click to expand...

Well written and appreciated.

Hot on the heels of recent Timonium and Frederick shows, I'm not shocked if attendance was as low as it appears.

Three shows in 4 or 5 weeks (or what ever it's been) is a lot for this area, and I'm also not shocked that some notable vendors were absent, possibly due to this.

Worst of all, Lou45 wasn't there to make us laugh.

Agree with most sentiments. Visited Tomkat picked up some 300blk, and 147 grain 9mm. Very excited to see how it stacks up to A E surpressor line of ammo but TK makes great ammo so sure will be pleased. Got my boy scout candy bar too. The guy making knives out front intrigued me, no idea on price though.

Mr H said:

Hot on the heels of recent Timonium and Frederick shows, I'm not shocked if attendance was as low as it appears.

Three shows in 4 or 5 weeks (or what ever it's been) is a lot for this area, and I'm also not shocked that some notable vendors were absent, possibly due to this.

Click to expand...

There are 4 shows just this weekend. Bel Air, Howard County, Lancaster and the Outdoor show. Gus was telling me the place was packed yesterday. I'm thinking the Super Bowl sent a lot of people to the show yesterday and kept just as many from the shows today.

JB62 said:

Agree with most sentiments. Visited Tomkat picked up some 300blk, and 147 grain 9mm. Very excited to see how it stacks up to A E surpressor line of ammo but TK makes great ammo so sure will be pleased. Got my boy scout candy bar too. The guy making knives out front intrigued me, no idea on price though.

Click to expand...

Every time I walked by his booth, he had a ton of people he was talking with. I usually stop and spend some time talking to him, but he was way too busy for me to waste his time today.

I hope that equates to brisk sales for him!

j_h_smith said:

My take on this HOCO Show:

Walked in and saw the first table was 30 feet behind where they normally are (first bad sign). Saw MSI off in the front right corner (thought that was strange because the front-center had no one in front of South Carroll). Saw a few vendors (IP here on MDS). Mostly old worn out guns if not being sold by these vendors. I thought ammo was high, Gus had a couple of firearms I almost came home with, but I'm sticking to my plans. Not a lot of accessories to be had at any price. The Asian guy was there selling his knockoff AR parts. They held a raffle with Fox Firearms donating a 10/22. They finally sold all of the raffle tickets (none were bought by me). Safe guy was there and it seemed like he had a few really nice deals. Of course met up with a gaggle of MDS folks at the MSI table.

All in all, I truthfully have to give this a C as a grade. Not the worst show, but there have been better HOCO shows in the past.

Lee, a lot of the used, worn out long guns were over priced. Just as bad as the Bel Air show. Although I did see another NEW Marlin 45/70 rifle selling for $620 compared to the $800 at the Bel Air Show.

I think I may have to start thinking about the Oaks shows as my go to gun shows. March 24-25-26. Over 2000 tables.

Click to expand...

Good AAR, thx.

Here are some of my thoughts as well...

I was a little surprised the arrangement wasn't the same as in years past, where usually MSI has a booth right up front, so as you are walking in, you see MSI immediately. Even though we were on the side, we were still up front, and everyone leaving walked directly in front of our booth, this might actually be a better arrangement; we sure talked to a lot of folks on Saturday while I was helping at the booth.

There appeared to be a few less vendors there this year than in years past, maybe it just appeared that way because they stretched it out to use more of the space available, and the main isles on either side seemed a bit wider. My good friend who we assist on a few tables was moved from his usual spot as well. Some redesigning of the floor layout, definitely happened.

I spoke with many other vendors, some are IP's here on MDS, and nearly all of them said it was one of the best shows (attendance and sales) in a long time. There was a guy selling nice knives in our cluster of tables, he said he sold $5-600 in knives on the first day, very good sales for him. Another custom knife makers/sales guy that I've been talking to at these shows for years, said that his sales were so good, if he made any more money he'd have to declare it on his taxes.

A couple folks mentioned, and I tend to agree, that there seemed to be a lot more women/girls at this gun show than in the past. I'm reading nationally this is happening as well; more women now than ever are getting into shooting sports, learning about self-defense, buying firearms and applying for W&C (ccw) permits.

Since Fox firearms was mentioned, I will ask/say; I overheard a few people there discussing them, and it was mentioned that Fox had sued MDShooters and lost in court. Apparently they never signed up to be Industry Partners (IP's), but were advertising a lot on MDShooters (are probably reading this right now). When they were asked to sign up to become an IP, or stop advertising, something happened, and they started a lawsuit. All this is hearsay, so why I'm just asking if this is true (PM me if that's better); but I do recall hearing something about this before. Looks like Fox is still not an IP here, so maybe some truth to that discussion. I know and greatly appreciate that MDShooters doesn't have pop-ups, click-bait, or any other advertising; they rely on donations from members and funds from IP's to keep the lights on.

Last point, the guy that runs those shows is a great American. There is too much blabbering over the PA with raffle stuff; but otherwise when he makes an announcement over the PA, its usually something important or pretty cool. My favorite, and this year he perfected it... He said, all of you that come here every year, its noon, you know what we do. And while we say the pledge of allegiance, "if you want to take a knee, you can take a hike!"

My kind of place.

Minuteman said:

Good AAR, thx.

Here are some of my thoughts as well...

I was a little surprised the arrangement wasn't the same as in years past, where usually MSI has a booth right up front, so as you are walking in, you see MSI immediately. Even though we were on the side, we were still up front, and everyone leaving walked directly in front of our booth, this might actually be a better arrangement; we sure talked to a lot of folks on Saturday while I was helping at the booth.

There appeared to be a few less vendors there this year than in years past, maybe it just appeared that way because they stretched it out to use more of the space available, and the main isles on either side seemed a bit wider. My good friend who we assist on a few tables was moved from his usual spot as well. Some redesigning of the floor layout, definitely happened.

I spoke with many other vendors, some are IP's here on MDS, and nearly all of them said it was one of the best shows (attendance and sales) in a long time. There was a guy selling nice knives in our cluster of tables, he said he sold $5-600 in knives on the first day, very good sales for him. Another custom knife makers/sales guy that I've been talking to at these shows for years, said that his sales were so good, if he made any more money he'd have to declare it on his taxes.

A couple folks mentioned, and I tend to agree, that there seemed to be a lot more women/girls at this gun show than in the past. I'm reading nationally this is happening as well; more women now than ever are getting into shooting sports, learning about self-defense, buying firearms and applying for W&C (ccw) permits.

Since Fox firearms was mentioned, I will ask/say; I overheard a few people there discussing them, and it was mentioned that Fox had sued MDShooters and lost in court. Apparently they never signed up to be Industry Partners (IP's), but were advertising a lot on MDShooters (are probably reading this right now). When they were asked to sign up to become an IP, or stop advertising, something happened, and they started a lawsuit. All this is hearsay, so why I'm just asking if this is true (PM me if that's better); but I do recall hearing something about this before. Looks like Fox is still not an IP here, so maybe some truth to that discussion. I know and greatly appreciate that MDShooters doesn't have pop-ups, click-bait, or any other advertising; they rely on donations from members and funds from IP's to keep the lights on.

Last point, the guy that runs those shows is a great American, there is too much blabbering with raffle stuff; but otherwise when he makes an announcement over the PA, its usually something important or pretty cool. My favorite, and this year he perfected it... He said, all of you that come here every year, its noon, you know what we do. And while we say the pledge of allegiance, "if you want to take a knee, you can take a hike!"

My kind of place.

Click to expand...

Frank has been doing the 12 noon Pledge for as long as I can remember. Many, many years now. It's refreshing.

swinokur said:

Worst of all, Lou45 wasn't there to make us laugh.

Click to expand...

This!

lee2 said:

Did you ask the price first?

Click to expand...

No, but gave the product due diligence. Anyways, its not the nuts. Point is there does not seem to be lots of deals. I will still go to the show, likelihood of buying anything just not there.

Joppaj's single post summary about Fox Firearms:

https://www.mdshooters.com/showpost.php?p=3942837&postcount=9

I have to say, going to the MD guns shows is more about meeting up with friends and folks from here. I go and look, but I don't know if it's because I have most of the things I want or those things aren't available, but I don't seem to find much. But I can always count on talking to the folks I know. Bel Air show is really small, but I talked to 3 vendors. Dave from Blue Fin, Mark from Freestate and Billy the knife guy.

If I were just going to look, then leave, most visits would be very short.

Today was good because I was able to talk to so many from here and a few vendors. I've known Gus forever. I think I met him at one of Preston Jones' first gun shows.

It's all good. However I would like to be able to find the things that I'm interested in. I mean come on. No Glock 26, 10 round mags to be found anywhere.

I'll see all of ya at the next one. But I am really excited for the Oaks show in March. It always good to see Dennis and Jen from Dennis Todd Firearms and his machine guns. Good people too.

I stopped by the show from about 11 to 1 today. I bought a raffle ticket from the Knights of Columbus and a Boy Scouts' candy bar. There was certainly a large amount of variety there, but nothing exceptionally priced.

I was getting a bit depressed looking at some of the quite rough C&R guns priced as though they were VG-excellent. The chrome dipped Colt gov't 1911 (mfg 1913) was pretty cool, in a sick Bubba joke kinda way. There were a few boxes of HST and Gold Dot ammo priced at 50 cents/rd that caught my eye (9mm, 45 auto, & 38 special).

Most of the vendors were in a pretty sociable mood as well. A bit more lighthearted than last year's shows.

Not a great show, but certainly worth the admission.