Lancaster Gun Show

[whlgun]

Ie the Lancaster gun show any good. My buddy wants to make the drive up but I don't know if its worth it.

Any info would be appreciated.

[Marquand]

It would be helpful to know what constitutes a "good" gun show for your tastes but here's my overview:

I've been to the Lancaster show and generally enjoyed it. Like all gun shows in So Cal it tends to be 40% guns/30% gun accessories and ammo/30% flea market. Prices were what I expected (fair to good, not great), the crowd is largely made up of fellow shooters who utter rarely heard expressions like "please" and "thank you", and there is always something there you didn't expect to see.

[Pearlpower]

Well for one, I live fairly close. Secondly I go to show support. If for ammo, no, most gun shows are not known for ammo, but the knick-knacks and 'reminder' items, perfect. Decent inventory the last time around.

Decent turn out, mostly good vendors, except the young 25yo kid at the larger accessories booth came across as if service should not be a part of the equation.

One building only the last time, wish it were larger. Familiar faces from other shows including Vegas. Hopeful the food options grow.

Be cautious though as CHP heavily patrols the 14 with several traps. Waze is your friend.

[Nahuatl]

Single building, crowded is relative. Plenty of tall, short, fat, thin men in plaid shirts. I took my grandkids who were too short to see everything, got jostled a bit by the crowd, but still had fun. Costco pizza $4 per slice. No place to sit and eat. Brisk business cheaper than rent but have no idea what a table cost. Lots of brand name AR uppers & lowers in every caliber, saw 6.5, 6.8, .300 without looking. Enough pistols, some revolvers, but just took in fast glances and didn't shop any for guns. Plenty of spots wired for DROS; didn't count the lines. Lots of AR parts, some AK parts/kits, but I couldn't tell a quality bit of steel from a copy cat as we galloped by the booths. Nice to be able to buy little parts/slings/bags for cash, but figured choice and quality might be iffy. At least you could see what they had and not some internet out-of-stock circle jerk. Plenty of ammo, depends on caliber, prices variable; LAX doing a brisk business. Lots of odd brand optics, Chinese knockoffs?? Plenty of cheap but medium priced Molle gear. Saw some powders, 1# & 8#, ~$30 and $190. No Varget or W748. Quite a few stun gun salesman filled the air with the sound of those damned things. One Goal Zero vendor; another selling minimal food kits and a cook system. Quite a few of those tired racks of tired guns that get carried from show to show. Lacking sporting firearms and quality outdoor gear, absolutely no high end. Saw one vendor selling field & training manuals for $10, one selling military history, but otherwise no good solid book vendors. A real treat for the valley locals where drinking, eating, or watching a move comprise 99% of everything there is to do here.

I bought a nice hardbound slick page full color copy of one of my fave e-books on rope knots, a nice compass, a few cheap compii for the kids, a toy, three smokin' hot sauces, a new fangled clip-on BB defeator, the pizza and some sweets for the kids. They had fun too.

About 0.5 on the 10 scale for anyone who went to the old Pomona show at the LA County Fairground. Probably not recommended if you're driving from Inglewood or Norco. Still better than a poke in the eye or Sat. morning TV. Well worth the trip in from the boondocks for all you desert rats in north LA, west SB, or southeast Kern. I'll go again.

[Pearlpower]

Substantially busier this time around, lots of shoulder bumping, plenty of ammo options, good buy on .45 230gr, 1000 @ .37 each. Limited food. More vendors this time. Difficult to look at any pistols as options were limited and what existed was busy.
Plenty of AR options, good and knock-off accessories.

Not sure I will go again as I have most everything I want, unless they open up another building.