winton wrote:Not sure if this is the right sub forum.
Well, just went to the Shot show today in the Melbourne Showgrounds. I though I'd give my impressions.
Overall it was okay. Arrived at Midday, so had to park at the spill over parking past Gate 7. Didn't have to pay, so that was okay. Saw the gun dog display soon on entry, and that was pretty good and entertaining. There's more over priced food and refreshments choices this year thanks to the many mobile food vans.
But comparing it with what we had two years ago, it wasn't as good. The show felt a little smaller. The Beretta stand was tiny this year. Didn't see any Sako or Tikka rifles or their other retail fare. Just Beretta shotguns. And I didn't see a Raytrade or NIOA Stand, so no Remingtons or Leupold stuff. Wonder whats up with all this? (Did I miss them?)
Missing were alot of gun shops that normally have a stand, like Gunco et al.
I wonder whether it was due to some politics with those running it in the past and the SSAA wanting to take over it now?
What did you guys think?
ps. I went to the Shot Show in Sydney last year, and it was pretty good. All the big names where there.
I went, arrived about the same time and parked in the same place. Definitely no Raytrade or Gunco, they had pretty good stands there at Hunt Expo back in May too.
I wasn’t really there to look at firearms anyway, I go into a shop for that without all the other people wandering around, many who have probably never even handled a gun, but insist on being front and centre at every gun stand in the place.
That said, I treated it as just a day out, only thing I would have liked to have found was some 6.5 Grendel factory ammo, there were more ammo stands at Hunt Expo too.
All in all not a bad look around for what it was.