I think there are a few BoG's outside of Manila who won;t be able to attend the Gun Show.
This is for them.
(I've corrected some errors and added more photos
apologies to WSC - Weapons Systems Corporation for earlier confusion)
First day at the Gun Show in Mega Mall (MegaTrade Hall).
As expected, the place was fairly crowded.
I and my wife got there just after it opened, and well, here are the few pics I could snap that weren't completely obscured by the milling throng.
P50.00 entrance ticket for adults.
The Armscor booth was better laid out than last year, spreading the autoloaders over a longer stretch to prevent overcrowding. Sadly, it was still too crowded to get a good pic, so I got their large display area from the shotguns side, na lang. Custome service was excellent this year, despite the inquiry overload.
Across and further down the aisle, the large SAM booth wasn't quite set up yet, but there was a lot of interest in their SAM pistols and their spare, forged slides, and questions as to whether those would drop-in fit an Armscor frame. Nice selection of imports, though their Jennings and Lorcins were as always, good for many yuks.
The Twin Pines booth was less central than last year's. Their RIA 1911's and their S&W's (with some very nice Ruger 44's ---did I really see a .480?) commanded a lot of attention, but the people manning the long counter seemed a little drained (within the first couple of hours of the GunShow?? Setup must have been a nightmare.)
Magnificent World got a quieter, central-aisle booth location, and reaped the dividends with female consumers. Their display counters were a little too low, though... Nice friendly staff, compensting for the sour air in the PPSA booth nearby.
I liked the Weapons Systems Corp booth, very spiffy, clean and attractive. The counters were very well-lighted to beter display some very nice pistols: Colt's, Norinco, Glock, Llama, etc...
Hahn had a very nice display, though (like Armscor) they needed to spread the pistols out to prevent crowding. They have some interesting new Hahn-branded ammo (none for my .380 though....waaaah!)
P.B.Dionisio showed off its broad selection of scatterguns, rifles, and a few SMG's. It was unfortunately right next to
Advanbced Weapons Systems' M4a1-nutty crowd, drooling over the Bushmasters and folding-stock H&K MP5's. I was getting jostled left and right. But if you like shotties and rifles... wooohaaaa! Get a load of their full-auto CZ-75 Select:
I think this was the Trust Trade booth. Glock and Taurus, and pretty much everything else. I was pretty tired at this point, but very happy.
The tiny
Secure Arms booth featured a .380 autopistol bonanza:
Browning BDA, Sig P232, Bers Thunder 380, Llama Micromax 380
and an interesting Daewoo 380, along with the usual .45's and wondr9's. They could use a poster or two to cheer the booth up.
The Starfire booth was among the busiest. A lot of attention (and fondling) was directed at their modestly-rollmarked Ranger M1911A1's, FEG Hi-Powers, and other pistols.
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Stronghand (aka HS2000/XD ground zero, hehe) showed off its reloading equipment, accessories, and of course, its Croatian blasters. I was lucky to get a clear shot of the booth. Normally there were too many people in the way.
Normally I wait til the last day of the show --les crowded, with generally better-educated (firearms-wise) shoppers. First couple of days there are a lot of clowns pointing deliberately at you and pulling triggers. I don't care if the display models are empty --I don't like it. If anyone had pointed at my wife, they would have gotten an earful. Anyways...the trade show's refreshment area featured Casa Ilongga (pretty good) and some other concessions, and the PNP-FED booth was better manned, but had little literature to offer this year.
There were more outlets carrying Bersa and Llama pistols than last year --they must be selling well enough. There were fewer outlets offering GI Norincos, though the two-toned versions were fairly well-represented. I didn't see the much-maligned
Art Lantin's this year --maybe I just missed it. I was hoping
CLIP Merchandising would offer a bigger gunshow discount on its magazines, but...no joy.
Best bargains/standouts I ran into?
The Armscor GI (5", park) is selling for only P10,800
There was a Colt Pony selling for P40,000
Norinco NP-27 Special Two Tone Compact P22,000
There was some interesting Buffalo prefragged JHP that might be worth looking into (P150.00 up per round, depending on caliber).
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As for running into any BoG's...
Just as well
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