of the Washington Arms Collectors’ Gun Show at the Western Washington Fairgrounds
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Washington Arms Collectors sponsor gun shows at the Western Washington Fairgrounds, in Puyallup (which is only seven miles from our home), Evergreen State Fairgrounds, in Monroe, and at the King County Fairgrounds, in Enumclaw. Annually, in Western Washington, there are about twenty gun shows. This is the fourth time I’ve gone to show here in Puyallup.

The Washington Arms Collectors is a membership organization, affiliated with the NRA. Their shows are open to all, admission is $9 and parking is free. But to buy or sell firearms you must become a member. An annual membership is $35 (admission is free to all shows with a membership), and the application must be accompanied by a Concealed Pistol License (or other approved firearms license) or you can pay $12 for an instant background check. You can get a membership at any show.

Sarah and I went this past weekend. This was her third show, we enjoy going and spending the time together, and she learns more each time she goes (whether she really wants to or not). It’s an interesting place, with lots of personalities–all the stereotypes–but mostly good, hardworking, honest gun enthusiasts. It’s fun to go and browse the huge display hall filled with table upon table of merchandise.

Of course there are guns, lots and lots and lots. Everything from the most current semi-automatic rifles, to bolt-action, to lever-action cowboy-style carbines, shotguns, more handguns than you can count, custom firearms, and even collector’s pieces.

Then there are the gun accessories, every type of holster, magazine, part, upgrade, carrying bag, or specialty item you could want; if you can’t find what you want you can probably find someone to make it for you. Literally tons of ammo, from specialty rounds to bulk sales; they have the best prices on ammo I’ve seen, including online, in part because there’s no shipping. There is also a large variety of knives, from the cheap $10 ones to custom-made blades and sheaths. The experts there are willing to answer any of your questions and are happy to give you their opinions and advice on pretty much anything.

Since this is the first time I’ve been since I started the blog, I paid closer attention to the ‘non-firearms’ related tables – instead looking around for the prepper-type items that were available. There were definitely plenty. Shelf Reliance Thrive Foods had a large booth, offering bulk and individual items, even giving out samples of their LTS foods (though I don’t own any Thrive products, I’ve heard them referred to as the best tasting LTS foods). GettingPrepped.com had a nice booth advertising classes on emergency preparedness, carrying the Wise Foods brand of LTS foods, Berkey Water Filters, and food storage containers. There were tables full of books; books on pretty much any topic related to firearms or prepping/survivalism. There were first-aid medical supplies, bags, books, shears, suture material, bandages, and complete kits (we bought some QuikClot, that I’ll cover in a future post).

If it’s part of the firearm, knife, associated accessories, first-aid, and/or prepper/survivalism venues it was probably there. Good people and much to see make it a fun day to just wander and browse; if you’re willing to search diligently, and negotiate wisely, you can find some great deals.

(Wednesday: New guest blogger, The City Cousin (aka Shawn) will write about how he preps living in the big city in a small apartment. This, Part 1, will be an introduction to Shawn and his viewpoint on prepping.)

Note: All of the pictures in today’s post were taken from internet images, no pictures are allowed to be taken inside of the Washington Arms Collectors gun shows.