One of the great things that has happened to gun shows vis a vis shotguns is the advent of shotgun collector associations like the PGCA, LCSCA, Lefever and Fox collectors. There is a network now that didn't exist pre-1995 when the PGCA had its first get-together in Nashville, and other collector groups followed suit. This marked the end of the bad old days when you could wander around a gun show and not know that others there had your level of interest in a certain maker.
I recall the old-time dealers with their bad attitudes ("Cash talks and BS walks") and T-shirts proclaiming "I got more than that in it!" Part of it, I think, is that the collectors have crawled out of the woodwork and are setting up at gun shows so that there is much more opportunity to see good guns...even if they are beyond one's price range.
The story about one lawyer coming to the small town and starving out a meager existence comes to mind. Another lawyer moves in and things start to heat up, lawsuits are filed...and then a third lawyer arrives on the scene and they all get rich. Same with collectors networking, getting to know each other through associations, arranging to meet at specified venues, sharing tables, show and tell, all to the betterment of gun shows. No wonder collector groups can usually wrangle a display table, booth, or whole tent (at the Vintage Cup) for free, or close to nothing. And the very existence of all the savvy collectors tends to drive the marginal dealers into hiding.
A negative example comes to mind: I was at the Chicago CADA show many years ago all by my lonesome. The former president of CADA had a Parker PH on his table with black barrels, and I asked if it was a fluid-steel shooter for use with modern ammo. He said, "I warrant it..." I pointed out that the rib marking said "Twist Steel" and that it was a Damascus-type gun that had been blued. He dismissed me as a "know nothing," given his exalted status among his peers. This was before I had four books in print. This stuff doesn't happen anymore given the level of overall knowledge and numbers of collectors traveling in groups to gun shows.
