I didn't go to this one. It's one of the few shows I have missed within a 3 hour radius of Williamsburg, Virginia. The last one I attended (Scope), took about 15 minutes to cover all of my interests. I was born in Norfolk in the year 1950.
Brad, Charlie, and myself combined have probably more than 100 years combined collecting experience. My first gun show was 1969, at age 18. At one of the previous War memorial Museum shows I bought a 95 Winchester barreled action, Russian Contract for $150, and at another a Finn dragoon for $265, a nice 31 Tula.
Charlie and I have been to probably more than 30 local shows together over the past 3 years. My best successes were at the Richmond shows, both Fairgrounds and Showplace, with Chantilly a distant second place. $300 SVT 40, $100 Tikka 91-30 two times, $150 M28-30, $330 Ljungman, beautiful Arisaka with a perfect bayonet, etc.
The show at the Va Beach Pavilion is pretty much the same as Scope, I will drive 3 hours to Chantilly, and the last trip I picked up an all matching KAR 88 WW1 bring back for a great price, and in excellent condition considering it sat in an attic for about 70 years.
If I will drive 3 hours to Chantilly, but not 40 minutes to Scope, just let that be the litmus test of what you should expect at that show. I will attend every show at the war Memorial Museum, the first time I went there (to the museum) Eisenhower was president, and a lot of the "militaria" there now had not been made or was in current inventory in the military.
One thing neither Brad or Charlie mentioned was they are both vets, a big plus in my book, thanks for your service my two friends, its always a pleasure to join both of you on a gun show trip. Six hours on the road passes quickly in the company of freinds, never a sleepy moment for me.
regards
badger