‘You want to buy a gun?’

PALMER — Spanning two buildings at the Alaska State Fairgrounds, this weekend’s Alaska Gun Collectors Association fall show attracts a lot of window shoppers. For the nearly 250 vendors, there is also plenty of money to be made.

The Valley’s fall show is the largest fund-raiser for the association, which collects a $55 booth fee from each vendor and the $7 admission from showgoers. From commercial enterprises to individuals looking to cull their collections, the gun show can mean high-caliber profits for those who scratch the right consumer itch.

“Some of these vendors make very good money here, especially the ammunition vendors,” said Kenneth Murdock, manning the information booth for the AGCA. “Take Robert Wiseman over there. He does very well. He likes these shows.”

A retiree living in Soldotna, Wiseman said he’s been coming to gun shows in the Valley for 17 years. While the big-ticket items like high-powered rifles and vintage collectors items typically have the top price tags, he does a significant amount of business selling ammunition.

“I have a store right by my house and I make everything that’s here,” he said. “Probably half of my business is from shows. I probably do $7,000 to $8,000 in gross sales per show. It takes a federal license and everything I sell I have to give Uncle Sam 11 percent in an excise tax.”

Because he’s a regular at local shows, some visitors come specifically to buy his ammunition, Wiseman said.

“Because of my low overhead and whatnot, I’ve got better prices than any retail store,” he said. “I’ve been doing this 17 years now, and I’ve got a lot of people who come here just to find me.”

While Wiseman was shelling out information, Shirley Speer was answering questions about her handmade fur and leather items — especially a skunk hat with three distinctive black-and-white tails trailing off it.

“Well, there’s no smell after you tan it,” she said, answering a frequent question. Skunk is also surprisingly soft. “Most people won’t get close enough to touch a skunk to see how soft it is.”

The Healy resident buys some of her pelts and traps others over the winter. This weekend’s show is very important for her business, she said.

“This is where I do my business,” she said. “I work out of my house, then I travel to the shows. This is my income, and it’s an important weekend. It’s been good so far.”

Although the focus is on firearms, Speer tries to fill a niche by offering products that go hand-in-hand with guns and hunting. She’s joined by other crafts vendors dealing everything from knives to hand-carved Alaska woods and stained glass.

Melanie Uhlenhake of Palmer was manning the Diamond D Leather booth, selling holsters, ammo pouches and other leather accessories for firearms. Besides any sales that come from the show, the largest impact this weekend will have on the business will come from making connections with potential customers, she said. When customers see Diamond D’s quality, they may contact the company later for accessories.

“It’s important a lot of times to be here more for advertising than actually selling, because there are so many different types of guns out there and we don’t have everything made up right here (for them),” she said.

Area resident Jim McKnight is a collector and a vendor at the show. His goal is to get rid of some pieces that don’t fit in his collection of early Ruger rifles.

“Just trying to thin out the herd,” he said.

For collectors, gun shows are sometimes the best places to see a large variety of different firearms from different collections, he said.

Then there are the potential buyers like Valley resident Martin Carlson, who said he may purchase a gun from the show, but has marching orders from his wife that he needs to be a collector, not a horder.

“I’ve got to eliminate one before I get another,” he said. “You want to buy a gun?”