I had the pleasure of attending the Winchester Arms Collectors show in Cody last month and really enjoyed it.  I saw some very great collections that put mine to shame.  I have always enjoyed the shows in Tulsa,  Denver and the T.G.C.A.  because of the quality of guns and collections. 

I always found it discouraging though when you run across the dealer who is only interested in selling their guns but not interested in sharing information!  I am 77 years old and most of the dealers are older gentlemen. 

Much of the reason you don’t see new people coming along is that most people can’t really afford to collect until they are older,  but I think the main reason is because most young people that are interested are trying to learn and nothing discourages them more than bad treatment.  I have seen more than one new collector with money disappear because they discovered they had been taken advantage of.

I remember when I first started I had a collector tell me “that’s for me to know and for you to find out”  Thank goodness I am in Texas and had people like George Madis,  R L Wilson, Mike Clark, J O Bates and a few others whos name escapes me now who were always there for you if you ever had any concerns.