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Old 11-28-2009, 12:24 AM
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What makes a good "gun show" for you? What makes a good "gun show" for you? What makes a good "gun show" for you? What makes a good "gun show" for you? What makes a good "gun show" for you?  
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Default What makes a good "gun show" for you?

I know...we all agree that the number one thing on the top of this is...*drum roll please*....deals!

However, that isn't all. Sometimes the things that make a good show experience are the friends we see, the "thrill of the hunt," the friendly...and sometimes not so friendly banter with the exhibitors and finally the odd people you see that they wouldn't even post on the "People of Wal-Mart" website!

So...if you were to tell a gunshow promoter what you could realistically change, what would it be?
Or...*chuckle*..is the gunshow in your neck of the woods...perfect?
(Only if Mr. Burg and Lee are in attendance! )

Or, do you think the day of the small gunshow is gone since we have the internet and the gun auction sites and gunshows should be given up altogether?

Just curious since me and a friend are going to wake up early and going to go "see the varmint" again.
(Going to the gunshow- that is, son. )
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Old 11-28-2009, 12:57 AM
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I want to see way more rummage sale junk at gun shows
Oh, and lets not leave out all the jewelry ****
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Old 11-28-2009, 01:20 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy Griffith View Post
Just curious since me and a friend are going to wake up early and going to go "see the varmint" again.
(Going to the gunshow- that is, son. )
Are y'all going to the Gwinnett County Fairgrounds show?

The one the first weekend in December at the Atlanta Expo Center is supposed to be a real biggie. The are advertising "2000 tables available" if that means anything.

I went to the Eastman show in Macon last weekend mostly to pick up an order from Georgia Arms. I saw a couple of fairly nice S&Ws at not so outrageous prices.

Good luck. I hope you find some deals. Speaking of deals, aren't you in Nathan Deal's district?
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Old 11-28-2009, 08:04 AM
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Are y'all going to the Gwinnett County Fairgrounds show?
Yes.
Leaving right now.

Quote:
The one the first weekend in December at the Atlanta Expo Center is supposed to be a real biggie. The are advertising "2000 tables available" if that means anything.
Sometimes it is good and sometimes it isn't. Most of the time it wasn't worth my time, gas or bother. Plus, sometimes I don't interact with the natives too well either.

Quote:
I went to the Eastman show in Macon last weekend mostly to pick up an order from Georgia Arms. I saw a couple of fairly nice S&Ws at not so outrageous prices.

Good luck. I hope you find some deals. Speaking of deals, aren't you in Nathan Deal's district?
We'll need luck if it is like any of the other shows.
I wonder if we'll get run off from the side of the front door like we were in Gainesville several years ago while having a biscuit and not standing in line before the show opened. They accused us of trying to "snipe" pieces before people brought them into the show- it wasn't even open yet and we were just having a sausage biscuit and coffee apiece! I think I'd go Roy D. Mercer on them now if they tried that...I have a short fuse anymore.


I'm the dumpster diver that goes through all the little junk boxes looking for parts and treasures. However, there's getting to be fewer junk boxes to dive through!

Yes, I happen to be in Nathan's district.
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Old 11-28-2009, 08:45 AM
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I like a nice variety of wares, wide aisles, and no cigarette smoke.
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Old 11-28-2009, 09:01 AM
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More guns(other than plastic and Hi-points, etc.) Less junk. Room to move.
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Old 11-28-2009, 09:08 AM
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Default Deals, deals deal$

Gun shows must offer deals on things like bullets, brass, powder, primers, etc. If every table is overpriced, why bother going there?
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Old 11-28-2009, 09:29 AM
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For once I'd like to go to a show where I could get close enough to the tables to see what was on them, and once I did, I'd like to see something other than knives, belt buckles, and assorted misc.
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Old 11-28-2009, 09:33 AM
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I can really do without the beef jerky, beanie babies, ****** turqoise "jewelry" and sham-wows.

I prefer a good mix of firearms with a healthy representation of blue steel and walnut. Most shows in my experience have become heavily weighted toward black plastic and parkerizing/Tennifer. I understand dealers need to bring what sells well but a few options for us old school guys would be nice as well.
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Old 11-28-2009, 09:38 AM
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I'll go against the grain on this one. I like different stuff at a gun show. Matter of fact if a gun show didn't have any unusual stuff, I label it as just mediocre.

Some of the stuff I've picked up over the years:

An original Newhouse #4 bear trap from the very early 1900's. This one had the original anchor chain.

A set of texas longhorn horns for my fireplace.

I have found two copies of signed Elmer Keith books.

An original set of stamped Crocket spurs.

Oh, I just picked up a cool bamboo fly rod at Tulsa in it's original carrier.

Stuff like that.
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Old 11-28-2009, 10:17 AM
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I'd like the guy with the pile of lead .41 Magnum bullets to remember to bring some to the next show.
Otherwise I wouldn't change much at my local one.
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Old 11-28-2009, 10:18 AM
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Small shows in small towns with 125 -250 tables offer a lot of finds at prices that don't require your first born. I like a mix of old stuff (grips, sights, hard to find parts, etc.). There must be a place to sit down and have a good cup of $2 coffee and shoot the breeze with the guys. Some shows forget that a gun show is a social event for a lot of people and the more pleasant the experience the more return visits they will get. Guys over 55 that have been thru the mill need a place to rest at large shows. Rest areas scattered throughout large shows are a good idea. The more folks linger at a show, the more likely that money will change hands. After all a gun show is a market place! My 2 cents!
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Old 11-28-2009, 10:23 AM
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I wouldn't mind seeing the books on how to build pipe-bombs and such gone. I know that some like this stuff, but leave it available through other sources. I know there are anti's circulating the shows just looking for something to ban them.
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Old 11-28-2009, 10:26 AM
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Delta-419 has it about like I do. A place to visit, drink coffee and offer up my opinion. Even when nobody asks me what I think about politics OR gun prices.

The gunshow may be a bust or I might find the greatest deal ever. I gotta' go to find out!

GF
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Old 11-28-2009, 10:34 AM
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Lots of guns. I've been to small shows that were very lacking in guns. Lots of blue and wood, no beanie babies(unless they're cheap enough for tagets!) vintage grips for sale, and ammo. The pocket knives and custom knives are fine, but the Conan swords are cheesey. No extreme right hate mongers and their propaganda. Lots of reloading stuff, cast bullets. Class 3 stuff. Nice leather, tooled, not patent. And pretty women! Lots of pretty women!
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Old 11-28-2009, 10:43 AM
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There is only one gun show in my area that I actually try to never miss. I like it because its limited to only guns. And most of the tables there are guns that I enjoy. Brownings, Winchester, Colt, S&W, Parker, Remington etc. I don't care for modern plastic guns or assault weapons, so most of the shows don't interest me.
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Old 11-28-2009, 10:57 AM
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I enjoy gun shows that has a lot of the hard to find items. When I say hard to find, I mean pre-lock S&W's, Colts, and other firearms out of production. I hate to walk in and see rows of tables full of Glock's and black rifles that are over priced and boring. I like black rifles but if you see one you've more or less seen them all.

The best one I had been to in a while was the one in Birmingham back in the first part of the summer. Lot's of anything you wanted. Most of it overpriced though. I do agree a gun show should be a bit of a discounted venue. But most dealers don't see it that way.
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Old 11-28-2009, 11:06 AM
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At the Ft.Lauderdale show I always have to bring back some jerky,There's a old guy that is always there and can spot me from a mile away.How can I refuse?I think he's online under Herky Jerky.
I,d like to see more classics also and if they would reduse the garbage vendors there might be room for some real sellers.I don't like crowds of Walmart People either.And leave the wife and kids at home unless they have an interest in guns.You younger guys leave the girlfriends at home or go to the mall with them,no time for stupid questions and I didnt come here to see Barbie either,we have a beach for that.
i guess that about it except for the vendors who jack prices through the roof.
Rant over,D.G.
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Old 11-28-2009, 12:42 PM
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There's only one, of many local shows, that attracts my attention, and that's coming up, as regularly scheduled, for the first weekend in December, at the Phoenix Coliseum, which combines the already huge Crossroads of the West show with the Small Arms Review (magazine) show, which features Title II stuff. This big show has great entertainment value, as it attracts a veritable freak show of customers (present company excepted, of course...) has not only lots of guns, accessories, usually some fairly good deals from large vendors of ammo, leather goods, GI surplus, etc. Lots of "state fair" style food and drink --- think food-on-a-stick ---, and most of the non-gun trinkets, crafts, and yard sale collections of **** are shunted off into a livestock exhibition hall, apart from the gun stuff.
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Old 11-29-2009, 12:05 AM
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Things I like at gunshow? All the stuff mentioned above that others like, and most they dislike!

Two years ago I sold and esteemed member here an "offbrand" handgun (ornately engraved). I took the cash to the next show and blew it all (plus a tiny bit more.) On jewelry. Yep. I regularly take along my captive jewelry experts (a wholesale jeweler, retired, and a pawn shop owner, also retired.) Both have poured over more fine gem stones than most of us have ever seen. When both agree that a diamond is good, you can probably bet the farm on it. They liked the pear shaped stone, and Joe kept commenting on the quality of the surrounding stones. So Momma got a great present.

Daughters in law have received great amber jewlery, bought from a Russian woman at the shows.

I've purchased beef jerky, consumed it. I've bought it and carried it home for distribution to offspring.

I've purchased gold and silver coins, most at very tiny prices compared to melt value. I've even picked up a silver bar or two.

I've bought cannons. Golf ball cannons, model cannons, you name it.

I've bought a bunch of ammo, mostly rusty old hard to find stuff that others here would scoff at. Usually at very low prices. I buy components, mostly brass and bullets.

I prefer to buy the other essentials from private tables. Just guys like you or me who spent the money to rent it, but want to keep it filled. They often have discontinued stuff you just can't find elsewhere. Most sell it cheap, like the marked prices from 20 years ago.

GF, an earlier poster, had 3 Bianchi speed strips early this year. He sold me all 3 for $5! That alone made it a good show.

Once, maybe 10 years ago, at a tiny show in Somerset, KY, I managed to buy a perfect black knurled screwdriver for $1. Yes, that made the trip and show a good one for me.

Its all in your perspective. If you go expecting to find one specific item, you will probably be disappointed. If you go with an open mind, a pocket full of spending cash, and a huge list of wanted/needed items, you have a very good chance of coming home happy.

Yes seeing friends is a big part of it. If you go to the right show, you'll meet Lee, David Carroll, Dan Tanko, Hugh May, or any of dozens of our contributors here. They sit all over the shows, usually having a "combine", solving the worlds problems in their huddles.

Health issues prevented me from going to this weekends show in Lexington. But with any luck I'll make it to the big Louisville show in two weeks. My private driver (wife) will probably cart my sorry carcass down there, her going to the big Christmas show next door.
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Old 11-29-2009, 06:47 PM
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I like a gun show that doesn't have the same stuff I can easily see for sale at the big sporting goods retailers. I don't need to see brand new Remington 770's and Mossberg 500's. And I don't need to see at every table the latest tacti-cool guns and accesories It's not that I don't like any of that but enough is enough. Let's look at more refined collector guns etc. "Something a little older and a little slower but tough enough to get the job done" a quote from a short lived t.v. series called "Outlaws" in the 1980's. Some relic's of the wars mixed in with the old west and sprinkle the 1920's to the 60's as a topping and you got a good gun show. Not to offend those that like that stuff but the fantasy sword tables like Conan the barbarians and Excaliber replicas got to go along in the dumpster with magnetic bracelets and crackerjack box jewlery.
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Old 11-29-2009, 07:45 PM
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Outside of lots of excellent condition vintage Smiths, I like variety, as my interests are eclectic. Always looking for U.S. military knives - I've found several excellent buys at gun shows, notably an original SOG bowie and a 5th Special Forces presentation stiletto, both with sheaths combined for $100, and an OSS stiletto with pancake flipper sheath for $100. Having good reference books and using them counts for a lot on such things so as to recognize what's there, what's authentic, and what it's worth. I've been to innumerable shows where I didn't buy a thing, but I keep coming back to find the gem in the mud. For instance, at the last show a Hi-Standard 8-inch barreled "space gun" walked in off the street; I've been looking for one since the early 1960s. I was just at the right place at the right time. You never know, and that's the thrill of the hunt. I also enjoy just talking with knowledgeable folks, and it's a rare show where I don't learn something I didn't know before.

I intensely dislike jewelry, czech glassware, kid's toys and candy/jerky tables. A gun show should be for guns and related accoutrements, and should not be a glorified flea market. Also, young screaming, glomming kids and kids in baby carriages that block the aisles should be left at home. That's why baby sitters were invented. I've taken my grandchildren to shows, but all were above the age of 10 when taken, stuck close to me, kept their hands to themselves, and asked me instead of bothering the vendors when they had a question.

I do like the booksellers who offer gun reference works. Any collector should also have a collection of reference books on whatever is of interest. Gun shows are a handy way to examine such books before buying.
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