Alton
Member
Friend talked me into the one in Bryan, TX in August. Hopefully it is descent
Another disappointing gun show
- Thread starter Hawg Rider
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Model19man
Member
That show in Bryan may have some good stuff. I went to one around La Grange , TX (It was not in La Grange but near there) and I got some unopened Hercules powder for $30 a can from a guy. You need to keep your mind open and eyes open because you never know what you will find!
DADS44
Member
Yeah...I used to live for the Saxett Gun Shows here in San Antonio, unfortunately they stopped having them here in San Antonio about 5 years ago or so...I don't remember. I use to go to them between pt's ( I was a Home Health Nurse ) when in the area...just loved them...always had good deals on various items. They have some other ones here but sadly nothing like the good old days, there really not worth it at all, high prices and just junk mostly. Last one I was at was about 2 years ago in Austin, it was alright, did pick up a nice S & W Equalizer 9mm for a decent price with Laser included. I miss the old days....like primers for 12-16 bucks for a 1000, bullets, powder and just great stuff all around....man I feel old....Blessings!
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I do not go to gun shows anymore. These days you have to take out two new mortgages to buy anything of yet the year quality and some shows have none for sale anyway. Old Milsurps which once sold for less than $100 now cost a king's ransom even though most are pitted, rusted up, beat up and almost falling apart. The majority of tables are filled up with new black plastic firearms which I do not give a second glance to. I can often find better deals at local pawn shops or the used corner rack at the local gun stores that often have at least a few classic firearms of walnut and blued steel for sale and often at way more reasonable prices.
Sadly most of my gun show friends have now "bit the dust" and the long friendly conversations we had have been replaced with nasty comments from professional vendors who scream at you to move on away from their tables if you are not buying any of their overpriced junk. When the gun shows became more unpleasant than going to the Dentist I threw in the towel. At least my friends and I were lucky enough to be born at a time when we enjoyed the "golden age" of gun collecting, now as dead and gone as the Pleistocene Epoch.
I fondly remember when my Uncle took me to my first "gun show" back in 1962. Looking back on it the show was actually a small one in an old building called "The Swiss Club". As a teenager I naively thought I had never seen so many guns in one place at one time. The old wooden floors creaked and squeaked and everyone seemed to know each other and all were talking and having a grand old time. It was as much of a social event as a gun show (as it should be) but sadly now all part of the "dead hand of the past", never to come again.
In the dead hand of the past I remember just about every young boy got a "absentee pass" to take off from school the first day of the Rabbit and Pheasant season. It was considered normal for kids to want to go hunting on the first day. One of our Teachers brought in an old Stephen's Crack Shot single shot rifle to show us how to safely carry a loaded firearm in the field so that if you fell down you did not shoot someone else with it. Another Teacher brought in his "German Luger" he got when he was in WWII. Today those two teachers would be fired on the sport for bringing to school a firearm. I remember when on the first day of the hunting season it was common to see a person walking downtown with a shotgun or rifle over his shoulder. Today that would result in a Swat Team swooping in on you with a helicopter gunship.
Perhaps my dear departed friends are really "the lucky ones" as they cannot see what has become of their old home town, now unrecognizable with farms and woodlands gobbled up by housing projects and shopping malls. Even the nostalgic "lovers lane" on the outskirts of town now replaced with an Amazon Warehouse.
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Sadly most of my gun show friends have now "bit the dust" and the long friendly conversations we had have been replaced with nasty comments from professional vendors who scream at you to move on away from their tables if you are not buying any of their overpriced junk. When the gun shows became more unpleasant than going to the Dentist I threw in the towel. At least my friends and I were lucky enough to be born at a time when we enjoyed the "golden age" of gun collecting, now as dead and gone as the Pleistocene Epoch.
I fondly remember when my Uncle took me to my first "gun show" back in 1962. Looking back on it the show was actually a small one in an old building called "The Swiss Club". As a teenager I naively thought I had never seen so many guns in one place at one time. The old wooden floors creaked and squeaked and everyone seemed to know each other and all were talking and having a grand old time. It was as much of a social event as a gun show (as it should be) but sadly now all part of the "dead hand of the past", never to come again.
In the dead hand of the past I remember just about every young boy got a "absentee pass" to take off from school the first day of the Rabbit and Pheasant season. It was considered normal for kids to want to go hunting on the first day. One of our Teachers brought in an old Stephen's Crack Shot single shot rifle to show us how to safely carry a loaded firearm in the field so that if you fell down you did not shoot someone else with it. Another Teacher brought in his "German Luger" he got when he was in WWII. Today those two teachers would be fired on the sport for bringing to school a firearm. I remember when on the first day of the hunting season it was common to see a person walking downtown with a shotgun or rifle over his shoulder. Today that would result in a Swat Team swooping in on you with a helicopter gunship.
Perhaps my dear departed friends are really "the lucky ones" as they cannot see what has become of their old home town, now unrecognizable with farms and woodlands gobbled up by housing projects and shopping malls. Even the nostalgic "lovers lane" on the outskirts of town now replaced with an Amazon Warehouse.
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Gun show food? It has declined along with the show. All over the same thing. SXXX food served by people they picked up off the street. You order a $5 hot dog and they act like you've ordered a Roast Duck. Shuffling around back there finally a paper wrapped dog you wouldn't give your Dog. The government has destroyed gun shows with their bogus laws.
My Grand parents read the Racing form like the Bible. I loved horse racing. It used to be so big here in Santa Rosa that they'd have 2 levels of bars, two on each level. Drinks and beer at regular prices and great food. $5 exactas that paid hundreds of dollars, thousands of people. Then they outlawed drinking by starting the game of GOTCHA. The Cops would sit outside any of these facilities and just pick them off. Like lions killing wildebeest. Your best chance to escape was to leave between kills. Now there are almost no races. Taxed out of business the bars and clubs all closed down. The races now have one bar and a G&T is $13 a beer $10. A bad hamburger is over $10.
MADD caught it just right: In the 70s cars became infinitely safer, seat belts mandatory and MADD took credit for the statistic change. Now an extra half glass of Chardonnay can ruin your life. And the revenue is great too....They have drunk stops here where they stop 400 cars and nail 2 drunks and 30 people with no license or insurance.. people are just as screwed up but its on THC. This used to be a free country...
My Grand parents read the Racing form like the Bible. I loved horse racing. It used to be so big here in Santa Rosa that they'd have 2 levels of bars, two on each level. Drinks and beer at regular prices and great food. $5 exactas that paid hundreds of dollars, thousands of people. Then they outlawed drinking by starting the game of GOTCHA. The Cops would sit outside any of these facilities and just pick them off. Like lions killing wildebeest. Your best chance to escape was to leave between kills. Now there are almost no races. Taxed out of business the bars and clubs all closed down. The races now have one bar and a G&T is $13 a beer $10. A bad hamburger is over $10.
MADD caught it just right: In the 70s cars became infinitely safer, seat belts mandatory and MADD took credit for the statistic change. Now an extra half glass of Chardonnay can ruin your life. And the revenue is great too....They have drunk stops here where they stop 400 cars and nail 2 drunks and 30 people with no license or insurance.. people are just as screwed up but its on THC. This used to be a free country...
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I spend a lot of time talking to folks with tables at the show and move quickly past the rows of modern stuff.
Class rooms at school in Pennsylvania back in the day were nearly empty on the first day of deer season.
A neighbor of ours would end his Pheasant hunt near the bottom of our street and walk up it with his shotgun over his shoulder. Most kids didn't think anything of it. Nowadays...I can't even imagine...
The OPs description has been the reality, for a couple decades now. I'd rather put the entry fee towards shipping costs, and just order from Midway, AR15discounts, PrimaryArms, etc.
Just like pawn stores, the vendors have forgotten the business model. If they have the same stuff I can buy on ebay,,or a local gun store, for the same price ( or less!), EVERY DAMN DAY, then why would I pay extra to buy from them ??? They've just gotten greedy and stupid. I passed on yet another local show,,just this past weekend.
Just like pawn stores, the vendors have forgotten the business model. If they have the same stuff I can buy on ebay,,or a local gun store, for the same price ( or less!), EVERY DAMN DAY, then why would I pay extra to buy from them ??? They've just gotten greedy and stupid. I passed on yet another local show,,just this past weekend.
AJ
US Veteran
I go to the local gun show as it is six miles from the house. Once in a while "the blind pig finds an acorn". Maybe once every two to three shows. will go this weekend and see what they have.
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shil
Member
I gave up on gun shows years ago. Too many "Rambotitos".
rpv-ak
Member
rpv-ak
Member
Get a Curio & Relics FFL.
LVSteve
Member
That's been my recent experience.
Rambocitos
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Way to many with rectal optosis……..
AJ
US Veteran
optirectumitis
Last deal I got at a gun show was 1999 when the vendor sold me a mint 3.5" pre-27 for $250. He said "it's a model 19.' I asked, are you sure? He said yep, I know my Smiths.
Who was I to argue?
Who was I to argue?
You gotta love it when the "I know everything" guy screws himself. ;- )
isuolympic
Member
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The Alabama Gun Collectors show in Hoover yesterday was great. Plenty of old Colts, Smiths, Belgium Brownings, etc. A lot of stuff was selling.
Hal H.
Member
The biggest change that I noticed is that lack of good buys since the advent of internet bidding. Before that, you could score a firearm for a great price. Now, you are not getting anything below BB value.
