Gun Show the way it oughta be!

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Hypnogator

Hypnogator

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I just returned from the Central Wisconsin Gun Collectors Association gun show in Fond Du Lac. GREAT show -- some 400 tables and not a single jerky or jewelry (to my wife's disappointment) seller. LOTS of antique and collectors guns -- trapdoor Springfields, Krags, '03s '03A3s, M-1 Carbines, Garands, Mausers, blackpowder Colts, even original flintlocks. Reminds me of a miniature version of Wannamachers in Tulsa.

Prices were nothing to write home about -- spotted a NIB Glock 22 for $450, a decent looking Garand for $475, and ammo was still fairly decent price. I picked up some new GI 30-rd magazines with the green followers for $15 ea, and 300 rds of sealed South African 5.56mm 62-gr steel-core ball ammo for $110.

After hearing all the laments about crappy shows (and having attended a few myself in various places), just thought I'd let y'all know that all is not lost. :cool:
 
As annoying as it is to sift through the candles, ceramics, jellies, incense, beef jerky, dream catchers, etc. etc., you gotta have someting to keep her occupied while you attend to the important stuff.
 
Prices were nothing to write home about -- spotted a NIB Glock 22 for $450, a decent looking Garand for $475
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i dont know about the glock, but the decent looking garand for 475 would have me waking up in a cold sweat if it didnt come home to live with me,lol.

sounds like a nice show, im lucky i guess, as the ones we have around here are always great.

always really good prices here at the shows. i got a colt 6700c a3 match target rifle for 850 here while back. new in the box.
 
Gotta know your wife, I guess, 2percent.

Is she competitive? Get her to the range and compete.

Does she like a nice meal out? Take her to the range and then a nice dinner, every time.

Does she like movies? Start pointing out which gun is being used where and why it's the right or wrong choice.

Does she like history? I guess you get my point.
 
Or you could just get her interested in guns.
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Actually, she is! :D Although she enjoys looking at, and occasionally buying jewelry at gun shows, she's also interested in the guns, especially the historic ones. Unfortunately, the one she fell in love with yesterday was a mint Winchester '73 mfgd in 1874, in .44-40, which was listed for the bargain price of $10,500.00 Sadly, lacked a few dollars of having the cash on me -- or in my checking account. :eek:

Ah, well, anyway, she found a box of old Western books that I bought her for $1.00 each -- some dating from the '20s. So she got books, and I got magazines -- 3 30-rd GI AR mags with green followers. :)

Also, she's going to help me shoot up the ammo I bought -- we're each building a custom AR, mine a carbine, hers a mid-length. I'll post pictures when we get them completed. Will be spending our Gov't rebates on fluted Douglas stainless barrels from CLE in the near future. :cool:
 
I find that the fairer sex enjoys skeet and trap shooting more often than the other disciplines of lead-throwing, on the average.
 
It is good to hear a positive post about a gunshow

because that is the way I generally feel about them. I went to one at Des Moines yesterday and it was very good. There was a bare, bare minimum of non-gun or non-knife or non-outdoors related stuff. The most interesting item I think I saw, for the story behind it, was an 1873 Winchester, not for sale, so I am prone to believe the story. A tag said it had been found in a Wyoming ghost town in the 1970s. It was pretty pitted and bad but still had a certain attractivness and that explanation made it interesting. It appeared as if perhaps it had been found under some dirt with a metal detector. Also, someone had about 6 Winchester levers from the 19th Century running from about $4500 each on up. I did not find anything to buy but thoroughly enjoyed it and spent 5 hours there. Since I am learning about SWs I was able to observe a SW .45 from the early 20th Century with nickel plate. It was a triple-lock so the man who had it, a SW collector always at the shows with a table, patiently took the time to educate me on what a triple-lock is as I did not know.
 
Nice.
shows are getting too much into the big box gun suppliers putting out 30 tables of new manufacture arms at retail prices. I hate that.
They buy away the tables that mom and pop arms show would have, the "gun show deal" people love to find is essentially vacant. It ruins it.
It really does.
 
Hypnogator

It's funny sometimes how certain guns will show up at a gunshow, and then you won't see them again for a long time. Like one show I went to a while back; I have never seen so many Krags in my entire life. You were literally tripping over them every couple of tables. Next show-not a one. Same with Springfield '03s, Garands, M-1 Carbines, M1911s, etc. And I'm not talking about imported milsurps; these were primarily collector grade guns (and priced accordingly). The other thing is it's only one particular gun per show. As if someone decided to sell off their entire collection of Trapdoor Springfields, and now everyone's got them on their tables. There one show; gone the next. Very strange.
 
Last gunshow I went to there were only 2 tables actually selling guns. Everything else was art, jewelry, airsoft/tacticool gear.

I went looking for some ammo deals, paid five bucks to get in, and no one was selling ammo.

I'm not going to give up on gunshows because of that incident though. I have been to too many good ones to do that.
 
"Yes, you have to talk to women."


Oh sure. Talk to them and they respond. Even worse, they expect you to listen to what they said. It is a vicious cycle, best avoided.
 
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