What I Learned at the Gun Show

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Rare!!

Hard to find!!

Better get one before they're banned!!

Prices going up again next month!!

Want some jerky?
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Absolutely agree.

Although in defense of the jerky guy, he makes a mean spicy venison jerky.

I'll be honest with you guys, in the relatively short time I've been an enthusiast and going to gun shows, I've come to enjoy the baloney that goes on there. It's quirky and somehow oddly fun. The jerky stand(s) are at this point, for me at least, a part of gun show culture.

Similarly, I've been going to ham radio shows/conventions for my entire life, even as a toddler. It would have been appropriate for my diaper to be a dual-band 2-way with a call sign printed on the back. Years and years of going to ham-fests has gotten me used to ham show culture. Which is: lots of whacky impractical antennas that the booth operator claims is the end-all antenna. Lots of novelty items and junk with the booths lit up by police lights and other weird lights that look out of place. Cheap salvaged parts that have corroded contacts. Horrible food. A jerky table and/or a dried fruit and nut table..... and last but not least, a lot of very very old nerds who forgot to shower that morning, and possibly the day before as well.

Oddly enough, I love it at this point and thoroughly enjoy each show, no matter how lame is might be. My father and I will always have a table that we share with a bunch of friends and we sell computer stuff, restored oscilloscopes, used radio gear, antennas, and pretty much all the radio, computer, and geeky electronic stuff that the 6 of us don't need anymore.... and then go blow it all on more geeky stuff that we won't really need like a mobile rig even though mobile rigs suck and we'll never install it in our car. :eek:

It's still a lot of fun, and between gun shows and ham-fests, yeah - there is a lot of BS.... but somehow I have a feeling that without the BS, some of us would almost feel like the show is missing something.

I know I would. Then again, as a newcomer (I've only been into this for 2 years or maybe a little more now), I don't know what gun shows used to be like. They might have been totally different. I base my opinion only on my personal experiences. :)
 
Come on, would you really want to go to a gun show where everyone was knowledgable, everyone ws friendly, and all the prices were just right? Shoot no!

There'd be nothing to shake your head at and say...sure hope some sucker doesn't fall for that one"...only to see someone walking the aisels with that same gun later on and thinking...so that's what a sucker looks like.
 
Hmmm. Let's see:

"That's the best price you'll find anywhere!" <<Vender steps 2 feet left to block view of next table where price is 40% lower.>> :uhoh:

"Colt 1911s ain't made no more." :rolleyes:

"You don't wanna buy a 1911!" :confused:

"No such thing as corrosive ammo; it was just poor quality steel in old firearms". :scrutiny:

"That's not rust. Well, it's just surface rust. It won't hurt the bore." :cuss:

"Take it or leave it. It'll be sold in 60 minutes." <<3rd day of the gun show, item is still there.>>

And my favorite:

This thread will go away quickly because from what I have gathered by reading the other 800 Gun Show threads in the past month, nobody attends gun shows anymore.
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Doc2005
 
I went to one last week and picked up some pretty good deals (even with today's prices), on some ammo. I saw a few people at dealer's tables, filling out the Form 4473; but not all that many. A lot of people working the aisles with guns to sell, but not many buyers. The place was fairly empty when I got there a half hour after they opened. An hour later, it was packed with barely enough room to squeeze down the aisles. At least the turn-out is still going strong.
 
I remember walking the shows with my dad when I was a kid there was this one guy at a table who would always say the barrel on every the gun my dad was selling was crooked.
 
as a photographer for 30 years, i've been to plenty of camera shows & they sound just like what you have been talking about.
but in my experience, there are always the 1 or 2 guys who buy the get-in-early tickets, & have a huge wad of cash in their pockets to snatch up all the old leica & nikon collectibles.
is there a similar priviledge at gun shows?:confused:
 
I've learned that vendors of such merchandise believe that people who purchase guns are the same people who buy velvet Elvises and Nazi memorabilia.
 
We just had a gunshow this past weekend down here in New Orleans, about 400 tables. And for the $8.00 entry fee, I get three hours of relaxation surrounded by tons of wonderful firearms, ammo, accessories, the occasional nut-job, and yes, beef jerky.
And while most of what was there was very much overpriced, it was still far more fun than anything else I could have done that day with my clothes on.
You've just got to take it for what it is.

Things I learned at this gunshow?

1. The Walther P22 is apparently made for midgets.
2. The GSG-5 shoulders nicely and has a nice, solid, hefty feel to it.
3. I like beef jerky. (Well, I already KNEW that.)
4. MagPul AR15 mags will vary in price by as much as $15 from one vendor to the next.
5. A BREN gun is a most wonderful hunk of beastliness up-close and in person.
6. Grizzly Adams is alive and well and working gunshows in south LA.



Jeffrey
 
orienteeer

A lot of times it's the table holders doing all the wheeling and dealing with other table holders, well before the doors ever open to the public. It used to be that way at a private gun collectors association I used to belong to. And of course, if something changed hands before the show opened, it would be marked up by the time it reached the new owner's table. I guess they considered that their handling fee.
 
nuclear hell

my most memorable moment at a gun show, (actually a hunting show) was something i saw happen to my buddy. a vendor was displaying free samples of his hot sauce. the hottest bottle was labeled, "nuclear hell". Pard dipped a chip into the sample and popped it in his mouth. his face almost immediately turned as red as the sauce, he was trying to speak but only managed to get out a gurgle. A boy about 6 years old was standing across the aisle with an ice cream cone. Pard snatch the kids icecream. after a few seconds he could talk again. He settled up with the kids dad for a new cone. When the vendor asked Pard how many jars, would he want him to wrap up, Pard insinuated the vendor's mother was from the canine family. everyone except Pard and the child had a good laugh.
 
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<<Also, I once saw Glock 22 magazines listed at $40 each. I asked why the high price? The guy told me that Glock magazines are very difficult to find these days and the rarity has made the price go up. This was a little under a year ago. I went to the LGS a couple days later and bought Glock 22 magazines for $20 each.>>

The truth is their servant, not their master! :D
 
I learned the quickest way to lose $15.
I learned that SKS stripper clips are $20 for 5 because "they don't make them anymore."
I learned not to taste the beef jerky from the guy walking about selling a hog head, screaming "Get your one and only hog head!"
I learned that the only thing worth buying at most guns shows most of the time is their ammo.
I also learned that a Glock 9mm is "About as good as a .22"
 
Wow... stripper clips for both 5.56 and 7.62x39 have been drying up for the past 20 years because they "don't make them anymore." Doubtless, they are still on the market only because outrageously high prices force people not to buy them. Except from online sources. For $3.99 a 20-pack.

-Sans Authoritas
 
I really do feel badly for the average, well-meaning suckers who fall for their lies. Less so for the ones who pridefully refuse to be outdone in nonsense firearm "knowledge" and trivia, and buy whatever trinkets the liar is peddling because "they already know" the lie that the liar is feeding them.

-Sans Authoritas
 
I like gun shows. Have always had fun at gun shows. Have always learned there something I didn't know before I went.

For the kind of commerce that goes on there, it's pretty amazing that they're still allowed to exist. I've never done it but someday I will take a friend or relative from a heavily gun-regulated city/state to a 500+ table gun show. Just to freak 'em out. :eek:
 
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