What I heard at the Gunshow today.

[Nathan_Bell]

The last show I was at, I saw 3 sellers with Eotech copies (marked as per the Eotech website for frauds), 2-3 guys selling "custom" uppers with the best of the middle of the road parts and asking prices that were higher than my noveske upper cost, and a guy selling some injection molded stuff that he touted as "made in the USA", but no country of origin on any item or on any of the packaging, as well as no brand.

then of course the beef jerky people, the knife row, knock off shamwows, and some guy with a potato peeler and spices he was selling.

One local shop used to host a show and they would ask you what you would be selling to keep the beefjerky/chinese knockoff/ronco dealers out of the show. THey quit hosting the show as they couldn't get enough interest from 'real' gun dealers to make any $ on it.

[Evil Colt 6920]

I was just at the Eastmans gunshow in Savannah, Ga yesterday. I heard a lot of garbage and it really annoyed me, most of it coming from the mouths of the wannabe gangster crowd that seems to know nothing about anything. And a lot of these vendors will say anything to make a sale. And I forget who said it, and too lazy to go back and quote it, but the vendors saying "Special Forces" about half the stuff on their tables was so true yesterday. I've had my eye on an Emerson Super Commander pocket knife for about 2 months now. I asked for it for my birthday(next month) and have been looking online for the best deal. The lowest price I could find was on Ebay for $200+shipping. I found one at the show for $180 and snatched it up I also found some good deals on magpul and glock magazines. So all in all in was a good experience, worth rubbing elbows with the wannabe gangster idiots.

[MOA]

Our shows are pretty sad. They do have a good surefire/aimpoint/knife table. One guy does it all, ans he is fair on price and service. We also tend to have more indian jewelery than you can shake a stick at, and all the real guns are marked up to a sad ammount. Like $1000 DPMS m4. Used to be a good show, I remember about 10 years ago walking in and seeing 1 person selling jerky and we got kinda excited, I mean jerky and guns! Now you got to waid thru the crap knives and full auto rubber band guns to find the table with Rossi pistols and "tactical" nylon universal holsters. Lets make a deal is gone too. was looking to trade a USP40 and the guy said that he would only knock $200 of the $800 for the S&W 629 i wanted cause "H&K was not that good. Hell all the SEALs switched to glocks." Yeah, keep you gun buddy.

[bulbvivid]

Since the presidential election, we've been having a show every month or two at 4-5 different venues, some bigger than others. They're mostly hunting gun, cheap handgun (lots of Taurus and Bersa, some Hi Point), and Glock shows, though. Good luck if you're looking for anything else, and if you do find something, it's likely overpriced. Most "tactical" stuff you might run across is made by UTG.

Lots of folks around here horse trade, so there's a lot of private sellers, which can be a good thing. And we don't have a bit of jerky or Indian jewelry. There's very little that's off topic.

Last one I went to had a lot of ammo too, some at decent prices. Many were selling WWB .380 for $60 a hundred. Ouch.

[mhanna91]

My local gunshow, the Indy 1500 in Indianapolis, Indiana, is really not too bad. You can usually find some half decent prices on new guns there, or atleast better than you would be able to find in a small local shop. Ammo, however, is rediculously priced. Im talking $17 for a box of UMC 9mm, and the stupid part is that it sells like hotcakes. Alot of the tables are taken up by dealers, and some of them will offer a small discount or "show price". There are also the usual cheapo knife stands, however there is a guy who makes his own fixed blade knives out of damascus steel or something and they are really nice. We have the jerkey, the chocolate fudge, the BBQ sauce, and the tables with blow dart nerf guns and toys with little flashing lights. My favorite thing is the people, particularly the people who have something to sell or want to buy from me, because i always carry something down there with me just for the hell of it. The funniest thing is the common belief that a gun with a scope is always worth atleast $100 more than the same gun without a scope. "Sir you do know that that is a Tasco right?"-"Ya, it's the nicest one they make, thats what the employee at Wal Mart told me"

[Bubba FAL]

I went to one of our local small town shows Saturday. Yes, there was cinnamon popcorn, beef jerky, indian jewelry, and Dish Network there. For once, no cheap knives.

No uniforms other than US, either.

All the years I went, the rule I was taught and passed on to my kids, Look, don't touch, and always ask.

I wade through the crowd to the BlackrifleLLC section and some guy is telling us to pick up the rifles! CMMG $599 specials, their must be 30-45 of them, and he's all about Go Ahead Guys - then turns his back to talk to somebody at the other corner.

So, we all were. Got our $8 of touchy feely right there, tried a A1 grip, A2 grip, and a Tango Down side by side, had my boy do the same. We searched the whole place, not one TD grip on a table, black or FG. Dry hole.

Never heard "pick up the rifles and try them" before and may never again. But I will remember the show just for that.

Sure sounds like the Joplin show. What's with the ATV tires & rims? Same guy was at Springfield last month.

Bit disappointed with the new "AR specialist" in town - the Black Rain Ord stuff looked nice, but the guy working the booth sure was pushing the UTG junk.
The Wanamacher shows in Tulsa are worth the drive, but only twice a year.

[FlyAndFight]

What's with all of the beef jerky hate?...

Even if I end up not buying anything firearm related, I always come out with a bag of jerky.

Gun show is coming to town this weekend. I remember some good handgun deals available at the last show. I'm curious to see how low the pricing will be this time around.

[tirod]

Absolutely. Since the price of gas went up I don't travel to Tulsa, but it's an excuse to not spend $$$ I can't afford. Lot's of fun in the days of being a Reservist and "working" the recruiting booth at those shows.

As for the ATV tires, OK, it's actually a better connection for hunters than SW native American jewelry - but anodized billet rims? WT*? I sell auto parts, steelies get the job done, fancy billet rims are street show crap. On a ATV? Grinding rocks off road? Give me a break.

The American consumer is slowly being seduced by non-essential 1% solutions to questions nobody even asks. Case in point, anti-rotation pins.

Guns shows are a great place to hear myths - but for real deep BS, I went to a local knife shop on the south side and got to hear "Them .45's will clean blow a man off his feet!" and other such stuff. I just had to look away and stifle it.

It helps to keep in touch with the ignorati just so you can exercise self discipline.

[znztivguy]

For us californians sometimes a doublestar is the only thing available to us. Well, not uppers...but you get the drift. At the gunshows it is expected that most people sometimes aren't as knowledgeable, with myself being the most guilty of that. If the old timer would have said....Yeah...just like a Colt but 500 dollars cheaper...then Hmmmmmmm........might have considered it........

I was at a gunshow today and picked up an AR15 upper just to look at it. The old timer behind the table said , and I quote " Yeah thats just like a Colt only its a Double Star. Okay Didn't someone once say you can't fix stupid. Anyways that comment kind of made my day so I thought I would share it.

[orionz06]

For us californians sometimes a doublestar is the only thing available to us. Well, not uppers...but you get the drift. At the gunshows it is expected that most people sometimes aren't as knowledgeable, with myself being the most guilty of that. If the old timer would have said....Yeah...just like a Colt but 500 dollars cheaper...then Hmmmmmmm........might have considered it........

It is expected that some are not as knowledgeable, but only by the people that know better... I have no issue with someone who is willing to explain to me that Product A isnt B, and tell me what the $500 is buying, but dont tell me its the same thing.