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wilmington show nov 11/12

Yes, there is a show in Wilmington this weekend, and VOLUME 2A,2B OF KARBINER 98K is available from the book dealer at this show. We waited nearly 2 years for this to come out, so go buy it!

Also, 30 minutes north, there is a show at the Radisson in Manchester, NH. Really good opportunities at both shows! Tony Martinello is at Manchester for customers looking for some collectible stuff from a Mass dealer.
 
Much smaller show than Marlboro was. Fewer FFLs, lots more accessories, militaria, beef jerky, hot sauce, T shirts, and holsters. The New York ammo guys were in the lobby, not in the main hall. They still appear not to have been informed that the ammo shortage is over.

All in all, I probably should have kept on driving north and gone to Manchester.
 
I swore I wasn't going to go. I really did. But my wife had something to do , too cold and and windy for yard work, I had a couple of hours to kill so I said eff it. I went.

I might as well have thrown $12 out the window. I have probably been to Wilmington 20 times in the past. What a total disappointment. I would guess about 30% (or more) fewer tables. Wider and shorter aisles to make it look bigger. A lot of complete crap. Winter caps, sox, posters stuff you usually never saw. Fewest actual guns I have ever seen. Ammo almost non existent, and what was there was overpriced. If you want crappy $5 knives os some militaria you might luck out.

First time I have ever left a gun show completely empty handed.

I should have listened to myself to begin with.....
 
I went this morning, as said above its smaller than the last couple of years. There was a really nice Saginaw M1 Carbine, not sure whose table it was as some of them didn't have signs. I always wanted a decent M1 Carbine shooter with some history but $2,500 is well outside what I am willing to pay. Got a small amount of Ammo and jerky. Its was a fun hour or two before I went home to attack the honey do list.
 
I had been planning to go this morning but unexpected personal issue came up, guess I won't be going tomorrow based on the feedback here. Also it seems funny that the people who took over the Diprete shows decided to have a show on this same weekend. They seem to be cutting their own throats.
 
Stooped in after work this morning, looked around, saw some of members of my club and chatted with them. My buddy needed his PIN # so we stopped at the Mass CJIS table and I had a really nice conversation with Makayla. Saw Glenn (one of my reloading suppliers) and shoot the shit with him for a few moments before he got busy. Bought a Lyman lead bullet shooters handbook , bought some jerky . Looked at a Gadsden Flag, spent a couple hours browsing. Didn't really see anything I could live without, but all in all a pleasant Sat spent with a couple friends looking at things we all like. With a coupon I spent less than $20
 
Went looking for (1)M1 Carbine, (2) any Chinese AK or MAK90, reloading suppies, a decent priced EDC knife. Had some jerky. Don't think Ill be going back anytime soon.
 
Yeah, It was a little disappointing today. Still, overall not a bad way to spend a cold Saturday afternoon. Had my overpriced hot dog and overpriced beer. Bought some jerky. Actually happened upon a couple of Romanian tanker mags (20 rounders) for my... uh, an AK rifle that I certainly don't own in Massachusetts. I wonder if they'll keep having the show if things continue the way they have been.
 
i apologize for starting this thread, went this morning, same review as everyone else
lot smaller let less guns should have stayed home on the couch
 
Complete waist of time at both Wilmington and Manchester. Both venues were much smaller with short aisles and 15-20' between each row. So much room that you could easily do 6-7 people across in Manchester. Was talking to one of the vendors in Manchester and he was telling me there were three things working against the gun show. 1 was the two gun shows running at the same time. 2 was that there was a big gun dealers show in Tulsa, OK that many FFLs in New England went too. 3 was the start of hunting season.

Even with this lack of customers vendors weren't haggling much, even for ammo that was way overpriced.
 
I think that the two shows at the same time thing was the primary reason, but the other two didn't help. I guess I saved some time and gas not going to Manchester instead.

Oh well.

Rockrivr1 said:
Complete waist of time at both Wilmington and Manchester. Both venues were much smaller with short aisles and 15-20' between each row. So much room that you could easily do 6-7 people across in Manchester. Was talking to one of the vendors in Manchester and he was telling me there were three things working against the gun show. 1 was the two gun shows running at the same time. 2 was that there was a big gun dealers show in Tulsa, OK that many FFLs in New England went too. 3 was the start of hunting season.

Even with this lack of customers vendors weren't haggling much, even for ammo that was way overpriced.
Click to expand...
 
Went from there to Four Seasons in Woburn which was humming with buying customers. That made my day because otherwise I would feel like a last fossil left in the liberal MA swamp. Feeling giddy, I spent too much at Four Seasons yesterday and I did not regret it! [smile]
 
garyz said:
i apologize for starting this thread, went this morning, same review as everyone else
lot smaller let less guns should have stayed home on the couch
Click to expand...
Yeah, somewhat of a disappointment... the incredible shrinking MA gun shows. [laugh] Only good thing you can say is that the aisles keep getting wider and wider so it's easy to see everything quickly. I was in and out in 45 minutes. [thinking]

I forgot about Manchester or I would have tried to hit both shows since Wilmington took so little time. Maybe I would have gotten lucky up north, who knows?
 
ChrisNH said:
Also, 30 minutes north, there is a show at the Radisson in Manchester, NH. Really good opportunities at both shows! Tony Martinello is at Manchester for customers looking for some collectible stuff from a Mass dealer.
Click to expand...
Good to hear that Martinello is still in business and doing shows even if they have to leave the state to do so after their fellow Sutton, MA dealer turned them in to Dimples the Tyrant and had them fined and kicked out of the MA shows. They are good people. The other Sutton, MA dealer... not so much. [angry]
 
EJFudd said:
Yeah, somewhat of a disappointment... the incredible shrinking MA gun shows. [laugh] Only good thing you can say is that the aisles keep getting wider and wider so it's easy to see everything quickly. I was in and out in 45 minutes. [thinking]

I forgot about Manchester or I would have tried to hit both shows since Wilmington took so little time. Maybe I would have gotten lucky up north, who knows?
Click to expand...

45 minutes? If I don't run into anyone I know at the MA shows, on the rare opportunity that I go, I pretty much am exiting the show in about 20 minutes or so after I get through the door. There is so little stuff at this point it's rapidly approaching the why bother stage.

Also the promoters are a bunch of scumbags and the stuff I've seen them do to vendors is terrible. The fact that they have the audacity to actually charge $12 to get in is absurd, too.

-Mike
 
drgrant said:
The fact that they have the audacity to actually charge $12 to get in is absurd, too.

-Mike
Click to expand...

Not to mention there is no mention of the door charge anywhere on their flyers, website, etc. I don't mind paying a door charge, but I'd like to know what I'm in for beforehand.
 
Too bad the shows organizers and dealers didn't take the time to read these reviews. If they did maybe they would stay home too. I sure wish I did. Typical Massachusetts gun show, lots of beat up old guns and plenty of overpriced new guns.
 
EJFudd said:
Good to hear that Martinello is still in business and doing shows even if they have to leave the state to do so after their fellow Sutton, MA dealer turned them in to Dimples the Tyrant and had them fined and kicked out of the MA shows. They are good people. The other Sutton, MA dealer... not so much. [angry]
Click to expand...


Wow what happened ?
 
TimGallagherFan said:
Wow what happened ?
Click to expand...
Old story now. Short version: The other Sutton dealer complained to show organizer that Martinello was displaying new Glocks at MA shows. Confusion and ugliness followed. Show organizer eventually got pissed, called cops and Martinello was ejected from a Marlboro show... later banned by organizer from all MA shows.
 

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