best gun show or "dream" show to attend?

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Hi guys!
If you had to choose one gun show to attend, or a "dream gun show attendance", what show would it be? anywhere in the New England or New York area or thereabouts.... I'm thinking about maybe heading to "the" gun show with the family and make a weekend out of it...
I live in the CapeCod / Plymouth area (Rochester, Ma to be exact) and I usually hit the local shows... Springfield, Marlboro, Plymouth, etc.... But I'm looking for the "big show" to attend, know whutimean? ;-)

Shotshow in Vegas is not doable, nor is the NRA show in Texas... that's just too far to drive :)

thanks all!
Mike B
 
There are some big shows in PA every year (they claim 800+ tables) but who knows what the junk ratio is. Do some googling.

-Mike
 
If you can get a ticket the SHOT show is pretty awesome. Vegas is a little far though.

Edit. Sorry, I see you mentioned it. Well start saving, maybe you can swing it someday!
 
SHOT show is a waste of time. It's not a retail show. Can't buy anything there. Yeah it's huge and it's Vegas, but so what. Are you a dealer who buys at the beginning of the year, all the new stuff. Knob Creek in KY is a fun show, you can buy there. No such thing as "banned" products there. The Show of Shows is in Louisville, KY. Big area for Civil War related stuff. Shows in NY are the same vendors as New England, same show promoters. PA has a show somewhere every weekend. Sometimes two shows. I drove out to Wilkes-Barre, the show sucked. In a horse barn with 6+ ammo sellers. One vendor had 10 tables, and low and behold, he had one gun on his tables? (huh?) Harrisburg was good, bought an M1 carbine there. York,PA had the Small Arms Review show about 10 years ago, that disappeared to Phoenix. If you have a C&R license and a bunch of cash, make the trips to PA. Different vendors and promoters. Wanenmachers show in Tulsa is an awesome show, but it is a traditional show in that people display their collections for prizes. There are also sellers, but the show is so huge, you probably won't see it all. If military collectibles is your game, you need to attend the MAXX show, no guns after 1945, but everything collectible. The MAXX moves, so you have to search where/when it's going to be next. Hopefully this has been helpful.
 
SHOT show is a waste of time. It's not a retail show. Can't buy anything there.

It's a trade show.

Never understood why people get all worked up over this show,unless you have never been to Vegas.I really think a lot of people here that went thought you could buy guns there.

As far as a dream show,I would settle for a show that the dealers are not allowed to buy and sell with each other before the doors open.
 
SHOT show is a waste of time. It's not a retail show. Can't buy anything there. Yeah it's huge and it's Vegas, but so what.

If you go to SHOT thinking "I can buy stuff here" your elevator probably doesn't go to the top or you're a little tarded. It's a trade show.

It's not really a waste if you know what its about and you go there with specific purposes. (networking, looking at new products, etc. )

-Mike
 
It's a trade show.

Never understood why people get all worked up over this show,unless you have never been to Vegas.I really think a lot of people here that went thought you could buy guns there.

As far as a dream show,I would settle for a show that the dealers are not allowed to buy and sell with each other before the doors open.

Honestly, from what I've seen, this stuff about "the dealers buy all the good stuff before the show opens" is overrated. Yeah it happens, but its a pocket deal here or there, there aren't cartloads of merch changing hands before
they start letting in the teeeming masses from the outside. There are also a lot of deals that are predicated on someone having a lot of cash. Like say a dealer has a few albatrasses hes willing to let go for short money... he's not going to give you the short money deal unless you make his problem go away, by buying all of them, etc. These are techniques joe average can do at any time during the show, if he has a lot of cash and patience to roll
something over later.

There's also another problem- if this rule existed as you wanted, the prices would be higher for that magic merchandise. Dealers get cheaper prices because the paperwork is way lower (they just need a copy of the other's FFL and a bound book entry, DONE) and the level of bullshit goes way down. No 4473, no FBI check, no MIRCS bullshit. A dealer doesn't have to waste 10-20 minutes worth of admin overhead to sell/trade to another dealer.

-Mike
 
Here's some good news: Small Arms Review has a new show June 19-21 in Harriburg,PA. There is also another promoter sponsoring another show at the Farm Complex. There will 3 buildings worth of gun show. I'm from NH, it's about 7 hours to Harrisburg from where I live.
 
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