• If you enjoy the forum please consider supporting it by signing up for a NES Membership  The benefits pay for the membership many times over.

Manchester, NH Show Oct 14-15

Garys

NES Member
Joined
Oct 19, 2005
Messages
22,476
Likes
9,040
Location
Watching the Hippos
Feedback: 98 / 0 / 0
I saw this listed in America's First Freedom.

I didn't get to go to Marlboro so this is my next shot until Danvers in Feb. Is this a new show? If not, has anyone been to it?

Gary
 
old show

this is an old show, by diprete promotions. not bad, but since it's nh, us poor mass sob's can't take that much home w/ us
if you search this forum for manchester you'll see the reviews from the last one

garyz
 
generally, we can buy long guns, but come one, when you see the nice stuff you can buy in the free states, and the cheap prices (compared to finding the same gun preban in mass) make a guy want to cry.

garyz
 
Last edited:
Yes, but you can also get pre-ban mags for REASONABLE prices at NH shows. Most dealers are smart enough to not attempt to rape folks in NH shows.
 
If one were looking for a good variety of AR-15's to check out at decent pricing, is this a good show?

Marlboro AR-15 prices seemed high average to just plain high to me.
 
how will this show be selection and price wise? I'm looking for an enfield 2A1, a glock 26, 36, kel-tec P3AT, and a ruger 10/22 (not all at once, those are just the guns I'm shopping for).

Is it worth driving down from Hanover, or should I just wait for the West Leb show a month later, or should I go to both?

atek3
 
Going to show this morning hopefully ill find a person who sells star guns wife has a nice custom made star but she needs a need mag it keeps stove piping her ammo.
 
Went with a friend of mine who's been into guns for 40+ years. The show was pretty good as far as tables (a good number), crowds (not too thick), and selection. Price was the problem. Even the MilSurp stuff seemed very high. Lots of SMLEs of varying models and conditions. Some were in very nice condition, others not so much. All seemed high in cost. The usual selection of SKS, M-N, and other stuff. Maybe it's because I'm used to C&R prices, but they seemed high. One guy had a M1D, which he said was unissued, with the box and all documentation. He had it priced for $3800.00.

The only big ammo dealer was the New York outfit. Prices were about the same as from the last Marlboro show. They had a decent selection of MilSurp ammo, even some 7.62x39. Prices for that were high, but we all know about that. I bought some 303 and 7.5 Swiss.

I bought a part for my No5 Mk1 from a used parts dealer from ME. They had a great selection of those small and hard to get parts of MilSurps. I've never seen them at a MA show, but that's not too surprising.

I also bought some Schmidt Rubin stripper clips 5/$12.00.

Not a bad show, even with the higher prices.

For those interested, the next Manchester Show will be Jan 13-14. The next Concord Show will be April 14-15.

Gary
 
Not too bad of a show, although the location was a bit
bizarre, given that one has to go in the parking garage.. ended up
swinging around the block a couple of times before I figured this
out. The parking was only $1.

There were more ammo dealers there than Marlboro, including one
guy that had a table filled with old/weird milsurp stuff.

I agree with GaryS on the prices.... most prices were a bit
rough with a few exceptions here and there. I found a guy selling
mostly holsters and grips and some ammo, and he had the "rare" Taurus
.45 hex rounds there for $10/box of 25, which is a damn good
price for carry ammo. So I snagged like 4 boxes of that.

The pricing thing is a bit curious though... some of this stuff ive seen
these SAME guys hauling around to the different shows. You would figure
that if they took it to 3 shows and didnt sell it that it would be a clue the
price has to go down a little bit.

Found a couple of Beretta 92 mags, and after probing a few
dealers, found a nice old Sig P228 13 rnd zipper mag.

Lacking anything else interesting, I decided to get myself a set of
those custom earplugs. The whole process for that only took
about 20 minutes. I was amazed at how much of a reduction
the plugs make... they inject this silicone stuff into your ears to make
the plugs.. and then they let it set for 15 mins or so. The noise
reduction was phenomenal. Apparently theyre even better once
the guy (Mike) builds up the plug a bit before he has them hardened.
Then after that they send them to you in the mail... I guess I'll get
em on tuesday or so. Normally I'd stick with the throwaways
but they irritate my ears after about a couple hours... and that sucks
when one is just lazing away at the range with a rifle on a sunday
afternoon.

-Mike
 
I didn't have enough cash for any big toys today so I stocked up on ammo and enjoyed snooping around. Hopefully there will be some good deals at the lebanon show next month.
I heard one of the reloading dealers talking about a bump in prices coming in december, and another significant increase shortly after that. I'm planning to start reloading soon so I hope he was just BSing.
 
I was surprised at the very light turnout at the Manchester show on Sunday. Some tables were not even manned by 11am. I remember last year you could barely make it through the aisles...
 
I went Saturday and I was a bit surprised that it wasn't crowded. I did have a "WTF" moment though. I saw a table that had a Mosin-Nagant M44. they were only asking $350 for it.
I did drool for a few moments over a Broomhandle Mauser though. I got the gentleman's card and may give him a call shortly.
 
The only big ammo dealer was the New York outfit. Prices were about the same as from the last Marlboro show. They had a decent selection of MilSurp ammo, even some 7.62x39. Prices for that were high,
Gary
Gary,just curious about the 7.62x39 ammo prices. What were they charging? I will attend at least one show this winter but I've all but given up finding any deals on ammo. I think those days are long gone.[crying]
 
Gary,just curious about the 7.62x39 ammo prices. What were they charging? I will attend at least one show this winter but I've all but given up finding any deals on ammo. I think those days are long gone.[crying]


The guy that had the smokeless powder (not the NY guys) had some cases of
wolf 7.62 x 39 tucked under his table for $170 / 1000.

I think the days of cheap "battle/combat" rifle ammo (eg, 5.56, 5.45, 7.62 x
39, 7.62 x 51) are over. Even if eventually russia plants go back to surplus bulking mode
I can't see the average ever going below like $140 again. (I remember a little over a year or so
ago when Carl had Golden Tiger 7.62 x 39 for $76 a case! at FS. )

-Mike
 
I didn't pay that much attention to the 7.62x39 ammo so I can't can't give you specifics. I did notice that what was available was new production, not MilSurp. Wolf, mostly. If memory serves me, it was about $140 for 1,000 rounds, but don't quote me on that.

Gary
 
I think the days of cheap "battle/combat" rifle ammo (eg, 5.56, 5.45, 7.62 x
39, 7.62 x 51) are over. Even if eventually russia plants go back to surplus bulking mode
I can't see the average ever going below like $140 again. (I remember a little over a year or so
ago when Carl had Golden Tiger 7.62 x 39 for $76 a case! at FS. )

-Mike

I think some of this will come down in the next couple of years, but it's really impossible to predict. Right now, Copper prices are through the roof. I think scrap Copper is going for $2.00/pound. When the tempo of combat operations slows down, we might see a drop in prices.

Remember, three months ago, the experts were talking about $4.00/gallon for gas.

Gary
 
I think copper prices are high because of the ecconomic growth in China, not the war. I suspect copper prices will not come down much in the next few years.

Mark
 
Not worth keeping your SKS or AK-47 at those prices.

I disagree. What are you going to replace them with? The only
thing cheaper ammo wise is 7.62 x 54R corrosive ammo. And there aren't
a whole ton of semiautomatic rifles that fire the stuff. While I
love my Mosin 91/30, it's not the same as an AK. I suppose I could
get myself a Dragunov clone.... [grin] The prospect of cleaning
corrosive smeg out of a semiautomatic action isnt that wonderful
though.

Every other ammo type is just as or more expensive. 5.56 x 45 ammo has
gone through the roof as well, generally costing over $200 for 1000 rnds
of decent quality M193 type ball. Even wolf 5.56 (which I personally
would never use in an AR) is right up there in price with the 7.62 x 39.

I guess it depends on what one's motive is for buying a given
rifle... but for me ammo cost was merely a nice side effect, not
a sole purpouse. I knew going in that cheap ammo prices were
an anomaly and something which would eventually get "corrected".
A year or so ago, 7.62 x 39 was "free" compared to every other ammo type
except for .22 LR. I knew that eventually that would come to an
end... if something is too good to be true, it probably is. You know
that when rifle ammo costs less than 9mm ball that something is
afoot. (And nowadays even 9mm ball is getting tweaky, price
wise... the "cheap stuff" is nearing $140/1000, unless one is lucky
enough to live near some of the big outdoor retailers in the south/southwest
part of the US that heavily discount blazer 9mm. )


-Mike
 
Mike,

What's wrong with Wolf in AR-15 aside from accuracy (just use it for plinking)? Are you talking about any possible damage or excessive wear?

Even wolf 5.56 (which I personally
would never use in an AR) is right up there in price with the 7.62 x 39.
 
Wolf is a "religious thing" with some folks.

In MILITARY SPEC chambers on an AR15, it is fine for plinking.

In COMPETITION SPEC chambers it leads to all sort of problems on the AR15, due to the tight chamber.

I've shot thousands of rounds thru my two mil-spec ARs and I know many others that shoot thousands of rounds thru their ARs annually with no problem.
 
not to bad a show. I was able to buy 5 preban factory Beretta 92 mags for under $100.The mags were used but in very good shape.
 
Back
Top Bottom