March 8 - 9 2025: Big E Gun Show

[Reptile]

Whose going?

 

[Agnotology]

Even though it's the "last" one, not worth the cost of parking and entry. Pay a fee to pay a fee for the privilege of looking at overpriced garbage.

 

[Wickedcoolname]

Even though it's the "last" one, not worth the cost of parking and entry. Pay a fee to pay a fee for the privilege of looking at overpriced garbage.

Parking and entry fees keep me away. Stores don't charge entry fees, why should gun shows?
Remove the parking and entry fees and I'll bet attendance would triple.

 

[bigred460]

Would rather go to the Home Show and wade past all the people selling beef jerky.

 

[KMM696]

Maybe. There's a few people I know that I only run into there. Unfortunately, the family friend I used to go with is no longer with us.

I looked back at my Big E firearms purchases, and realized most of them were from Guns & Gun Parts. Mike doesn't jack up prices for the show, but his brick & mortar store is only 2 miles from the Big E. Kind of removed some of the motivation for going.

 

[Chevy 2 65]

nope

 

[Dennis in MA]

The Big E shows piss me off BECAUSE they charge to park. C'mon. Really????

But you guys are a bunch of commies. LOL

I understand the entrance fee. They charge you to enter. They charge gun shops to be there. If they eliminated the entrance fee, the table fee would be exhorbitant and no dealers would go. If you eliminated the table fee, the entrance fee would go up a good amount (maybe 2-3/per) and less people would go.

But to say that if they didn't charge, they'd make more money?? LOL. If they didn't charge, they would make next to NO money.


I've probably been to a half-dozen or so BigE shows over the last 2 decades. I remember when it was 90% Winchester Collectors people. If I want to see the same overpriced vintage 94 or 500 different high-walls, I would be good. But damn. There was one show that was small. And literally 80% of it was tables and tables of old Winnies. I get they sponsored the show, but seeing the same guns over and over at stupid prices was a waste. There was a lot of guys going home with the same tare weight as when they came in.

I've been to busy E shows. Like the room was PACKED with dealers.

And I've been there when it was, like, 2.5 rows and I was done by 10:30.

There's never been anything that made me want to go back. Although there was a guy that specialized in pre-bans and such on the far-back wall years ago. I loved checking out his stuff. I might have bought something once.

I wanna say the old geezer with the 5,000 non-mass-compliant handguns with his hand-written description and not-great-price WASN'T at BigE but was always at MArlboro and maybe Wilmington. Why do you lug all that steel over state lines to a location where NO ONE CAN BUY YOUR GUNS!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! And you'd think the CLOSEST show to your border (BigE) would be the most likely for you to do any business. Nope. Let's go to Wilmington.

 

[polska1957]

Yes, I'll be going. I have been going to gun shows since 78'. Gun shows never had deals on new commercial firearms or gear, that was always cheaper somewhere else. It's that odd ball thing, be it a gun part or accessary or reloading gear that you might find digging through the used parts box. I always meet someone I can bullshit with . Where else can you go and be surrounded by like thinking people where talking about firearms doesn't raise an eyebrow. I know most of you younger guys don't know how to have a conversation with strangers but us old Fudds can talk all day about guns , politics, food , booze, old cars, fishing and alot of other old shit. Comes with age.
In the not too distant future you're gonna miss gun shows. Remember you are probably a future Fudd who will saying "back in the day" to the next generation.

 

[powerman]

OK i have to ask, what do they charge you to park? 10 bucks?
you guys are cheap, it would cost me 100 dollars in gas round trip.

The cheapest thing on a NES firearm and on a riffle is the person looking thru the site.
Not going because they charge for parking. that's kind of funny especially if your going to spend possibly thousands of dollars, ie, couple of cases of ammo if a good deal is seen.
your are worse than amateur radio guys.

 

[bigred460]

OK i have to ask, what do they charge you to park? 10 bucks?
you guys are cheap, it would cost me 100 dollars in gas round trip.

The cheapest thing on a NES firearm and on a riffle is the person looking thru the site.
Not going because they charge for parking. that's kind of funny especially if your going to spend possibly thousands of dollars, ie, couple of cases of ammo if a good deal is seen.
your are worse than amateur radio guys.

$5 for parking
$15 for admission

 

[powerman]

$5 for parking
$15 for admission

It's worse than i thought.

 

[Drix]

It's worse than i thought.

Some might say twice as bad.

 

[Rockrivr1]

They sent an email around last week stating that this will be the last show the NY guys will be attending and that they will only have limited ammo. If you want anything you had to pre order and pick it up at a tent outside the show. Not sure if serious about the last show, but obviously trying to drum up business.

 

[Dennis in MA]

OK i have to ask, what do they charge you to park? 10 bucks?
you guys are cheap, it would cost me 100 dollars in gas round trip.

The cheapest thing on a NES firearm and on a riffle is the person looking thru the site.
Not going because they charge for parking. that's kind of funny especially if your going to spend possibly thousands of dollars, ie, couple of cases of ammo if a good deal is seen.
your are worse than amateur radio guys.

It's the principal. It's the only show you ahve to pay to park. It's an FU from the BigE. It's a FUBE. They can go FUBE themselves.

Do they still have teh "ammo tent outside of the convention center" thing there???? Only in mASS. LOL

 

[Mark from ?]

I went to one of these like 15 years ago at Big E........Back then you could buy shit. Now....MA gun show? PFFT.....why bother? Do you like to sniff BO mixed with rotting jerky?

I went to one down here......not worth the ten bucks either......I'll admit there was lot of cool AR pistol stuff and some really nice builds. Some uppers at borderline pricing, mags were OK priced. Most guns were over priced. If you wanted to handle something newly put out there were a few things there. But its not Shot Show.

Reality is......with the exception of Shot Show which is new stuff......online has put these shows to shame, same as they have put hunting shows to shame for the guides. If you want to go somewhere just look online and call them.

 

[Uncle Buck]

I will be attending. But only to drop off an old Charleville musket for Paul Ackermann to take back to his shop to be refurbished. The parking and entry fee will be way cheaper than driving to Cherry Valley NY and back.

 

[NortheastEasy]

I saw Def Leopard at the Big E many moons

 

[Blackmore]

If you want to go to Springfield, go up the hill to the Springfield Armory NHS and give them a $20 donation instead.

Don't forget the White Hut for lunch.

 

[MickeyD’s]

I went to one of these like 15 years ago at Big E........Back then you could buy shit. Now....MA gun show? PFFT.....why bother? Do you like to sniff BO mixed with rotting jerky?

I went to one down here......not worth the ten bucks either......I'll admit there was lot of cool AR pistol stuff and some really nice builds. Some uppers at borderline pricing, mags were OK priced. Most guns were over priced. If you wanted to handle something newly put out there were a few things there. But its not Shot Show.

Reality is......with the exception of Shot Show which is new stuff......online has put these shows to shame, same as they have put hunting shows to shame for the guides. If you want to go somewhere just look online and call them.

Even back then this show ….suuuccckkeddd

 

[Sf Becket]

Is it a GFZ?

 

[MAGA99]

I thought you could t bring a gun to big E??

I prefer to do my gun browsing and purchasing while carrying a gun myself.

 

[FPrice]

Reality is......with the exception of Shot Show which is new stuff......online has put these shows to shame, same as they have put hunting shows to shame for the guides. If you want to go somewhere just look online and call them.

You should visit some of the firearms forums based in other parts of the country. Members are always bragging about the guns (and other stuff) which they have gotten at their local gun shows.

A lot of people here seem to be unaware that the Eastern States Exposition (ESE) is a commercial (although not for profit) organization who's business is hosting a wide variety of differnt shows. I don't think that I've ever gone to another kind of show there at which attendees were not charged for parking and entrance into the show. Even though the corporation is not for profit, they still have to make a living, keep up the grounds/buildings, and pay their employees.

About

www.easternstatesexposition.com

And it's not the ESE's fault that our state government has made it as difficult as possible for us as gun owners to buy and sell freely.

But it's good to know that virtue signalling is alive and well here.

P.S. If anyone asks if I am going, well I can no longer walk as well as I used to. But that's my problem.

 

[Lxpony]

Those shows were fantastic 20 years ago..

 

[Rockrivr1]

The promoter just sent out an email saying this is going to be the last MA show for them. So no more MA gun shows unless someone else picks it up.

 

[EJFudd]

The promoter just sent out an email saying this is going to be the last MA show for them. So no more MA gun shows unless someone else picks it up.

Yeah, it sure looks that way. The promoter's website calendar is blank except for one show marked cancelled. Maura and the Legislature finally got what they wanted... an end to gun shows in Massachusetts. I view this as a direct result of Chapter 135. If the dealers can't sell anything good or interesting in MA, why bother?

 

[Rockrivr1]

Yeah, it sure looks that way. The promoter's website calendar is blank except for one show marked cancelled. Maura and the Legislature finally got what they wanted... an end to gun shows in Massachusetts. I view this as a direct result of Chapter 135. If the dealers can't sell anything good or interesting in MA, why bother?

Yep, the email was pretty clear.

 

[Fritz the Cat]

i used to go twice a year back in the 90's & 00's with my dad and whatever other random family members wanted to go. We would go to most of the regional shows, up to Albany, down to Poughkeepsie, two or three different ones in CT. it was always a fun day out. we would do breakfast before the show, late lunch after the show, bargain hunting the 1000 tables they had back then. plus they allowed private sales back then and guys would be walking around with a gun over each shoulder trying to sell. that's where the best deals were as many guys didn't know what they had.
The internet really ruined bargain hunting at shows.
i went with my son a couple of years ago for nostalgia's sake. it just wasn't the same. 400 tables at best, probably less than half had firearms as the majority were selling all the gun adjacent stuff (parts, magazines, clothes, jerky).
no ammo tent just 1 vendor, no bulk, and prices the same as my LGS.

i hope some people went and they post their finds here.
I do miss the bargain hunting and haggling. And seeing guys that would frequent the area gun show circuit.

 

[Tartakovsky]

The real question is how much are the mall ninja knives, beef jerky and nazi memorabilia

 

[Dennis in MA]

Those shows were fantastic 20 years ago..

And 20 years ago, people were talking about how they were much better 20 years prior.

In 20 years, people will wax nostalgiac about the "deals" they saw in 2025. It's confirmation bias. Just like if you buy a red Honda, you see a pile of red Honda's out there - despite "there being none on the road a week ago."

Gun shows CAN be good AT some times. As mentioned above, smaller dealers for older guns. But back when everyone was throwing a $50 91/30 and a $200 98K at you, no one wanted them. Now everyone talks like they were the absolute bees knees. And don't forget the $30 spamcan of x54Russkie ammo from 1950-something.

I will say this: In late 98 and 99, you could still get a NIB Glock (granted, it was a Gen2 or early Gen3) for retail in mASS. Because they had JUST been banned but were grandfathered in so other retailers and distributors were willing to get Glocks behind the lines. I paid retail for my first G19. It wasn't at a gun show, but gun shows were FULL of G19's and 17's at "regular" prices. And b/c there weren't people INSANE about magazines, plus a fraction of the gun-owning public of today, we'd bitch about $35-40 G19 magazines. Bitch about them! Given today's prices, buying a container ship of Glock mags would have been a better investment than the stock market. LOL

 

[FPrice]

Here's the solution, move to Texas!

Thread 'Blade Show Texas 2025!'

Mar 11, 2025

I’ll post a few other review videos but here’s a start

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