Gun shows have been a waste for me

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I have no gripes with the NRA or guns. I just want free admission for how crappy it was, was my problem. $8 dollars to use the restroom and enough vendors to browse for ten minutes. The building looked bigger from the outside. Inside it was tiny and barely anything. If they gave me my $8 dollars back i'd been happy.

I'll stick to the flea markets or shows that don't charge me admission entry and parking. Or when they do it's more appropriate to the amount of vendors selling.
 
Bad Ninja said:
The NRA sells memberships.
They pay the gun show to set up booths and ads just like every other vendor there.

That's their only affiliation.
It's not a mystery.

They are also not pro 2A and have worked for various forms of gun control since their inception.

I personally wouldn't give them a cent, as there are better groups that actually support 2A and do not work against our rights.
The NRA just wants money.
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Agreed. When Cuomo hit us in New York with that bullshit Safe Act the NRA did nothing. They have the balls to go to local gun/knife shows here in NY, and beg for money. I wouldn't piss on those guys if they were on fire.
 
The best way to get a deal on knives at a knife/gun show is to bring your Tax ID number to SHOT or BLADE, and visit manufacturers booths.
 
Perhaps it would be best to confine future discussions in ‘General Knife Discussion’ to discussions primarily about knives.
 
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This thread isn't really about knives and doesn't need to GKD. And trying to compare gun shows to churches scamming people out money... talk about a stretch. This thread is a pizza cutter: all edge and no point.
 
So you paid $8.00 no big deal. Walk around talk to some people and have a good time. You know price is not everything! You want to cruise the net for 3 hours to save 2 bucks. You lost money lol.

Rich K.
 
wasn't going to weigh in because others have stated my feelings very well.... BUT..... hey needler42 pick on the church is bad enough but as a 62 yr. old you have brass ones to make a statement like that.
this old man has been owning,carrying & shooting firearms of all types since I was 8, never broke safety protocol yet my friend, I'll say no more except GOD willing you might be a senior some day so learn how to respect the experience coming with age.
 
The NRA doesn't host your local gun shows ... the NRA and many state or local gun clubs or 2A rights groups will pay for a table to promote 2A rights ...

at some shows the NRA sets up at the door and if you join you will get in free or at a discount (the NRA pays the cost) ...

and as far as prices ... ot just depends on how much you know about guns and or knives ...

I can find good deals on a gun here and there ... but you can't go in not expecting to haggle ALOT ... and be willing to walk away and not think you need it today ...

as far as knives at gun shows ... for the shows I frequent there are three types of vendors ... those that sell new quaility knives and they are normally over priced ... there are vendors that look like they bought one of the huge package deals from a late night television knife show and has taticool crap and cheap made knives that wouldn't be worth the $5.00 price tag ...

then there are the ones that have vintage and old knives ... for those you need a fair amount of knowledge to know what you're looking at and what a fair price would be ... yes they have junk too and you need to know what is worth even trying to buy ...

I don't buy many knives at gun shows ... nor many guns really ... but I never pay close to what they are asking for either ... with the exception of you will occasionally find a private individual that rented a table to sell a private collection and they are usually there to liqudate the guns/knives and not to make a profit ... but unless you are there as soon as the show opens most of the time some dealer has bought that whole lot and uped the prices already.
 
rustyspike said:
So you paid $8.00 no big deal. Walk around talk to some people and have a good time. You know price is not everything! You want to cruise the net for 3 hours to save 2 bucks. You lost money lol.

Rich K.
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The one vendor I tried talking to I think got upset with me for talking about silver after a customer didn't want to buy his. Because I told him till very recently I searched thousands of dollars of half dollars and find many silver half dollars. Not sure if he believed me and not sure how impressed they were. The customer was curious and spoke to me a little more, the vendor I think got mad that I brought it up even though they weren't going to do a sale. I was like whatever lol. He didn't really want to talk about his knives after that lol.
 
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I got this at my gun & knife show. It was listed at $49.99 i think i haggled down to $45. Our show is this weekend oddly enough, and i go maybe 2-3 times a decade. There are deals there but just depends on the amount of effort you are willing to put out.
Like the ingredients listed on a box of cereal the first listing is what is the most. Gun & knife show enough said.:D
Happy St Patricks Day!!:)
 
McFeeli said:
Holy smokes! Three accidental discharges in three shows!? I’d swear off gun shows if that happened to me too, haha. Every one I’ve been to has been free of nonsense like that.

I like going to them just to browse through the wares. I haven’t bought anything expensive from one in a while, though. Last gun I bought was an SKS that wasn’t exactly cheap, but it wasn’t what they’re at nowadays either. They’ve always been overpriced, at least in my experience. Most of the knives are overpriced junk, and the guns are priced over what you’d find in most shops in the same area.
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Yeah, they tend to have them at the Armory and the 4-H grounds. I figured after the 1st one they would have stopped having them. Anyway, that's neither here nor there. Not really knife related, so I'll shut up about it:D

The last good gun and knife show I went to of any size was in Louisville, and this was over 10 years ago. It was a score for me as Indiana still had regulations on automatic knife sales. Those have since been scrubbed, but at the time I was looking for a cool Italian swing guard for my collection. I got one at a decent price. Nothing fancy, but it still fires and locks up to this day. However, at the same show I saw a guy selling an old Atlanta khukuri which had obviously been sharpened by someone who didn't know how to handle recurves as the side was gouged and scratched were someone used too big of a sharpening stone to try and muscle in on the edge. He called it a WWII Collectible.


As far as knife shows go, I think I'm just going to hold out and go to Blade one day in the near future. I've "met" so many fine makers and manufacturers here over the last 17 years. I think I would get more out of the experience than the shopping. More my speed, I think.
 
Needler, There is a very simple fix to your problem. STAY HOME!!! nobody is forcing you to fork out $8.00 you could just go to Starbucks and spend your $8.00 on a cup of coffee and we know for sure they are not supporting the NRA. I think that would address all of your concerns. One caveat watch out for dirty needles in the bathroom.
 
The only show that I know was sponsored by the NRA is the big Outdoors Show held in Harrisburg PA each spring and of course their annual shows. Local shows are generally not affiliated with the NRA in any way.

Gun shows went down hill when the internet auction sites became a reality for guns. These shows always contained a wide variety of stuff offered by vendors including knives. Prices for guns at shows all of a sudden were based on expected auction prices online. I've bought a number of handmade knives at gunshows over the years. I did enjoy gun shows, but I haven't attended for a number of years now as I have few plans to buy any gun that would likely be offered for sale there. I tend to just visit local gun shops these days. I dislike buying something like a gun online unless it is a collector piece and I will pay more at a local shop. Same goes with knives in general. How much more is always the question however?

I visited a regional knife show on Saturday in Dalton GA and enjoyed myself. I bought a couple traditional knives. The show was dominated with traditional knives overall. I visited each table once looking over their offerings. I found pretty much what I was looking for and hung around about a half hour and then left for home to keep my impulse knife urges at bay.

If you visit a gun show, you need to think of it as entertainment. The admission price goes to the show sponsor. They get their money from admissions and table fees. Somebody has to rent the facility and a guy with two tables is certainly not renting the facility for a weekend for $100-$125.

I used to love attending the Louisville KY National Gun Day shows. I generally attended two of them a year. Back in those days, I generally attended a gun show about once a month on average and it went like that for years.
 
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Guess I am lucky. Where I live, our big gun show(twice a year) is 11 acres under one roof. We have many custom knife-makers and large online vendors of knives showing their wares as well. Takes me a minimum of 6 hours to see the whole thing(looking primarily at knives), and that's if I don't stop and talk much, which I tend to do. I've gotten some amazing deals at these shows. In fact, about half of my current collection, and dozens more come and gone over the years.

And every year, at the November show, I not only renew my NRA membership for ten dollars off, but get free admission to the show as a bonus.
 
needler420 said:
Felt more like the NRA just suckering people into money like the churches do.
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Sorry that you are misinformed about the NRA. Without that organization, there would possibly be NO gun-shows to go to....anywhere.
I have gone to gun-shows at the Orlando fairgrounds many, many times... Yes, there is a fee to get in, but that fee goes to the show organizers and NOT to the NRA.
Oftentimes, the NRA has a little "booth" next to the ticket office...particularly when they are recruiting new members...The normal NRA annual membership fee is $35. However, at these gun-shows, IF IF IF you buy an annual NRA membership for a DISCOUNTED rate of $25, then you get FREE entry into the gunshow.
You cannot beat that deal with a stick.

PLEASE BE AWARE that because we have a 2nd Amendment, the citizens of the U.S.A. also have free access to the other nine amendments in the BILL OF RIGHTS, such as freedom of speech, religion, and so forth.

Don aka Sonnydaze...proud LIFE MEMBER of the NRA for over fifty years.
 
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