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fitchburg gun show

I thought it was decent show. Being my second show I'm learning very quickly how items are priced.... I inquired about a very nice HK automatic knife. I know the sellers take offers. I asked if they were leagal in MA..."You can buy, but you can't carry"

I did see a CZ75 duty fairly priced...I like this pistol. The CT dealer (Nice guy)said he "couldn't sell to a MA resident. He then showed me a green ruger SR9 and mentioned the color made it non compliant in MA...another fine example of how f'd up this state is.

Reminds me of a flea market.
I'll go to more...hopefully learn more, and see prices come down a bit and recognize some good deals out there.
 
dwarven1 said:
Excellent points, Greg, and a great post.

I think that a part of the problem may be that the dealer bought the guns or ammo during the height of the scare, and now they are sitting there with, say, battle packs they spent $140 for. It's tough to have to eat a huge chunk of that money just to move the inventory. I've been hearing this in my new job (and boy, am I getting an education fast - I never thought of this stuff before!).

So they may not be so much trying to screw someone as to not get screwed themselves.
Click to expand...

A gas station down the street from me sells "economy" for a dime or so less than most stations in the area and the usual markup for premium. When the prices suddenly fell a while back they were stuck with a lot of "expensive" premium nobody would buy anymore, so until prices started rising they had a price differential of $1 or more per gallon. NOBODY bought the premium at that station except by accident for a long time.
 
Most of the gun show high prices have always been high prices. The Obama thing didn't do anything with them other than make them pad that much more, but apparently they haven't gotten the memo yet that Bushmaster ARs don't really sell for $1200 anymore. If they really want to move their merch they'll have to settle for making $25 or $50 instead of $100+ on a gun. I think a lot of the folks that still have money to buy guns at this point are being somewhat more cautious than usual about how they spend their money.

-Mike
 
I drove up saturday later morning with cash in my pocket to hopefully come back with something new. This was my second show & I've just started to build a collection, so I was looking more than shopping.

While I think the show had less dealers, I still found myself looking @ just about every table. Went back to the dealer that I bought a .22lr from in Marlboro & didn't find anything tempting. There was also one dealer that had a gp100 that I liked, but I left it there.

I did end up buying some of the jerky that everyone mentioned. Good stuff.

-JB
 
I went Sunday morning and made out really well with a few things I needed. I actually liked the fact that it was not too crowded. I brought my 5 year old daughter for her first show.... she had a blast! Also I am just recovering from surgery for a broken leg, so the smaller crowd was easier to "hobble" around. An overall great experience for a dad and his daughter!
 
Boston-Irish said:
I actually liked the fact that it was not too crowded.
Click to expand...
Same here. Different strokes for different folks I guess. I wasn't expecting Marlboro or West Springfield and that didn't matter. I was mainly out to buy ammo, a few supplies and learn a lot about red dot scopes... possibly buy one or two. Believe it or not, I was even looking for a book or two. I achieved everything I set out to do, spent every last dime I brought... and had a good time. [grin]

I understand how the dealers view it... i.e., it's all about the money. Cash in pocket talks and the heck with anything else. Who cares if anyone had a "good time" or not. [thinking]

I just hope some folks can still consider it a "success" (or failure) based on the general response and satisfaction of the attendees. It is what it is... i.e., a smaller show... and that's okay with me.

CLMN
 
Ski said:
I thought it was decent show. Being my second show I'm learning very quickly how items are priced.... I inquired about a very nice HK automatic knife. I know the sellers take offers. I asked if they were leagal in MA..."You can buy, but you can't carry"

I did see a CZ75 duty fairly priced...I like this pistol. The CT dealer (Nice guy)said he "couldn't sell to a MA resident. He then showed me a green ruger SR9 and mentioned the color made it non compliant in MA...another fine example of how f'd up this state is.

Reminds me of a flea market.
I'll go to more...hopefully learn more, and see prices come down a bit and recognize some good deals out there.
Click to expand...

So why did he bring the CZ if he couldn't sell to a resident?
You can buy the HK but can't carry it! What in the world kind of gun show was this?
 
Last edited:
sig2009 said:
So why did he bring the CZ if he couldn't sell to a resident?
You can buy the HK but can't carry it! What in the world kind of gun show was this?
Click to expand...

Because if a CT resident wants to buy it, he can take a deposit and do the paperwork back at his shop in CT later.

Because if another dealer wants to buy it he can trade/sell it to that FFL.

Horse-trading amongst dealers is very prevalent at these shows.
 
sig2009 said:
So why did he bring the CZ if he couldn't sell to a resident?
You can buy the HK but can't carry it! What in the world kind of gun show was this?
Click to expand...

Lots of dealers do this. Lots of dealers in MA have "non compliant" stuff, too, that they don't sell to the general public, but can legally sell otherwise (eg, out of state sales via transfer, etc. )

At this particular show there was a VERY LARGE dealer who was "FFL sales only" and a lot of his stuff was not MA compliant/legal. Not anything
new, really.

-Mike
 
Jaxon said:
Any expectations for this show?
Click to expand...

My expectation- It will be just as bad as every other MA gun show is. IMO you're better off going to an MA gun show expecting nothing and then either coming out with that experience, or being pleasantly surprised like you just won a small jackpot on a scratch ticket. Hell, gun shows in general are like that.

-Mike
 
I had a good time last year, I was one of about 20 people there. It was nice to check out all the tables without being dry-humped like at Marlboro.

Plus the 7.62x39 1000rds/$200 was a good deal.
 
It's a good social event for me, knowing a ton of people that go to shows, but other than that I think Dr.Grant and the other postings above pretty much tell it like it is. One of our own local celebrities, GREG, will be there first thing Saturday morning. A real brick and mortar type of guy. I'll make it up there some time Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning. Nice facility.
 
I will be there as well working at the Stoney Acre Sports tables. Last years show was not well attended but its always nice to see folks. Please don't complain about prices at the tables I work at. ( in front of my boss anyway) I don't set the prices the owner does. I try my hardest to help folks out by getting a good price and on somethings I will direct them away or to someone other dealer. You would be surprised at some of the prices that the local distributor is getting for things like AR's and AK's. They are more than what you see in local shops.

To be honest I would rather be at the range this weekend. But I need cash to feed the toys.

Please stop by and say Hi.
 
I will stop by. I'm meeting a few guys from the Smith Collectors Association there. My Sponser has a table, and he wants to see my new treasure and I want to know what he thinks of it Until Roy Jinks sends me my factory letter. He told me yesterday it might be 10 Weeks, and I want some more info soon.

See you Saturday. Should I bring coffee for you and John?


50 BMG said:
I will be there as well working at the Stoney Acre Sports tables. Last years show was not well attended but its always nice to see folks. Please don't complain about prices at the tables I work at. ( in front of my boss anyway) I don't set the prices the owner does. I try my hardest to help folks out by getting a good price and on somethings I will direct them away or to someone other dealer. You would be surprised at some of the prices that the local distributor is getting for things like AR's and AK's. They are more than what you see in local shops.

To be honest I would rather be at the range this weekend. But I need cash to feed the toys.

Please stop by and say Hi.
Click to expand...
 
depicts said:
I will stop by. I'm meeting a few guys from the Smith Collectors Association there. My Sponser has a table, and he wants to see my new treasure and I want to know what he thinks of it Until Roy Jinks sends me my factory letter. He told me yesterday it might be 10 Weeks, and I want some more info soon.

See you Saturday. Should I bring coffee for you and John?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the coffee offer Bill. We will be there early so we will pass on the offer. See you at the show.
 

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