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Sturbridge Firearm & Knife Show January 7th & 8th
- Thread starter jaypap
- Start date
Garys
NES Member
Because there isn't much else to do? I've never been to this one. It's about 90 minutes away, but might be worth the ride.
jaypap
NES Member
It's only 30 minutes for me. I wouldn't travel 90 minutes for this show but that's me. Only one I can compare it to is West Springfield much smaller, more antiques and more cramped than West Side.
Others can chime in but a three hour round trip might be disappointing.
jaypap
NES Member
Of course, but its easier to use the online one.
But you have to get the password from a Liberal or Hillary they seem to know the secret.
Garys
NES Member
Thanks. I'll see how Saturday shapes up. As in how bored I am. I hate F***ing winter because there are so many things I want to do that I can't. Bah.
OK show.
About 100 people in line at 9:00, 5 minutes to get in. Steady crowd throughout the morning. Consensus was the threat of snow kept attendance down.
First (small) room was about 60% full of vendors, however the "big" room was packed. Word was the vendors prefer the big room.
Big room still has a lot of antique gun dealers. Not sure if it is in the rules, but no pepperoni or non-firearms related tables.
Probably because of the impending storm, there were many deals being made.
Worth the trip if this is your cup of tea.
About 100 people in line at 9:00, 5 minutes to get in. Steady crowd throughout the morning. Consensus was the threat of snow kept attendance down.
First (small) room was about 60% full of vendors, however the "big" room was packed. Word was the vendors prefer the big room.
Big room still has a lot of antique gun dealers. Not sure if it is in the rules, but no pepperoni or non-firearms related tables.
Probably because of the impending storm, there were many deals being made.
Worth the trip if this is your cup of tea.
Lots of antique stuff is an understatement. Do those vendors ever actually sell anything? It doen't seem like anyone is ever looking at their stuff with real interest. I got a deal on a 2 cavity RCBS mold and I bought a tee shirt. I saw a couple pistols I might have been interested in but the guy selling them wasn't there and his table sitter didn't know what the asking prices were and even suggested some of the guns in the cases weren't for sale but there just to fill up space. Why do vendors refuse to put price tags on their stuff? Especially if they aren't going to be there themselves!
Saw a few good spinouts on the pike and avoided being near a BOLT bus in the 3rd lane with it's emergency flashers on passing everyone like it was loaded with passengers that had the Montezuma special at Chipotle's.
Saw a few good spinouts on the pike and avoided being near a BOLT bus in the 3rd lane with it's emergency flashers on passing everyone like it was loaded with passengers that had the Montezuma special at Chipotle's.
I believe the "old stuff" vendors appeared in Sturbridge after the "Hartford Show" closed down. The Hartford Show was held in the convention center just up the river from the original Colt factory. It was a BIG show. If you like old guns, the Hartford Show was the place to go. People came from all over the country for the show. CT politics forced the show to close and the New England Antique Arms Society moved their show to Sturbridge. The actually NEAAS show is June 16-18 this year and no post WW2 firearms are allowed. Many of the NEAAS members also attend the New Mart Sturbridge shows in Jan and Feb.
I think that many of the "vendors" are actually NEAAS members displaying their collections and meeting other collectors and if the price is right they will sell off a piece or two. If you notice you can strike up a conversation with a vendor and most enjoy talking about their guns more than selling their guns.
From what I can gather Sturbridge is the last remnants of the many great guns shows that used to exist in CT, which drew attendees from afar hoping to find that old Colt some worker at the Colt Factory took home in his lunch box.
Gun Shows, enjoy them while you can.
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This show may have been the worst.
Not many vendors & the ones there set prices that were laughable.
Sunday at 11:00am, many vendors were packing up to leave.
No Jerky.
To make the trip even worse, BT's SMOKEHOUSE was Closed for renovations...
Not many vendors & the ones there set prices that were laughable.
Sunday at 11:00am, many vendors were packing up to leave.
No Jerky.
To make the trip even worse, BT's SMOKEHOUSE was Closed for renovations...
