Skip gunshows. Fat people with poor personal hygiene standing three abreast in the isle like they belong there. Stroller nazis using their strollers to separate the crowd.
Instead of wasting money for gas, money for entrance, and wasting a day, go to gunbroker.com and take your time. Buds guns also has police trade ins that can be had for a fraction of their original cost. I haven't been to a show in years, but I've found some great bargains. All off the internet.
Now, if you just want to go see what a gun show is like, and don't mind spending the time and money, that's different. But be advised, there's a ton of road construction on 44. My wife made that drive last weekend and traffic was backed up 8 to 10 miles.
Instead of wasting money for gas, money for entrance, and wasting a day, go to gunbroker.com and take your time. Buds guns also has police trade ins that can be had for a fraction of their original cost. I haven't been to a show in years, but I've found some great bargains. All off the internet.
Now, if you just want to go see what a gun show is like, and don't mind spending the time and money, that's different. But be advised, there's a ton of road construction on 44. My wife made that drive last weekend and traffic was backed up 8 to 10 miles.
couple good things happening this year. no more outside carts and Dollys. this will make more room.
get the magazine they hand out and use the directory to mark where you want to go back.
get there at 7 am. yes you will sit and stand in line. if you can try to pre-buy a ticket so you don't have to stand in line.
bring a bottle of water. and a backpack. since this is your first show i could also recommend getting a hotel and spend a night out in tulsa. and hit the show the second day. its very hard to see the entire show in a day and get a good look at everything. even in two days you will miss a ton.
get the magazine they hand out and use the directory to mark where you want to go back.
get there at 7 am. yes you will sit and stand in line. if you can try to pre-buy a ticket so you don't have to stand in line.
bring a bottle of water. and a backpack. since this is your first show i could also recommend getting a hotel and spend a night out in tulsa. and hit the show the second day. its very hard to see the entire show in a day and get a good look at everything. even in two days you will miss a ton.
One more thing, get you a stick pin or better yet a small hot-shot. That way you can poke the Dumb-Butts that like group up in the middle of the isle and talk. There is usually about 5 and average weight is 300lbs.
If the OP is a dealer looking to spend 20 or 30 thousand, maybe. But all that trouble for one handgun? In addition to gas to and from OKC, entrance fee, the cost of eating out, the hassle of negotiating highway construction virtually all the way from OKC to Tulsa, and back, and now the added cost of a motel room.
Definitely not worth it.
But that's just me.
My Wife and I usually make a week end of it(not just GS) we stay at the Cambell Inn. The owner is a member here, and I can assure you, you will have to look long and hard to find a nicer place. He posted a thread he would give any OSA member a discount. If your looking for a place, his is the best.
Well, I ended up finding a good deal locally on a .357 single action revolver (made by Herbert Schmidt in Germany in 1973, but in remarkable shape), so things are less urgent. I'll probably save the Big Show for next year as it just doesn't fit into my schedule very well this go round. I'll probably give one of the smaller OKC shows a go sometime late Dec. or Jan. Thanks again for all the input and suggestions.
I believe ~3 people mentioned Sooner State Pawn. They can get you practically any gun you want and you don't have to pay for an entry fee. Just my $.02.
Yeah, I like SSP a lot. I'm close the north store and check in fairly often to see what they've got. I do like to cast a pretty wide net since I'm my interests are pretty specific, my budget is limited, and I'm the sort of guy that likes digging around flea markets and junk shops for small "treasures" anyway. I can't envision any time in the new future where I'm going to go into a shop (even a very reasonable one like SSP) and ask them to order me a factory new anything. That's part of why I think gun shows might be fun. Sure, it'll be crowded with possibly annoying people and a bunch of AR stuff and survivalist gear that I'm not interested, but I love the idea of running into an old fella that got, say, an old H&R break-top revolver sitting on his table (maybe a little rough cosmetically, but is a shooter, and he'll take $190 for it...that sort of deal).
So far, between Big Boy's, the GBO forum classifieds, and Tom's Pawn I've got a setup that I'm pretty happy with for the time being. I can shoot 30-06, 12ga, and 357 mag. and I've just barely crossed the $500 mark. I figure if I'm patient enough, I might just be able to find comparable deals on the handful of other stuff that I'd like to pick up at some point. Maybe a gun won't do that for me every-time, but heck, it's still cheaper than a lot of movie theaters these days even if I don't buy anything.
I like the gun shows for 2 reasons. Looking at all the cool stuff and trying to find what you couldn't get from this site or any of the others out there. I resorted to going to the Grand National Gun show this past weekend after trying to find a deal on a used Ruger Sr9. Ended up buying one NIB from Bob's Gun's at the show for a good price. And picked up some slightly overpriced .22lr from a couple other guys. Bob was easy to deal with and prices were good IMO =) Im pretty sure I seen Dawn and Darryl there and MP43 is correct Darryl was ignoring her but no one else was =p
