Walter,
Tulsa is a buyers show. You have to have the only one like it, the nicest one there or the cheapest. The show is so big that a buyer my take a day just to cover the show and then if they forget to write down your location he can’t find you. If you do go, try to pick the lower level, its where the bulk of the antiques and Winchesters are.
Bob
WACA Life Member--- NRA Life Member---- Cody Firearms member since 1991 Researching the Winchester 1873's
Email: [email protected]
Walter,
Yes I was. Saw Maverick there. Most guys I talked to said it was slow but I did hear about some sales. Saw a 73 sell for $1800 to the public near by. The guys with the high dollar guns are sending them to auction and the guns left are at the show.
Bob
WACA Life Member--- NRA Life Member---- Cody Firearms member since 1991 Researching the Winchester 1873's
Email: [email protected]
Walter, Good show lots of guns, but they have to get a handle on the accidental discharges. Somebody let a .380 round loose on set up day, that’s the 4th time I’ve been there and a round has been let loose. No one was hurt, it went thru another guy’s pants but didn’t break skin, so I was told. I got a great deal on a Colt but couldn’t find a Winchester to take home, I had a great time. T/R
wallyb said
BobThanks for the info. It is a damn shame that one of the last great shows has turned into this. The Internet has ruined gun shows. Good thing I did not go this year.
Walter
Yes, the Internet has done a few gun shows in, but I and many others, are disabled, and unable to walk the shows any longer. If not for the Internet, my gun collecting days would be over. I never had the pleasure of the Tulsa show, but did the Great Westen in Pomona, a larger show, for many years until they closed it. Then to Reno for several years before my legs gave out on me. Yes, I would love to be able to walk the shows, but the Internet keeps me going and adding to my gun collection. It’s not the same, but it sure is helpful to me. Big Larry
Larry,
At Tulsa there are many guys riding electric scooters around and sucking on oxygen so Its not impossible.
Bob
WACA Life Member--- NRA Life Member---- Cody Firearms member since 1991 Researching the Winchester 1873's
Email: [email protected]
Wow, Tulsa sounds like a great venue but a bit of a drive for me. So is there a show in the mid-Atlantic area that would approach the depth and breadth of the Tulsa show? Most of the shows I have attended in the region (Virginia, Maryland, WV, PA, MA) have very little in the way of older Winchesters. Most, like “The Nation’s Gun Show” near Dulles airport, are semi-auto 9mm, AR-type, pickles, knives, ammo pallets, t-shirt…
Where can I find a bunch of old Winchesters?
Mac
Tulsa is the largest show in the world with about 4200 tables in a 11 acre building. They advertise that if you stop at every table in the show during the open to public hours you could only spend 15.4 seconds at each table not taking into account restroom breaks and eating. If you put the tables end to end it would be 5.7 miles.
Bob
WACA Life Member--- NRA Life Member---- Cody Firearms member since 1991 Researching the Winchester 1873's
Email: [email protected]
Big Mac said
Wow, Tulsa sounds like a great venue but a bit of a drive for me. So is there a show in the mid-Atlantic area that would approach the depth and breadth of the Tulsa show? Most of the shows I have attended in the region (Virginia, Maryland, WV, PA, MA) have very little in the way of older Winchesters. Most, like “The Nation’s Gun Show” near Dulles airport, are semi-auto 9mm, AR-type, pickles, knives, ammo pallets, t-shirt…Where can I find a bunch of old Winchesters?
Mac
Big Mac. I live in PA and am in the same boat as you whereas any big show out west is quite the drive. I understand that the Louisville, Ky. National Gun Day shows are very nice. Never been to one, but it would only be a five hour drive for me.
Al
Going to Tulsa for me is a 12 hour drive from Wisconsin but I don’t think twice about it.
Bob
WACA Life Member--- NRA Life Member---- Cody Firearms member since 1991 Researching the Winchester 1873's
Email: [email protected]
Al, Louisville is a good show but it is small enough to be dominated by big dealers selling at retail. Tulsa is so large and has many collectors with tables making deals easier to find. Set up Friday is the show if you are buying, tables are being set up, covered up, or open. This creates buying opportunities if you know what your looking at. Collectors buy a table and just walk Friday looking for a deal. If walking is a problem you can rent a power chair on site and cruise. I think if you just attend when it’s open to the public you will be disappointed. T/R
TR said
Al, Louisville is a good show but it is small enough to be dominated by big dealers selling at retail. Tulsa is so large and has many collectors with tables making deals easier to find. Set up Friday is the show if you are buying, tables are being set up, covered up, or open. This creates buying opportunities if you know what your looking at. Collectors buy a table and just walk Friday looking for a deal. If walking is a problem you can rent a power chair on site and cruise. I think if you just attend when it’s open to the public you will be disappointed. T/R
TR, one of these days I’m going to make the trek to Tulsa, maybe once I retire someday. Good point about getting a table. I have no problem walking the show, just a problem finding the time to make the trip.
Thanks.
I go to Tulsa with two others and split cost three ways. For us it’s a 12hr drive, a four day weekend, and with table rent, hotel, gas, it’s $400 apiece. Going to a gun show is expensive but so would attending a three day auction. I have done well buying from fellow collectors that I have met at gun shows, but I don’t know what I want until I see it, hence the gun show. T/R
I attended as usual, it is one of my favorite shows. Saw lots of friends and internet acquaintances while spending my 15 seconds at each table (well, maybe I did skip a few tables to concentrate on the fun stuff). Bought 5 Winchesters at the show on Friday morning during setup but nothing really special.
Sorry I didn’t bump into all of you but shopping time was of the essence.
The Cody show is next, much smaller venue, longer show and plenty of time to visit. Hope to see some of you there!
Best Regards,
WACA Life Member #6284 - Specializing in Pre-64 Winchester .22 Rimfire
I’ve always enjoyed the show. I only make it to the Spring Show. Fall show is in the middle of hunting season. But its always makes me feel like a kid in a candy store! If you walk by all the “Black Plastic”, you can get a glance at all the Antique type guns you want. But picking up and handling everyone of them would be impossible. I mainly just walk by and grab up want interests me. I spent most of this show talking with fellow collectors and photographing reloading tools for my book work.
You never know what your going to see there. It was nice to see Bob’s Skeleton 86! The auction companies always have a lot to see. The NRA Museum had a nice display again, Heston’s Sharps & Selleck’s Shiloh Sharp’s was pretty nice to get a closeup look at. They beat the hell out of all three of Tom’s gun during the making of the movie. The one on display they had dam near stripped the threads on the elevator screw on the tang sight. We sat and talked to NRA guys for a quite a minute. Jim even opened up the case so we could take some photos of the rifles without the reflection beaming off the glass case. We then posed for the NRA museum’s Facebook page.
You guys should try going and seeing it at least once!
Sincerely,
Maverick
WACA #8783 - Checkout my Reloading Tool Survey!
https://winchestercollector.org/forum/winchester-research-surveys/winchester-reloading-tool-survey/
1873man said
Larry,At Tulsa there are many guys riding electric scooters around and sucking on oxygen so Its not impossible.
Bob
And, as many shows in the past, some folks do not like the guys in scooters. They get in the way. Some folks have no compassion for us Cryps and get upset when we cannot move out of their way fast enough. Also, I have no one to take care of my animals. Flying is out of the question and I am too old to drive that far without falling asleep at the wheel. Yep, my gun show days are over. I can sit at my keyboard and buy stuff of the Internet. I do reasonably well at it too. Thanks, Big Larry
Yep, 4700 tables. Not the biggest ever, that would be the Great Western in Pomona. 5,800 tables that took up the entire LA County Fairgrounds. You name it, and it was there. Had tables for many years until the County Supervisors took it upon themselves to close it down. Gone, but not forgotten as they say. Big Larry
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