Posted: 5/21/2003 9:54:46 PM EDT
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Is it just me and this area or does every gun show have a Nazi with a booth with Swastika and SS flags, Hitler coins and the like? I think maybe two times in my life time of going to gun shows there wasn't a Nazi booth. TS |
| The small penis, hero worship tables. I find them amusing, you see all of these losers damn near creaming thier Marpats while handling those crappy old relics, in awe of them as if they were holding the shroud of Turin or something. Don't get me wrong, collecting war artifacts is fine, even Nazi crap, but htese guys for the most crap are not collecting "war memorabilia" they are in thier minds buying important relics os thier religion, these trinkets make them feel like they are restoring them to thier rightful place as Icons of the master race, like they are doing something important in the restoration of the party. |
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What I hate evenmore then that is vendors at the shows that have no clue what their product is/does. ie: This last weekend end in Puyallup I asked a vendor to open up his sks to show me that I could adapt it to take 30 rounders. (I know how to do it, I don't even own one yet.) After 10 minutes he said [b]"I assure you it does hold hi-caps, even though I cannot open it and besides $185.00 is a great price![/b] I walked off, I refuse to give my money to people who are flat out idiots.... my .02 |
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Quoted: What I hate evenmore then that is vendors at the shows that have no clue what their product is/does. ie: This last weekend end in Puyallup I asked a vendor to open up his sks to show me that I could adapt it to take 30 rounders. (I know how to do it, I don't even own one yet.) After 10 minutes he said [b]"I assure you it does hold hi-caps, even though I cannot open it and besides $185.00 is a great price![/b] I walked off, I refuse to give my money to people who are flat out idiots.... my .02 I went to that show hoping for a lot of ar15 goodies too look at, nothing more than 2 or 3 tables with all olympic arms stuff |
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There's usually three or four old guys with war memorabilia at shows I've been to, and at least one young guy with "new" war memorabilia, and it's a skinny guy with a shaved head, little round glasses, and partially dressed in an SS uniform. On his table there is a faux marble bust of hitler, copies of Mein Kampf, and various new flags and patches. I haven't seen the young guy in awhile, and maybe it's just that I block him out of my mind when I'm shopping. |
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Quoted: There's usually three or four old guys with war memorabilia at shows I've been to, and at least one young guy with "new" war memorabilia, and it's a skinny guy with a shaved head, little round glasses, and partially dressed in an SS uniform. On his table there is a faux marble bust of hitler, copies of Mein Kampf, and various new flags and patches. I haven't seen the young guy in awhile, and maybe it's just that I block him out of my mind when I'm shopping. he's probably one of those Illinois nazis [;D] |
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Back in Colorado, we had several militaria dealers at the shows regularly. They usually carried American, British, Japanese, German, and even some Russian artifacts. These pieces bring history to life, and are indeed important to preserve. Also, nothing quite as gratifying as having an elderly widow of one of the Greatest Generation find that the old SS dagger or Samurai sword her husband brought back is worth a few thousand and can help her pay her bills. The stuff has a natural fascination, otherwise so many of our own GIs would not have bothered bringing it back in the first place. Very few of the collectors are political about the stuff, and most are also fellow gun collectors. |
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Quoted: I don't mind the militaria stuff as much as the Jerky, Beanie Babies,Jewlrey, coins, car batteries....etc. The last one I went to, I had to go back outside and make sure the sign said "GUN SHOW" AMEN. There is a guy that goes to the gun shows in SE PA, that has table full of cell phone chargers. |
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Who cares. It's still a free country last time I checked and I check the stuff out myself. There is an old timer that sells German stuff regularly at Del Mar, Costa Mesa and other So Cal Shows. He's an old white haired fellow in a rascal scooter. Anyways, he's a vet of the Hurtgens forest.Probably one of the nastiest battles of WW2. He has no love for Nazis and neither do I, but the history is fascinating.If any of you SoCal guys ever stop at his booth he is a history lesson in and of itself. I hope they don't pc gun shows any further and cut the stuff out. The history behind it all is just way too important. |
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I have no problem with anything at a gun show that is military, war, survival or gun (including gun rights) connected. I guess some people would only have bolt-action .30-caliber gun shows or .22 hand-gun shows. How stupid is that?[:E] And yeah, leave the jerky guys alone, it is good stuff.[;)] |
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I'm just sick of all the "junk tables" at the gun shows. If they want to sell that crap, they should go to the flea market. I'm also sick of dealers w/ an attitude. At a recent gun show, a friend of mine was buying an SKS. He did all the paper work, tendered the money...the dael was done. Now he was going to buy a gun case, but the new rifle was in a box and covered w/ cosmo, so hw didn't want to take it out to see if he was getting the right size case. So he asks the dealer if he knows the length of the rifle by chance. The dealer says, and this is an exact quote: "How the fuck am I supposed to know" And he said it with an attitude beyond belief I was in complete disbelief, and my buddy didn't know what to say. I though about tearing the guy a new one, but it's just not worth it. I'm not going to mention the dealers name, but suffive to say that they go to all the VA area shows and they're usually one of the largest vendors. I've stopped going to gun shows. |
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My biggest gripe is that more and more some shows are looking like flea markets than anything else. If it's shooting, hunting, camping, survival, knives, and militaria type stuff, that's what I expect. The more diverse the crowd and vendors, the more likely you are to find something you want. The cow plates and beanie babies gotta go. On the positive side, a friend of mine could only go if his wife came with. If he bought something, then she gets something, and vice-versa. She bought a new purse at every show, so it was a win-win situation. She bought this big purse, then bought an AR-7 soon afterward. The guy at the table asked her if she wanted the box, and she told him, no. It'll fit in the purse! |
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Quoted: The small penis, hero worship tables. I find them amusing, you see all of these losers damn near creaming thier Marpats while handling those.... I usually associate this description to the crowd swarming around the fat "ex-Navy SEAL" who has a couple go-fast goodies and a few of those big GI Joe guys. I liked the guy at the Denver shows that had a UN flag tapped to the floor in front of his booth, that way you could step on it. I always imagined that he was Colorado's version of Imbroglio... |
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I hate the knife tables! They are always surrounded by 16-20 yo kids who want to oh-ahh at everything, pick up the knives, run their fingers across the blade to see how sharp it is and generally clog up the aisles and are too stupid to move out of everyones way. Then, to top it off, they buy a $1 Chinese jack-knife! You've all seen them. Usually wearing an old beat up Army jacket, or camo, combat boots, bleeding thumbs! Its worse than welfare day at the supermarket! I don't have a problem with knife sales, before anyone flames me, just the kids that hang around the tables. |
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How about the Jennings/Lorcin/Tec-9 table? That might be the worst table that actually sells guns... You know the table, row after row of POS pistols, and everything is under $150. Swarms of unsavory characters looking for their new 'gat.' I really like it when they hold the gun up gansta style and pretend that they're 'blast'n some fo'.' |
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Quoted: I have no problem at all with anyone selling Nazi war items. But the guys who feel the need to dress up in their "Sunday best" SS uniforms [whacko] while peddling their wares, now that does bother me a little bit. That's what I mean. The guy wearing the splinter camo M-43 hat and some type of repro German blouse. I actually don't care what they sell, that they sell it or if anyone buys it. Just doesn't make "us" look good. And as I said in the first post, I was wondering if this was a regional or nation wide thing. TS |
| One day I would like to see the guy with the pellet gun and the rows of cow plates actually sell that pellet gun. He'd have to stick to normal flea markets then! I forgot which show promoter it was, but one had a note on it's flyer, "no flea market items!" Whoever they were actually had some good shows. After NICS came in, shows have gone downhill a bit. |
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The shows here in SC are pretty decent, if somewhat repetative in content. We have an older fellow that sets up a WWI display and dresses in a doughboy uniform; looks like a 70 year old boyscout. Very little flea market stuff. The thing that chaps my hide the most is that none of the dealers will dicker; you pay their price and that's it. They are the most non-negotiable people I have ever dealt with. Most of them are surly smart asses who make no attempt to hide their contempt for their customers. The last show I went to I took a thousand dollars cash with me with the intention of blowing it on a rifle or pistol. I left the show at the end of the day with $800; I couldn't find any deals so I just bought some ammo and magazines and called it a day. Panzer Out |