Maryville Gun Show Oct. 27 & 28th.

[runco]

I believe there is a small gun show at the National Guard Armory W. Alexander Parkway. Anyone going and does anyone have any printable coupons?

[TnEngineer]

On the way home, I wheeled in to check this show. Noticed that it was not nearly as crowded as last time I was there. Reason was, they now want $8 to get in.

$8 !!

Simply no way I can do this. Drove off.

[runco]

Sadly, I went and paid $8. NEVER AGAIN! What a waste.

[JAB]

This is the only show I go to expecting that I might actually buy a gun and not just supplies, etc. There is one dealer - the guy whose tables are generally 'on the floor' (not against one of the walls) as you walk in the door. I believe he has a brick and mortar store but he brings a lot of merchandise to the show that he doesn't want to stock in the store for one reason or another. Sometimes it is because there is damage or the gun doesn't work but often the guns are simply cosmetically worn (but in fine, working order.) Others aren't even worn but are simply not 'big name' guns (I have seen many H&R revolvers in his cases.)

Personally, I like guns that are 'shooters'. I don't, generally, buy 'collector' guns nor do I buy a gun to be a safe queen. Over the course of several of these shows, from that dealer I have bought:

Shotguns (a Sears model bolt action with adjustable choke and a Savage 94C - both 20 gauge) :

Handguns (an H&R 930 9 shot .22 revolver and a FIE Titan .25acp) :

The H&R looked like this when I brought it home:

but with a little Flitz and some elbow grease it turned out to be pretty nice:

The Titan was for nostalgic reasons more than anything (my first handgun was a Titan .25 and it was stolen.) This is it lying on top of my P3AT for a size comparison :

Finally, I have bought one rifle from that dealer, a Winchester 190:

As I said, none of them are 'high dollar' guns but all are quite serviceable. The best part is that every, single one of them had price tags that were under $100.

I honestly look forward to these shows much more than the RK shows as I rarely if ever see anything I would consider a 'reasonable price', much less a bargain, at the RK shows. I do like the RK shows for the availability of things like magazines, ammo, reloading supplies and the like but if I am looking to buy a gun (without anything too specific in mind) it will be the Maryville show all the way.

I will say, though, that if that one dealer doesn't make it to the show then the Maryville one is pretty much a waste of time. Everything else is pretty much on par with the RK shows - there is just a lot less of it and no, real loading supply dealers, magazine dealers and so on.

Edited October 30, 2012 by JAB

[leroy]

If the show is the old Smokey Mountain Gun Collectors Show, the show has some great old guys that sell off some of their pets.

I always like to look at the individual sellers tables. We've bought some great stuff over the years. Flat top rugers and colt single actions are among the goodies found there. There used to be some great shotguns for sale there too. Ya have to look thru everything to find the good stuff.

leroy