Gun show

[orientalexpress]

Did anyone go to the Pope show this weekend? Why does it seem to be in decline?

[fizik]

Where's the Pope gun show??? If it's in middle TN I'd go next time it's around.

[Reservoir Dog]

Yeah, I thought it was pretty bad. Not a good show at all. None the less, I picked up some things I wanted.

I thought the last Goodman show (at the fairgrounds) was much better.

[DavidD]

Two Words, It Sucked. Pope's used to be the best.

[my82cam]

i normally just go to the Goodman's show, it's much closer. but i have heard from friends that go that it is not as good as it has been lately. not quite sure why...maybe because of the cost of gas?

[Guest sling]

Or its because its just the same old vendors with the same ole stuff with the same ole MSRP prices... you cant find deals anymore.

[Guest OZZ]

First time I've been to the Pope show in a while. It was awful. There were so few vendors there, it looked empty, and as Sling said, same old MSRP pricing.

Fizik--the Pope show is held at the Williamson County Ag Center. Next one is sometime in October. You can Google Pope Gun Show and probably find the next date. If you have to go very far it's probably not worth it. I live in Franklin and it will be too far for me next time.

[SpacemanSpiff]

I missed this one, but the last one was so bad, so I guess I really didn't miss a thing. I might try the next one, if that one is lame also, I won't waste my $10.00 admission.

[Guest macmonkey]

Yea - BP show was pretty lame this weekend. Huge facility (Williamson Ag Center) but it seemed like there was about 30 yard between each table. I didn't go until Sunday and didn't spot any huge deals but I got to look at a lot of the same with a few nice surprises. Nonetheless I'll pay $10 to spend a day surrounded by guns anytime.

[Guest NoLimitSoldier]

I had a test of morality at this gun show. I picked up a Mosin Nagant M91/30 sniper and asked how much...the lady said $150...I asked her to double check, becuase that couldn't be right. She came back and said $700. My friend called me an idiot for not taking it, but she just seemed so innocent.

But yea, NO good deals, ALOT of rip offs (like the one above, wasn't even matching) and people selling Aimsurplus.com P6's for 400 dollars.

[strob2000]

Didn't go this weekend for the reasons mentioned here already. If I want to see overpriced guns and ammo I can go to Bass Pro, and not have to pay a $10 entry fee.

[DMark]

....... Huge facility (Williamson Ag Center).......

The location is the reason I quit going.

The lighting is so poor in that facility that you need a flashlight to view anything!

[mrming]

A brief history of Bob Pope's show...

It used to be the biggest, badest, bestest show in TN.. and drew people from other states. It used to completely fill the symrna expo center. No, not the old walmart. The Expo center. Which is now a mac truck dealership.

What happened? Well, Bob Pope is getting on in his years.. and at some point the expo center changed hands and the new owners didn't much like gunshows. After being interrupted from their schedule for 2 cycles I think it was (they were having a show about 4 times a year back then) things weren't lookin so hot.

They relocated to the old walmart in smyrna for a few shows, and the attendance picked back up. But the location just wasn't big enough. I think they used it for maybe a year before moving on to its current roost, the ag center.

The goodman show had always been a competitor.. but not much of one. Too much riff-raff, too many mediocore vendors.

Pope's show had a few good runs at the ag center. But it slowly reduced the number of shows per year. Much of the staff who used to run it got too old to partake any more.. and didnt have much interest in doing more than 2 a year.

RK shows took over at smyrna, and did more of them. While it has alot of milsurp gear to it, it was consistent and frequent. Slowly, it attracted more of Pope's vendors who wanted to show more often than once per 6 months.

Eventually Goodman and RK set their schedules to go head-to-head with Pope. That was about 3 shows ago. And the vendors left in droves for the other shows.

And thats how we got here.

[The Average Joe]

I went last year around this time and there were so many tables you couldn't throw a cat without hitting one.

I went with my brother this past Sunday and it was terribly sparce. The tables were few and far between. I could appriciate the dealers that showed up, but for $10 a pop, I'd expected to see a bigger show.

I did go to Goodman's last show, and there was actually more gun and knife vendors there than the typical taser/lighter/switchblade/flashlight/keychain guys....and it was only $8 at the door.

[orientalexpress]

I work for one of the vendors out there and I was just wondering to what you guys thought. One of the things i had heard was that a few shows ago Pope pulled a stunt where on friday they were only letting in members of the ag center in and turning away a line of people that weren't members. This rubbed people the wrong way and haven't come back and therefore vendors ejected.

Also I think that theres too many shows. I think theyve oversaturated the market. I remember when there would be one show every other month or month. Now there can be up to 3 a month.

[SpacemanSpiff]

One of the things i had heard was that a few shows ago Pope pulled a stunt where on friday they were only letting in members of the ag center in and turning away a line of people that weren't members.

That's correct except it was for TGCA members.

I went to the February show and it was full of vendors. Both up around the top "ring" and also down on the dirt. I went to the June show and was disappointed. There were only vendors around the top. Someone I know had a table there and he said on Sunday he slept in because the traffic on Fri and Sat was disappointing.

[BryanP]

I went purely to hit the Georgia Arms ammo table. Unfortunately they don't do either Goodman or RK. And yeah, it was pretty bare.

[The Average Joe]

I always thought that Pope/Goodman/RK had bumped the price of tables up with the result being fewer vendors. They're sure sticking it to us at the door.

[Guest Major Pain]

$10 for the privilege to come in and spend your money does seem a little pricey.----MP

[Warbird]

Summer shows are always less vendors and far smaller crowds. The fall and winter shows will be much bigger.

And about the Smyrna Expo center. The builder and owner of that building was Bob Pope. He sold it to a crumb of a person, a crook, who bought the building had hardly paid on it and went bankrupt. It went into receivership for a long time while Pope tried to get his money from the lech. Then the lech gets a nice pardon from Clinton on some other nasty affair scam he pulled that sent him to prison some years before. Then the crapper up and dies and so I don't think Pope ever did get all of his money as the scum tried to sell the building while he was in bankruptcy. The guy did have some positive business deals over the years and appeared to be a good buyer from what I heard. I don't know for sure how it all ended, but it did put a damper on the Pope shows for a while.

[Guest eyebedam]

RK shows blow Pope & Goodmans out of the water lately.

[Warbird]

I guess it is a matter of taste there. Do they get more people, yes. Are the vendors or the crowd, those selling something, the sort that appeal to me? No not at all. They have a few guns, a few interesting vendors and a lot of s@*&. I would say they are good if you like certain types of black guns and new pistols.

I have gotten to where I almost attend no regular gun shows, only collectors shows, which have everything you can think of old and yes even new, special stuff like the black gun stuff and its various suppliers and parts.

[Guest bluecanary25]

Was at a TFA meeting with Bob Pope.

The Friday night show is now open to all. Pleez pass the word....

There still is a admission fee for non-members.....

but if you join TGCA, a mere $25 annually,

you can get in Bob's gun shows at no extra cost.

Mods, if I did a bad thing, let me know. Thanks.

George

[Guest tokarev]

The last Pope show I was able to attend was this past Feb. and it was packed. I missed the last two because it was the same day as the get together/shoot at Owl Hollow. I like going to gunshows, but shootin' is lots betta!