TexasCHLforum.com

Anyone going?

Yes - Austin PD and the BATF.

With a smattering of straw buyers for Mexican cartels,
who will be there to pick up dozens of full auto's and
white phosphorous hand grenades. :-)

SIA

Bonc_CHL wrote:Anyone going?

I'll most likely stop by. Heading down to Cabelas to blow some more gift cards (thank you credit card rewards program ), but might try to sell an excess Glock at the show first.

What time you going?

My gf and I will likely go after lunch. She needs her fifth handgun and I'm still itching for an M-9.

That was NOT a gun show. That was a flea market with a few bits and pieces of old guns. We did not see any major vendor there with a table or two of new handguns. Just lots of old one-offs that look like pawn shop trade-ins. I think half the tables were the usual beef jerky, leather wallets, handbags, cabinet restoration products, decorative lamps, etc. What a waste of $14.

Please post a report - I went to this show (in an old Target, right?) one time, and was sorely disappointed . . . it was less than 1/4 the size of the old SAXET show, and a lot of the tables were taken up with things like fudge candy and ShamWow. Now with SAXET gone and all the nonsense about additional restrictions at the site on Lamar, I'm wondering if this show has improved any.

I'd really like to take in a worthwhile gun show this side of San Antonio . . .

Edited to add: OK, propellerhead, thanks for the report . . . seems you were just that much quicker on the keyboard than I was.

propellerhead wrote:OMG! That was NOT a gun show. That was a flea market with a few bits and pieces of old guns. We did not see any major vendor there with a table or two of new handguns. Just lots of old one-offs that look like pawn shop trade-ins. I think half the tables were the usual beef jerky, leather wallets, handbags, cabinet restoration products, decorative lamps, etc. What a waste of $14.

absolutely PATHETIC I'm now upset that I even bothered to stick up for that promoter when he had his troubles at the old Crocket Center. He got a nice buzz off of all that APD/BATFE drama, and I went to the following show at the old Target building and it wasn't "great", but it was OK - one or two decent size dealers, plenty of used gun vendors etc.

Today was an absolute joke. If APD wants to shut this guy down, go after him for FALSE ADVERTISING. That wasn't even a good flea market. Absolute waste of time.

Only redeeming quality of the whole trip was that I took my four-year-old daughter with me and she got to look at a lot of cheap jewelry (bought her a little pendant necklace for $5) ... because there were easily TWICE as many jewelry vendors as firearms vendors

Mr. Boedecker, you and "Texas Gun Shows" will get no more of my money.

I agree, when they had the first one at this Target location after the whole big problem at Lamar it was not too bad, there were some decent vendors that time. But after checking it out today I was sorely disappointed, there had to be only maybe 15 tables that were selling firearms, with a really crappy selection. I don't know what the problem is, I know there are enough of us gun lovers that they should be drawing a lot of people and vendors, but if you wanted cheap jewelry or a cheap knife or even some salsa (which I think was the biggest table there) then that's the place for you to go for sure. This was the first time I had seen someone selling car stereo equipment, which I knew was a bad sign when I walked in!

So with this bad report I am going to ask if anyone on here know what goes into putting on a gun show in TX? Laws, Rules, Restrictions? I know some of you are going to want to ATF bash and all that but I am asking for just the facts about it.
I think we need one North of Austin having to go all the way down South is a joke for what we are getting. Where would we like to see one? Opinions, and Ideas welcome.

I heard someone say the problem with this show now is that the SAXET folks are holding their San Antonio show on the same weekend, but I just checked Saxet web site and that's not correct - the Saxet San Antonio show is first weekend of every month. So there is just simply NO EXCUSE for this fertilizer of a show.

I'd love to see a show in the north Austin/Williamson County suburbs. And seems it would do well up here. Round Rock somewhere along I-35 would be the obvious choice. No idea what goes into putting a show together, other than the obvious things you'd need to hold any public event - venue, staff, some light security (cop at the door?), perhaps some local permit/ordinance?

Oh well, Mr. Boedecker's show won't make it til the end of the year at this rate.

I went there yesterday looking for a good deal on a Kel-tec PF9 for my daughter to use with her new CHL. I had found a very nice used one at TEX-GUNS on Machaca Rd for $279, but thought I would look for her.

In my email to her later I commented that it was a passable "Accessories and Salsa" show but was almost nonexistant as a "gun" show. I told the guy at the door on my way out that it was not worth $6 ( you can print a dollar off coupon from the website) and I was very disappointed. His comment was that the problem was the Live Oak show (N.E. San Antonio) had drawn about 200 of their booths away.

HELLO!!!? The Live Oak Show is ONE OF THEIR SHOWS for pete's sake.

I have been to a couple of their South Austin shows and they are generally OK. So maybe this was a fluke. I'll give them a try again but not many more chances. If this keeps up I would rather drive to SA and go to SAXET.

Now with all the righteous complaining, I must confess that I DID find a pretty good deal on a new PF9. I found a gunsmith (Doug Kelsay) from Bastrop with a tiny little table. He was there just to make a sale to keep his FFL in good standing and he had two PF9's, one grey and one black, NIB for $300. She wanted the black one. I would have gone with grey. Only $21 more than the used one. Kel-Tec offers lifetime warranty for original owners and that is certainly worth $21. I like supporting local shops when I can...and I did. Only it was a local Bastrop shop rather than a local Austin shop. There was another dealer there with the same pistol for $375...ouch. He still has it.

The daughter was very excited and proud at HER first firearms purchase...using her new CHL to avoid NICS. I was proud of her too.

For anyone looking for a small 7+1 9mm (+P capable), .88" wide. 14 oz. loaded, the one at TEX-GUNS is really nice with box and papers. Decent DAO trigger. Very clean for $279. I bet they might budge on that.

While I am dragging on, I want to give a shout out to Propellerhead. He seems to be one of the nicest guys that that I have almost met. He was down from Ft. Wurth (sp) to visit a friend and go do 'gun stuff' this weekend. He learned on another thread that my daughter was looking at a particular type of pistol. He has access to one and he very graciously offered to let her shoot it with them this weekend. Things did not work out for her to do that and she ended up with another type of pistol, but that certainly doesn't detract from his generous offer.

Thanks again Propellerhead. Folks, he is one of the Good Guys.

I was in Austin visting a friend and we decided to go give the so called "gun-show" a look see. Everyone else has pretty much summed it up so I'll keep it short and sweet. That was the worst excuse for a gunshow that I've ever been to.