On the road again. First stop... Boise Gun Show

[Mygrainman]

Mygrainman and the MygrainMrs. are back on the road again for another adventure... For the first stop we decided to stay in Boise(well Nampa) Idaho and check out this gun show Saturday AM...
Events: Great Idaho Gun Show | Ford Idaho Center
We we wanted a decent hotel as close to the event center as we could find. According to
Booking-dot-Yeah...The Hampton Suites were pretty close, so I called ahead and reserved a room. Got a nice one on the top floor, with a great view of tomorrow's destination. This is the view... literally from my pillow.


Cool huh? ...Yeah,not so much.

That is the main entrance of the event center perfectly situated right in the gap between the curtains.......that don't close all the way! Evedently they don't want you to oversleep and miss your checkout time. I like a pitch black room when I sleep, so the bright lights are keeping me awake

At least its purdy blue oval... Ida insisted on a new room if I had to stare at a bow tie all night!

In a few hours I'll be scouring 400 tables of goods in one of the last truly gun friendly states in the union.
I read that these are still decent gunshows, like we used to see back in the pre Clinton days.
Only tomorrow will tell.
Stay tuned...
I'll be reporting back tomorrow night from the land of the IronMonster... Buhl, ID.
We've got a rifle to build to be given away to one lucky member of our community.
Who knows, it could be you!

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[Colts4me]

Good luck today..

 

[IronMonster]

I am bored this morning..... I think I'll drive up and hit the gun show myself. Better than wasting the morning sitting on my computer even if I don't buy anything.

 

[41mag]

too bad the cheese factory there doesn't sell fresh curds to the public anymore....oh, and I've heard the Kit Kat Klub of song & fable is now defunct in favor of an expanded intersection just down the road a bit....

cheers on finding something good

 

[Colts4me]

I think you might be able to stop at a local leather manufacture, give them a call and see if they are open. Milt Sparks makes real quality.

 

[BigBull 301]

It was a disappointment when I attended in October. Hopefully you'll have better luck.

 

[Ralgha]

Hamptons are usually pretty decent. Many hotels hide a second set of curtains (that do close fully) behind those big ones in your picture. They're often pushed way to the side and easy to miss. A few newer ones have a blind that you pull down with a small chain on the side, but I haven't seen a Hampton with that set up yet.

 

[Jonnyuma]

I just happened to be in Nampa about an hour ago... wish I'd known about the show.

I think you might be able to stop at a local leather manufacture, give them a call and see if they are open. Milt Sparks makes real quality.

Another coincidence! I drive past his place every Saturday morning... way too early to stop in. I was just about to call them myself about ordering a SSII for my 6904... I'm so over Kydex. Not sure if they're there today or not. And you're right, great leatherwork at a reasonable price. Backlog is 12-18 weeks right now... bfd, I waited that long for a G-Code Incog... and there's no SEWING in that.

Ima gonna call right now.

ETA: No answer. No messages either. I'll have to try em during the week.

 

[fxdc]

My son' s in Nampa, better tell him about the show! But betcha he is already there.

 

[IronMonster]

Well. I can say it's been a while since I have seen such a concentration grumpy old farts with bad breath and worse BO.. even ran into one patron that was drunk at 10:30AM. The obligatory puffy chest swagger guy open caring a unloaded 1911. (No loaded firearms allowed)

Geez... is this really our demographic?

I did see some reasonable deals and some things I wanted. However the things that were reasonable I didn't want and the things I wanted were not reasonable.

One rifle I was actually considering... till the owner said "put that down kid, someone who could actually afford it wouldn't want your fingerprints all over it"

I might be covered in tattoos... but I came with $10,000 cash in my pocket...

I won't be back to the Boise gun show...

 

[Kruel J]

Well. I can say it's been a while since I have seen such a concentration grumpy old farts with bad breath and worse BO.. even ran into one patron that was drunk at 10:30AM. The obligatory puffy chest swagger guy open caring a unloaded 1911. (No loaded firearms allowed)

Geez... is this really our demographic?

I did see some reasonable deals and some things I wanted. However the things that were reasonable I didn't want and the things I wanted were not reasonable.

One rifle I was actually considering... till the owner said "put that down kid, someone who could actually afford it wouldn't want your fingerprints all over it"

I might be covered in tattoos... but I came with $10,000 cash in my pocket...

I won't be back to the Boise gun show...

Wow, what a tool. I've been to that show years ago when I lived there and never got treated like that. I don't blame you one bit for not returning.

 

[Tomahawk67]

Well. I can say it's been a while since I have seen such a concentration grumpy old farts with bad breath and worse BO.. even ran into one patron that was drunk at 10:30AM. The obligatory puffy chest swagger guy open caring a unloaded 1911. (No loaded firearms allowed)

Geez... is this really our demographic?

I did see some reasonable deals and some things I wanted. However the things that were reasonable I didn't want and the things I wanted were not reasonable.

One rifle I was actually considering... till the owner said "put that down kid, someone who could actually afford it wouldn't want your fingerprints all over it"

I might be covered in tattoos... but I came with $10,000 cash in my pocket...

I won't be back to the Boise gun show...

Ban Tattoo stigma! I am proud to be a 50 year old kid with a lot of coverage! Maybe I will go shoot steel instead of rub elbows.

 

[notazombie]

Well.
Geez... is this really our demographic?

Nope. That's just idaho.

Sorry to hear the negative review. When I saw you guys talking about it this morning I almost headed out. Glad I saved my $8.
Don't really need anything anyway but am kinda looking for an inexpensive 12ga.

 

[Heyjoe]

That was one of the better shows I've been to in the past year.

How'd you make out @Mygrainman ?
@IronMonster ?

I had a near miss, a close encounter with the unexplained- guy had a sao cz 75 in good albeit dirty condition, $450-not bad, might've offered 400 up until he stripped the upper and proceeded to dry fire it, allowing the hammers full force to slam on the aluminum frame in a high pitched, think, think, think, think!

Unbelievable!

"Here, try it without the slide" he says

"I do not want to do that" I says.

I walked away shortly after, shaking my head and palming my face.

I wouldn't offer two for it knowing what i know now.

 

[Heyjoe]

Perimeter alarms and a qd sling mount:

 

[Mygrainman]

It was a complete disappointment..... There was an interesting string of tables that Ruger set up, and one guy had a huge collection of Lugers... but nothing significant for sale that piqued my interest... and the list of guns that interest me is pretty long.
I can honestly say I enjoy the small show in Centrailia, WA that I go to every month much more. The Portland shows are even better than that was. Prices were outrageous on most anything I would even consider buying.
I didn't have anything as bad as IMs experience, but I stood in front of a vendor for 10 min waiting to buy a couple Scilencerco muzzle devices.. $200+ dollars worth, while he and another guy ignored me and complained about sales tax making them broke.... maybe try making a sale instead of byatching and ignoring customers next time... I walked away with my money. Another guy had a bunch of generic ar parts and was telling a group of ignorant shoppers that they were premium parts made just down the road, and his prices were better than anything on the net... they weren't... not even close. SMH.
I did find a nice old lady that had some books and antiques for sale and got a really cool old WW1 book for $5, and my wife got a Cody Lundine SHTF book.... And I found a set of .32 HR/SW dies so I can reload for the wife's revolver and bought a surplus shelter half to go with a half I have at home.

Now I'm in Buhl.. gunna chill in our room tonight, and tomorrow IM and I will build that rifle and go test shoot it. Then I might head up North and check out some surplus stores, and maybe a National Park or two before heading back west... and back home in a few days. No hurry, no worry.

 

[Mygrainman]

too bad the cheese factory there doesn't sell fresh curds to the public anymore....

I really wanted to stop for some squeaky cheese myself... Since I was just a lad, It was tradition to stop every time we drove through to buy a bag or two. So not cool!

 

[IronMonster]

Another guy had a bunch of generic ar parts and was telling a group of ignorant shoppers that they were premium parts made just down the road, and his prices were better than anything on the net... they weren't... not even close. SMH.

[

That guy was a real piece of work.... When I went by he was telling someone about how to build a ghost gun and that any 12 year old could do it and the whole point was to build untraceable guns in case you "needed" one to throw away that couldn't be traced... And bragging about how he was a 07 manufacture and made everything on the table.... Which was total BS... he might of ASSEMBLED everything on the table but I suspect zero of it was built by him... It was all China built crap.

 

[Caveman Jim]

OMG, I totally forgot about getting that bolt to you. I've been dog tired & had a cataract surgery just 3 days after I returned...

I feel awful.

 

[Mikej]

Well. I can say it's been a while since I have seen such a concentration grumpy old farts with bad breath and worse BO.. even ran into one patron that was drunk at 10:30AM. The obligatory puffy chest swagger guy open caring a unloaded 1911. (No loaded firearms allowed)

Geez... is this really our demographic?

I did see some reasonable deals and some things I wanted. However the things that were reasonable I didn't want and the things I wanted were not reasonable.

One rifle I was actually considering... till the owner said "put that down kid, someone who could actually afford it wouldn't want your fingerprints all over it"

I'm sorry Mr monster, but this cracks me up! Only because I know how it feels ......Dude was a putz!

until he stripped the upper and proceeded to dry fire it, allowing the hammers full force to slam on the aluminum frame in a high pitched, think, think, think, think!

We have an SP01 a 75 and a Tanfoglio Elite Limited. What a maroon! He probably likes to drop slides with empty mags too.

Kinda disappointing to hear that a big show in Nampa is as bad or worse than one here in PDX.