What's new

BIG Tulsa gun show

Defecater

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 11, 2020
Member Number
2283
Messages
80
The huge gun show in Tulsa is this weekend and I am thinking about making the 6.5 hour drive to attend for the first time ever. I primarily look for/collect Marlin .22 autoloaders but I am also looking to get a Marlin 45 Camp Carbine. Used rifle inventory has been depressingly low in my area lately. I assume it is that way everywhere as well. With this in mind, should I hold off on making the trip for ( hopefully) a better time in the future when there will be a lot more used rifles to pick from? Also, cant find anywhere on the website mentioning masks required, and no place to contact them to ask. Wont make that long of a drive just to have to wear a mask all day!! Anybody know?
 
Gun shows as of late are fucking jokes. 99% of the vendors present are not even selling guns anymore. I’d rethink wasting 6.5 hours in a car for a bunch of garbage.
 
Their website indicates that non firearm vendors are almost non-existent. Don't know. Never been there.
 
Gun shows as of late are fucking jokes. 99% of the vendors present are not even selling guns anymore. I’d rethink wasting 6.5 hours in a car for a bunch of garbage.

this isnt some mom and pop gunshow at the local airport hotel convention center. This is the Tulsa show which has been the biggest show in the world for many years. strategy is you need to take 3 days to go through the whole show. First two days walk the show, make some notes on items and mark where what isle its on. 3rd day you go deal and try and get what you want.
 
I've been going to the spring show regularly, never been to the fall show. I'd made it 4 years in a row (it's about a 4 hour drive for me) before COVID canceled last year's.

I'm intentionally avoiding this year. Currently, prices everywhere are insane and my experience with "normal" times at Wanenmacher's there's plenty of over priced stuff that folks aren't willing to haggle on.

If you've never been there, I don't think you can really grasp how huge it is. If you're going to browse, and stop to look at everything that catches your eye, you won't be able to see every booth in a day. If you have a list of specific things you want, keep your head on a swivel, and are good at playing Where's Waldo, you can hustle through all the isles and people in a day. Wear comfortable shoes, maybe take a back pack to haul your loot.

In '19 I took some friends with me, they were first-timers, they wanted to stop and look at every neat thing. I abandoned them early, they were slowing me down. I had a list of about 8 things I was looking for and came home with 2 of them.

Similar to the OP, I'm a Marlin fanboy too. It's hard to know what you'll find, in '19 I had a Camp 9 and a early rifle length, full length mag tube, Marlin 60 on my list. I came home with a Camp 9 and a 6081 Alamo. In '18 I scored a .357 1894 at Wanenmacher's, that it took me 3 years of searching gun shows, Armslist, and Gunbroker, to find one I was willing to pay for. There's still a lot of stuff on my list I don't have, there are some truly delusional sellers out there, especially at Wanenmacher, it's easy to get disillusioned.

My first trip there, I went with my uncle and a friend of his, they're both high roller, petroleum industry pensioners. We were after a grade III or better, .308, Belgian, BAR. Apparently they didn't make a lot of .308 BARs. That was our focus, the whole show, we found 2x .308 BARs, a grade II and a grade IV. We came home with the grade IV, so if there's something rare you're after, and you're willing to pay for it, you'll probably find it.

It's literally 10+ acres of guns and accessories, don't expect to do it all in a day, expect to be annoyed by the crowd and prices, wear comfortable shoes/clothes, there will be a line at the bathroom so plan accordingly.

I didn't think it was possible to get tired of looking at guns until I went to Wanenmacher's.
 
I've been going to the spring show regularly, never been to the fall show. I'd made it 4 years in a row (it's about a 4 hour drive for me) before COVID canceled last year's.

I'm intentionally avoiding this year. Currently, prices everywhere are insane and my experience with "normal" times at Wanenmacher's there's plenty of over priced stuff that folks aren't willing to haggle on.

If you've never been there, I don't think you can really grasp how huge it is. If you're going to browse, and stop to look at everything that catches your eye, you won't be able to see every booth in a day. If you have a list of specific things you want, keep your head on a swivel, and are good at playing Where's Waldo, you can hustle through all the isles and people in a day. Wear comfortable shoes, maybe take a back pack to haul your loot.

In '19 I took some friends with me, they were first-timers, they wanted to stop and look at every neat thing. I abandoned them early, they were slowing me down. I had a list of about 8 things I was looking for and came home with 2 of them.

Similar to the OP, I'm a Marlin fanboy too. It's hard to know what you'll find, in '19 I had a Camp 9 and a early rifle length, full length mag tube, Marlin 60 on my list. I came home with a Camp 9 and a 6081 Alamo. In '18 I scored a .357 1894 at Wanenmacher's, that it took me 3 years of searching gun shows, Armslist, and Gunbroker, to find one I was willing to pay for. There's still a lot of stuff on my list I don't have, there are some truly delusional sellers out there, especially at Wanenmacher, it's easy to get disillusioned.

My first trip there, I went with my uncle and a friend of his, they're both high roller, petroleum industry pensioners. We were after a grade III or better, .308, Belgian, BAR. Apparently they didn't make a lot of .308 BARs. That was our focus, the whole show, we found 2x .308 BARs, a grade II and a grade IV. We came home with the grade IV, so if there's something rare you're after, and you're willing to pay for it, you'll probably find it.

It's literally 10+ acres of guns and accessories, don't expect to do it all in a day, expect to be annoyed by the crowd and prices, wear comfortable shoes/clothes, there will be a line at the bathroom so plan accordingly.

I didn't think it was possible to get tired of looking at guns until I went to Wanenmacher's.

my Dad went several times. he said "i wont go back until i can walk through with atleast $10k cash in my pocket ready to spend". Him and I have been going to gun shows since i was able to walk and most of the time at some of the big houston, Dallas, SA shows, we knew enough people that as a kid i camped out at one of the dealers tables playing with their kids who were all family friends.

My old man has said he's seen things at Tulsa that he only knew existed in rare books, that only a few people have ever seen out in the open, much less for sale. This is all pre-internet days too.
 
Texas97, depending on what you're after, $10K won't make a big dent. I really want a 20-28 Ga field grade O/U, a shooter not an art piece, most of the shotguns are on the upper level, and there were plenty of $10-15K shotguns, totally out of my wheel house, there were a few shotguns in the $70-100K range too. I don't know what you do with a $95K shot gun that you can't do with a ~$1,200 Citori or 101? It was an eye opening experience though, there's a whole other world of $$$$$ gun collectors that I don't know anything about.


On the flip side though, there are some genuinely helpful and super smart folks there. I bought my Garand locally, I'm a novice, I just knew enough to know I got what I wanted for a good price. The folks in the WWII/Korea firearms and memorabilia section at Wanenmacher taught me a lot, they know every minute, esoteric, detail about their collections, and were genuinely eager to share their knowledge with an interested newb. It was worth the trip just to show them photos of my Garand and pick their brains.
 
Last edited:
Local gun dealer when to it a few months ago, bought a ton of cool looking crap. 20mm mags are about the only thing I remember that he showed me.

SEMA for guns, is what I pictured.
 
Well, found outvthey are requiring facemasks, so I wontvbe going untill that changes. About time to shift my attention to auto swap meets untill late fall anyway.
 
Top Back Refresh