Shooting Show

[Christel]

It was snowing while driving to Stoneleigh. Not settling.

We approached the exhibition centre from one of the smaller lanes and some 2 mins away we hit a queue and then moved very slowly for about 20 mins ish.
Finally got inside and was told to park pretty much as far away from the main entrance as was possible. Ovenpaa asked the parking attendant if there really was not somewhere closer to park due to his wife not walking very well, sure the answer was, go and drop her off at the main entrance and then go and park in the "as far away corner as you can possible get" space. Hmm, we decided to park and then walk, it was a looooong walk. We did not encounter any mud as such though...we were told to park half on grass and half on road. Guess there was a reason for that.
So much for preferential parking due to buying the tickets beforehand :roll:
From what I could see the only advantage of buying tickets beforehand was that we walked straight in instead of buying a ticket. Guess it was slightly cheaper as well...I think.
Chap in front of us threw his P sign out of the window and sped off...

We were inside at about ten to ten, it was PACKED! Especially Hall 3 (Gun Hall)
Hall 4 with the airguns and airsoft was full but ok to move around in, Hall 1 and 2 we did not even see, not sure what was there.

We left after 5 hours of chatting with people, chatting with some more people and then we chatted with some other people and frankly I am very tired and I think we had a lovely time meeting some fantastic people. I have to admit I met a few people and it was very noisy in the hall and I missed their names Apologies.

I think because of the new show location there were more people there than at Newark, not sure there was more trading though.
Also, I think some of the stands were small compared to Newark.
Some stands we had not seen before, like the quads, knives.

Worth going, it is a once a year chance to meet up with people we would normally not meet because all shooters do not go to the same shows, some people at this show are not at the Phoenix for instance and vice versa. Also there were plenty of gun porn on display. Bargains, I doubt it.

If you decide to go Sunday, go early or leave it till the afternoon.

[Attleborough]

Two hours to get there. Two and a half more hours to do the last mile and a half. Priority parking in a muddy field about a mile away.

Once in about midday most halls were very crowded and I'll echo those observations of the difficulty getting to stands.

After being quoted £27.95 for a box of Sierra 69gn .223 heads I was tempted to put my wallet away.

British shooting has a hard enough time but the organisers need to take a long hard look at themselves for the image it presents to anyone new who visited to find out more. Perhaps they're not bothered as long as the cash rolls in.

Out of interest, anyone paying on the door get a "ticket" or receipt for their cash only payment....?

[Chapuis]

Not great!
Preferential parking was non existent, to be fair I walked across a grassy area and nearly sunk to my ankles in the soggy ground so maybe the fields were out if bounds
Took about 25 mins to get in at 930ish, not to bad.
Place was rammed though, doubt I'd go again, can't get near most of the stalls, and the few I actually wanted to look at I gave up trying after 10 mins hanging around trying to get for be front, particularly annoying one chap I front decided this was a good time to bring a gun back for repair, personally would've told him not today, but the chap on the stand tried his best, much to the detriment of the queues of people waiting to view his wares.
Prices were nothing special, fuel and enters ace fee would've been better spent on a round robin of gun shops for a haggle up.

My mate and I arrived at around the same time as you Murph and found it just as you described. My friend was seriously interested in the new pulsar night vision equipment but failed to get answers to his questions because he was unable to communicate with the exhibitors whose grasp of English was very poor. How the hell are they going to sell the kit if they can't communicate with the customers. He gave up after 10 minutes and walked away in disgust.

We noticed one car parked on the grass whose drivers door and windscreen was completely covered with mud from another car's spinning wheels, that car had obviously got stuck on the grass. Several people were seen stopping and taking photographs of the mud splattered car. They thought it amusing but I don't think the driver of the mud covered car was quite so amused when he returned to his vehicle. All in all I think if that's the best that the British can do for a shooting show it's a poor thing.

[toffe wrapper]

Hi All

Got to show at 08:30 down same route as ovenpaa took so only a small queue to get in.

It was good to meet up with you all, ENS Christel ovenpaa & Heather to name a few. Not many bargains to be found but picked up some bits and bobs and my mate joined the NRA.
Did not like the waltsofters strutting round armed to the teeth looking like extras from Blackhawkdown
Then again lots of shooters all in camo jackets aswell. They need to realise the camo they used did not work you could still see them.
Was also nice to speak with some of the retailers who I have orderd from on the web and thank them for the good service.

Now as for the venue and organization

1 Traffic flow from mainroad onto site rubbish
2 layout of halls caused choke points siting the cheshire gun room entrance on the main route in was madness
3 Moving from halls by having to go back through way in, stupid at newark you could loop round
4 Parking on grass after one of the wettest years on record again stupid

If it going to be a big show and central for the most of the population the NEC is the place to hold it.

TW

[Christel]

Gotta add...going home on the M1 traffic notification signs had warnings on them...Severe Weather Warning For Sunday.

[AL8]

As most people have said parking was a joke, luckily I got there about 8.15 so missed most of the que.
No sign posts to tell you where the hall was, luckily just followed other people. Came away about 1.30 just as it was getting really busy. Guess what? no directions how to get out of the sight.
The show could be good, but the site needs some serious work

[artiglio]

Evenening All,

Seems as though I got it right for once, got there as carpark opened, had a nap in car and walked through door at opening time. Certainly got busy around midday. Managed to have a good look and chat at dolphin/march/valkyrie/joewest and a browse round plenty of others. Bumped into a good few familiar faces. Admittedly chaos at hannams and fox , so gave up before even asking prices. Ended up leaving around 3.30 and drove straight out. Lots of new kit to look at.
I enjoyed it, though as a previous post said matbe needed to be a bit bigger or run an extra day or so, all in all aorked for me.

Regards phil

[tackb]

I echo toffe wrappers comments, guys (generally fat) in full desert camouflage outfits carrying exact replicas of weapons we can't own in this country , really ! WTF goes through these Walts minds ?

[Charlotte the flyer]

With all thoughts of an early start abandoned after a good Friday night we arrived at the back of the queue at 11. With a low fuel gauge and a high bladder level we sat in the queue for the 'closed' rear gate for an hour and a half before seeking sanctuary in Kenilworth Sainsbury's. When we came back to the showground we found that the queues had mysteriously disappeared and that the gate was now open without any of those nice Hi-Vis people to stop us going in. It was a bit of a walk through the quagmire to the main entrance but once we were in it was OK. ish. As others have said it was far too busy but the thought of fondling black guns was enough to get us through the crushes.

In the end we ordered a bit of ammo from ITl and an Stg from Suffolk, Neil is also going to help me with some mods to my SLR to make is easier with the extraction. Result!

Will I go again, probably not, it's not organised anywhere nearly good enough. Tabbards sending you down a road only to be told that the entrance is closed at the other end. Sort it out organisers!

Spooky quote of the day from Chris Smiths stand "Had you come earlier I had just the thing for you, a sniper Mosin Nagant". Either he knows friends of mine or he is a mind reader as that was one of the things that was on our shopping list.

[HALODIN]

It's a shame the parking fiasco tainted most people's view of the day. I have to say I enjoyed the show, however if I could have reclaimed those 2 hours queuing and met up with everyone from here instead, it would have been a great day. Considering the delays, everyone was very polite, well mannered and calm. I expected tempers to flare, but they didn't, which I think is a credit to everyone in the hobby. I'll give the show another `shot` next year, depending how they handle the show tomorrow.