British Shooting Show.

minktrapper

Shooting show UK. Anybody been to the shooting show in the UK. On in February in Birmingham for 3 days.

tac foley

I've been to all of them.

The last one was at the Royal Showgrounds at Stoneleigh. The next one will be at the NEC Birmingham.

tac

minktrapper

And?

tac foley

I'll be going again next year, too.

tac

minktrapper

And ???

tac foley

And what?

You asked if anybody had been to the British Shooting show.

I replied that yes, I had been.

That was the answer to your question.

tac

minktrapper

Do you think it would be worth it for the average Irish hunter to go there. What can we expect to see there etc.. I get the impression that it is only a stones throw from the airport.

tac foley

Unless you have been to the IWA, it is the largest shooting show in Europe, bar none.

If you can't find what you want there, it probably isn't made. Everything made or sold by everybody you could possibly think of is there for you to look at, handle, dribble over or buy.

Go on the first day, early, else you'll be joining twenty thousand other people after it opens.

Take lots of money or lots of plastic.

Take empty bags for your carry-on stuff.

Take food - it's the NEC, and food is VERY costy.

Take all day to get your money's worth, but remember that you get 20% off stuff that can be sent direct to your Irish address - that's the UK VAT that citizens of the RoI don't pay.

tac

PS - get ahold of a copy of the UK Gun Mart magazine. Just one dealer in there has thirty pages of adverts - now imagine five hundred Gun Marts laid out in stands...

ezra_

You sure of that VAT rate Tac?

IIRC, retail goods are taxed at point of sale, providing you are going to somewhere in Europe. So you pay the UK Vat, not the Irish rate.

Only way to (legally) get off the VAT is if you are a Vat registered business

Yes - NEC is next to the airport. There is a tram thing that links the two.

tac foley

I bow to your greater knowledge. I just live here, and pay the flat 20% rate of VAT on everything except books and children's clothes while I do.

Anything I buy here to send home to my family in Canada or the USA direct from the vendor is less 20%.

Perhaps Europe is treated differently - I don't know, I don't go there anymore.

tac

PS - all lower case for tac, please. Only important people have capital initials.

ejg

I didn't make it to the Brit Shooting show. Some of our customers have been very disappointed with the business they got out of it. We exhibit at IWA for the trade but if I would want to sell to end users then Dortmund would be the biggest "end user" hunting show in Europe.
edi (like tac, also lower case....):p

tac foley

Ah, I forgot about the Dortmunder Waffenborse.

Sorry 'bout that.

However, it IS further away than Birmingham. No doubt friend edi can tell us all about that one.

Please.

tac

PS - @edi - what is your emoticon indicating?

alanmc

What's the story with bringing stuff home from a show like this. So obviously, firearms and ammo are edging towards the "probably best not to carry-on on a Ryanair flight", but what about stuff like scopes? Or stocks?

ejg

tac, not that important myself....

I have never been to Dortmund because the IWA is so close time wise. Dortmund is big. We are talking about setting up a stand there possibly next year if we don't go to the shot show for a look.

I have been to the Brit Shooting show once a few years ago. You'd be through the show in two hours, IWA you need two days.
My take is that a show must grow, if the operators are too greedy from the start and stand prices are too high it will be a flop. We rather spend X being at a large international show than the same at a small national show.

Birmingham is much easier to get to, I wish it would get bigger with more international exhibitors.

BattleCorp

alanmc wrote: »

What's the story with bringing stuff home from a show like this. So obviously, firearms and ammo are edging towards the "probably best not to carry-on on a Ryanair flight", but what about stuff like scopes? Or stocks?

Yeah, don't go trying to bring ammo or firearms on the Ryanair flight.

You can bring regular scopes home, that's no problem because they aren't considered firearms. I'm not 100% certain about thermal or night vision scopes though. I think they are ok to bring home but I'm not 100% certain. I think they are ok to have in your possession but you certainly need authorisation to mount them onto a firearm. Maybe someone else on here will have the answer to that one.

Stocks are ok as long as you have a licence for the firearm that it fits. If you have a Ruger 10/22 licence, then you can bring home a stock that will fit a 10/22. But bringing home a stock for a rifle that you don't have a licence for, that's different. Technically you could be in a spot of bother as you would be in possession of a firearm that you aren't licenced for. Under our dumbass firearms laws, any part of a firearm is considered to be a firearm. It's kind of silly that a wooden stock could be considered a firearm but that's the way things are here.

tac foley

edi - IWA is trade only - only the press have access apart from manufacturers, importers and distributors.

The DWB, I agree, is somewhat larger than the older affairs, but this year's BGS was HUGE.

And it's less than an hour from Dublin by Ryanair. In fact, it can take longer to get to the NEC from the airport than the flight.

tac

gunny123

Isn't the nec right beside the airport ?

tac foley

Yup.

tac

gunny123

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRpBS_aaTFc

Nice range of gear, of course the EU are meddling......

Kat1170

Birmingham Airport to NEC doesn't even require you to step outside. Off the plane into Airport Terminal, head upstairs to Burger King. Have a burger. The monorail is right beside BK. This will drop you off at the start of a long hall which leads past the train station, continue on past this until you arrive at the NEC exhibition halls. It shouldn't take any more than 10 mins. to walk in total.

6860nicholas

tac foley wrote: »

Yup.

tac

Hi there had flight to birmingham booked and hotel and as of today cant find my passport just wondering if anyone going via ferry on friday and back sat as i dont think i can get emergency passport before thursday. I will share all bills ferry and petrol and might even buy you a lunch
Regards nick

ezra_

6860nicholas wrote: »

Hi there had flight to birmingham booked and hotel and as of today cant find my passport just wondering if anyone going via ferry on friday and back sat as i dont think i can get emergency passport before thursday. I will share all bills ferry and petrol and might even buy you a lunch
Regards nick

if you are flying with aer lingus (or anyone apart from ryanair) you should be able to fly with just a driving license.

6860nicholas

ezra_ wrote: »

if you are flying with aer lingus (or anyone apart from ryanair) you should be able to fly with just a driving license.

Yea so i discovered but unfortunatly im flying or was flying with ryanair
Thanks anyway

gunny123

6860nicholas wrote: »

Yea so i discovered but unfortunatly im flying or was flying with ryanair
Thanks anyway

Pig-sty class or cattle class ?