2008 TULSA RCA EXHIBITS

RUGER COLLECTORS ASSOCIATION
DISPLAY SHOW

WANEMACHER’S TULSA ARMS SHOW

NOVEMBER 8 - 9, 2008

Narrative by Bill Hamm and Pictures by Matt Olivier



This year’s annual fall Ruger Collectors Association’s Display show was once again held in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at Joe Wanemacher’s great Tulsa Arms 3,800-plus table show. The number of the public attending was amazing; you could hardly get through the aisles!

We had nine outstanding displays representing our fine firearms and memorabilia. The displayers traveled some long distances from various parts of the country to share their collections with us and the general public. I want to give them a great big THANKS for all their hard work and efforts. It was very evident that a lot of time and hard work was spent getting these displays ready for the show. All were of pure quality and several contained very rare and unique guns and items. There was something of interest for anyone browsing through the Ruger displays. There were handguns, long guns, and lots of Ruger knives. These will be outlined below along with the results of the judging.

A lot of good Rugers were for sale on the trade tables. Several of the collectors found good deals on some fine guns for their collections. I personally saw a couple of “D” Bearcats, Flatgates, several transition .357s, a set of consecutive numbered rare Jerred Engraved Single-Sixes, three or four 10” .44 and .357 Flattops, a couple of 7-1/2” .44 Flattops, some factory brass frame Super Blackhawks, a mahogany boxed Long Frame Super, and 6-1/2” Super Blackhawk. Some fine Number 1s were found at the show with some other good buys of rare to scarce guns! I could go on and on, but you get the picture; there were a lot of fine and rare Rugers at the show.


The RCA judging/award classes were expanded beginning in 2008 to include Old Model Revolvers, New Model Revolvers, Autos, Double Actions, Long Guns, and Tools/Memorabilia. There is an Advanced, Intermediate, and Novice level under each class. A voluntary Masters level has also been added for those who have previously won 1st place with a display at the Advanced level and wish to opt out of the judging for that same display again or any display new or old if they so choose. These changes were made to attract new and more displayers and level the playing field.

Award Plaques and a one year free membership were given by the RCA for 1st Place winners in the Advanced, Intermediate, and Novice Category in each Award Class. Chad Hiddleson, Red Eagle News Exchange, also gave an Award Plaque and one year free membership to the RENE for the “Best of the Show”.

The Tulsa Arms show also judges displays and gives cash awards to 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winning displays. All displayers get a nice plaque for their participation. Our Ruger displays won 1st and 3rd place in the Tulsa Show awards and are identified below in the individual display write-ups.

A Ruger LCP .380 Caliber pistol was provided by the RCA and a surprise drawing was held among displayers at the Saturday night Awards dinner. Novice category displayers got two chances while Intermediate, Advanced and Masters got one chance.