583 NH Route 104
New Hampton, NH 03256
(603) 744-3786
About Abe's Awesome Armaments
Abe's Awesome Armaments has changed hands. The new owner is Keith Converse.
We hope to receive the new FFL license in the next couple of weeks and all our normal items will return to the store.
In the meantime, there is plenty of ammo, knives, swords, and accessories. Thanks for shopping local.
Our business began in 1985 with a Firearms and Militaria store in Vermont. We moved to New Hampshire in 2000 and opened Abe's Awesome Armaments selling mostly knives, swords, and a few firearms. As our business grew, we soon outgrew our existing showroom. In the Spring of 2005 we built a 40x30 log cabin with a 1,200 square foot showroom.
Today we are proud to carry over 1,000 knives, 100 swords and 100 firearms in stock with an extensive array of accessories and ammunition. We also stock Airsoft guns and have a nice selection on hand of Automatic knives.
So, stop in or call anytime. Our inventory is always changing and we consider all trades. And remember, if you're looking for something unique and unusual and we don't have it, we can always find it for you!
Watch Abe on National Geographics - Bid & Destroy!
Watch Abe's 15 minutes of fame! Abe was in several episodes of the National Geographic channel's hit show Bid and Destroy! The show follows the Danley Demolition crew who are property pirates on a hunt to discover buried treasure on the brink of destruction! After winning a grueling bid on a property, the guys from Danley Demo race against the clock to hunt down as many hidden treasures and rare items left behind to turn a profit, before they decimate and demolish the building to the ground. He was featured in "Haunted House Treasures" and "Muscle Car Mansion". Watch the full episode below, or jump to 15:45 to see Abe's shining moment!
Newspaper Articles Abe Has Been Featured in!
NEW HAMPTON, NH — The owner of Abe’s Awesome Armaments, a shop in New Hampton which sells, among other things, firearms and ammunition, has reported seeing more customers in the shop since the announcement by top lawmakers of possible new federal legislation regulating the sale of firearms and accessories.
Abe Foote, owner of the shop, said that he’s “seen a huge increase in ‘modern sports rifles’ this week. Foote implied that customers were doing less Christmas shopping at the store then they were exercising their right to purchase guns as pending legislation might make it more difficult to do so.
As Foote scanned his shop for a good place for a photograph, his colleague suggested the “Air Wall", their display of Air Soft BB guns, because after March, that’s all we’ll be able to sell. State Sen. Jeb Bradley (R-Wolfeboro) said, “There will be a lot of debates in the coming months with the recent shooting and the Second Amendment. After this unspeakable tragedy", he said he hopes there will be greater discussion about the process in which residents obtain powerful firearms. “What issue I see, he said, is that we have to focus more on disturbed individuals purchasing weapons, while
A Busy Day at Abe's Gun Shop
Stocking Up - By Mary Saliba
Article published in the Laconia Citizen, December 21, 2012
not invading the rights of those who can responsibly obtain a weapon." Bradley spoke of the fact that Connecticut has strict laws regarding the purchase of guns, and Newtown’s Adam Lanza had tried and been denied the purchase of a handgun, yet still, 26 people died with the assault weapon he used. He spoke of the many shootings and that we need to work toward addressing issues of mental health care. While not making a diagnosis, he said that many of the shooters, using the recent Colorado shooter as an example, are disturbed individuals.
Foote said that much of the fear since the Newtown shooting is driven by the politicians and the media hype. Customers must fill out a lengthy form to register for a gun, including questions about mental health medication, drug addiction domestic assaults, and pass a background check with the FBI or state police, once they get the go ahead, Foote said, weapons are as safe as people are properly trained.
The parking lot was full this afternoon - one customer leaving the shop said, "We spent a lot of money today", laughing as he drove away. Inside the store, another customer joked, “What? Did you see my picture at the post office? I thought I took care of that." A former resident of the Lakes Region, who was willing to offer her first name, “Krissy", said she just bought a real assault weapon for her young son for Christmas. “We only shoot targets, though, she said. “Paper."
A local psychiatrist, who also declined to be named due to the privacy of his practice offered, “The real issue is powerlessness, and seizing power through grabbing a gun is really dangerous". Reacting from powerlessness, he said, was the way in which those individuals gained their feeling of power. Two-time TV star Foote, was featured on “Bid and Destroy” on the National Geographic Channel last October. The shows were filmed at his shop last summer. His co-worker John, suggested, though, that Foote be photographed in the fur vest on display at the shop.
ABE FOOTE, owner of Abe’s Awesome Armaments in New Hampton is busy at work as possible federal legislation might make it more difficult for gun enthusiasts to purchase firearms.
Abe's Offers 'unique to unusual' Armaments
Off the Main Road
By Bea Lewis, Staff Writer
NEW HAMPTON, NH— Abram "Abe" Foote grew up in Barre, Vt., target-shooting with his father and visiting gun shops and shows, looking for bargains. Today, Foote owns and operates "Abe's Awesome Armaments," a shop at 583 Route 104 in New Hampton that specializes in buying, selling, trading and appraising knives, swords and firearms of all types.
"Our motto is the unique to the unusual," said Foote, pointing to the top shelf of a glass display cabinet that holds a dozen Randall knives. Foote said he bought the mint condition knives from a collector, explaining that if you placed an order with the Orlando, Fla. manufacturer today, the company is so backlogged you wouldn't get your knife until 2011.
Walking to a display case full of handguns, Foote reaches in and picks up an antique Smith & Wesson #1 6-shot. 22 caliber engraved nickel handgun featuring mother-of-pearl handgrips that was made from 1868 to 1882.
"I do get some interesting stuff," Foote said, noting his stock is always changing because he never knows what someone is going to bring in the
This Winchester 1897 pump-action 12 gauge shotgun is among one of the many used guns available for sale or trade at Abe's Awesome Armaments owned by Abram 'Abe' Foote of Tilton. The shop specializes in knives, swords and firearms and buys, sells and trades.
door. In past years, Foote said, a customer brought in a Civil War-era rifle — and also the diary of the enlisted man it belonged to — as well as a glass plate photograph of the solider.
An elderly woman once brought in several early photographs of her great grandfather and his Civil War rifle, bayonet and sword, Foote recounted.
A resident of Tilton, Foote said he obtained his federal firearms license in the early 1980s and has been buying, selling and trading firearms ranging from flintlocks to semiautomatics ever since. He attends all of the instate gun shows including those in West Lebanon, Concord and Manchester. Such shows are popular with buyers, he said. because they can go to one place and look at a variety of guns. Similarly, dealers like them because as many as 4,000 people or more may come through the door in one day. He said it is a common misnomer that people buying guns at a gun show do not go through the same stringent background checks as those bought in a retail shop. When computer access to the federal database is working correctly, Foote said it takes about 5 minutes to garner approval to by a long gun and 10-15 minutes for authorization to buy a handgun. He uses the same process whether you're buying at his shop or a show.
He bought the business in 2000 when it was known as Trapper John's Knives. He decided to add firearms to the shop's line of more than 1,000 knives and swords. In 2005 he cleared trees from the front of the property and had a log-style building custom built of yellow pine to increase the size of his retail area.
Abe also sells Air Soft guns and ammo. The equipment, made by a number of manufacturers, has supplanted paint ball gear as the hottest new outdoor weapons for games. Guns that fire six-millimeter plastic pellets from 250 to 440 feet per second are powered by a variety of different methods, including spring, CO2, "green gas," and even rechargeable batteries.
"Nearly every town has a team," Foote said of the growing popularity of the sport, in which players can use fully automatic rifles that are substantially more accurate than those made to fire paint balls.
On the opposite side of the shop, Abe stocks an impressive display of swords including "Katanas" that are hand-forged and take three months to make.
"We have knives from a dollar to hundreds of dollars including Swiss Army and Benchmade," Foote said.
The sales of swords and replica medieval weapons increase during the annual Highland Games and when King Richard's Fair opens in neighboring Massachusetts, he said.
A life-size fully functional suit of armor that had adorned the shop for years recently sold and another re-enactor purchased a full Scottish dress outfit including kilt in Blackwatch plaid, according to Foote.
As for customer looking for brand new guns, Foote said, he can order nearly anything and have it available for pickup in a day or two.