Been to a gun show lately?

Okay, so it's been a while since I've been to a gun show. Today I spent $10 for the privilege of entering the nearest gun show. I was in search of some AR15 parts and reloading supplies, heck maybe even a new firearm. I was amazed at the crazy prices being asked for firearms as well as the unbelievable amount of mis-information being spewed by the "firearms sales experts". I left feeling like I had wasted the better part of my day. I think I'll just stick to visiting this site and buying my guns online.

Yeah, was just at one last weekend.

Managed to sell my Taurus 1911 (yes!!), and picked up a few brand new magazines for my Ruger LC9 & Beretta 92 for super cheap. Almost walked out with a LNIB Glock 17 Gen 4, dude was asking $475 and said he wouldn't make me pay the $10 for the background check. Very tempting, but I passed.

For the most part, it was the same as every other gun show I've been to. Some good prices, some OK prices, some crazy prices.....guys selling knives, guys with crummy old surplus rifles & parts, etc.

Too crowded for me since Obama took office.

Used to be a lot of smaller local gunshows around here. But in the last 10 years or so the whole area has gone to a few big commercial "chain" gunshows put on by one or two of the corporations that do nothing but produce gunshows at the big convention centers.

You see very few private tables at these big gunshows, maybe 1 or 2 in the whole show if you're lucky. All the rest are commercial businesses for guns, clothes, trinkets, tacticool stuff, etc.

The smaller shows used to be predominately individuals selling their stuff, with maybe one or two commercial gun shops taking up a few tables. There were some great deals on things that people no longer needed (holsters, reloading tools/supplies. etc). I can't remember the last time I saw a set of used reloading dies at a gunshow around here.

Seems to me that the gun shows around here (100 mile radius of New Orleans or so) have made the jump from being groups of firearms enthusiasts getting together. They're now a money-making opportunity for the corporation that produces them (entry and table fees) and a few local businesses.

Apparently there is no rule against buying or selling while they're setting up before the show ever opens to the public. A friend who works for one of the big local gunshops and works the shows tells me that any real deals on guns on display pretty much get snatched up among the dealers setting up their tables. Seems to know what he's talking about, he's brought home some nice stuff that way.

Nothing bad or evil about it, it's just the way of the world. Someone took advantage of an opportunity to make money. Kind of like Wal-Mart coming to town and losing a lot of the small local businesses.

Kind of like Wal-Mart coming to town and losing a lot of the small local businesses.

A friend who owns a LGS has told me gunshows help his business. Guys will hit the show and then come in to price check. He is almost always lower. Guys that do buy at the show come in later looking for accessories.

My jerky supply is good right now...when it gets low...i go to a gun show.

Last one I went to was the last one I'll go to. "Go 2nd amendment! " "screw the libs, exercise your rights!"...... but no concealed carry allowed on premises due to "insurance" reasons. Can't have it both ways, jackwagons.

http://fototime.com/0DF0DD02CF6D76A/standard.jpg

So when is the next one? :p

went in last weeks show with a older savage 110 and left with a sigma pistol and some cash. yes i know the sigma aint that great but it is better than my hi point

Haven't been in years. The bigger ones I used to go to had the same guys selling the same stuff over and over again, in the same spots over and over again. The smaller ones had a similar situation, the only thing that fluctuated was the guy selling the swords was sometimes replaced by the woman selling the Beanie Babies, and the guy selling the jerky would sometimes be replaced by the guy selling the cheap holsters.
After a few years, you get tired of the bad deals, worse attitudes, and downright lousy prices.
One guy was so rude I commented that his table size was no accident. It kept him far enough away from customers who wanted to punch him in the mouth.

When all the vendors are asking "crazy" prices ........

It's not crazy anymore.

I can remember $15 1911's.
Yeah, I'm that old.

AFS

45_auto (post #5 above) has it exactly right. There's been a "Wal-Martization" of gun shows. The small gun show at the local VFW hall, if it can be found, just isn't worth going to any more. The "economies of scale" (for promoters, buyers, and sellers) are driving small gun shows to extinction.

This leads me to think that the debate about the so-called "gun show loophole" is missing the mark. The economics of the situation (high table fees, long waiting lists for tables) mean that very few bona fide "private sellers" are setting up at gun shows. If you set up at a large, Wal-Mart style, gun show, it's almost a foregone conclusion that you're a professional dealer. As such, if you sell guns, you should have an FFL, carry out NICS checks, etc. (People simply walking around with a "for sale" sign on their gun are a different story.)

Nothing wrong with the Sigma, it's a good gun and one of S&Ws best selling guns.

I went to a gun show last month. I turned out well! I was looking for some H-4895 powder and some large rifle primers. I found the primers for $25 and the powder for $22, I'm good with that! I was also on the lookout for some 9mm brass, found a guy with a bag of 900 peices for $32, sold!! I scored what I needed at the gun show, for a bargain.

I did find I can beat the component bullet prices on-line, so I passed on those.

Went to one yesterday. It really is the same old people , selling the same stuff, at the same high prices. I think the only reason that I keep going to them is because I keep hoping they will get better. So far, they havent. Some are still better than others, but no where near what they use to be.

When friends ask me about the gun show, I nornally tell them that it wasnt worth going to. Seems like everyone is trying to get their money back out of well used firearms or they are low balling what u have for sale because "you will never sell it at that price ." ".....it isnt worth that".

OP, yes, I have.

I saw a lot of crazy "asking" prices.

I also easily sold a couple of my own guns for what I wanted out of them.

That's my report from down here.

I go as often as I can. Sure there is a lot of junk for sale, but nowhere else can I see so many different guns and handle guns I am considering. I don't care whether the place is full of "great deals", since if I find one gun that I wanted but have never found anywhere else, at an acceptable price, it's a good day. The shows also help me keep an idea what my older guns might be worth. I have also come to usually buy ammo in bulk and the shows are where that can be done most easily around here.

I wish gun shows were more about the GUNS instead of the scent products, cheap China plastic goodies, and peanuts.

There are a few good deals out there, you just have to be willing to look. Otherwise, stick to buying online

Strange lot, ain't we?

We twitch and moan about the guns shows we do have, so how about Big Daddy just bans gun shows altogether?

There's be a lot less complaining about them.:p

Well NO, the last one I attened was in Oct. of '06~! ;) :D

I wish gun shows were more about the GUNS instead of the scent products, cheap China plastic goodies, and peanuts.

There are a few good deals out there, you just have to be willing to look. Otherwise, stick to buying online
The scent products, jewelers, and other non-firearm sellers keep my wife busy while I look at firearms. I've got no problem with that.

Crazy prices have generally been good for me. :what: I guess it depends where you are in the pecking order. I’ve been around for a while and collected a fair amount of guns and now I’m at the point that I’m starting to “thin out the herd“. Not so good for the new buyer or collector though.

I mostly miss the private sellers’ tables. They were my source of the best deals I ever got - you know, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” sort of thing.

Even given all the negatives I still go to the gun shows more for the social aspect of seeing gun-friends that I would not normally run into and picking up supplies that if mail ordered I would have to pay hazmat fees for. The money I save there usually more than pays for the entry fee. Try and look for the positives; it makes the high prices go down a little bit easier…..Doc :)

Unfortunately I've worked every weekend except two since January, so no I haven't been to one recently. I need to get to one though, I've got an Ithaca 37 I want to sell.

I go to the gun shows here in CA in hopes that my attendance will keep them coming. However, it seems they have less and less guns and parts and more and more jewelry and t-shirts. Also seems that prices are going up from the dealers that set up and there are less private party sales.
But still, it is an excuse to get out of the house for a couple of hours every couple of months.

Here in Colorado, just after the Columbine School shootings, the Politicians, including our "Conservative Republican" Governor, jumped into action to close the Barn Door and stop the "Gun Show Loophole". Seems that some of the guns used at Columbine were purchased at the Tanner Gun Show by a young woman that bought them for Harris and Klebold. She of course became the tearful poster child for "Ammendment 22" reasoning that if she would have had to go through a background check she may have stopped and thought about the wisdom of buying guns for two underage twisted freaks. She never spent a day in jail.
We used to go to gunshows to find bargans, people would walk around with personally owned guns and you could make a cash deal that you could both be happy with. We can still do that, but now you have to pay for a background check, pay Denver sales tax, and hope the system is not so backed up that you can't finish the transaction that day. Gun shows just haven't been the same since.
I really don't mind the background check, I'll pass, and I don't care if Big Brother knows I have guns, if he doesn't, I'm not doing my part as a gun owner. I mostly hate the delay and the extra exspense, and of course the risk that someones wires will get crossed and I mistakenly end up cuffed and stuffed. The people that are not allowed to be in possesion of guns should know who they are and the Gobment should leave the rest of us law abbiding types alone. :banghead:

I love going to Gun shows. There are 2 a month I never miss (miami and West Palm). Ammo is always a deal because of cash pricing and no shipping costs and I find that when the big companies are there all the smaller dealers prices come way down to compete.
As for selling your old stuff a person has remember you are almost never going to get "What it is worth" because the dealer has to buy from you and then sell it at a profit. If you can get 60% of value you are doing well. The only way to get about 80% is if you are trading because they make their money on the one you are buying.
I always find something I like at the shows.

I'm guessing that, from his member name, it was the Topeka show..? Went to one there once. Not impressed.
Used to like going to the big ones in Tulsa when I lived down there but I hear they have gone down hill too...

QUOTE]locnload: "Seems that some of the guns used at Columbine were purchased at the Tanner Gun Show by a young woman that bought them for Harris and Klebold. She of course became the tearful poster child for "Ammendment 22" reasoning that if she would have had to go through a background check she may have stopped and thought about the wisdom of buying guns for two underage twisted freaks. She never spent a day in jail."[/QUOTE]

She makes a “straw man” purchase at a gun show that caused so many deaths and she doesn‘t go to jail?!? Please tell me how that happened!!! :cuss:

I was at a gun show last week. I went to try to find a military surplus gun that can't regularly be found in a gun store. I did see some things that were outrageously priced. There was a Nagant revolver that was priced at $250 and Hi Point carbines that were $400.

It's been a while since I was at a gun show--about 20 years.
Last tim I was there all they had was people selling new weapons.
I quit because most of the shows had NO surplus military parts.
I can get a new weapons at any gun shop.

Last time I went was just about a year ago. I sold a rifle with a scope attached and got $25.00 less than what I was asking so I was happy. The buyer was a dealer that wanted it for himself and not to resell.

The reason I haven't been since then is that I always seem to be at work when there is one going on that I know about. I like to go and look around and like others said, get the feel of a gun that I may later get. I also like the fact that the shows always seem to have those people that have little gun cleaning or maintenance type gadgets that you don't often see elsewhere.

I also am always on the look out for reloading supplies.

People around here and other places like to dis gunshows quite a bit.
I still go, dealing with some high prices yes... some misinformation yes. But there is always a deal. You just have to have the patience and know how to make the best of things.

When I posted this thread last night I was still in "complaining" mode (S. McCoy, yes it was in Topeka). The majority of the show was made up of the same dealers that were present the last time I went (about a year ago). There was one guy selling mil surplus parts and a few independents. I wasn't necessarily looking for cheap deals and I am always willing to pay a fair price for a new or used firearm. I guess that I just failed to have realistic expectations before going. At this point, I've got past my complaining. I'm not sure that I will attend this particular show again, and instead I may visit one of the larger shows in Kansas City or Tulsa.

Thank you, my firearm enthusiast friends, for your input and for allowing me an opportunity to vent a little. :)

I go as often as I can. I don't care whether the place is full of "great deals", since if I find one gun that I wanted but have never found anywhere else, at an acceptable price, it's a good day. The shows also help me keep an idea what my older guns might be worth. I have also come to usually buy ammo in bulk and the shows are where that can be done most easily around here.

+11 - I find your attitude greatly affects what kind of deals you will find at a show.

I went 2 weeks ago. not looking for anything. Found this 1954 S&W. Joe
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o258/1pharmer/pre27009112611.jpg

I went yesterday. Yes, some had crazy prices but I'm generally not interested in the stuff that brings a premium. It's still a great way to buy bulk ammo at good prices without paying for the shipping. I also like to see and touch most things before I buy them. Earlier this year I was shopping for flashlights and found a great little flashlight (SC1 Eluma by ITP) I had never heard of and probably would have never found online. A month or so ago I found a guy selling handmade carry belts with a kydex liner stitched between the two layers of leather for about half what I would pay at Galco and again, I get to see it, touch it and not pay the shipping charge. There was a much larger array of range bags at the show than at the local gun store. Oh, and I found a guy that lives around here that does custom engraving on wood or metal. A real craftsman.

I didn't find the pistol I was looking for but I got to look at a bunch of other guns I might eventually be interested in AND I got to pick them up which I can't do over the Internet.

All in all I still enjoy going out to the shows when they roll through town. You just never know what you might run across.

I went to one about a week ago. I sold my Russian Makarov and bought a Polish surplus flare gun, a box of flares, two boxes of 8x56R in the clips, and a case of 7.5 Swiss. It was a good day.

Yes, just over a month ago: Southaven MS, by Memphis.
My nice Longbranch Enfield (all LBs and Savages have two-grooves) made nasty wide "keyhole" gashes at 100 yards with boat tail bullets.

I traded it (plus $20) for an Enfield #4 with four or five-groove rifling and good bore, as these were built only in England. Unlike that LB, this "ROF (F)" Fazackerly has no replacement mag, barrel bands or front sight. Even the magazine matches. An extra $20 for them meant nothing-it was their loss......

Some sellers at our shows, all of which are small, admit that they are there to socialize, because they usually sell little, and I like some of them. Most buyers don't factor in the cost of the sellers' fees, travel costs for some.
I only began learning about guns in late '07.

Shows are places to learn both facts from the my gun buddies and other good people, in contrast to the nebulous, convoluted 'Kuhscheisse' ("This Garand #@*&()0%#<^^>...) from a couple of very fast-talking types, whose baloney makes Bill Clinton's slick talk seem almost as clear as that of a Marine Harrier pilot. They think that we are so easily dazzled, or persuaded by abstract hype.
It might as well be Basque or Sanskrit as we stroll away.

I still go every chance I get. Some times there are some deals and somtimes not. But its normaly worth the cost of getting in just to wonder around the room for the day and look at the stuff for sale.

WB

I mean hell nowadays its worth the entrance fee to simply be around some like minded people.

I like gun shows because I can hold the guns and meet cool people. Same reason I prefer Half Price Books to Kindle downloads. Kindle doesn't smell like books.

Yep, a lot of crazy prices this weekend. Literally saw a $1200 "pre-ban" AK47. Dude tried telling me that it was better than the cheap $500 AK47s being made now!!! Oh really....

But I've always managed to find something worth buying - you have to hunt, but those dealers or private sellers with reasonable prices can quickly do business.

The smaller ones had a similar situation, the only thing that fluctuated was the guy selling the swords was sometimes replaced by the woman selling the Beanie Babies, and the guy selling the jerky would sometimes be replaced by the guy selling the cheap holsters.
After a few years, you get tired of the bad deals, worse attitudes, and downright lousy prices.


That's funny!

Gun Shows are the only place I've found ammo and reloading supplies well under market pricing, Maybe 1 out of 3 shows I find these deals.

The gun shows in the Allentown Agri-plex are a great way to spend a few hours on a Saturday. Some prices are good, some are not. It's easy to decide who to buy from when you can compare prices on the spot. Or go home with nothing.

Other than the guys with the Nazi "memorabilia" there's always something interesting to look at. If nothing else, we wander over to the farmer's market and have lunch.

IMHO there are worse ways to spend a Saturday than at a gun show.

Gun Shows are the only place I've found ammo and reloading supplies well under market pricing, Maybe 1 out of 3 shows I find these deals.
That's interesting because usually at gun shows all I see is 100 round WWB 9mm boxes going for $30 when I can buy them locally for $21