My First Gun Show

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308win

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I worked the Buckeye Firearms Association's information table Staurday at the Columbus Ohio gun show. This was the first gun show I have ever attended. Attendance was pretty sparse from 1-5. The few tables I passed ranged from not much to some pretty good looking Garands and Carbines. I didn't price them so I don't know what the asking prices were like. Saw a lot of ARs.

Over all I was underwhelmed.
 
IMHO, gun shows just ain't what they used to be. You can usually find some interesting and unusual stuff but it is almost always overpriced. Seems like folks are trying to get rich off every sale these days. I've sold a few guns at shows but can't remember the last gun I actually bought at one.
 
There'd be a larger attendance if the promoters didn't charge $8 to $12 to get in.

Paying money to look at what is mostly over priced junk just isn't my idea of a good way to spend money.

Add having to deal with out and out crooks, a'holes and a fair share of Nazis and IMO gun shows aren't long for this world. On the other hand someone once said there's a sucker born every minute so maybe gun shows will be around for a while.
 
Werewolf said:
There'd be a larger attendance if the promoters didn't charge $8 to $12 to get in.

Paying money to look at what is mostly over priced junk just isn't my idea of a good way to spend money.

Add having to deal with out and out crooks, a'holes and a fair share of Nazis and IMO gun shows aren't long for this world. On the other hand someone once said there's a sucker born every minute so maybe gun shows will be around for a while.
Click to expand...

+1.
 
I don't even know what the admitance fee was as ours was comped by the promoter. I do know that tables were $60. Glock had a couple of armorers there. Cold water was $1.
 
To compound the problem, when word get out about the dismal turnout, the next gun show will have even fewer exhibiters and attendees.
 
I enjoy going to gun shows on a day where I have nothing to do. May not have the best deals in the world, but there's usually one of every gun. Whether or not you can get it cheaper elsewhere, you can actually hold and feel the firearm at the show. I've never bought a firearm from a dealer there, but if you show up early on the first day, there's usually a wide variety of people selling their personal firearms. I've gotten a few good deals there.
 
Nothing better on a Saturday morning than to get the yardwork done early, get over to the show about 10, pay the $6-$10 to get in and walk around until the stomach says "Hey, did you forget me?" Way better entertainment then a Hollywood "morality play" (ain't that an oxymoron?). Every so often I even come up with a firearm at a reasonable price (usually a walk-in) and go home with a SE grin. Joe
 
I don't know for a couple of bucks its not a bad way to spend a few hours. You get to laugh at overpriced junk, make fun of the Nazi's and once in awhile grab a good deal.

I got a good deal on a Mosin and FN49 last time I went. Also grabed some slings for $10, and some GP11.

If you know what you are looking for, and exactly what its worth you can get some fair deals.

The first thing you want to check if you get their the first day are the $10 pocket knife tables. Sometimes you can score some really good buys, my friend found a $70 knife in the pile.
 
The gun show is dead. Someone just forgot to tell the organizers and attendees.
In the old days if someone brought me, say, a Dan Wesson Pistol Pack, I could price it and stick in the case. I might get 100 people through the store in a week and maybe none of them wants a gun like that. If I want to move it, I could take it to a gun show and get maybe 2000 people in a weekend and it is more likely one of them wants the gun at something like a price I can live with.
Today I list the gun on Gunbroker or similar and have 20,000 people looking at it so will be much more likely to find the one guy in Dubuque IA who absolutely has to have that gun and has the money to buy it.
And for buyers it's pretty much the same process in reverse.
 
Gun shows in Houston are far from dead. I find the best prices on new firearms and ammo at the shows. They beat ALL of the storefronts in the area. The ones at the GRB convention center and Reliant Park are loaded with tables, and always have a huge turnout. At least 5 major gun stores attend with huge strings of tables each, all selling every new firearm you can think of. This competition drives prices way down. I'm astounded that your shows have Nazis :barf:, ours don't. The closest thing I saw to Nazis there was the BATFE :barf:recruiting table set up at the last show. First time they ever had a table. There are also great smaller shops, surplus tables, holster tables, and they've even had jewelry tables for the ladies for a while now.

Move to Houston!:D
 
Yep the ones in CT have a strong Nazi turn out. Try to buy US, British, or Russian gear...it doesn't exist or their is hardly anything worth mentioning. But I'm pretty sure I could find the Wolfsangel of the 2nd SS Das Reich division without much trouble.

Anyway I prefer to buy milsurps in person if I can, since I can actualy look them over. Over the internet your taking a chance.
 
i goto the ones held at berea & medina they both have good turnouts. i dont know how many but their are a lot of tables. i always have a good time & usually spend more then i want. i did goto one show that was fairly small but as i drove home i thought that a small gunshow is better not having one at all. i love seeing people enjoying & exercising their 2nd amendment rights.
 
AWorthyOpponent - what part of Florida are you in? I'm in the NE area ( living in Saint Augustine ). Have to agree with you - and even though one might not get a deal that's any better than what you could get online, you do get the opportunity to actually look at and handle a gun you might be interested in buying. I did, however, get a decent deal on a Pietta 1858 New Army that was unfired - paid $165 for it at the show in Orlando.
Maybe the shows aren't that great in Ohio? They're pretty decent here in NE/central Florida.
 
steelbird, I was at a show in Deland, FL recently that had good prices and a good selection. There are also shows in Jacksonville, but the one downtown at the fairgrounds is full of gangbangers. The shows they hold at the Moroccan Temple are a lot better, IMO.

The only thing that was bizarre about the Jacksonville show was the local cops had rented a table, ostensibly to take donationas for the Police Athletic League, but they seemed to spend all their time making personal jeers and catcalls to the public walking past. Stuff like, "This guy doesn't need a gun, he can scare people away with his face." One of them kept offering me $1000 for my hat, trying to get me to turn around and look at him. Like I said - bizarre.
 
Hey Hoppes -

I was at the Deland show myself - I might very well have walked right by you! Haven't been at the one at Morocco in a while ( trying to clear my calendar for the next one ). I didn't see too many gangsta wannabees at Jax ( went on Sunday, seemed pretty quiet ) last time out. You're right about that PAL group - did seem a bit strange. I just passed them by. Wonder if it's the same f***wits who do the fundraising calls where the money goes to the fundraisers, not the PAL. I was at both the recent Orlando and Jax shows - don't know if you went to Orlando, but it also seemed to me that both Jax and Deland had more to offer in the way of revolvers than Orlando - you want gangbangers, try there......
 
slicksleeve said:
What exactly do you guys mean when you speak of "Nazi's"? Is this a slang term for a certain group, or actually people who are practicing Nazi-ism?
Click to expand...
Skinheads selling Nazi memorabilia, milita books etc. Some are just meeting a demand for the stuff. Some though, if you take the time to talk to 'em are freaking Nazis, think Hitler got it right, just at the right time. Some are just so far right that they're closing in on left.

Lots of whack jobs at gun shows. Some more obvious than others. The whackiest can be fun to talk to once you figure out where they're coming from. Takes all types to make a world I guess.
 
thankfully i have not run into that yet. i have seen people selling some nazi & ww2 stuff. but they are mostly older 60ish & look more like ww2 buffs. i hope it stays that way.
 
Thank you Werewolf, I don't think they come to the gun show I got to in Montgmoery, Al. Either that or I always looked over them to the point I forgot 'em.
 
I'm out here in Central Florida so I go to the one in Orlando, occassionally you get some older guys offering good deals. I got a LNIB Bersa Ultra compact 9mm for $240 and after 3,000 plus rounds of Brown Bear and WWB it's still running in great shape and would probably look mint if didn't ride around in my left jeans pocket behind my wallet a few days a week.

Another time I got a S&W 15-3 for $220 with 90+% finish with a pristine bore and in great working order that the previous 60 plus year older owner had sighted almost bullseye for Remington 130 grain fmjs.

There have been other deals I've passed up or left go by out of respect for the folks buying. I got a ton of guns and don't need more. I would like to find a Glock 26, GP100 4", or S&W M28 4" or 6" when I can make it to the next one. Is there anyone out there around central florida that can speak to other guns shows in the nearby(Deltona, Jacksonville etc.) and if there are good private deals from older guys with nice revovlers.
 
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