Went to a Local Gun Show, No real surprises

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Skgreen said:
My local FFL has the same problem in his shop. :(
The 'wink-wink, nod-nod' code relative to background checks used here at Texas Gun Shows is indicating you are having an 'Estate Sale'. I'm certainly no authority on laws or rules, but I've read that by indicating you are having an 'Estate Sale' in TX, it may allow you to circumnavigate the background check rules. (somewhat along the lines of a 'person to person private sale' vs. a 'Vendor at a Gun Show' sale)
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Wow, you have the audacity to walk into a physical gun shop and ask if they do background checks? ( Not YOU, just people in general) ;)Huh, I think Idiocracy is less of a documentary and more of a hopeful dream at this point... :rofl:
 
n2omike said:
There is NO COMPARISON between gun shows 20+ years ago, and gun shows today.
You could actually find good deals and a wide variety of stuff back then. Nowadays, it's just the same new stuff... all at ridiculous prices.
No cheap mil surp, no cheap ammo, no cheap anything... Almost all regular gun dealers just bringing their normal store inventory at jacked up prices. Very few regular guys/collectors. Use to be mostly regular people and very few dealers that you had to do paper work for.
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I just read that our local fairgrounds was making $25,000 for each 2 day gun show (every 3 months = $100,000/year). Unfortunately our very liberal local and state govenments have passed new "laws" that shut gunshows down @ state fairgrounds. LOL, the fairground management is wringing its hands with the loss of the revenue.
 
n2omike said:
They bring all their brand new inventory at marked up prices, and expect people to pay extra...
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The gun show crowds here (Houston) often contain multitudes of people who are clueless when it comes to market value. The old 'sucker born every minute' adage is as true today as it ever was, and I don't blame Vendors for selling what they can at whatever price they can get for it.
 
epags said:
I just read that our local fairgrounds was making $25,000 for each 2 day gun show (every 3 months = $100,000/year). Unfortunately our very liberal local and state govenments have passed new "laws" that shut gunshows down @ state fairgrounds. LOL, the fairground management is wringing its hands with the loss of the revenue.
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Where is this? I’ll bet our bureaucrats are thinking the same thing

Edit: heck just remembered we don’t even have fair grounds
 
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Skgreen said:
The gun show crowds here (Houston) often contain multitudes of people who are clueless when it comes to market value. The old 'sucker born every minute' adage is as true today as it ever was, and I don't blame Vendors for selling what they can at whatever price they can get for it.
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Not sure cost makes much difference to most folks buying just one firearm. Why would a 10, 20, or 30% difference matter on a relatively inexpensive item? BUT they’ll scrounge to save a few cents on ammo soon enough.
 
Nature Boy said:
I’ve developed a low opinion of gun shows over the years.
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Decades ago, I used to find good deals on hand tools/etc that I needed for work at the local (Austin back then) Flea Market. Didn't take long for it to turn into a 'pay new price for old and/or imported junk' venue.
I haven't been shooting long enough to know what Gun Shows were like even 1 decade ago, but I can certainly imagine the same change the Flea Market went through has occurred in Gun Shows as well.
 
270OKIE said:
Uh you can either call the FBI or use NICS online but you usually can use your cell phone unless the reception is bad. But yeah you aren't required to have a landline to get an FFL out of your house or building.
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well back to the members statement at HE 2x Hockey stick…. $195 for a phone ?!?!?!?! WTH!!!

Do you know why a fax machine still exists???
 
270OKIE said:
Well fax machines are legally the same as hand delivering a document so they do have a purpose still. But other than that they are obsolete.
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BINGO! Law Firms & Offices still use them. They make fax machines that don’t keep a digital image of the transmission, just a record.
 
Nature Boy said:
If I wanted to spend a day looking at guns I can’t buy I’d go to a museum.
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I'm relatively new when it comes to shooting. More like a Hobbyist who used to do Jet-Ski's, used to do Motorcycles, turned to exploring 'Firearms/Reloading' about 7-8 yrs ago,,,

About the only reason I even bother going to a Gun Show is if I'm feeling the need to fondle a new-production handgun. Never have actually bought one at a show, but it helps me to weed out the 'nope' models and perhaps see some other offerings that I may not be up to speed with yet. (Nice to look at some of the really OLD stuff, but more out of curiosity than a desire to own it)
 
Skgreen said:
I'm relatively new when it comes to shooting. More like a Hobbyist who used to do Jet-Ski's, used to do Motorcycles, turned to exploring 'Firearms/Reloading' about 7-8 yrs ago,,,

About the only reason I even bother going to a Gun Show is if I'm feeling the need to fondle a new-production handgun. Never have actually bought one at a show, but it helps me to weed out the 'nope' models and perhaps see some other offerings that I may not be up to speed with yet. (Nice to look at some of the really OLD stuff, but more out of curiosity than a desire to own it)
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does anybody ever get Gun Show Fog??? don’t know if it the overhead fluorescent lighting or what, but guns start to look all the same. But when you get it home, it looks like a million bucks!

I shod start a Gun Show mood lighting and display company! for high end gun sellers
 
Mark_Mark said:
does anybody ever get Gun Show Fog??? don’t know if it the overhead fluorescent lighting or what, but guns start to look all the same. But when you get it home, it looks like a million bucks!

I shod start a Gun Show mood lighting and display company! for high end gun sellers
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Funny you mention that, we are actually wanting to get a couple scrolling led signs to put up to advertise what ammo we have in stock like 6.5 man bun and stuff like that. :rofl:
 
270OKIE said:
Funny you mention that, we are actually wanting to get a couple scrolling led signs to put up to advertise what ammo we have in stock like 6.5 man bun and stuff like that. :rofl:
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You own that now!!! lol! I want to see a photo of your sign that says “6.5 Manbun” Lol!!!

I had a man bun during the plandemic!
 
Mark_Mark said:
You own that now!!! lol! I want to see a photo of your sign that says “6.5 Manbun” Lol!!!

I had a man bun during the plandemic!
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Lol idk if you know this but that's a common joke online, calling 6.5 Creedmoor 6.5 Man Bun.
I too grew out my hair but it wasn't quite long enough to put in a bun though.
 
270OKIE said:
6.5 Man Bun.
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Those Bitch Knots go with bedazzled pockets, tight 'skinny' jeans, flowered clothes and skirts on 'men'. lol
Actually saw a picture where Brad Pitt was wearing a skirt at some event. The feminization of American 'men' is a scourge.

Still stand by my original statement:
If I wanted to go to a gun store to buy a gun that involves a paper trail... I'd save my entry fee and go to a gun store.
If I want to buy a gun WITHOUT a paper trail that nobody is going to come knocking on my door for, I'll buy it off a private individual.

Use to be very few dealers at Gun Shows back in the day. Now it's almost all dealers. I don't go anymore. I'll buy stuff of MeWe, etc.
Dealers have ruined gun shows. They bring all their brand new inventory at marked up prices, and expect people to pay extra... just because they are at a gun show, and the business was 'forced' to go there and pay $86/table.

When Gun Shows return to their roots... regular guys showing off their vintage collections, liquidating their deceased relative's collection, thinning their own collections/hoards, etc... I'll start going back.

I think they should charge certified businesses 2-3X the cost of private individuals for their tables.
 
n2omike said:
Those Bitch Knots go with bedazzled pockets, tight 'skinny' jeans, flowered clothes and skirts on 'men'. lol
Actually saw a picture where Brad Pitt was wearing a skirt at some event. The feminization of American 'men' is a scourge.

Still stand by my original statement:
If I wanted to go to a gun store to buy a gun that involves a paper trail... I'd save my entry fee and go to a gun store.
If I want to buy a gun WITHOUT a paper trail that nobody is going to come knocking on my door for, I'll buy it off a private individual.

Use to be very few dealers at Gun Shows back in the day. Now it's almost all dealers. I don't go anymore. I'll buy stuff of MeWe, etc.
Dealers have ruined gun shows. They bring all their brand new inventory at marked up prices, and expect people to pay extra... just because they are at a gun show, and the business was 'forced' to go there and pay $86/table.

When Gun Shows return to their roots... regular guys showing off their vintage collections, liquidating their deceased relative's collection, thinning their own collections/hoards, etc... I'll start going back.

I think they should charge certified businesses 2-3X the cost of private individuals for their tables.
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I don’t mean to quibble nor argue with you personally, but the roots you long for aren’t the same roots others want.

I think I understand what your personal preferences are and I’ve been to a little show that met your criteria, but to me the first show I ever went to and the only ones I now go to are the very ones you don’t like.

Maybe it’s generational (I’m 70) or geographical (I’m in northern Virginia), but I love our 1300 table show with some huge retailers and their vast inventories. There are also antiques galore which don’t interest me in the least. And supplies, supplies, supplies. (Except primers and powder). And hundred and thousands of rounds of ammunition of all shapes and sizes. Dollies full bumping into each other in the parking lot.

All in one spot. No internet hassle, no shipping, no hazmat, no delays. And the reason it’s so big and always packed is that’s what many customers want in these parts anyway.

It’s a cycle I suppose like anything else. Remember when there were no malls, we shopped downtown, then they were everywhere, and now they’re dying? Returning to their retail roots perhaps.

Cheers
 
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