My first gun show tomorrow - what to expect?

I love jerky. Here in upstate SC i have never seen any at any of the gun shows.

Be prepared to meet old farts who most likely don’t want to actually sell their overpriced POS guns and have “ do not touch without permission “ signs without bothering to even put some sort of security cable thru those guns

Just remembered another one - probably 4 years ago went to a show and the guy in front of me was carrying a case. He reached in and pulled out a mint Detective Special for the deputy to zip tie.
I asked him if he was selling it.
He said “Yep. $400.”
SOLD!

Expect to be cheated, that's the primary purpose of 99.9% of the table holders at the show. Other than that you'll have a wonderful time!

If making money is "cheating", you're living in the wrong country. And if you're gullible enough to get gouged (buying or selling), you need to educate yourself. People selling guns at a show want to get as much for a given firearm as they can. People buying guns at a show want to pay as little as they can. See how this works?

While visiting friends in Winston Salem, NC I came across a complete GI wood set for an M14 rifle including all the metal. I asked the fellow how much? The guy looks at me and says I'll take $30 and that was that. I have seen bad wood sets going for over $100. That was one sweet deal. A large show can offer some good deals depending on what one is looking for. Been years but maybe this summer I'll catch a few. Here in NE Ohio the Cleveland Berea and Medina gun shows are generally 1,000 table shows and pretty good. As to guns plenty of private sales going on and for the Berea show all the non-gun stuff is reduced and limited to a small area of one building at the fairgrounds.

Ron

Swamp Wolf wrote "If making money is "cheating", you're living in the wrong country. And if you're gullible enough to get gouged (buying or selling), you need to educate yourself. People selling guns at a show want to get as much for a given firearm as they can. People buying guns at a show want to pay as little as they can. See how this works?"

SwampWolfI, I don't deal with fools and I don't go to gun shows and I know all to will how the system works!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

Go early!!!!! 9 am on Saturday before the guys pushing a stroller get there. Here in Louisville, that's at 11 am and you won't be able to fit through the isles. Too, if you are looking for particular guns, primers before the really big recent crunch or whatever, early arrival gets you a shot to make an offer...and late on Sunday, after lunch, you can get a deal on items a dealer does not want to haul back out to the truck...Best regards, Rod

Be prepared for the Negligent Discharge!

Stupid as it sounds, it happens way too often.

Big Tulsa Gun Show had a discharge on sunday.

The scuttlebutt is: at approximately 11:30 am, an attendee with a child (8yo boy) was at a table. The "dealer" had a 12 ga shotgun standing in a tack. The child reached up and pulled the trigger, firing the gun into the ceiling.

After investigation: there were NO INJURIES, the man and boy were escorted out. They "dealer" was arrested and issued a permanent ban from Wannemacher Shows.
The number of soiled pants was not disclosed.

Pat Riot said:

@thunderbyrd
Take the advice of @bannockburn and @Seedy Character and take a pad snd pencil or put notes in your phone on deals locations and prices.
Something I always do if not looking for guns is I peruse the entire show making notes on prices then I go back to the tables with the best deals and buy what I was looking for.

I highly recommend you don’t drink beer at the show. I had 3 beers at a show once and bought some really useless stuff that seemed like a good idea at the time.

Primers: perusing the entire show then buying might be a bad idea on primers. I would say buy when you find what you’re looking for or you may not get any.

Good luck and have a good time.

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My arthritis is so bad there's no way I could ever take notes that I could read anymore. At this point I take pictures or everything that interests me or a short video with oral notes. Plus I am lazy at this stage in life. Or rather, I only want to do what I want to do.

If you do find some primers, remember that I gave you this sage advice and PM me so you will know where you can send my half.

N555 said:

You can buy machine guns, landmines, RPGs, C4, handguns that pass through metal detectors, cop killer ammo, enrich your own uranium kits, ghost guns, gun show loop holes, chainsaw bayonets, magic bullets, 9 shot 22 revolvers that hold 12 shots.
I even heard one gun show had the iceberg that sunk the Titanic for sale.

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So...you've been visiting the inner city streets of Houston after dark, I take it.

My first and only gun show, just before corona was known, I got out of my truck enthusiastic about what I might find at the show. The first thing I heard in the parking lot was "It's just like Gas grass or ass, nobody rides for free". That's an accurate summation of what I experienced. Everything overpriced, no gems to be found, ammo was overpriced, and/or questionable stuff in reused boxes or plastic bags. That show was one of the 2 annual biggest in a city of 5 million people. I have a feeling that once they were grand events where both vendors and patrons benefitted, what I saw was pawn shop prices and practices. Never again.