Been to a gun show lately?

[KansasPaul]

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.

 

[mortablunt]

Does October count as recent?

Now that I've read the OP, *GROAN*, it's another 'gun show prices are the Devils' work' thread.

Could someone please merge this into one of the other ongoing gun show threads we have?

 

[KAS1981]

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.

 

[fxstchewy]

Too crowded for me since Obama took office.

 

[45_auto]

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.

 

[EddieNFL]

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.

 

[lowerunit411]

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

 

[guyfromohio]

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.

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

So when is the next one?

 

[godale]

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

 

[SundownRider]

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.

 

[AirForceShooter]

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

 

[AlexanderA]

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.)

 

[Paris]

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

 

[Redneck with a 40]

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.

 

[Sapper771]

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".

 

[doc540]

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.

 

[wgp]

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.

 

[mortablunt]

^ I second your notion. +1

 

[JoeMal]

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

 

[doc540]

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.

 

[Ala Dan]

Lately~?

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

 

[purpplehaze]

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.

 

[NoAlibi]

Crazy prices have generally been good for me. 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

 

[LiquidTension]

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.