Gun show enthusiasm waning

[denfoote]

I stopped going to the Crossroads show years ago when I noticed that there was a virtual sea of blue and red bandannas!!!!

Never mind the scalper's prices!!

Ever since I moved to Buckeye, I couldn't see driving all that way for nothing!!

 

[pharmer]

Gunshows suck, but after my GF dragged me to "Sex & the City" last night, I'll never b!tch about the $8 again. I'd pay $100 to get that 2 1/2 hours of my life back. Joe

 

[Fburgtx]

For $8, I can spend about 2 hours browsing through and picking up all kinds of guns and merchandise. Lots of surplus and parts that I could never find at the local gun store, either. Even if I don't buy anything, I've decided it's worth $8 just for the entertainment value. For the same price, you MIGHT be able to catch a movie produced/directed/starring some Hollywood "lib" who enjoys going to Brady fundraisers when not supporting some politician who thinks you don't pay enough taxes.

I do go to gun shows to get deals, but I also go to find things I can't find anywhere else (no, I'm not talking about beef jerky and Indian dreamcatchers). Also, I enjoy being surrounded by a few thousand people who like to shoot guns for fun.

Go to the gun show!! Look at a gun you've never seen before!! Stuff a buck or two in the TSRA or NRA fundraising jar!! Patronize the nice guys and the good deals and walk right by the jerks.

 

[Dravur]

Interesting,

all the whining, all the gnashing of teeth. Wow, you couldn't find a new gun for less than wholesale. Wow, all those marketing genius dealers who didn't know that all they had to do was sell everything below cost and people would flock to their tables and all the Gun show Grinches would be happy again.

Now, reality steps in. I am a dealer at gun shows. I do the Tanner and Crossroads shows in Denver. It is not my primary business and I do it to make a couple bucks and to have fun. Now, for the real dealers, here is what they have to deal with....

Gas to get to the show. Paying any extra help that isn't watching their regular storefront. Table prices of $75 each. Housing for themselves and helpers. All this for a 2 day event. Don't forget the extra food costs.

Now, there is not a huge markup for guns. The money is to be made on used guns, accessories and the like. So, when you go up and find a Glock for $30 more than at the store, you gotta factor in his extra costs. Now, that doesn't mean that you can't haggle with them and get the price down. Some will, some won't.

It's called economics. If his prices are too high, then he will not sell anything and will go home with a net loss.

Now, I will admit that there are some dealers who are smoking crack, but the majority of the ones here are good folk. I admit, there is a guy here in Denver that I avoid like the plague. He is the biggest con man ever. But I know that and I avoid him. I would avoid going to his storefront also.

My stuff is fairly priced and I don't haggle much. I have a new line of holsters I will be selling at this next Tanner show and they are priced competitively, and I won't haggle on them as they are well worth it.

So, all you fogeys who remember a time when you could buy a gun for a nickel, welcome to the 21st century. Prices have risen since you were a kid. If the dealer is higher than new price, don't buy it, but there are good deals to be had at our gun shows. I know this.

 

[Thernlund]

Now, for the real dealers, here is what they have to deal with....

Gas to get to the show. Paying any extra help that isn't watching their regular storefront. Table prices of $75 each. Housing for themselves and helpers. All this for a 2 day event. Don't forget the extra food costs.

Now, there is not a huge markup for guns. The money is to be made on used guns, accessories and the like. So, when you go up and find a Glock for $30 more than at the store, you gotta factor in his extra costs. Now, that doesn't mean that you can't haggle with them and get the price down. Some will, some won't.

It's called economics. If his prices are too high, then he will not sell anything and will go home with a net loss.

Oh. Ok then. I guess I'll start going again.

Nobody (at least not me) is faulting the dealers necessarily. Gun shows just aren't that great anymore. The gouging starts way up and is just passed on through.

You seem to be covering the same complaints we are, just from the other side. Maybe you (and other dealers) should stop going too, eh?


-T.

 

[bearmgc]

Haven't been to a Gunshow yet this year. OK, I'll try to get to one. But it'd be nice if dealers would refrain from recycling the same stuff they had 5 years ago with new prices. It'd be nice if I saw some new stuff.

 

[El Tejon]

The gouging starts way up and is just passed on through.

If people are unwilling to pay the freight, then how do the dealers keep the prices that they have? Does not the market control the price? Do we really anticipate/expect dealers not to make money?

It's called economics. If his prices are too high, then he will not sell anything and will go home with a net loss.

Dravur, thank you for that dose of reality. IME the people that whine about gun shows are the ones, 1. who can barely afford the admission fee, 2. are not going to buy guns anywho.

It is almost as if they demand to be given a gun since they paid all of $8 to get in. Entitlement theory thinking perhaps?

I was at the show in Indianapolis this weekend. I did very well on ammo (9mm, .22lr and .308) and oodles of AR mags (no guns this show but I was not looking to buy firearms), but I had to work at it.

The people that grinch about gun shows do not want to work at a deal or think that having to work a deal is beneath them or that they are entitled to some great deal. I do not understand this thinking.

 

[Thernlund]

If people are unwilling to pay the freight...

As I now am. The tipping point came when I had to pay $7 to park and $12 to get in, then what I found inside was no better than I would have found on the Internet or at a local shop. I found myself asking myself, "Self... why are you doing this?" The answer, for me, was that I didn't know. There just didn't seem to be a point anymore. I was going to gun shows because "that's what gun guys do". Then during a moment of clarity I realized that that was silly.

IME the people that whine about gun shows are the ones, 1. who can barely afford the admission fee, 2. are not going to buy guns anywho.

1. I can easily afford admission.
2. About 1/4th of the guns I own came from gun shows.

Shows in other areas may be different. But here, at least, the event promoters have taken things to a point where it isn't worth the trouble anymore. Finding a deal still requires the same "leg work" and I have no issue with that at all. But as the attendance prices rise, eventually becoming silly, the "leg work" just starts looking less and less worth the time. Add to that the fact that half the show is arts and crafts, which I didn't come to see, and things begin looking more and more like a waste of time. Then the belligerent petition folks... GAWWWD.

Understanding that margins on small arms dealing are razor thin, I might expect that maybe I'll see $10 to $15 in savings on a given item. That's great. But when I've paid $19 to attend, this eliminates my savings. Even that I might not mind. But I begin wondering why I bothered when I got the same gun I was after cheaper later that day at a shop.

Makes me think to myself... what an idiot. Why did I do that?

So I don't do that now.

If the venue, the promoters, and the dealers can keep on going like this, good for them. But I personally no longer feel the need to continue.


-T.

 

[El Tejon]

Ther, I guess that depends on our regional markets. The gun culture is so strong where I am that our market nears saturation and deals pop up far more than other places.

E.g., at the show on Saturday I bought a few thousand rounds of 9mm for $.08 a round from an estate sale. I got a 8K of .22lr at a little less than $.04 a round and got a break on .308 (not as sweet on the .308 as I wanted). All my deals, I had to work. (I saw deals on guns, but needed my money for ammo).

If you want a deal, you have to put in work. Got to work the aisles, got to talk to people, have to learn how to deal with dealers, have to learn that you can always walk away. I do not see people who complain about gun shows working that hard, I see a lot of whining and hands out, but that's just my experience.

 

[TexasRifleman]

The last one I went to in Ft Worth had very little ammo, few guns, but plenty of beef jerky, extension cord roll up things, and some Nazi flag repros.

It has as much to do with the group hosting the gun show and the crap they will allow as is does with gun show interest.

 

[Kindrox]

DFW is a big disappointment in my book. I have purchased two guns, ammo, mags and the like yes. But the shows are much smaller than they should be for the population of the metroplex, surplus ammo almost doesn’t exist, few vendors sell commercial ammo for what I can get online plus shipping, ect.

Bottom line, I hear about what other people are seeing at gun shows and feel bad.

 

[Fburgtx]

The main problem with DFW is the fact that there are TOO MANY gun shows. Because of that, I think it has caused the Market Hall show to shrink some. It also turns what would be 4-5 good shows into 12-15 crappy ones. Fort Worth has one every month (High Caliber and "Original" seem to alternate months). They just had one on May 24/25, now they're having ANOTHER on June 6/7!!