Same in WA.
I haven't bought a firearm at a gunshow in years, until I met a guy on here and went to a couple of shows with him when he moved out here. He must be good luck, because two shows in a row I got great deals. An excellent Smith 649 for $450, and an excellent 1006 with box and everything in the box is new and untouched --$680. That price is about average, but the pistol is a little above average and I REALLY wanted one.
But for the last seven years I haven't bought a thing. All WAY overpriced. I know what you mean about the trinkets and junk. Our gunshow limits that stuff, but they used to not allow it I think --but the venue got larger so they had room for the junk. It also helps to get the wifey to come along. My wife likes this one guy that hand maked wood pens. He does a great job, but he's got to be 100 and I don't know how long he'll last and I still would like a couple of more of his pens...
Back to arms. I saw 1006 mags for almost $50 (and he wasn't coming down one cent) AK's for like you said, Oly AR's, lots of them because Oly is just down the street, $1000 at least. They sell a lot of that junk too.
No real quality items, not by and large. You'll find tons of rail systems for AR's but they are all cheap ones marked up. No KAC stuff, they'd have to ask $600 by their reasoning and I think that would tip off the fools. The dealers are really there to sell to newbies, folks that REALLY want it, impulse buyers, etc. So you end up with a few way over priced quality pieces and tons of over priced junk.
Only the non-dealers have anything decently priced. They reason they have to sell it or that $40 table rent is down the drain, along with the day. The gunshows are always the same people with the same stuff. I should also mention the 649 and 1006 were both ftf deals, no paperwork. Probably why they were priced normally.
I renewed my card this year, didn't plan on it but I did. I probably will drop out of the shows in 2013 though, not worth the membership, gas and time to walk around a crowded flea market. I'd be better off checking my favorite shops and going online --Gunbroker rocks BUT you have to buy from dealers with high scores if it is something expensive, and I don't buy used sight unseen.
Oh yeah, also should mention that on a local forum here, one guy went to the show JUST to get some ammo from a dealer he frequented --said he wanted to check out the show, actually drove past the store to go there. When he found the table, they had the ammo but for way extra than the store price. When he asked if they would sell it to him for what the store sells, they said no way, they had to pay for the table and time to get there. Whatever. They were also getting way more traffic than they ever would at their out of the way, hidden behind Tactical Tailor shop in run down Tillicum WA. They lost a lot of customers over that and a couple of other problems, like selling junk ammo --"recalled" ammo, however you recall ammo. If you wonder where bad ammo goes, it goes to that store. Also sold AR bolts that broke after 500 rounds, said it was "common" for some to fail at that point, but that they'd be nice and replace it. I'm afraid to go there for safety's sake.
I roll my own ammo now, and I vet my shops. I won't deal with these stores that try to take advantage of others. There is one down the street, don't know how they stay in business, when you go in there there is just junk everywhere, just thrown around. The displays are screwed up. The weapons don't sell and dust is everywhere. They've had a Browning Rennaisance in there for five years and I can't get them to budge one cent. They are so greedy they've ran off their customers, but for some reason they stay in business and employ three people --who do not clean the store.
How do places like this stay in business? Why do people keep going to gunshows? I remember back in the '90's that gunshows had some great deals. Like a 1911 series 70 with a full length Bomar sight --$600! $200 AK74's. The AR's were all good prices. The only high prices were the AWB items, like $120 G21 mags.
Sheesh.
