I acted real dumb at gun show today

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The vendor was a little slimy for keeping any of your deposit, if you ask me.
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Well if he was holding the gun not to sell it to anyone else and you gave him a deposit expressly for that purpose there is a good argument he ought not return any of it. If no one else came along asking and I were the the guy I would have simply returned it all.

I must agree with the sentiments above about gun show prices. I've never seen any gun stuff there that I could not get less somewhere else. My best scores at a gun show were a free hat that the marines gave me for doing 20 pull-ups at their booth and a used video game lol.

My local classifieds are about as bad. People asking more for their used bushmasters than I paid for my Noveske. Most of it is pretty laughable. Any good deals get snatched up quick so if you are in the market for something you need to be vigilant about watching know the price at which you will buy and jump on it.
 
I remember my grand father telling me, when I was a bout sixteen, that just because we were at a gun show did not mean we were getting a good deal, the purpose of a gun show was that you saw alot of items at one place at the same time. With the advances in internet technology over the last two decades having the items under one roof is pretty much a dead issue. You can easily go on gunbroker, auction arms, or a dealers web page to find and compare prices on just about anything your heart desires. I do still enjoy walking around the shows and talking with the different individuals that frequent them.
 
I was at a gun show last week in San Antonio. Saw things like Yugo SKS rifles for $400. :what: And a "WWII" M1 Carbine with some swastikas carved in the stock - perhaps one for each Nazi killed? (Sure. Old advice: Buy the gun, NOT the story.)

Also lots of ammo at prices HIGHER than Cabela's or Academy. My guess is that some of these folks bought at the height of the shortage on speculation, and just can't bear to part with it at current prices.

I hadn't gone to a gun show for quite a while, and I was amazed at the sheer volume of Chinese JUNK being sold - copies of Eotech, Aimpoint, Surefire, and other brands, all at a fraction of the price of the real thing. Scopes, binoculars, lasers, flashlights . . . lots of stock furniture (forends, pistol grips, rails, etc.) . . . what was a trickle a year or two back, is now a flood.

Funny thing is, some of the smaller accessory sellers had perhaps one of these 'scopes or laser sights, slightly used, among their other stuff. My guess is they bought it because it was cheap, found it was JUNK, and were trying to unload it.
 
I agree about the high prices at the shows. This is why when I go it is usually to try to sell something or maybe buy some loading compponents if I can find them at a decent price. The guns are all priced too high.

When selling I usually will end up selling to an individual.

The good thing about the shows is the little gadgets that you often find that for some reason I can never find any where else.
 
There was a rack of Mosin Nagants, each between $100 and $120.

I did not know enough about them to buy one.
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Check the bolt for smooth operation, actually look for it to have some tolerance between it and the reciever. This is key to the rifle's reliability on long shoooting sessions. a 500rd range day is not a problem on a quality mosin-nagant.

The other thing to look out for is the marks, there are mosins out there that are being stamped with fake marks now. Hell, I've seen the nagant pistols stamped with bogus marks too.


The same toolboxes that are faking up the Lugers are now doing it to Russian arms. If you want a shooter, $125 for a Mosin with the kit is a fair price, $150 for a good specimen. For a collector piece, they can go up to about $600 for the rifle itself. Taking a $80 bare rifle and restamping it for a 300 dollar profit is why they are doing it. Same thing with the pistol, take a $100 pistol and stamp it to get about $400 out of it.
 
I'm going to play devil's advocate here - what's the purpose of a deposit if you don't lose it if you fail to complete the deal ? I'm glad you got part of your money back but honestly, I never understood the concept of a refundable deposit.
Why bother with a deposit at all ?
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It means at the very least you will come back and that you are serious
 
Thats not dumb, it is a simple mistake. Dumb is when you shoot a hole through the roof at the gun show (someone just did at a gun show in Fond du lac WI that I was at)

I was surprised by how mild people reacted, I don't even know what happened to the person that fired the rifle.
 
I go to the gun shows for one main reason - the best dealer in the area will not haggle prices in his shop, only at the gun show. So, I pay the $7 fee and get the gun I want for 10% - 20% off his regular price.
 
I never understood the concept of a refundable deposit.
Why bother with a deposit at all ?
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Well one purpose of deposit, whether people understand it or not, is that it forms a binding contract. I promise to hold onto something is not binding, there is no consideration. The deposit acts as consideration.
 
To the OP: Things happen, no worries. Nice of you to split the deposit. Would have been nicer of the dealer to just give it back, or even mention the deposit to you, but sometimes those folks aren't the most friendly.

I find that gun shows are a good place to physically check out something you've seen online, but otherwise prices are just high enough to make me feel like making an offer (a fair offer) would be an insult. When something is overpriced by 25%, I'm essentially asking for 25% off just to get to around market price - then there's the transfer fee to add on. It's just not worth the hassle of asking most of the time.

Two years ago, when people were scared of the return of Democrats to the White house, the prices were actually realistic at a local gun show. Guns were FLYING off the tables and out of the door. I remember prices being just about what you'd see online, and people making deals left and right!

The next year, prices were astronomical. I mean, crazy high. I left feeling like the entrance fee was a rip off.

This year was about as bad, though there were some vendors offering fair pricing. This past Saturday, the place was hopping, but not many people were buying. Sunday seemed absolutely desolate.

Also, this year neither the salsa guy nor the sausage guy showed up. The two vendors that I regularly and really enjoyed spending money at :(

I still like wandering the aisles, and I found a few things that I was looking for - only accessories though.
 
I often find myself having to double check the prices on handwritten price tags....the first '1' often blends in with the stroke on the $, making the $1600 look like a $600. Of course, my 50-year old eye sight isn't helping any even with reading glasses!
 
Yesterday I went to my first gun show in at least a couple of years. Not much had changed. It seems like at least 80% of the stuff is overpriced, junk, or both.

I agree that the best thing about a gun show is that it gives you an opportunity to look at and handle things you've seen online or maybe just heard about. I've been considering an AK purchase, and I was able to look at everything from WASRs to Arsenals, and from Yugos to Saigas. I also saw Century's new Uzi build, as well as a semiauto version of the Sterling SMG. Checking out all these was worth the price of admission. For me, other than shooting one, there's nothing like handling a gun for me to know if I will love it or hate it.
 
Yeah my eye's are getting older too but sloppy hand writing is their fault not yours, so anyone else here think that the asking was a tad high?

At gander MTN a few weeks back they had a sportorized "98" 30-40 Kraig and were asking.... drum roll.... over twelve hundred bucks!!! I asked why so much, n get this "It's a Springfield" (weren't they all) I asked if they had the gun smith magna flux the bolt as they broke a lot on that gun due to people pushing too hot of a round through them, he would not let me do a closer and I had to believe it was cracked.....
 
I did almost the same thing and saw the digit's correctly. I looked at the tag on a nice used double and it was only something like $300. I was thinking "that's VERY nice for 300" when I looked again. I had missed the last zero.
 
Nah, "stupid" is if a round was discharged when the gun was handled. Seems that happens every so often here in Denver.
 
I was eyeballing an old beat up iver johnson shotgun that I wanted to use for parts at the last show in MD that I thought was $80, but turned out to be $280. I blew up laughing, put it back on the rack and walked away. I had an excuse though, I had laser PRK done 3 days prior and everything still had halos around it at the time.
 
I've had my time wasted in a lot worse ways than that, at least you had the decency to offer to compensate him for the slight amount of inconvenience caused to him.

I agree though, the decent thing to do on his part would have been to rescind the deposit.
 
Hello friends and neighbors // Congrats for spotting a fine shotgun.

With the proof mark, it would almost be worth $20.00 to hold a WWII Rem. 31 Riot.

Excellent condition Model 31s go for up to $1300 here so $1600 at a gun show is not too over the top IMHO.

My Rem. 31 (roller bearing action) is still running smooth one of the finest shotguns ever made as far as I'm concerned. I look for them wherever I travel and have never seen one like you describe.

I hope you find one for a resonable price to add to your collection.
 
you know there are 2 sides to every story, you put a deposit in a gun you don't take the gun, it is the dealers right to keep the deposit, he was a very nice dealer. You could have ask him to read the price to you, If you all would take 3 months and travel the show circuit, have your guns clanked togeather by someone who thought the price of admission gave him the right to grab, scrach, break, someones elses merchantdise without even asking to touch. you would have a better understanding.
bobbi
 
Man, I hate when you think you found a great deal, but then you see that extra digit on there. Sadly, the outlandish prices some people want for certain guns makes it so that you can knock a digit off and not immediately trigger your BS alarm.

I would strongly disagree with what you guys are saying about the deposit, though. I would have never asked for it back, any more than I would buy a candy bar, eat it, and ask for my money back because I didn't find it to be satisfying. The man gave up something of value for value received. It doesn't matter whether you thought it was worth it after the fact... all that matters is that you thought it was a good enough deal to enter into at the time you entered into it, and that you did so voluntarily.
 
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